Did you see the Gossett column?

Just by way of completing a loop…

Remember my column of Jan. 25, in which I wrote, in part:

    While I was writing that column, I heard from my colleague Cindi Scoppe
that Manufacturers Alliance chief Lewis Gossett was sending us an op-ed
clarifying his position after The State’s Sammy Fretwell had reported
that he and S.C. Chamber of Commerce president Otis Rawl were
supporting legislative efforts to put DHEC in the governor’s Cabinet.
   
Not having received that op-ed (and we still hadn’t received it a week
later, when this page was composed), I just wrote around the business
leaders, and focused on another Fretwell story that reported that the chairman of the DHEC board, Bo Aughtry, was supportive of the Cabinet idea.
“It is worthy of serious consideration because I believe it would take
some of the political influence out of decisions that really should not
be political,” he had told Sammy.

That ran something like 10 days after I'd heard that we were going to get that "clarifying" op-ed.

Well, it ran on Monday, in case you missed it. Here's a link.

By way of full disclosure, I want to tell you that it didn't take Mr. Gossett quite as long as it looks to get back to us. Cindi (who handles local op-eds these days) says in answer to my asking her today that she received it on Feb. 5. It was the right length for a Monday slot (it was short, and we usually run a short op-ed on Mondays), and she wasn't able to get it edited to her satisfaction in time to run it on Monday, Feb. 9 (content for that page had to be ready on the morning of Feb. 6). So it ran on the following Monday, Feb. 16.

Just so you know.

Anyway, Mr. Gossett had three main points in his piece:

  1. First, he wanted to complain that in their stories about DHEC Sammy and John down in the newsroom had reported only part of what he had said on the subject. (Of course, anyone can say that at any time unless we just publish transcripts of interviews, but you get what he means — that in his opinion, important points were left out.)
  2. Then, he wanted to say that while "I generally prefer the Cabinet form of government if any restructuring is necessary," he doesn't think it's necessary in this case.
  3. Finally, he wanted to say that DHEC is really as tough on manufacturers as it needs to be.

Actually, you know what? Never mind my summary of what he said (even though summarizing what people say is kinda what I do professionally); he might claim I left out the important parts. Just go read it.

You might also want to read the Bo Aughtry piece ALSO saying his support of restructuring was not accurately represented. And then you might fully understand what I said at the outset of my Jan. 25 column:

JUST
IN CASE you were wondering, or knew and had forgotten, this is the way
the political culture pushes back against change in South Carolina: Not
with a bang, but with an “Aw, never mind.”
    Remember last week’s column,
in which I offered, as a rare sign of hope, the gathering consensus
that the state Department of Health and Environmental Control should be
made more accountable by placing it directly under the elected chief
executive? Well, ever since then, there’s been some backtracking.

3 thoughts on “Did you see the Gossett column?”

  1. Weldon VII

    Wow, no takers after one and one-half days.
    OK, fine, I don’t really think the he said-she said DHEC stuff is going to illuminate what I’d like to see, either.
    But I would like to say something.
    I’ve been at a South Carolina School Boards Association conference down at Hilton Head for the last three days, and I’ve been sick enough that other than going to meetings and speeches and such, I’ve just stayed in my room and slept or watched TV.
    One night, I couldn’t sleep, so I watched two shows on MSNBC and two shows on Fox News (Olbermann, Maddow, O’Riley, Hannity).
    They talked about the same things, differently. MSNBC mentioned that Hillary got a heroine’s welcome in Indonesia, and Fox said the government welcomed her, but elsewhere in the country, Muslims were throwing shoes at pictures of her, something MSNBC didn’t mention.
    Likewise, there was some dirt MSNBC dug into that Fox glossed over.
    It all left me sicker at my stomach than I had been when it started.
    I want this partisan bickering over with. It’s worse now than it has EVER been.
    But I don’t want the Fairness Doctrine, because that would violate freedom of speech.
    I want a network or a newspaper somewhere that tells the whole story, all two or more sides of it, about everything, without picking a side.
    I figure that might spruce up the proceedings and actually create an argument rather than the game of ad hockey that’s going on now.
    By the way, I would like to thank Obama for killing the idea someone in his administration had to tax every mile than a person drove.

  2. Alyson

    Good Day. Worries go down better with soup than without.
    I am from Ukraine and know bad English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “In the bottom line, knowing how to stop excessive sweating is such significant information tofind out.”
    Best regards 8), Alyson.

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