TweetI applaud this initiative, because there’s nothing schools do that is more important than teaching young people to be well-informed citizens: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 17, 2014 […]
Tweet While Mark Sanford is getting all the attention — NPR wants to talk to me about him tomorrow — he is actually but one of 16 candidates officially seeking the GOP nomination in the 1st Congressional District. I’m thinking that’s gotta be a record, at least in a special election, and at least in […]
TweetBased on the emails I get, one of the best-organized lobbies in South Carolina is the one that promotes the arts. Of course, they need to be if their favored programs are to survive, since it appears that each year that Nikki Haley is governor is going to be a battle for existence for the […]
TweetThis morning, I saw some speculation out there that Rick Perry — who met with Nikki Haley today — was trying to get the endorsement of the fellow governor with who he shares one key friend: Eleanor Kitzman. Well, I haven’t seen anything out of that yet, but he did come up with an announcement […]
TweetI hadn’t even finished that last post about his new video before Perry put this out: Twenty One South Carolina GOP Legislators Endorse Rick Perry for President COLUMBIA, SC – Texas First Lady Anita Perry today announced 21 GOP South Carolina General Assembly members’ endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry for President at the grand […]
TweetWe could debate all day what should be done with the “Big Red” flag believed to be the one that Citadel cadets flew when committing the most disastrous, inexcusable, violent act of student unrest in U.S. history. But there’s one thing that doesn’t need any debate: South Carolina doesn’t need any more special license plates. […]
TweetTrying to catch up with messages and such, I have no time to comment right now on the inexcusable, unconscionable, reprehensible vote to uphold Gov. Mark Sanford’s indefensible veto of the cigarette tax (beyond reminding you of what I’ve said over and over — how the money is spent is secondary, far secondary, to cutting […]
TweetCindi sent this to me this morning, and I apologize for just getting to the e-mail and passing it on now — I’ve had three candidate interviews today. Anyway, here’s what she sent me: Since the House adopted an amendment to the Senate cigarette tax bill (a very minor amendment), there was no […]
TweetThe Associated Press is reporting that a majority of the subcommittee in whose lap the legislator-pension increase was dumped are saying they want to kill the measure: {By JIM DAVENPORT}={Associated Press Writer}= COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina lawmakers are expected to scrap plans to sweeten pension checks for legislators when they meet Tuesday, according […]
TweetCindi sent me the following stuff to post as a supplement to her column today: Here’s the recorded vote from last Wednesday, when the House sent the bill that contained the legislative COLA back to committee, in hopes that the committee will remove the legislative COLA and report the bill back out, so […]
TweetJust got this from Matt Moore, who is the new Joshua Gross at the S.C. Club for Growth (more on Joshua shortly). It includes the Club’s approved incumbents for re-election: February 21, 2008FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Matt Moore SC Club for Growth State Action PAC Endorses Seventeen Legislators for June Primaries Columbia, SC – Today, the […]
TweetYesterday my uncle brought a copy of The State from Florence and let me look at it. When he saw me looking at this story, he asked whether I had expected that. I said certainly not, and started launching into a tirade on the subject before reminding myself I was on vacation and shutting up. […]
TweetNo surprise: The "Competitive Grants" program was vetoed by the governor and easily survived said vetoes. There are a bunch of separate items that make up the Competitive Grants program — implementation items (one for the CG program in PRT, one for the CG program in Commerce and one for the CG program in the […]
TweetDo you remember the Marsh Tacky? If you don’t that’s understandable, because according to House Bill 3825, it "is an almost forgotten breed of horse in our State," despite their having played "a unique and pivotal role in the history of our State." That may sound as though they came up with the idea to […]
TweetSo the House decided to increase the cigarette tax to about a third of the national average? Well, whoop-te-doo. Of course, at least it’s something. And if you’re going to cut a tax with the money, the grocery tax is a far better choice than the income tax, because the former is actually comparatively high, […]
TweetMeanwhile, the House has also been jockeying about with DOT reform. It’s a little harder to tell the good guys from the bad with the game-playing going on in that chamber. Rep. Tracy Edge (the main guy pushing the latest incarnation of PPIC today), put up an amendment Tuesday to abolish the transportation commission and […]
TweetWant some good news for a change? Here’s some: The S.C. House today rejected a bill that would have authorized a "freshman caucus" for the purpose of being wined and dined by lobbyists. That’s exactly what they should have done. Gee, I wonder where they got the idea? Seriously, that’s the second time this session […]
TweetSo that you’ll know where to direct your ire — or your appreciation, in some cases — here’s how S.C. House members voted on whether to close Republican (and other) Caucus meetings to the public: {BC-SC-Closed Meetings-Roll Call,0384}{By The Associated Press}= The 59-52 roll call by which the South Carolina House adopted a Republican-backed plan […]
TweetJust in case you missed, or got whiplash trying to follow, the peremptory manner in which the House threw out the idea of even a modest increase in our lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax, Cindi Scoppe relates a few salient facts about it on today’s editorial page — including the one about how the money would have […]
TweetJust in case today’s column by Associate Editor Cindi Scoppe didn’t quite convince you as to how indefensibly irresponsible the S.C. Legislature was last week in smooching the billboard industry’s big ol’ fat behind, here are two additional pieces of information. The first is Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto message on the billboard bill — a […]