Rose: State Still Work in Progress

Sen. Mike Rose (R-Summerville) asked his constituents for more time in the South Carolina Senate to enact more reform Saturday at , during his annual birthday breakfast fundraising event.

Rose pledged to continue to bring reform to the state — citing one example in particular: an independent ethics commission for state legislators. Currently, there is an ethics commission for the governor and U.S. legislators, but not the state legislators, he said.

"Our state has an enormous amount of room for improvement. I like going to meetings with legislators of other states to find out what they're doing," Rose said, who said despite having the same language in the state constitution as South Carolina, Texas lawmakers are held accountable by an independent ethics commission.

Rose also touted the recent success of roll-call voting, which puts S.C. legislators' votes on record, and his 1992 aid in passing a bill that requires school children to say the Pledge of Allegiance daily. 

"We're doing all this because we care about our country and our state, and we care about maintaining our way of life," Rose said. 

When folks on stage joked about the senator responding to emails at 2 a.m., Rose smiled wryly and said: "What's sleep?" 

The speaking roster at Saturday's event included Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Paul Campbell and State Director of Rick Perry for President Katon Dawson. . 

Haley has not made an endorsement, though appeared comfortable on stage with Dawson and other Perry supporters, including Campbell. 

"Senator Rose is one of our A-team," Haley said during the breakfast. Haley released a list of state senators and representatives who were . Rose got an A. 

See what else Haley had to say about Rose in the video attached to this story.

Among the nearly 300 attending the event were Dorchester County Sheriff L.C. Knight,  Summerville High coach John McKissick, Dorchester County Republican Party Chair Carroll Duncan, Dorchester County Council Chair Larry Hargett and S.C. Rep. Chris Murphy.