Category Archives: Midlands

Benjamin joins Ogletree, Deakins law firm

Just got this release…

OK, never mind! I was going to copy a couple of grafs out of the release here for your perusal, but it’s a blasted PDF file, and you know how sometimes you can copy text out of a PDF and sometimes you can’t? This is one of those where you can’t, which is another occasion for me to say, as a blogger who values convenience and accessibility in information online…

I FRICKIN’ HATE PDFS, AND DON’T KNOW WHY PEOPLE INSIST UPON USING THEM!!!

OK, that’s out of my system.

Anyway, the release, which you can find here, says that Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, one of the nation’s largest labor and employment law firms, has hired Steve Benjamin effective Aug. 1.

I guess it’s kind of hard keeping a small law firm (Benjamin Law Firm, LLC) going when you’re distracted by the all-consuming “part-time” job of being mayor. Maybe someday we’ll get all grown up and have a full-time mayor in this town, and then the mayor won’t have to make arrangements on the side to feed his family. In the meantime, this kind of move makes sense: Going with a large firm that can afford to give you lots of leeway on your time…

Richland Dems can’t count either!

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Ya gotta love it.

Just now, I received a fund-raising message from Richland County Democrats that boldly asserts in the headline:

Get Active! 99 Days to the Election!

OK, so that means Richland Democrats agree with Nikki Haley, but disagree with Rob Miller, as to how many days there are until the election. Right?

Yo! Boyd! Get a calendar!

Leon Lott’s just saving the world, isn’t he?

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First, my twin, Sheriff Leon Lott, magnanimously agrees to solve one of the city of Columbia’s knottiest problems by taking over its police department.

Now this:

Lott heads to Iraq to train police forces

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has been invited to travel to Iraq to train Iraqi police forces.

The sheriff traveled to Iraq at the invitation of the U.S. Army and the S.C. State Guard where he is a provost marshal, said sheriff’s department spokeswoman Monique Mack. Lott will be at the Iraq Police College for two to three weeks.

While in Iraq, Lott will teach courses in community policing and will talk about the importance of having women on a police force, Mack said.

– Noelle Phillips

Ol’ Leon’s just saving the world, isn’t he? He’s pretty much got my endorsement for his next election sewn up.

Next: Mideast Peace!…

Steve Benjamin’s fast start

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It may look like the mayor is deeply involved in some problem facing the city, but actually he's "taking orders" from his wife./photo by Brad Warthen

Steve Benjamin wants to get a lot done as Columbia’s new mayor, and his first city council meeting is testimony to that: Right off the bat, he’s moving on getting Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott to take over the city’s troubled police department.

That’s real action, and of the sort that the city needs more of.

I dropped by the new mayor’s office yesterday to see how he’s getting along — which was a new experience for me, actually. I never visited Mayor Bob in his office before. (When I was at the paper, I didn’t get out much, and when I did it was usually to the State House, not local gummint offices.) Of course, it was a different office. There was nothing particularly remarkable about this one. It’s bigger than my office at ADCO, but not as well air-conditioned. It’s not as nice as the corner office I had at The State (which had formerly been the publisher’s office). Somewhere in the middle — a Mama Bear office. It had nowhere near the impressive drama of Joe Riley’s office in Charleston. There, the visitor can hardly see The Mayor seated behind his desk and gloriously backlit by a huge cathedral window, letting the visitor know he is in The Presence — which is perfectly appropriate, since I think Mayor Joe is America’s best mayor. Steve had a window behind him, but that was about it.

I mention those details because when I had lunch with ex-Mayor Bob yesterday he referred to an Adam Beam story that Bob felt implied Steve was being grandiose in taking the city manager’s office for himself — but I think Bob was being extra touchy on Steve’s behalf there. I thought Adam’s reference was sort of neutral. In any case, there’s nothing grand about the office.

Anyway, during my visit Steve touched on a number of things he wants to move on, from small to large:

He showed me mockups of highway signs that are to go at all the entrances to Columbia, saying “Welcome to Columbia, Home of the 2010 NCAA College Baseball National Champion University of South Carolina Gamecocks.”
As for his idea about getting the USC Law School to move into the office space formerly occupied by SCANA, “That’s something that I want so bad that I can taste it.” Ideally, a private 3rd party would buy the building and lease it to the university so that it stays on the tax rolls, but if that doesn’t happen it’s not a deal-breaker. He’s working on the USC trustees one at a time, and is finding some support for the move. There are some who still want to build a new building, but the Main Street idea is far more practical, and would do so much to further the continued revitalization of that corridor.
Speaking of which, he wants to get the streetscaping of Main Street finished. He thinks it’s an oversight that that didn’t get into the mix of projects that would be funded by the sales tax increase for transportation that will be on the ballot in November. Beyond that, he has a number of ideas about further enhancing the city center, including — this would be down the line, probably with federal dollars — a restoration of City Hall and a revamp of the space between it and the county courthouse, getting rid of the parking lot and tying the buildings together better.
Trolleys. He wants to bring them back at some point, not as part of the overall transportation strategy, but merely as an aid to tourism. With the convention center up and running and busy and the new convention hotel and the Vista still booming and Main Street coming back, he sees much more potential for the trolleys than was there when the used to ride around empty.
An industrial park. He sees Columbia as badly needing a place to put large businesses if it manages to recruit them. He sees the city as needing something — probably on the south end of town — like the space that the aforementioned SCANA moved to across the river.
Speaking of across the river — he continues to be all about regional cooperation, from the airport to the convention center (which is in need of expansion — we’re losing a lot of conventions for which it is too small, from what I hear). And he doesn’t see that running one way. He wants the city more involved in helping to promote the Lake Murray area and other parts of the Midlands.

He’s restless and ready to get moving. Which is promising.

Nikki’s secret meeting to try to woo business

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Well, this is ironic…

When I was typing this post back here about how Nikki Haley is trying to compensate for the fact that the Chamber backs Vincent Sheheen, I got a call from Henry McMaster. Actually, first I got an e-mail from Trey Walker asking for my phone number, then I got a call from Henry.

What was Henry calling about? Well, let me back up a day…

At the end of Monday’s Columbia Rotary Club meeting, I ran into Henry (he and I are both members) on my way toward the door. It was the first time I had run into him since he lost the primary, and we chatted for a minute about that. He said something about wishing he could roll time back a couple of months, which prompted me to ask him what he would do differently, to which he responded that there really wasn’t anything he could have done to achieve a different result. Too much tumbled Nikki’s way in quick succession — the ReformSC ad, the Sarah Palin endorsement, the wave of sympathy arising from the Will Folks stuff — not to mention having Jenny Sanford out there working for her.

I sensed that Henry was, at least in spirit, not entirely thrilled with his new role as supporter of the GOP nominee. But he’s a good soldier, and he quickly roused himself to do his duty. As I was about to walk away and Crawford Clarkson was approaching, he grabbed my arm and said hey, he wanted to invite me and Crawford to a special meeting on Thursday at noon at the Wilbur Smith building.

He said it was a chance for business people to get answers to the questions they have about Nikki Haley. Nikki will be there to answer them. “And you’re a business man now, right?” he said to me. You betcha, I said.

Questions? At the Wilbur Smith building? Questions like, what did Nikki do for Wilbur Smith for that 40 grand, aside from having “good contacts”? Well… actually, all sorts of questions, Henry said, such as about her position on this bill or that one… I didn’t press him further, because I figured I’d find out Thursday, right?

And the best part? Henry said the media wasn’t being invited. So as a business guy, I’d have a scoop. Nice being a businessman, huh?

That was yesterday.

Today, Henry called me rather flustered. He said it was a “totally closed, no-press event.” That meant somebody like me, who would turn around and write about it (and I would, too), was NOT invited. “They’re right emphatic about it,” he said.

He told me how embarrassed he was, and I knew he was. I thanked him for calling — after asking if our former Rotary president, and president of ADCO, Lanier Jones could go instead of me. Lanier’s a businessman, and he doesn’t blog.

Henry said the meeting was getting really crowded, and he didn’t know, but he’d check.

I feel bad for Henry.

Free Times list: “Cabal That Controls Columbia”

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I’m way busy on deadline for an ADCO project, but in the meantime I thought I’d give y’all something to chew on: The Free Times’ list of “The Secret Cabal That Controls Columbia: The Power Elite in the Capital City.”

First, that publication’s own disclaimer, which takes a bit of the oomph out of the pitch: “OK, first things first: We don’t really think the people on the list that follows constitute a cabal — we just needed a zippy title to get your attention.”

That said, on to the list:

Ben Arnold
Steve Benjamin
Sue Berkowitz
Marvin Chernoff
Bob Coble
Tameika Isaac Devine
Eric Hyman
Alan Kahn
Leon Lott
Darla Moore
Steve Morrison
Cathy Novinger
Tom Prioreschi
The Quinns (Richard and Rick)
Ed Sellers
Rep. James Smith
Ann Timberlake
Jean Toal
Don Tomlin
Jack Van Loan

Well, they certainly got that last one right — my good friend Jack, the Godfather of Five Points. In fact, I really feel like a connected guy reading that list, as I know all but one person on it, and most of them pretty well. With those kinds of connections, I ought to be a mover and shaker myself.

But there are some flaws here. First, not only isn’t this not a “cabal,” but in truth no one “controls” Columbia. And there seem to be omissions from the list. There’s James Smith, but not the other Hardy Boy, Joel Lourie. There’s Eric Hyman, but not Harris Pastides.

But go to the piece, read the explanations, and judge for yourself. And speak out — who is on the list who shouldn’t be, and who isn’t who should?

Big, beautiful balloons in Blythewood

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Should have posted these last night, but didn’t get to it until now. I was reminded when I saw the picture in the paper this morning from the Blythwood Balloons, Blues and Bar-B-Que festival Saturday evening and thought, “That’s a nice picture, but not as beautiful as the ones I took.”

Of course, mine had granddaughters in it, which is an unfair advantage.

I was a little disappointed that the balloons didn’t actually take off, slip the surly bonds and all — at least not while I was there. While I was there, they were tethered and taking folks up and down for short rides. Which was nice, but not as awe-inspiring as a bunch of hot-air balloons floating away.

And it was just the perfect night for it…

Hail the conquering heroes, say the 42,000!

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I have a rather unpleasant trait in common with Mark Sanford: I’m not crazy about crowds, or group enthusiasm. Confronted with such, like our governor, I tend to make ironic or disparaging remarks. So it was that while waiting for the triumphal procession to begin on Main Street today, I grumbled about the helicopter hovering directly overhead that to my ear was becoming as obnoxious as a neighbor’s leaf blower, and wondered whether Ray Tanner would have anyone whispering in his ear as he passed, “Respica te, hominem te memento” or “Memento mori.”

Which, let’s face it, is obnoxious on my part. Definitely not one of my best traits, as my wife, who has heard a surfeit of such, can attest.

So it was that I was happy to have my grouchiness dissolve once the parade got under way, as I remembered once again how thrilling the victory was the other night. Talk about your contact high. This really was a wonderful communal event for our state, and for Columbia. Did you notice the glorious goofiness of EVERYBODY, including the ballplayers, being so busy taking pictures that nobody seemed to stop just to experience the event? That was understandable. Nobody wanted to forget this. It was that special.

And by the end, even I was in just as good a mood as everyone else. And as I walked back to the office with ADCO President Lanier Jones, I heartily agreed as he marveled at the tremendous juxtaposition of things to celebrate:

The new mayor’s inauguration, an exciting new beginning for Columbia.
The tremendous victory of our National Champion Gamecock baseball team.
The start of the July Fourth weekend.
The beautiful weather, which was far, far more pleasant than we have any right to expect in Columbia in July.

Actually, Lanier didn’t mention that last one; I added it on my own. Aren’t you proud of me?

Beyond that I’ll add this: Have you ever seen that many people assembled downtown for something so unquestionably positive for our city and state? (Something I heard a number of people marveling at.) This was a very special moment.

And how many were there? I just got the official estimate from our new mayor: 42,000 people were there today!

Huzzay, Gamecocks!

Cayce Mayor Elise Partin’s fund-raiser

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The reception occurred during a rainstorm, and once or twice we lost lights -- which made for some moody photos. That's Mayor Partin in the pool of light at right, listening to a supporter./Brad Warthen

On Tuesday night I dropped by a fund-raiser for Cayce Mayor Elise Partin, who’s up for election this year, to see who was there and stuff.

As it happened, I missed the mayor’s announcement of a grant for the Airport Corridor project she’s worked so hard on — to beautify the gateway to the Midlands and give a better impression to visitors. It’s typical of the way she works not only to improve her town, but the whole region. Which is why I hope she gets re-elected. The promise I saw when we endorsed her two years ago seems to be bearing out.

Since I missed her remarks, I didn’t have much substance for a post beyond noting who was there at the reception in the new Southern First Bank building (I didn’t want to ask the mayor to repeat it all for me that night; she needed to spend time with her guests). For the rest I had to wait for a press release, which I just got today.

As to who was there, here are some of the names:

Lexington County Sheriff James Metts (apparently Leon Lott was there, too, but I missed him)
former Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler
Mayor Bobby Horton of West Columbia
Mayor Pat Smith of Springdale
County Councilwoman Debbie Summers
County Councilman Bill Banning (my own councilman and neighbor)
Home Builders Association of Greater Columbia Executive Director Earl McLeod

And close to 150 others. Seemed to me like she had a pretty good cross-section.

Here’s the press release:

CAYCE, SC Nearly 150 residents, friends and supporters ignored the June 29 summer storm to come to Southern First Bank to meet their Mayor, Elise Partin. It was a kickoff fundraiser for Partin’s re-election campaign, though the Mayor herself preferred to call it a “friendraiser.”

Justin Strickland, Southern First president, joined by some prominent Cayce residents and area elected officials, hosted the event and encouraged everyone’s continued support of Partin. “She just burst on the scene a year and half ago and she hasn’t slowed down since,” Strickland said. “She really cares about businesses and individuals and wants to make Cayce the best place to be in South Carolina. We need to keep Elise Partin in office!”

Partin addressed the crowd and reminded them of her original campaign promises. “In less than two years we managed to accomplish or begin to address just about every element of that platform,” she said. Flanked by Mayors Bobby Horton and Pat Smith (West Columbia and Springdale, respectively), Partin pointed to one success in particular. “I’m happy to announce that Cayce, West Columbia, Springdale and Lexington County came together with the support of the rest of the Midlands to work on the Airport Corridor – the gateway to the Midlands. And I am also happy to announce that we just got approval for a Department of Transportation grant to
get started on that improvement!”

Mayor Horton and Mayor Smith both spoke on Partin’s behalf and urged supporters and volunteers to keep her in office. Partin promised she would continue to work on issues such as:

Ensuring fiscal responsibility and guaranteeing open communication and transparency

Fortifying Cayce neighborhoods to continue to attract business

Prioritizing the public infrastructure investments – sidewalks, drainage, safety and more so that we can improve the quality of life in Cayce.

“My family and I love Cayce,” she said. “It is my privilege to serve you and I am humbled by your support for my leadership. It motivates me even more to work with you, for you.”

For more information on Mayor Elise Partin, visit her website: www.elisepartin.com, find her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter @elisepartin.

Gene Partin; Justin Strickland, President Southern First Bank; Sheriff James Metts; and Elise Partin, Mayor of Cayce. /courtesy of Partin campaign

The Benjamin inaugural breakfast

Whoa! On his last day, Mayor Bob bites back

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There has been little love lost between Mayor Bob Coble (who today becomes former Mayor Bob Coble) and Kevin Fisher since Kevin ran against him several years ago.

So it is that there is some sharp criticism of Bob in Kevin’s column about his departure from office. Sharp, but not out of bounds. In fact, much of it is written with the same crusty, edgy sort of good will that went into his column about me when I left the paper. I enjoyed his column about me, but then, I’m in the political criticism business. (Also, I was a couple of sheets to the wind from free beer when I read it, at Goatfeathers on the night that I left the paper.) I can enjoy a column for being well-done, even if it isn’t exactly hagiographic. In fact, I’d probably object if ol’ Kevin started to put a halo on me.

Bob responds in a way that makes me smile because of the irony of it. Part of Kevin’s criticism of him is that Mayor Bob was TOO nice. Oh yeah, says Bob?, and responds by giving him some sharp elbows in this letter to the editor:

Dear Editor,

Kevin Fisher writes in his latest op ed piece that, “everybody likes Mayor Bob. I know I do. And he knows I do. Moreover, I dare say he likes me.” – Kevin Fisher City Watch (Sept. 5, 2007). I do like Kevin. Moreover, I admire Kevin for his political courage. If I had gotten the number of votes he received in the last two City elections after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money, I would have been too embarrassed to keep writing those columns in The Free Times. But Kevin, despite the humiliation and complete rejection by the voters, soldiers on with “Joe Azar” like determination. He is one tough hombre.

I’m gonna miss this repartee between these two wacky kids…

Everybody wants to party with Steve

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Just got this from Steve Benjamin:

Dear Friends,

We woud like to issue a correction. Due to overwhelming response, the Township Auditorium’s Box Office has completely sold out of free tickets.

We apologize and hope that everyone will not only come out to the One Columbia Inaugural Gala but the other events that we have planned for this.

Guess I’ll leave the tux in the closet. But I am going to the breakfast tomorrow morning.

By the way, did you know that Steve has his own official emblem as mayor-elect, a la Obama? Not something I’d want to make a big deal of, but I thought it worth a mention. I liked Obama (and still do), so I only made gentle fun of his seal at the time. I like Steve, too, and have great hopes for Columbia’s future with him as mayor. I really think he’ll do well. But the seal… while it’s nothing much to look at (he shoulda come to ADCO if he wanted something snazzy), it does seem a tad pretentious. Or is it just me?

The Midlands Aviation Summit today

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Went to the Midlands Aviation Summit today at the convention center, which was the community’s chance to hear airport consultant Michael Boyd of Boyd Group International (above) assessing the state of, and future prospects for, Columbia Metropolitan Airport.

As you can see below, there was a pretty decent turnout of concerned folks. They ran the gamut from professional ecodevo types from the Chamber, the Midlands Alliance and Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports & Tourism to business travelers with a beef about the cost of parking at CAE.

Some main points from what he said:

“That scraping sound is not an iceberg.” The fact that Southwest chose Charleston and Greenville and not Columbia is not a huge deal. Southwest is what it is, and he doesn’t see it as the cure for Columbia’s ills. It’s not “the giant sucking sound.”
While we might have challenges with fares and losing passengers to Charlotte, for business purposes CAE provides what Columbia needs — connections to where business travelers need to be.
Main thing travel into and out of Columbia needs to be is reliable, to not have our flights be among those that get canceled when there’s a rainstorm.
Airlines don’t care about our civic enthusiasm. They don’t want to view cute or pleading videos. Don’t send them the mayor. What they care about is whether they’re going to make any money, because nobody’s taking risks these days.
No, don’t start your own airline. Air South? “We don’t talk about that in polite society.”
What can civic-minded folks who want to see the airport grow as a boost to the local economy DO? Check out the local airport first. Don’t assume it can’t meet your needs. Give it a chance.
We just don’t have enough traffic — enough passengers on big enough airplanes — to bring down fares. When someone pointed out that smaller airports such as Florence and Augusta have lower fares, he said he had no idea why. “I used to be in airline pricing, so I have no understanding of it whatsoever.”
The cost of parking is not a problem.

On that last one I had to challenge him. When he said “Nobody cares about the cost of parking,” several people around me muttered, “I care.” I told him that, and also told him that I hear all the time from people who have run the numbers, and come out ahead paying for the gas to drive to Charlotte and park there. I added that even if it didn’t make sense, even if it were totally irrational, it would still be a real problem we had to deal with. Airport Executive Director Dan Mann told me afterward that he gets it. Perception is reality.

(It occurs to me that next time local governments want to invest money in boosting air travel, rather than starting an airline, maybe they could help the airport lower those parking costs. I realize it’s based on the need to pay for the capital investment, but maybe there’s some way to restructure the debt. Or something.)

On the lower pricing in Augusta and Florence… I was glad someone brought that up, and somewhat disappointed he couldn’t tell us why that was the case. But it occurs to me that there must be some reason, his joke about the illogical nature of pricing aside. And if we could find out that reason, and apply it here, it would help.

Based on what Mr. Boyd said and a brief conversation with Dan Mann after the presentation, the thinking seems to be that Columbia’s best chance for expansion of air service lies with Delta, not USAirways. So our local economic developers in the air transportation field are likely to be looking more to Atlanta, less to Charlotte.

That huge, gigantic, enormous Confederate Flag rally Saturday

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Just now I was cleaning up the storage card on my Blackberry (a.k.a., my Double-Naught Spy Camera), and I ran across this shot I took at the intersection of Main and Gervais at 1:17 p.m. Saturday.

This was the huge rally to support the Confederate flag on the North lawn of the State House.

What rally, you ask? Well, it’s right there in front of you. Look about 50 feet past the monument — see that knot of flags back there? All clumped up together? What you can’t see too well in this low-res photo is that they are all massed together in front of a camera, with the State House steps behind them, trying to make it look on camera as though the lawn is just PACKED with Confederate flag supporters. At least, that’s what it looked like was happening from where I was. Maybe there was something else on that tripod, I don’t know.

Best part of this picture? I think, based on his comments here, that that’s our own Michael Rodgers counterdemonstrating in the foreground (in the red shirt), being confronted by what I think is a counter-counter-demonstrator, but I didn’t stick around to find out, because the light turned green.

In my day, I’ve seen some flag rallies. I’ve seen some pretty big pro-flag gatherings, that fairly filled the space before the steps, with re-enactors and all sorts of pomp — groups numbering three or four thousand. And of course, I’ve seen the historic King Day at the Dome in 2000, when 60,000 gathered to say take it down.

And therefore, I can say without fear of contradiction, this was pathetic.

Today begins the great Convergence!

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Folks getting ready for ConvergeSE at ADCO last night. You'll note that I am, indeed, the only one around here who dresses like a Mad Man./Brad Warthen

No, I am not the Keymaster, and I am not awaiting the Gatekeeper. This convergence is a little less cosmic, but only a little.

I mentioned yesterday that I’m working at ADCO. Well, today things are fairly quiet here because the ADCO Interactive folks are over at ETV hosting a series of extremely advanced workshops in Web development and convergence and other mysterious new media stuff. These confabs are being conducted by some of the leading kahunas on the forefront of new media.

I’d be over there, except Gene Crawford (the jefe of ADCO Interactive) told me it would all be over my head. I am, however, allowed to attend the speeches that will be given tomorrow over at the Swearingen Center. Supposedly, they’ll talk down enough to me for me, a mere blogger, to follow.

If you want to know more about this event, check out the Web site. Or if that’s too inconvenient, here’s an excerpt from the press release:

ConvergeSE 2010 is intended for Web designers and developers, business executives, marketing professionals, content creators and students. Whether you’re a seasoned expert or a newcomer to the Web, you’re sure to discover something that will spark your creativity and get you motivated.

The conference, a southeastwide expansion of last year’s successful ConvergeSC, will feature such speakers as Neil Patel of Crazy Egg and Kissmetrics, Kevin Hale of Wufoo, Robert Tolar Haining of Condé Nast Digital, Aarron Walter of MailChimp and Brandon Eley of brandoneley.com.

The conference “will take you from front-end design to the development technologies used to build websites and web apps, then also help you learn strategies to sell your services or application as well as build community around it,” says organizer Gene Crawford of unmatchedstyle.com and period-three.com. “It’s that well rounded, multi-disciplinary approach to Converge that makes it a little unique I think. We give each speaker 30 minutes to get their point across and then it’s off to another topic, fast and furious.”

Who should attend ConvergeSE 2010? “Anyone who works with the web or on the web,” said Crawford. Which today means pretty much anybody.

When and Where is it?
Friday, June 25, 8 am-5 pm, Workshop Day
ETV
1041 George Rogers Boulevard

Saturday, June 25, 8 am-5pm, Conference Day
University of south Carolina
Amoco Hall
Swearingen Engineering Center
301 Main Street

How can the “Queen City” be manlier than us?

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Yeah, I know that some of you pantywaist grammar-merchants out there will say that should be “manlier than we,” but it just doesn’t sound manly enough that way.

Anyway, you’ve probably heard the shocking news by now:

CHARLOTTE, NC (WIS) – Columbia is one of America’s manliest cities, according to the maker of Combos snacks, but our neighbors to the north are apparently even brawnier — “The Queen City” may be Charlotte’s nickname, but the city now wears a new crown as America’s Manliest City.

Charlotte took the top spot in the 2010 rankings released by Mars, Inc., improving one spot from the 2009 second place finish. Columbia came in at number 13, no change from last year’s rating.

The ranking process uses criteria like the number of home improvement stores, steak houses, pickup trucks and motorcycles per capita. There was also a new category this year which tracked “manly” occupations like firefighters, police officers, construction workers and EMT personnel.

Last year’s rankings were based on criteria such as number of professional sports teams, popularity of power tools, and frequency of monster truck rallies.

There’s just no justice in the world. Just makes you want to punch somebody’s lights out, doesn’t it? And if it doesn’t, well… maybe you’re part of the problem here.

Let’s work on this, people. All together now, “I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK…“

Results mystify in the two runoffs worth watching

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I was way tired last night after going to Charleston and back and then swinging by a couple of watch parties, so no posting about runoff results.

But then, I didn’t have much to say. There was nothing to say about Nikki Haley because we knew she was going to win. Even the historic news of Tim Scott becoming the first black Republican nominated to Congress from SC since Reconstruction was anticlimactic; we had fully expected him to win big as well.

The suspense was with the lawyers — in the GOP attorney general’s race on the statewide level and Democratic solicitor’s race locally. And the results on both was disappointing.

Leighton Lord was clearly the stronger candidate for attorney general. Alan Wilson is a fine young man (and his wife is a friend from church and from the news biz), but come on — he’s been a lawyer 7 years. I’ve got a kid who’s been a lawyer almost exactly that long. Lord was the managing partner of a large law firm, a man at the peak of his career, admitted to practice before the Supreme Court, and so on and so forth. There just was no contest. If you were a rational employer choosing between these two applicants for such a senior position as attorney general, it wouldn’t take you more than a couple of seconds to choose Lord.

John Meadors was just as clearly better-qualified to be solicitor, something he has amply demonstrated over the course of 23 years of able service as a prosecutor. Yes, Dan Johnson had such experience too, but less of it. I see that Rep. James Smith had endorsed him. I’m having lunch with James tomorrow and maybe he can explain it. But with the endorsements Meadors had, including that of the third candidate in the primary, plus the fact that his team included Joey Opperman, who helped run such an effective runoff campaign for Steve Benjamin, made me think he’d win this one. (Plus, he advertised on this blog, which is usually a clincher.) But he didn’t.

After the Alvin Greene debacle, my faith in democracy has been a bit shaken. While these two instances are nowhere near as bad as that case — not within light years of it — I’m struck again at how whimsical election results can sometimes be. And this year, seemingly, more than most. Yeah, I know about the narrative of “less experience is better” this year, but that is so irrational, so positively childish, that I look for better reasons for the voters to have for the decisions that they make. I wonder: Was Leighton Lord too aristocratic, too “born to rule” seeming for an electorate in the hunt for the common touch (which is related to “experience is bad,” but not quite the same)? If so, why go with the son of a congressman? Was Meadors’ loss as simple as “the black guy won” (even though Meadors had plenty of visible black support)? Let’s hope not.

Anyway, at this point the only thing to do is congratulate Dan Johnson and hope he’ll be a great solicitor — since solicitor he will be, with no GOP opposition. And to give Alan Wilson a more conditional congratulations, and begin to focus on the contest to come in the fall against Democrat Matthew Richardson.

Two happy customers of bradwarthen.com

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Steve Benjamin and Seth Rose before Columbia Rotary Club meeting.

Steve Benjamin and Seth Rose before the Columbia Rotary Club meeting.

A good time was had by all at the Columbia Rotary Club today.

First, I got to sit with the lovely Shop Tart, whom our own Kathryn Fenner introduced to the Club as the authoress of her “second favorite blog.” I’m sure the Tart was suitably flattered.

Kathryn also introduced the main speaker, Columbia Mayor-Elect Steve Benjamin. Who, to beat a cliche within an inch of its undeserving life, actually needed no introduction, since he’s a member of our club.

Anyway, Steve said a lot of good stuff. And I was reminded of a reason I was glad he was elected: When asked about such delicate matters as whether he’s for a strong-mayor form or government or for the Midlands Housing Alliance’s effort, he comes right out and says he supports them. Which is a level of risk-taking we haven’t seen at City Hall. Here’s hoping the gamble pays off for us all.

Finally, quick, what do the recent electoral winners pictured above have in common, aside from the fact that they’re both members of my Rotary Club? That’s right: The thing that MAKES them both winners is that they both advertised on bradwarthen.com.

Hey, that’s my theory, and it fits the available facts…

Tech system funding, by the numbers

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A little more perspective on the governor’s three vetoes of Technical College operational funding, courtesy of Midlands Tech President Sonny White, who spoke to the Columbia Rotary Club this afternoon. (He only mentioned the vetoes in passing; I got the rest from him in an interview afterward.)

When the Technical College system was founded at the behest of Gov. Fritz Hollings (who got the Legislature to go along by buying Sen. Edgar Brown a bottle of bourbon and helping him drink it, which shows that in an altered state of consciousness at least, our lawmakers can be forward looking), the system was paid for thusly:

70 percent of funding came from the state
10 percent came from the counties served by the 16 schools — this went to physical plant and other local operating costs
10 percent came from students — which made sense, since this was about providing a bright future to folks who did not already have good income
10 percent came from auxiliary services such as bookstores and the like

In the 2011 fiscal year, the breakdown will be:

70 percent will come from students — some of it from Pell Grants and lottery-funded scholarships, but it will still be up to the students to find the way to come up with it
10 percent from the state — which is just so many different kinds of pitiful that it defies words
10 percent from counties — Sonny expressed his appreciation that counties have at least kept their part of the bargain over the years.
10 percent from auxiliary services.

Oh, and by the way, the technical system has seen a 20 percent increase in enrollment during this period in which unemployment has hovered around 12 percent.

So now you know.

Some background on Sanford’s tech system vetoes

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You may have seen a piece in The State today by Otie Rawl regarding governor’s vetoes of funding for the S.C. Technical College system. (This may be the only place you’ve seen mention of this in the MSM).

Let me give you some numbers to add to your perspective on this particular outrage of the governor’s.

Basically, the governor was looking for $4 million. What he wanted to do initially was ReadySC. As Sonny White, Midlands Tech president, ‘splained to me this afternoon, ReadySC is the entity at the heart of South Carolina’s ability to tell industrial prospects — the example he gave was Boeing — that yes, we’ll be able to train your workforce for you. To explain to you what the governor apparently doesn’t understand, here’s what ReadySC does:

As an integral part of the SC Technical College System, The Center for Accelerated Technology Training and its readySC™ program work together with the 16 Technical Colleges to prepare South Carolina’s workforce to meet the needs of your company.

Established in 1961, readySC™ is one of the oldest and most experienced workforce training programs in the United States. We are ready to bring this experience and expertise to work for your company.

We are ready to quickly and successfully start up your new facility.

We are ready to help you seamlessly expand your existing facility.

We are ready to discover the skills, knowledge and abilities needed at your facility.

We are ready to design new and innovative training solutions customized specifically for your needs.

We are ready to respond to your time frames and deadlines no matter how tight.

We are ready to deliver world-class training and project management.

The Center’s new moniker — readySC™ — sums up perfectly our message to

companies that are considering a relocation or expansion in South Carolina.

We are ready!

As Sonny explained to me, the problem is that the governor simply doesn’t believe that the technical colleges should be involved in economic development. Let me say that again: Our governor (Nikki Haley’s guiding light) does not believe that the technical college system — which was created under Gov. Fritz Hollings as an economic development tool — should be involved in economic development.

The good news is that Sanford was talked out of this, by ecodevo types like Otie Rawl, according to Dr. White.

But the governor still wanted his $4 million. Fine. So he took it out of administration for the 16 technical colleges. He said that the three biggest colleges — Midlands Tech being one — should provide administrative services for the other 13.

Fine, says Sonny. But there’s no plan to do that, no authorizing legislation, no nothing — except the governor’s airy wish that it come into being.