11 thoughts on “Here we go with the opposition response shtick again”

1. Brad Warthen Post authorJanuary 22, 2014 at 4:43 pm

   I suppose this release, from the state Democratic Party, is a preview of what Rep. Smith will say — or what his party expects him to say, anyway:

   The Real State of the State Under Nikki Haley:

   Failed Leadership & No Accountability

    

   Tonight, Nikki Haley will deliver her state of the state address, and just like previous years it’ll be a lot of lip service with few details and no results under her failed leadership. Everything Nikki Haley does shows she cares more about how things look than how businesses, families, and people are faring in South Carolina. The past three years have proven Nikki Haley’s just not good at being governor.

    

   So while the Governor spins a rosy tale during tonight’s speech, remember the real state of the state under Nikki Haley: gross incompetence, general dysfunction, and absolutely no accountability under her failed leadership.

    

    

   COVER-UPS GALORE:  Massive failures of government followed by repeated cover-ups continue to hurt SC’s people and businesses.

    

   Nikki Haley’s administration has put children at risk in order to bring down their foster care numbers. “Sens. Katrina Shealy and Joel Lourie are part of a subcommittee that heard Wednesday about an alarming number of child deaths where the Department of Social Service was already involved. The lawmakers also heard about a system of goals that encourages social workers to keep children out of or remove them from foster care even if it isn’t the best thing to do…. The goals deeply bothered both Lourie and Shealy. ‘They are talking about wildly important goals. Let’s get the numbers down?’ Shealy said. ‘These aren’t numbers. These are people.’” [AP, 1/15/14], [WLTX, 10/3/13]

    

   Nikki Haley’s administration kept parents in the dark for two months while children were exposed to TB at a public school. “Parents in the town are incensed that they weren’t told about the disease threat until May 28 and that their children weren’t tested for the disease until May 31. DHEC staffers learned that a school janitor had tuberculosis March 8. He is believed to have spread the disease. Templeton freely acknowledged this week that her agency responded poorly to the tuberculosis threat, telling The State newspaper that ‘DHEC screwed this up.’” [The State, 7/19/13]

    

   Governor Haley waited more than two weeks to inform 6.4 million consumers and businesses in South Carolina that their tax information had been hacked under her watch. A computer chief at the S.C. Department of Revenue did not heed warnings about cyber-security shortcomings at that state agency before hackers stole personal financial data belonging to 6.4 million consumers and business, a former agency employee told lawmakers Thursday. [The State, 1/4/13]

    

    

   SLUGGISH ECONOMY: Harsh reality for families & businesses in South Carolina, despite Haley’s constant ribbon cuttings.

    

   Nikki Haley’s Announced Jobs Fail to Materialize. “South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley touts that more than 40,000 jobs have been announced during her tenure, but no one can say how many of those planned jobs have become reality. Many employers won’t fill those jobs for years. Some plans will simply fall through – and already have in at least three cases… A quarter of the announcements commit to bring 25 or fewer jobs. An additional 18 projects show no jobs at all – six of which are receiving upfront infrastructure grants from the state.” [AP, 1/5/14]

    

   Focus on jobs numbers only doesn’t tell real story of SC economy. “A focus only on jobs, creating what the governor calls ‘a strong business environment,’ leads to ignoring the need to improve, for every citizen, personal wealth, health and access to a high-quality public education. And while she’s at it, the governor should call for a strong home environment too. After all, it’s a balancing act.” [The State, 1/19/14]

    

   Wages stagnant as households make less money than before recession. “South Carolina has seen a greater drop in real income than most states during the past dozen years, according to a Census Bureau report released Thursday morning…In the Palmetto State, median household income plunged by 10.9 percent from 2000 through 2012. Only eight states saw a larger decline in household incomes, according to the Census Bureau, mostly in the deep South and upper Midwest.” [Post & Courier, 9/19/13]

    

   South Carolina has one of the worst economic mobility rates in the country, is one of hardest places to Achieve the American Dream.South Carolina is one of the hardest places to achieve the American Dream, with the third worst economic mobility rate in the country. “Southern states, led by Louisiana and South Carolina, have the worst economic mobility in the country, according to a new study.” [Pew Center on the States, 5/10/12]

    

    

   FAILING EDUCATION: Students & teachers struggling after three years of Haley neglect

    

   Nikki Haley’s veto pen has hit education hardest. “Of the nearly 200 budget vetoes Gov. Nikki Haley has issued during her three years as governor, no government service has been struck more than public education. A review of the governor’s budget vetoes shows the first-term Republican has vetoed $110 million worth of public education programs and services since 2011, vetoes that account for more than a quarter of the $419 million she has vetoed in state spending since 2011.” [The State, 6/27/13]

    

   SC 6th worst in the country on slashing school spending & harming public education. “Even in 2008, before the dramatic budget cuts the state has enacted in the past few years, South Carolina spent the fourth-lowest amount on education. As fiscal year 2014, South Carolina primary and secondary students will each be educated with about $500 less than before the recession. The lack of education funding is, in part, due to the political ideals of Governor Nikki Haley. In 2011, she vetoed the state’s budget and included $56 million in cuts to education. In addition, Haley refused to accept money from the Education Jobs Fund — a federal program intended to mitigate budget constraints in schools across the country. South Carolina was the only state that did not seek money from this program.” [24/7 Wall Street, 9/24/13]

    

    

   CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE: Roads and bridges won’t be fixed while waiting on funding from Nikki Haley’s “money tree.”

    

   Nikki Haley depending on a ‘Money Tree’ to pay to fill potholes. “Gov. Nikki Haley wants to fund road and bridge construction in South Carolina through tax collections that aren’t yet projected….Haley says that ‘money tree’ could provide more than $1.3 billion over the next decade through taxes and bonds.” [AP, 1/13/14]

    

   Governor Haley said improving roads and bridges was not a priority, instead she was focused on inserting politics into the debate on ethics reform: “Gov. Nikki Haley says a Senate road-funding plan isn’t one of her legislative priorities with three weeks to go to the end of this year’s legislative session….Asked by GreenvilleOnline.com for her feelings about the road-funding bill pending in the Senate, she said, “DOT is not something I’ve even looked at. My focus has been on ethics, it’s been on (the Department of Administration), it’s been on getting the budget passed. It’s on all those things sitting at the finish line that we need to push over.” [Greenville News, 5/21/13]

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2. Kathryn Fenner January 22, 2014 at 6:41 pm

   I do not like any of the State of the Incumbent speeches or the responses. Politicking, all of it!

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   1. Science Officer Spock January 22, 2014 at 8:36 pm

      Captain, I’m picking up an unusually high level of “Harrumph” on my instruments for this entire thread.

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      1. Brad Warthen Post authorJanuary 22, 2014 at 9:42 pm

         But is there enough indignation in the atmosphere to support carbon-based, ape-descended life forms, Spock?

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3. Michael Rodgers January 22, 2014 at 6:42 pm

   Heavy sigh. The Democratic Party should lay out a vision of what needs to be done. The Democratic Party should be upbeat, congratulating our governor on what she has done to make things better in South Carolina. For criticism, the Democratic Party should talk about only one issue, how the Republicans, led by Gov. Haley, have refused the Medicaid money, which would go to the doctors and hospitals for work that they will have to do anyway.

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4. Kathryn Fenner January 22, 2014 at 6:43 pm

   What about the Mayor vowing to close Five Points to vehicles on weekends? He sprung it on city staff and the folks who own businesses in FP or live nearby. Glad we don’t have a “strong” mayor.
   Nobody wants it except USC.

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5. Michael Rodgers January 22, 2014 at 8:01 pm

   Gov. Haley was mostly great. Rep Smith was OK, not bad at all, but, yes, unnecessary. I liked seeing Sen. Peeler afterwards plan on taking the ball and running with it to improve education and infrastructure.

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   1. Brad Warthen January 22, 2014 at 9:48 pm

      I loved Harvey’s comment, on ETV Radio, that Haley “still has that new-car smell.” Not for nothing is he the best Tweeter in the Senate!

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6. Brad Warthen Post authorJanuary 23, 2014 at 11:23 am

   This moved via email last night:

   EXCERPTS FROM THE DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE TO THE 2014 STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS

   Representative James E. Smith, Jr.

   Tonight, immediately following Governor Haley’s address, Rep. James Smith will hold a press conference to deliver the Democratic Response to the State of the State in the 3rd floor Senate conference room. Below are excerpts of the speech as prepared for delivery:

   “The great State of South Carolina and its people deserve the very best in leadership. Leadership is vision first – ‘for where there is no vision the people will perish.’ Leadership is then collaboration and action. Leadership accepts responsibility and requires accountability. The people of South Carolina deserve leadership.”

   “Leadership makes public education job one day one instead of waiting four years, until election time, to make our children’s future a priority.

   “South Carolina and, specifically the town of Ninety-Six, deserves leadership that does not wait months to take action to protect children and families in a Tuberculosis outbreak.

   “South Carolina deserves leadership that does not expose our private financial information to hackers and criminals and then cost tens of millions in our tax payer dollars to protect what could have been protected for free.”

   —

   “Governor, you cannot order your administration to say ‘it’s a great day in South Carolina’ and just make it so. It takes leadership, real leadership that keeps faith and trust with the people of South Carolina and accepts the responsibility for the office you hold.”

   —

   “The road to a peaceful and prosperous South Carolina must be paved and expanded, with a real commitment to fix our crumbling roads and bridges.”

   —

   “We can and we must bring our tax dollars home to work for us by reforming and expanding Medicaid and bring 44000 real jobs to South Carolina.

   “We can and must have a public education system that is more than minimally adequate. Indeed, we have before and we should again move to lower class sizes, and increase teacher pay to the national average.”

   —

   “South Carolina’s best days are ahead of us, but only if we are willing to work together, and put aside the short term and short sighted political differences and always remember who we serve: the people of South Carolina.”

   ###

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7. Doug Ross January 23, 2014 at 12:31 pm

   “South Carolina deserves leadership that does not expose our private financial information to hackers and criminals and then cost tens of millions in our tax payer dollars to protect what could have been protected for free.”

   I’d like to see the explanation of the word “free” .

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8. Doug Ross January 23, 2014 at 12:51 pm

   With all the talk about how awful Republicans are, how they were shooting themselves in the foot with their actions on the government shutdown and Obamacare, and how they are “at war” with women and minorities, there is this reality check from a leading pollster (Larry Sabato):

   “We now favor Republicans in four Democratic-held seats: Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia, as well as — in a ratings change — Arkansas, where Sen. Mark Pryor (D) appears to be at least a slight underdog to Rep. Tom Cotton (R) in a reddening state. Assuming Republicans can win those, they have roughly even odds to win in three other states where there are Democratic incumbents: Alaska, which we’ve long classified as a Toss-up, and Louisiana and North Carolina, which we’re switching back to Toss-ups after having them in that category for much of last year. It’s possible that the race for the Senate will come down to these three Toss-ups, with the party that wins at least two of the three controlling the Senate.”

   There isn’t a single Senate seat expected to switch from Republican to Democrat. There is at least a 50-50 chance right now that Republicans will take control of both houses of Congress.

   Unless Obamacare recovers soon and shows real progress, this is likely going to be a very bad year for Obama and Democrats.

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