I found it interesting that Nikki Haley, whose former employment by Lexington Medical Center raised ethical questions from many, once again vetoed funding for the operation of the Certificate of Need program.
If you’ll recall, several years back, when Lexington Medical was fighting to get a certificate to do open-heart surgery, the CON process was the bête noire of Lexington County politicians. The state bureaucrats had let Palmetto Health start an open-heart program, so why were they picking on Lexington County?
That issue is now behind them, after a deal struck by Providence and Lexington that allowed Lexington one of the Catholic hospital’s certificates. So folks in her old district by no means benefit from her defunding the program.
In fact, they wouldn’t have back in the day, I suppose — since this action doesn’t obviate the legal requirement for a CON; it just prevents the state from having the means to process one.
And today, this veto — unfortunately sustained by the House — positively harms her former employer, since Lexington is awaiting a CON for a $7.9 million expansion of its radiation-treatment facility.
So no one can accuse the governor from playing hometown favorites with this veto. No, her sin in this case looks to be mere blind, foolish, destructive ideology.
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Or maybe a little retribution for the way Lexington Medical distanced themselves from her employment application issues… There are lot’s of forms of pettiness, it ins’t usually about ideology – that’s just the rationale.
“. No, her sin in this case looks to be mere blind, foolish, destructive ideology.”
You buried the lede there, Brad. Her veto was sustained, right? So you should be spreading the blame around a little more, don’t you think?
But then it’s always Nikki’s fault.
By the way, have you asked Vincent Sheheen what parts of the budget HE would have vetoed? Might be nice for us to know what kind of Governor he would be – just a rubber stamp or someone willing to make tough decisions?
Oh, that’s right. We can’t hold the governor accountable for what she does. The mean ol’ Legislature MADE her veto it…
If the veto was sustained by a majority of the House, they are equally accountable, right? I know, I know, the House isn’t people, it’s a concept. There’s nobody there responsible for their votes.
Did you agree with ANY of her vetoes that were overturned?
Doug, I don’t know enough to answer that. I can’t tell the merits of each and every one of her vetoes from the list I’ve seen. Not enough information.
But, back in the day when I had Cindi Scoppe to explain them all to me, I used to agree with some of Mark Sanford’s vetoes. So I probably agree with some of these. I just haven’t seen coverage that gives me the information I need to be able to say so.
There was enough coverage on this one for me to know I disagreed with her about this.
I know y’all probably think I just go off half-cocked on everything, but when I really don’t know, I try to make like a Fair Witness and say so.
What makes me annoyed is that we are making a big deal about Haley’s vetos, which are a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of the state’s overall spending plan. What were they, like 100M out of 22.7B? Four tenths of one percent of the budget?
Right. And the majority of the big ticket items she vetoed were overturned.
It’s so easy to spend other people’s money.
Nobody is spending “other people’s money.”
We, acting through our elected representatives, are spending the money that we, again acting through our elected representatives, have agreed to pool together for these public purposes.
And one of the glories of our system is that we all argue vehemently over these decisions, and sometimes our elected representatives do what I want, and sometimes they do what you want, and sometimes they do what neither you nor I want. But it is through them that we make these decisions. That’s how it works.
And anyone who doesn’t like this system is of course free to go live somewhere that employs a different governmental system. But I wouldn’t recommend it.
I don’t know that anyone is particularly making a “big deal” about them. But that IS what is getting coverage this week, for the simple reason that those are the decisions before the Legislature this week. The entire budget was passed, and covered, earlier. This is veto week, so quite naturally, that’s what’s being covered now.
That’s just how news works.
WWVD?
Do you mean “What Would Vincent Do?”
If so, I guess we’d have to look at how he votes today on the vetoes. That would go a long way toward answering that…
So Sheheen is taking credit for Haley NOT vetoing the useless 4K Kindergarten program? That’s a pretty weak form of leadership. Did the Governor consult with Sheheen and get his guidance?
Is the associated with the First Steps program that an audit showed was woefully mismanaged and didn’t demonstrate any real impact?
How’d Vincent’s leadership skills work out on the ethics bill? That would have shown some ability to push that through.
It just gets SOOO tiring reading every release from Sheheen talking about Haley.
His votes on the vetoes would show that he’s a follower, not a leader.
I’d like to see him tell us what HE would have vetoed. That’s would take some guts. Easier to hide on the sidelines and take potshots.
Doug says, “It just gets SOOO tiring reading every release from Sheheen talking about Haley.”
I guess he could talk about Mark Sanford, or Barack Obama (the way Nikki does), or Attila the Hun, or Alice B. Toklas. But it wouldn’t make a lot of sense, since he’s not running against them.
You’re going to be really, really tired by the time this is over.
To give an idea of his priorities, here’s a release from a couple of days ago: