Monthly Archives: April 2009

We are not amused

Has anyone besides me noticed that, the more Mark Sanford isolates himself with his stance on the stimulus, the more he uses the collective term “we” to refer to himself?

For instance, take this passage from John O’Connor’s interview story over the weekend:

Q: Are you saying that at no point your understanding of how the … law works changed?

A: No, that only we could apply. I think we’ve been totally clear on that. … Let’s be clear. We are in a negotiation. I’m not going to lay all my cards on the table because we’re trying to get, Sen. (Hugh) Leatherman in particular, to take some movement … and at this point he isn’t blinking. And it is indeed up to those budget writers as to what they want to and don’t want to do. … There were a group of lawmakers here that are committed to trying to work with us and finding some alternatives to what Sen. Leatherman suggested.

When he says, “only we could apply,” I’m pretty sure that he means “only I could apply.” Anyone more conversant in Sanfordspeak should correct me, but I’m pretty sure that’s what he means.

Somebody should give this guy a copy of “Anthem,” which, if you go by his statements and behavior, you would think he would have memorized.

Does he mean to suggest the royal “we?” Certainly he doesn’t mean the editorial “we,” which you will notice that I don’t use any more, now that I’m not entitled.

Politicians do this a lot — trying to suggest they are speaking for a group when they’re referring to themselves — and I’ve always thought it odd. But it’s especially so coming from a guy who’s all about his own radical individualism.

Welcome to ‘Sanfordville’

Have you reserved your space at the “Sanfordville” tent city set to go up tomorrow at Finlay Park? Here’s where to sign up, and here’s the release I got about it today:

South Carolinians to protest Sanford’s refusal to use stimulus money for education and law enforcement with “tent city” near Governor’s Mansion

On Tuesday, April 7, concerned citizens from all over South Carolina will erect a “tent city” in Finlay Park (Taylor and Gadsden Street) near the Governor’s Mansion in Columbia. The “tent city protest” will run from 10:00 AM until midnight. The symbolic protest is in response to Governor Mark Sanford’s continued refusal to accept $700 million in federal stimulus money meant for public education and law enforcement. State leaders from both political parties predict that Sanford’s actions could lead to the firing of thousands of teachers and hundreds of prison guards.

South Carolina’s unemployment rate is currently the second highest in the nation and education and law enforcement budgets have already endured deep cuts.  Sanford has consistently ignored pleas from teachers, parents and law enforcement officials to use this funding to prevent disastrous consequences.

Special guests will visit the “tent city” throughout the day. A list of guests will be distributed by tomorrow morning.  Contact Brady Quirk-Garvan for more information at 843-743-5453 or [email protected]

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Yes, you’ve seen this before.

Doug Jennings and the teachers


After the pro-stimulus rally Wednesday, I walked up the State House steps (which was tiring; I really need to start working out again) to chat with Doug Jennings from Bennettsville. Doug and I go way back. His daddy was my doctor when I was a kid, the one year that I attended B’ville High School (yes, I was a Green Gremlin).

Anyway, a moment later these two teachers followed me up a moment later, and started expressing their indignation over the governor refusing to take the stimulus money to Doug. I pass it on for four reasons:

It expresses the frustration that many South Carolinians — not just schoolteachers — feel over the governor’s position.

It shows the powerlessness that lawmakers — not just Democrats like Doug — also feel over the issue. They’re watching something they just can’t quite believe, and can’t seem to do anything about it.

It shows something else as well. You’ll note that Doug says something along the lines of, you see what we’ve been dealing with all these years? The stubborn absurdity of the governor’s position is not really a new thing for folks at the State House. As bad as the situation is, at least lawmakers can take comfort from the fact that THIS time, regular voters out there finally see what the guy is like.

It actually turned out to be fairly decent video, even though it was shot on my phone. Yes, the medium IS the message.

Sorry I haven’t written a “column” for this week. You wouldn’t believe how busy unemployed people can be. I was going to write something about what a shame it is that some of the public expressions on this stimulus issue are so tainted with partisanship, which is unnecessary and harmful. Here we are with a situation in which most Republicans agree with Democrats on the essentials — that since the stimulus DID pass, and we’re going to have to pay for it, it’s total lunacy even to contemplate South Carolina not getting its badly needed share.

And yet we have this rally Wednesday at which nary a Republican was to be seen (Jake Knotts doesn’t count; he’s sort of a Huey Long Democrat lost in time), enabling critics to brush it off as a partisan affair. Then we have Jim Clyburn picking a fight with, of all people, Lindsey Graham, who wants us to get the money.

I’ve seldom seen a time in which Democrat and Republican leaders have more of a common purpose — with only a handful coalescing around the governor — and yet they can’t seem to get it together and present a united front on the issue. Which is very sad, given the stakes involved for our state.

That’s what I was going to write a column about. So let’s just say I did, OK?

Aren’t you a bit north of Broad?

horse

Maybe we’ve had these for awhile, but I didn’t realize that Charleston-style buggy tours had come to Colatown. I was walking out of the Starbuck’s on Gervais, headed down Lincoln, looking at my Blackberry, and hearing a slow clop-clop on the brick road, and thinking, you know what that sounds like?

And that’s what it was.

Apparently, it’s $10 a ride. All I know at this point.

Way to go, Reggie

Sorry I haven’t posted this earlier; I haven’t been at a computer all day — and I need to run now, too. But I couldn’t let the day go by without thanking Reggie Lloyd for being a voice of sanity on the stimulus issue:

State Law Enforcement Division director Reggie Lloyd on Thursday openly disagreed with his boss — Gov. Mark Sanford — over Sanford’s plan to use federal stimulus money.

Not spending the $700 million as intended by the White House would have “devastating” consequences for state and local law enforcement agencies in South Carolina, the state’s top cop said.

An agitated Lloyd, 42, told The State newspaper in an interview before an afternoon news conference he “didn’t care” if his views get him in trouble with Sanford, who nominated him in January 2008 to lead the state’s premier investigative agency.

“I’ve thought long and hard about it; it’s not personal,” said Lloyd, a former state circuit judge and U.S. attorney for South Carolina. “My professional career has been devoted to … public safety, and I’m not going to sacrifice that for anybody. This means more to me than this job does.”

Mind you, this was Sanford’s “new broom” who went to SLED to run the agency the governor’s way. But obviously he cares more about doing the job and serving the people of South Carolina than about any sense of duty to follow the governor as he tries to lead our state over a cliff.

The Sanford-Leatherman meeting, according to Leatherman

By the way, after the rally, I heard a rumor that some sort of compromise on the stimulus was in the works between the governor and lawmakers.

I asked the first lawmaker I ran into, my homeboy Doug Jennings, and he said he hadn’t heard about any such, although he had heard Sen. Hugh Leatherman had met with the governor and the governor had gotten in the senator’s face on the subject. Treating that as another rumor, I went into the State House and asked Sen. Leatherman about it.

He said he had met with the gov, all right, at 4:15 at the governor’s request. And they spoke about the stimulus. His version of the meeting: The gov told the senator that he (the senator) had the power to bring the $700 million to SC. Leatherman said, essentially, How do you figure? He said all he had to do was pay down debt with $700 million from other sources (the bizarre “compromise” you heard about yesterday).

Leatherman was agog. He said he had no such power, that it would take a majority of the Legislature to agree to such a deal, and he assured the governor that there was NO interest in the Senate in such a “deal.”

The senator said the governor then leaned toward him and said he knew that Leatherman never wanted to pay debt down; that he was only interested in “growing government.” The senator said the governor actually lost his cool a little, which is a phenomenon I’ve heard about but never witnessed.

Anyway, the senator says he told the governor it seemed passing strange to him that the governor should be telling the senator what the senator thinks.

That seems to be about where they left it. So no, there was no meeting of the minds.

The senator said someone told him that the governor had been on TV in Charleston at 5 p.m. saying that the impasse was Sen. Leatherman’s fault. The senator wondered how the governor had done that so fast…

And no, I haven’t talked to the gov about it. This being after 7 p.m., and me not getting paid to run down a story or anything, I went home. I thought y’all would be interested in the part I DID hear, though.

Video from the rally (I hope)

This is a blog experiment, ladies and gentlemen. I’m trying to see whether I can get video from my Blackberry, shot at the pro-stimulus rally at the State House this evening, to post on the blog. I’ve never tried this before, so stand back, and remember, don’t try this at home. I’m sort of doing it blind, because the file would not play on my computer at all. So I e-mailed it to myself, then loaded it directly onto YouTube. What you should see and hear is the crowd singing this familiar song (which some of you will remember from Steve Miller’s “Your Saving Grace” album)…

Well dont you let nobody turn you round Turn you round, turn you round Well dont you let nobody turn you round You got to keep on walkin, keep on talkin Marchin to the freedom land

… only with “Mark Sanford” substituted for “nobody.” It was that kind of rally. And I’d tell you more about it, except that I’m really tired, so I’m just going to post this experiment for now. Let me know how it works.