Dick Harpootlian put out this video today with regard to the dispute between Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Glenn McConnell chronicled back here…
Here’s what the Democratic Party chair had to say about his video:
“It’s time to send adults to the Statehouse and get rid of the whiny children. Instead of the Governor worrying about her four pet projects, maybe she would be concerned with bringing news jobs to South Carolina and funding the education that will mold the true children of this state.”
A word about that, in the gov’s defense… what she was seeking was not the passage of “pet projects,” but substantive reforms. However, passing them was not an emergency worth overstepping constitutional bounds, or even exercising legitimate-but-extraordinary power…
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Brad, interesting video by Harpootlian. Something else I found interesting about him – and commmented on another couple of blogs was this:
Apparently, he stated recently at the state House Dem. caucus meeting that he would fund anyone’s campaing to run aginst Sen. Robert Ford…O.K., but interestingly enough on episode number 53 in “Pub Politics” with Phil Bailey and Wes Donehue back in April, Harpootlian was direclty asked if Sen. Ford was vulnerable to a primary challenge. I am no fan of Sen. Ford, but Harpo’s response was that if elected chair (he was not at the time) that he would not participate in the party primaries and that hit would be in appropriate? You can see for yourself on the webcast around the 21:30 or 21:50 mark.
I have confirmed with people in the House that he did say this about running someone againt Robert Ford. So I think this is interesting on several counts.
1. Harpootlian flat out lied about his intentions as party chair when it came to primaries, and specifically this one. Interesting, but for him, perhaps not newsworthy.
2. Harpootlian is the new Dem. party chair, has not gotten one Democrat elected yet, but is determined to go after sitting democratic incumbents???
3. Perhaps most interesting, during a time when redistricting is at fever pitch and Republicans are very motivated to erase white democratic officials off the map, Harpootlian tries to scare the hell out of black incumbent democrats to make sure they are motivated to work with Republicans (why not, their own party chair is willing to work against them, so why not right?).
I may have read the headlines wrong, but Harpootlian was elected as the DEMOCRAT’S party chairman right? His first act is to divide the party, waste funds on primaries in “safe” democratic districts, and go back on his word all in one foul/fowl swoop…the Republicans would have done more good for themselves by electing Harpo than Connelly!
Here’s some additional comic relief from the Free Times:
“The (Richland) county will also re-raise hospitality taxes outside the city limits; it dropped them from 2 percent to 1 percent two years ago to lessen the impact of the vehicle fee on county residents who have less access to public transit. By pushing the hospitality tax back to 2 percent on prepared foods outside the city limits, Council will be able to secure $750,000 for maintenance of two historic homes — the Woodrow Wilson Home and Hampton-Preston Mansion.”
$750K to maintain two relics… it’s great that there’s nothing more important to spend tax dollars on. Hungry kids, healthcare for people who can’t afford it., a decent safe place for homeless to sleep —- hey, wait, there’s two big old houses with a bunch of rooms that could be used every night.
$750K… morons.
and here’s the news from WIS TV tonight:
“COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – Columbia’s family shelter is asking for urgent help. It helps homeless families with children while they get back on their feet, but now the shelter needs $100,000. Without it, families will have nowhere else to go.
One third of Columbia’s homeless population includeS families with children. Cynthia Hayes and her boys are in that number. “At times, you just get very sad because you just want to work and provide for your family,” said Haynes.”
Gee, maybe they can hand out free tickets at the family homeless shelter so they can see what a 150 year old bedroom set used for a short time by Woodrow Wilson looks like.
Politicians love to spend other people’s money on their own little pet projects. Shame on them all.
We have a fundamental misunderstanding here. What is at issue here is NOT “form, style, appearances, niceties, perception and everything.” We’re talking about fundamental constitutional principles that underlie a society based on laws and not men. Or in this case, women.
That’s the thing Bud is missing here. Hitler and Stalin would indeed have cared more about RESULTS than such niceties as the rule of law. So would a host of other, pettier tyrants such as Saddam or Qadhafi (I love that I never have to think about how to spell his name; I just pick a version at random), or one of dozens or hundreds of leaders we’ve seen in Latin America over the past two centuries.
This was not some little rule, either. It wasn’t obscure. It wasn’t the infield fly rule of governance. It was the separation of powers, which is about as core a principle as you can find in the American system. Lord knows it gets violated enough here — such as by the existence of the Budget and Control Board, which is one of the things the governor is quite legitimately trying to address. But you don’t get to do it this way.
Yes, one can debate whether she was in violation of it — my friend Kevin Hall, her attorney, disputed it strongly. I believe she was, and so did a majority of the court.
Reports are that Haley has been lobbying against the complete dismantling of the B&CB – the opposite of what she campaigned on. Haley wants a watered down version of it which would leave the board with some responsibilities. Why? Hmmm. Sheheen is the one who introduced the legislation to do away with it completely and set up a Dept. of Administration – gosh if that passed he certainly would steal her thunder, wouldn’t he? Not to mention her bosom buddy Eleanor would be out of a job.
Same old buddy system – just with a good ole girl instead a boy.
Now, if you do want to talk about something other than constitutional principles, this was ALSO a bonehead play by the governor, doomed to fail. If lawmakers had come back, they would not have been disposed to do her will. And yeah, if you really want to get RESULTS, you have to include such considerations in your calculations.
There is a time when a governor should call the Legislature back, and do it constitutionally. This was NOT such an occasion, if one is applying any sort of judgment at all. Which she wasn’t. Effective people, people who get RESULTS, pick their battles judiciously.
It will be interesting to see whether the governor learns ANYTHING from this. I mean, think about it — this has ruined her perfect record. Remember, she says she never loses. Ever.
She also would have to find another ($174K) job for her friend, the current (and very odd) Executive Director, Eleanor Kitzman
And by odd, I mean it,…
https://bradwarthen.com/?p=9985
Talking about constitutional principles and society based on law…this was a joint statement from the leaders of the Berkeley, Dorchester amd Charleston GOP leaders on June 5 in the P&C:
‘They (citizens) don’t want to hear about rules … legal maneuvers … political posturing,’ the statement continued. ‘They want results. … We are asking them (legislators) please not file lawsuits … please not threaten each other … please get to work … and finish the job that we, the people, have asked them to.’
That’s what I love about Dick. It should be an interesting election season next time around.
From what I understand, SC Governot Nikki Haley not only wants the new Department of Administration, but also keep the Budget and Control Board as a weakened agency. What good is it to have two agencies doing the same thing? Governot Haley is not reducing the size of state government; she’s growing it! The only reason why I think she wants to keep the BCB is so her acolyte, Eleanor Kitzman, can keep earning $174K as Executive Director of the BCB.
Either create the DOA and get rid of the BCB or keep the BCB and don’t think about creating the DOA. But no to both agencies doing the same thing!