I almost posted about this yesterday when it came out, but I wasn’t that interested, because there was so little new in it.
Watching the ad, I had the strong sense I’d seen it many times before. And I don’t mean it was like deja vu. It was more like I really had heard it all before.
But I share it in case y’all want to comment.
Here’s the release that came with it:
Sheheen Blasts Haley on Lying & Ignoring Problems as Children Died
NEW AD: “Every child deserves better than this. We can’t trust Nikki Haley to protect our children.”Columbia, SC – Sen. Vincent Sheheen today criticized Nikki Haley for repeatedly refusing to address the crisis at her Department of Social Services as children died due to mismanagement. Sen. Sheheen rolled out a new ad to raise public awareness about Governor Haley’s actions and unveiled his updated plan of action to protect children who have been ignored by Nikki Haley.“Because Nikki Haley refuses to be honest, more children have died,” Sen. Sheheen said. “Honesty and accountability in leadership matters and it’s never more important than when children’s lives are at stake. Under Nikki Haley, these children have been ignored. That’s a disgrace and it’s time to fix it.”The spot, “Ignored,” is part of a substantial six-figure statewide digital buy, and will begin running today. Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/YEfdO_e33nY“As leaders, it’s our job to do two things: tell the truth of what’s going on to raise awareness, and put forth our ideas for how to move forward and fix the problem,” Sheheen continued. “Last April, I released my plan to reform DSS while Nikki Haley stonewalled, lied, and refused to take action. Now, months later, she’s done next to nothing to address the problem and children are still at risk. It’s time for honest leadership and real accountability.”Sen. Sheheen laid out several new ideas to reform DSS and to help immediately address the crisis:
- Ask retired DSS social workers to return to work on a temporary basis
- These seasoned professionals can address the need until new case workers can be hired and trained.
- If they do not want to work in the field, they can take on the administrative functions to free up caseworkers’ time, or serve in a mentoring and advisory role for new caseworkers.
- Hire temporary workers to take on administrative functions for case workers until caseloads are reduced.
- Create a task force of former and retired DSS caseworkers to mentor and regularly check in with current caseworkers around the state.
- This will help address the morale issue and begin to change the toxic culture.
- Will also free up time for management to help them determine what’s most needed and allow social workers to talk to a respected peer about what’s needed without fear of retribution.
- Begin training social workers earlier & recruit caseworkers right out of school
- Students about to graduate can learn on the job training while in school, just like we do with student teaching.
- This will provide some immediate help to existing case workers, and create a pipeline of young and invested talent to DSS.
These proposals are additions to the plan of action Sen. Sheheen laid out earlier this year to truly reform DSS and right the wrongs that have allowed children in danger to be ignored under Nikki Haley.Read Sen. Sheheen’s full plan of action for South Carolina’s children and families, which he rolled out in April, here: http://vincentsheheen.com/news/leadership-for-south- carolinas-children-families/ ###
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By the way, if you wonder why you get more stuff like this from the Sheheen side and not from the Haley side, it’s because the Sheheen people send me releases and the Haley people don’t. So I only comment on Haley ads when my attention is drawn to them by other sources.
Y’all do know that I don’t do this blog full-time, or anywhere close to it, right? So no cracks about me being lazy. I comment on what is in front of me.
In any case, it’s not always good for Sheheen that I comment on his stuff…