Category Archives: South Carolina

Dwight Drake’s running! What an election this is shaping up to be…

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What an election year 2010 is turning out to be!

You know the wild rumors that led to me being asked whether I was running for governor, at the behest of Jim Hodges and Dick Harpootlian? Apparently, the candidate that rumor was really about was Dwight Drake. (UPDATE: Jim Hodges just told me he’s not backing Dwight or any other gubernatorial candidate — yet.) This is not as shocking an idea as it being ME, but it’s still pretty wild and surprising. Dwight’s done well — very well — working the corridors of power without being the front man, so this is quite a step for him.

Dwight dealt with the Legislature for Dick Riley, and has been doing the same for clients, ranging from Big Tobacco to the high school girl who sued over the stimulus (in that latter case, the aforementioned Dick H. was his co-counsel), ever since.

In fact, if you drew a spectrum of political figures in terms of their effectiveness with lawmakers and put Mark Sanford on one end, Dwight would be on the other. He’s the anti-Mark Sanford, whether you see that as good or bad.

FYI, here’s his bio from the official Nelson Mullins Web site:

Dwight F. Drake is a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Columbia where his practice focuses on government relations, legislative issues, and disputes involving government contracts. Maintaining an active litigation practice, Mr. Drake regularly argues before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court.

Since joining the firm in 1983, Mr. Drake has been at the forefront of every significant issue considered by the South Carolina General Assembly — from tort reform to the Economic Development Bond Act. Additionally, he has held numerous positions in firm leadership and management.

In 1981, Mr. Drake was named Lawyer of the Year in Government by American Lawyer, and he is widely recognized for his prominent role in governmental and political arenas. Mr. Drake has twice received The Order of the Palmetto, the highest honor bestowed by a Governor of South Carolina. Mr. Drake’s successful litigation practice led to his selection as a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, and his advocacy skills are valued by legislative and litigation clients alike.

Mr. Drake served as a member of the Hodges for Governor Transition Committee. Prior to joining the firm, he served as Executive Assistant for Legislative and Political Affairs for South Carolina Governor Richard W. Riley. Mr. Drake served as legal counsel to South Carolina Governor John C. West.

In 1972, Mr. Drake earned a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law where he was president of the Student Bar Association and held membership in Phi Delta Phi and the National Moot Court Team. Mr. Drake earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Georgia in 1967.

Later today, I’m going to a fund-raiser for Jim Rex, and see what’s going on there. But it’s clear that this election is shaping up as the opposite of 2006 for Democrats. Then, no viable candidate stepped forward, and that party ended up with Tommy Moore. This year, you have have a statewide name in Rex, an idealistic young reformer in Sheheen, and the ultimate get-it-done guy Drake. Meanwhile, the party is keeping up a steady pounding on the likely GOP candidates, hitting them with Sanford like battleships softening up the beach with artillery before an amphibious landing.

2010 is going to be very different for South Carolina.

Oh, and just so you have all the details, here’s Dwight’s announcement:

Dwight Drake Announces Run for Governor to Get South Carolina Working Again

Drake Led Efforts to Bring BMW to State and Protect Public School Funding,
Will Keep Working for Jobs and Education as Governor

COLUMBIA – Dwight Drake, an attorney and experienced public servant with a long record of fighting for job creation and improved public education, announced today that he will run for Governor of South Carolina as a Democrat in the 2010 election. Drake announced his candidacy in a video emailed to voters across the state and posted at http://www.DwightDrake.com.  [NOTE FOR TV PRODUCERS: Broadcast-quality versions of the video are available for digital download at http://www.box.net/DrakeAnnouncement .]

“We need to get South Carolina working again,” said Drake. “The past eight years have been wasted, and South Carolina is now first in unemployment in the South.  Mark Sanford made a lot of news when he disappeared this year, but he’s been AWOL on jobs since the day he took office.

“I know from my experience working with two Governors who made education and jobs their priorities – John West and Dick Riley – and working to bring BMW to South Carolina, what it takes to create good-paying jobs in our state.”

Drake has been a tireless advocate on behalf of education and job creation in South Carolina.  He headed up the successful, bipartisan effort to attract BMW to locate in South Carolina and later to expand their operations in the state, resulting in more than 15,000 new jobs for South Carolinians.

Drake also helped lead Choose Children First, a coalition of business leaders, lawmakers, and supporters of public education who came together to defeat Governor Mark Sanford’s attempt to drain money away from public schools with a voucher program.

Most recently, Drake represented South Carolina students Casey Edwards and Justin Williams in their legal fight to force Governor Sanford to accept federal funds for economic recovery and to put that funding to work for South Carolina’s public schools.  Both students appear in Drake’s announcement video and speak about the work he did to make their victory possible.

Drake’s years in public service include serving as legal counsel to former Governor John West and as former Governor Dick Riley’s top legislative aide, where he helped pass landmark legislation, including the Education Improvement Act, as well as efforts supporting early childhood development and state government reform.

Drake’s first priority as Governor will be bringing jobs to the state, after years of neglect by Governor Sanford.

“The first thing a Governor should do when he wakes up in the morning is think, ‘What can I do today to bring good jobs to South Carolina?'” said Drake.  “And the last thing he should do at night is ask himself, ‘Did I do enough today on jobs?’

“My mother and father taught me always to tell the truth and do my best.  Well, the truth is we’re not doing our best in South Carolina.  That’s why I’ve decided to run for Governor.”

Dwight Drake is a native of Spartanburg County, where his father worked in the mills and Drake joined him to help pay for his college education.  He is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, and he earned his law degree from the University of South Carolina.  Drake lives in Columbia with his wife Beth, a federal prosecutor, and their two daughters, Marshall, 12, and Eliza, 9.

Drake will hold a press conference call at 1:00pm TODAY to discuss the announcement of his candidacy for Governor.

Steve Benjamin’s announcement

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FYI, here’s the official word I got from Steve Benjamin today:

Dear Friend,

I am running for mayor of Columbia, and I want you to be among the first to know.

In the city elections just eight months away, we will face a clear choice – change or more of the same in Columbia.  As a business leader, a resident of Columbia for over twenty years, and a member of dozens of community boards, I have dedicated my life to bringing about real and dramatic change in my community.  That’s what I intend to do as the next mayor of our state’s capital city. I’ll focus on bringing people together, and, when necessary, blowing past the bureaucracy and holding people accountable.

I hope you will join our campaign to change the way our city does business.

The single most important priority right is creating and attracting jobs. With all that Columbia has to offer, we should be doing better than the rest of the country when it comes to jobs – not trailing behind. And we can’t be content with just creating jobs in one part of the city. Every neighborhood is important and has a role to play, and each neighborhood deserves our attention.

My plan will turn Columbia around by focusing on the basics:

•    Making sure Columbia is open and friendly to business and to create new jobs for the future.
•    Bringing accountability, transparency and fiscal responsibility to City Hall.
•    Cutting wasteful spending and turning our city’s deficit into a balanced budget.
•    Getting our first responders the resources they need.
•    Teaming up with law enforcement to crack down on gang violence and keeping our families and businesses safe from crime.
•    Listening to the needs of every community in our city.

I will be a strong mayor, demanding results and accepting responsibility for what happens in our city.

I invite you to visit us online by clicking here. Be sure to sign up to receive campaign developments and strategy updates. Our full website is in the works and will be unveiled soon.

I look forward to sharing my ideas and vision with you over the coming months, and I welcome your input, your suggestions, your prayers, and your support.

Thank you, and let’s get to work.


Steve Benjamin

For more information, here’s what The State had on Steve’s candidacy today, and here’s the column I wrote on the subject shortly before I left the aforementioned newspaper. I made James Joyce allusions and everything…

This year’s worst idea: Lowering the drinking age

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Something I almost posted just before leaving for PA Sunday, but didn’t have time… Reacting to this story in The State Sunday morning:

South Carolina’s legal drinking age could return to 18 for the first time in more than 25 years if two recent court rulings in Richland and Aiken counties are upheld on appeal.

Longtime Richland County Magistrate Mel Maurer on July 15 ruled that the state law prohibiting youths ages 18 through 20 from possessing or consuming liquor was unconstitutional. The current legal drinking age is 21.

On July 23, Aiken County Chief Magistrate Rodger Edmonds ruled that law and a similar law involving the possession and consumption of beer and wine in the 18-20 age group were unconstitutional.

Actually, I did post something about it on Twitter, and it caused a discussion on Facebook — not about what the law IS, but about what it should be.

There were the mature-minded folk (of course) who agreed with me that letting kids drink was a particularly horrible idea, and jeers and protests from the Party Hearty crowd. I heard the usual non-sequitur arguments, such as, if they’re old enough to fight for their country, etc. Folks, the two things have nothing to do with each other. The qualifications to be a soldier and those required to handle drinking responsibly are not the same — entirely different skill set. Ditto with voting. You might be qualified to do all three, but you might not. There’s no cause-and-effect relationship there.

Having been an 18-year-old who could drink legally I know whereof I speak — this is a HORRIBLE idea. And I marvel that anyone could advocate for it. It just can’t be rationalized in any way that is persuasive.

Oh, and while I’m at it, 16-year-olds shouldn’t be driving.

Anyway, Joe McCulloch says we need to amend the constitution if we want drinking by 18-year-olds to remain illegal. Let’s get started. Anybody have a petition? I’ll sign it.

Graham takes road less traveled, again

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As you know, I appreciate politicians who run against type, who defy the boxes that the idiots who guide the incessant partisan wars demand that they stay within.

For instance, I like Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania for the simple fact that he’s a pro-life Democrat. He refuses to fit in the narrow little box.

And that means I like Lindsey Graham a lot, because he’s all about thinking an issue through and trying to do the right thing rather than what partisanship demands.

He did it again today:

Date: 07/28/2009

The right vote for me and, I believe, the country

by Senator Lindsey Graham

Today, I voted in the Senate Judiciary Committee for Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court.  I understand the path of least resistance for me would be to vote no.  But I feel compelled to vote yes.  This is the right vote for me and, I believe, the country.  Here’s why:

Elections Have Consequences
I told Judge Sotomayor in the Judiciary Committee hearing that if Senator McCain had won the election, she probably would not have been nominated.  Senator McCain would have chosen a qualified jurist with a more conservative background – someone similar to Chief Justice John Roberts or Miguel Estrada.  Judge Sotomayor is definitely a more liberal judge than a Republican president would have nominated, but elections have consequences.

Judge Sotomayor is Very Qualified
Judge Sotomayor is one of the most qualified nominees to be selected for the Supreme Court in decades. She has seventeen years of judicial experience, twelve of those on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.  I have reviewed her record closely.  She follows precedent and has not been an activist judge that would disqualify her from office.  She has demonstrated left-of-center reasoning but within the mainstream – a fact other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have openly acknowledged.

She has an outstanding background as a lawyer. She was a prosecutor for four years in New York. Her record of academic achievement is extraordinary – growing up under very difficult circumstances, being raised by a single mother, going to Princeton, being picked as the top student there, and doing an extraordinary job in law school at Yale.  She has received the highest rating of ‘well qualified’ by the American Bar Association for her nomination to the Supreme Court, which was an important reason why I supported Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

The “Obama Standard” – Wrong for the Nation and Judiciary
One of the things I chose not to do was to use the “Obama Standard” when it came to casting my vote.

As Senator, Barack Obama voted against both Justices Roberts and Alito.  He used the rationale that they were well qualified, extraordinarily intellectually gifted, but the last mile in the confirmation process was the heart.  He argued that in the final five percent of controversial cases that may change society, a Senator needs to look and see what is in a judge’s heart.

I totally reject this line of reasoning.  It runs contrary to more than 200 years of the Senate’s constitutionally-mandated role of providing “advice and consent” for judicial nominees.

If the Senate moves to a Barack Obama-style confirmation process where we explore another person’s heart, we are going to drive people away from wanting to become members of the judiciary.  Who would want to come before the Senate and have us try to figure out what is in his or her heart?  Can you imagine the questions that would be asked?  It will have a tremendously negative effect on the future recruitment of qualified candidates to be judges.

Also, one thing to note about Judge Sotomayor was that during the Judiciary Committee hearings on her nomination – she publicly disagreed with this “Obama Standard.”  She made it clear that trying to decipher what was in a nominee’s heart is not a good standard for selecting judges.

Return to the “Qualification Standard” for Supreme Court Nominees
I believe the Senate and nation should once again go back to the judicial standard for Supreme Court nominees which served our country well for over 200 years – the “Qualification Standard.”  Are the nominees qualified?  Do they have good character?  Do they present an extraordinary circumstance – having something about their life that would make them extraordinary – to the point they would be unqualified, e.g. they are related to the president or they tried to bribe someone for the position?

There was a time in this country, not long ago, where a conservative judge, such as Justice Antonin Scalia, received a 98-0 vote from the Senate.  Every Democrat who voted for Justice Scalia could not have been fooled as to what they were getting.  They were supporting an extremely qualified, talented, intellectual man who was qualified for the job but had a conservative philosophy different from most Democrats.

There was a time in this country where a Justice, such as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is clearly left-of-center, received a nearly-unanimous vote in the Senate.  Republicans who voted for Justice Ginsburg had to know what they were getting.  They were supporting someone who was very talented, extremely well-qualified, and incredibly smart – but who was also general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.  They knew her liberal philosophy but understood that President Clinton had won the election and earned the right to make the nomination.

What happened to those days?

The Balance of the Court Does Not Change
On balance, I do not believe the Supreme Court will dramatically change in terms of ideology due to her selection.  Justice Souter, whom I respect as an individual, has been far more liberal than I would prefer. Quite frankly, on some issues, Judge Sotomayor may be more balanced in her approach than Justice Souter, particularly when it comes to the War on Terror, the use of international law, and potentially the Second Amendment.

Judge Sotomayor received the backing of Ken Starr, the conservative special prosecutor during the Clinton Administration.  Even critics such as conservative commentator and radio talk show host Bill Bennett have made positive statements about her nomination.

Bennett told CNN, “Let me make a prediction. I’m actually probably a little more conservative than Mitch McConnell. I think this will be a very different record than David Souter’s. I think she (will) surprise people. I think she is larger than this caricature of her… I think this is going to be an interesting judge, and not one who will always displease conservatives.”

I am not voting for her believing I know how she will decide a case.  I expect she will align with the liberal side of the court based on philosophy not because she is a judicial activist.

I am voting for her because I find her to be well-qualified, because elections matter, because I believe the “Obama Standard” is harmful to the judiciary, and because the people who have served along her side for many years find an extraordinary woman in Judge Sotomayor.  I found the same.

As a member of the minority party in the Senate, I have a responsibility to look hard at the nominees sent to the Senate by President Obama.  Where I can, I will support his nominees.  But I will not abandon the right to say no.  I will not abandon the right to stop, in an extraordinary circumstance, a nominee who is bad for the country and unworthy of being confirmed.  But Judge Sotomayor does not rise to that standard and for that reason I chose to support her nomination.

I would not have chosen her if I had been able to make the nomination.  But I understand why President Obama chose her, and I believe it is the right choice to vote for her confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Sen. Graham is one of those people — like Joe Lieberman — who causes me to think harder about a position if I find myself disagreeing with him, because I know he’s thought really hard about it. And he’s a really smart guy.

So after today, I would have to have really powerful reasons to oppose Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination. On the one hand we have partisan Democrats, who we know will vote for her without thinking. On the other hand we have partisan Republicans, who will oppose her without thinking. Then we have Lindsey Graham, who I know has studied the matter carefully — a lot more so than I have (I’m busy looking for a job), which of course is what representative democracy is all about — and decided to vote for her. To me, that means a lot more than just one senator’s vote.

If Sanford wants to change the subject, here’s an idea: Do some actual work

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So we learned the following about our governor in this morning’s paper:

The governor made his first actual public appearance since he started putting out his weekly schedule. It was a staged event to dramatize a political point he wanted to make, but hey, at least people got to see him being governor.

The governor used his first public appearance, in part, to ask to change the subject. Yes, this from the guy who did the two-parter with AP to talk unnecessarily about his “soulmate.”

As of this morning, the governor had worked only 14 of the last 24 “workdays.”

And then this afternoon, we learned that the governor is leaving tomorrow on a two week European vacation with the fam. Yes, I hear you that it was planned in advance and the kids had saved up for it, but still. This is, like, his third vacation since all the craziness started — or since we learned about it. (Or is it fourth? I lose count.)

So, when he gets back from this one, that will be like what — 15 out of 34 working days on the job? I need more details to get the count right.

“Obviously, critics will criticize,” says the gov. Yes, they will. As previously noted, every day that this guy technically holds onto his office is like Christmas to the state’s Democrats.

The governor also said that one nice thing about this vacation is that it will get the kids away from reading about the scandal.

You know what? I have some advice: Governor, if you want to change the subject, then change the subject. You’re the governor. Do something. Make some news. Do your freaking job for a change, instead of all this constant wallowing.

Instead, the governor is as usual absent when other public officials are trying to move our state forward. The State, in noting that the governor had extended his most recent vacation by a day, mentioned his absence from a huge announcement earlier this week:

Sanford was notably absent Monday from a press conference the University of South Carolina held to announce an agreement to lease space in its Moore School of Business to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The agreement will provide resources for USC to build a $90 million new business school building, something university and local officials have been working on for years.

Monday’s news conference included much of Columbia’s powerful — USC President Harris Pastides, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and state Sen. John Courson.

But no Sanford.

But what would have been shocking is if the governor had been there. He doesn’t have the time of day for the university and its doings. Had he been there, he probably would have grumbled, seeing as how he doesn’t think government should be promoting the economy. He just believes in “soil conditions,” which does not, as you might think, mean creating an educated workforce or having the kinds of amenities that make people want to do business in your state. He just means “tax cuts.”

It would never occur to the governor to change the subject by positively engaging issues that are important to our state. He doesn’t believe in that stuff.

No, I’m not running for governor — to the best of my knowledge

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Y’all will enjoy this — so I’m driving home this afternoon, having run some family errands after Rotary, and my Blackberry buzzes. And it’s Corey Hutchins from the Free Times.

He says there are rumors flying that someone is about to announce a candidacy for governor. Then he mentions something about it being someone whom Dick Harpootlian and Jim Hodges are backing (which makes the next part really wild).

Then he asks whether I’m the one. I had to get him to repeat it. He was asking me whether I’m running for governor.

I got a good laugh out of that — not at Corey’s expense, though. On the contrary; I respect him for being so conscientious as to take the trouble to run down a wild rumor before dismissing it. And he knew it was wild. In his defense, he said, “You should hear some of the names being mentioned.” Presumably, some are even wilder than mine. I hesitated to use Corey’s name here (and if he asks me to, I’ll take it down) because I didn’t want to embarrass him. But I thought that detail lent credence to a post that you might otherwise think was a hoax.

What I’m laughing about was that for him even to have heard it means that there’s at least one person, and possibly two or more, who found it credible enough to pass on…

But anyway, just for the record:

  • I am not currently running for governor. Nor do I have actual plans to do so.
  • I’m not aware of anyone out there who is working in behalf of a Warthen candidacy. And I’d know about that. Wouldn’t I?
  • Jim Hodges would not be putting my name forward. I mean, he and I get along fine these days, but still. Nor would Dick, far as I know.
  • I am the founder of the UnParty, and my party has yet even to come up with a nominating process.

Of course, on the other hand, there are the following items arguing the other way:

  • I’m not gainfully employed at the moment. (When Corey called, I was thinking about my job search.)
  • I’ve certainly thought a lot about what it takes to be a good governor. For a platform, I could start with my last column at The State, and build from there.
  • I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I could be a better governor than the current one (not a high standard, but it’s something).

But no, I’m neither a candidate nor plotting with anyone to become a candidate. What I am doing is hunting for a job.

It’s interesting how susceptible the rumor mill is, though. Remember my thinking out loud, very briefly, about running for Ted Pitts’ House seat, since he’s running for Gov Lite? Well, that had legs. A couple of weeks back, when I dropped by the Lexington County GOP event at Hudson’s BBQ place (I was there to talk to Jake Knotts for this post, when we were all still wondering where the governor was), several people in the crowd asked me about it. And I think some of them were serious.

So it doesn’t take much to get this kind of thing going.

Anyway, to iterate once again — right now, my goal is full-time, paying employment. If I found a job that met my family’s financial needs and allowed me to run for office, too, I might think about it. Someday. But that’s a really huge “if.” Most employers would probably frown on that sort of thing.

Bottom line: I got a good chuckle out of this, and I needed one. So, to whoever started this ball rolling — thanks…

Do you think things are getting any better?

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Consider this another in my fitful efforts to gauge how the economy is coming along. Noting this item today:

Statewide home sales increase 13% in June

Monday, 20 July 2009
Staff Report
COLUMBIA – The number of homes sold in South Carolina rose for the second straight month. Nearly 4,200 homes were sold in June, an increase of 13% over May, according to the latest report from the S.C. Association of Realtors.

In May, home sales totaled 3,704, an increase of 16% over sales in April.

June’s figures also represent the best year-over-year showing so far this year, with just an 11.3% drop compared to June 2008 numbers.

Of the 15 regions reporting home sales for the association, 14 reported an increase in sales over May. The only area that reported a loss was the Southern Midlands Association of Realtors. It sold three more homes in May than it did in June, according to the report.

Of the state’s three major metropolitan areas, Greenville posted a 13.3% increase in June sales over May, followed by Columbia with a 10.5% increase and Charleston with a 9.4% increase, the report said.

The median price of homes in South Carolina was $147,000, up from $142,000 in May. The average number of days a home was on the market was 144, down from 155 in May.

For the full report, click here.

… which follows on news Friday that unemployment held steady, I wonder — do you see signs that things are starting to look up?

You can’t tell by me, since I still don’t have a job. For that matter, you can’t really tell by South Carolina. The state Board of Economic Advisors called for more state budget cuts last week.

But South Carolina lags, and I am a South Carolinian, so I guess that means I lag, too. Still, even I have seen positive signs in recent weeks — such as packed parking lots out in the Harbison area.

What are you seeing?

Joel Sawyer calls it quits

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scgov_ss_062409_15standaloneprod_affiliate74

That's Joel at right, with his hand on the governor's arm.

Looks like I’ll have to contact somebody else to add me to the e-mail distribution list for the gov’s weekly schedules. Press spokesman Joel Sawyer, whom the governor left high and dry with no hint of where he actually was when he went AWOL, is leaving that increasingly thankless job, according to The State:

Gov. Mark Sanford’s communications director, Joel Sawyer, said today he is leaving for an unspecified private-sector job, effective Aug. 5.

Sawyer said his decision to leave his $65,000-a-year job had nothing to do with Sanford’s recent six-day disappearance and the Republican governor’s subsequent disclosure of an affair with an Argentine woman.

“I want to be crystal clear that my departure is purely about what’s best for me and my family on a personal and financial level,” Sawyer said in a statement. “I wish Mark and the rest of my talented and dedicated colleagues the best.”

I’d like to take this opportunity to say that, while we may have disagreed about some things, Joel Sawyer was always thoroughly professional in my dealings with him. I would trust him with my life — in fact, I have. I hope he found a great new job.

Biden swears in Inez

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inez-sworn-in

Here’s a photo of the ceremony Wednesday night in which Inez Tenenbaum was sworn in as chair of the Consumer Products Safety Commission. The photo was taken by Scott Wolfson, a self-professed photographic amateur who works for CPSC (and follows me on Twitter, so hello, Scott). The guy who is not Joe Biden is Samuel, of course.

Scott reports that Veep Biden had the following remarks:

On Wednesday evening, Chairman Tenenbaum had the honor of being ceremonially sworn-in by Vice President Joe Biden at the White House.  The Vice President remarked that the agency plays a vital role in keeping children and grandchildren safe and giving parents confidence in the safety of the consumer products they purchase.

So congratulations again, Inez!

There’s something backward about this: Sanford’s on vacation, and I’m not

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This morning, The State continued to mine the e-mails and phone records it has FOIed from the governor’s office. We learned among other things that Commerce Secretary Joe Taylor was hunting for Sanford when he went MIA last year with his girlfriend.

My former paper also had a story about what I wrote about yesterday — the fact that the governor is taking time off from work yet again. I particularly liked what Boyd Brown had to say:

“I thought he was going to focus on getting the state back on track,” said state Rep. Boyd Brown, D-Fairfield. “It doesn’t sound like he’s with the program.”

Sanford canceled a meeting with John Rainey, chairman of the Board of Economic Advisors, to discuss state revenue data. Sawyer said Sanford’s canceled meetings will be rescheduled….

Another concern is the state’s 12.1 percent jobless rate, tied for third-highest in the nation. New jobless numbers are expected Friday. E-mails released by the governor’s office show Sanford declined at least one meeting with a company looking to expand its S.C. operations because he was in Argentina.“It might be a wise idea for the governor to be out of town when the new unemployment numbers come out,” Brown said.

You can say that again.

But the most meaningful part of the story, to me, was this:

Since June 18, when he left for Argentina, Sanford has spent 12 of 28 calendar days in Columbia or on the road on gubernatorial duties, according to his governor’s office. Sanford did not work on six of 19 business days during that period.

The rest of Sanford’s time has been spent at his Sullivan’s Island home or on family retreats.

Twelve out of the last 28 days actually on the job… Folks, I’ve been unemployed since March, and I haven’t had the spare time to so much as go to the beach for a day. I’m busy on a freelance job today (which I’m about to get back to), and I’ll be busy tomorrow, and I’ll continue to stay busy until I land a full-time job, and will be busy for a long time after that.

But I’ve always had trouble understanding the governor’s work ethic. When he first started running for governor, he had been out of Congress for a couple of years. I asked him then what he had been doing. “Nothing,” he said, adding something about hanging out with the boys, changing diapers.

I think it’s great for a man to spend time with his family. A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man. And Mark Sanford right now really needs to be working on that. But at some point, we have to talk about the fact that the man is being paid to do a job, and he wasn’t doing it very well to start with …

Tonight’s header picture: Rusty and Rudy

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Since I unveiled the New Look several people have complimented me on the photos. Of course, I’ve been changing them out so fast that you’ve probably missed some of them. For instance, I just took down one of Stephen Colbert and me, and put up the one you see now on my home page, which shows Rudy Giuliani in Columbia back in 2007, while he was still a contender in the GOP nomination race.

Like most of the pictures I’m using (except the ones other people shot of me with somebody), I shot it with my little digital Canon, which you see me using to shoot video of Obama in the picture you get when you call up individual posts. Here’s the video I was shooting, by the way.

The one now gracing my home page was taken on August 14, 2007, at the convention center in Columbia. Here’s video I shot at the same event. I chose this image because, even though the focus and resolution aren’t great, it worked with the extreme-horizontal format. So we’re talking form over content. But let’s examine the content: Local political trivia buffs will see some familiar faces sitting listening to Rudy, such as Gayle Averyt and Rusty DePass. Rusty, who plays piano at my Rotary, made some news of his own recently, until the governor was kind enough to draw attention away from him.

And just to get WAY deeper into the recent political past than you probably care to go, here’s a piece Rusty wrote back at about this time explaining why he was for Rudy.

One thing this blog’s got, folks, is depth. Layers upon layers of info, whether you want it or not…

I’ll explain another picture tomorrow. And yes, the photo below is from the same event.

rudy-050

No public schedule for YOU!

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A working journalist friend has been forwarding me the governor’s public schedule, and she’s tired of doing it, and says I should just ask Joel (Sawyer, the gov’s press guy) to send them straight to me, and I haven’t asked him yet. Do you think he’ll send me one? Am I, as a blogger, sufficiently legit? We’ll see. When I get around to it. I’m kinda busy job-hunting and stuff.

But if he’s going to refuse to send one to anybody, it will be the folks over at the state Democratic Party. I mean, the poor guy tries to take a few days with the wife (he just sent out a new schedule postponing the rest of the week’s appointments so he can have some time with Jenny) under extremely trying circumstances, and they get all over his case:

SC Dems Outraged By Sanford Second Summer Vacation

Columbia, SC – South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler released the following statement today in response to Governor Mark Sanford taking another vacation after being back on the job for less than a month. Sanford canceled pending work for the rest of the week.

“A good many South Carolina families with out-of-work breadwinners had been hoping their governor would stick around and look for ways to bring more jobs to the state.  He’s essentially been off the job for a month, and now he’s off again for a week’s vacation.

“Of course, unlike most South Carolinians, Mark Sanford gets paid whether he shows up for work or not.  Once again it’s clear that there is one set of rules for Sanford and another set of rules for everyone else,” said Fowler.

Now, you see, Sanford’s thinking about now, this is why I didn’t put out public schedules before now…

I strongly suspect that — apart from when he was doing his executive budgets, which he was very obsessive about, and I mean that in a good way — one reason the gov never put out schedules before was because they would have looked kinda thin. I don’t know that; I just infer it from all the complaints I got from people who said this governor wouldn’t meet with them, unlike previous governors. Such as the folks over at Employment Security, who can be seen complaining about that very thing on this video.

So unless the governor starts doing a lot of gubernatorial stuff he didn’t used to do, his public schedules are going to give his critics lots of ammo. Which is why South Carolina’s Democrats are so thrilled that he keeps saying he’s not going to resign. They really, really want this state of affairs to continue through the 2010 election. It’s like Christmas every day for them.

“All the News that Gives You Fits”

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Most of the reactions to my blog’s new look have been positive — so thanks to all for that (and I’m still working on it, so I hope you’ll like it even more as we go forward).

But the new look has caused a number of you to question the tagline that I’ve used for the last few years (you can still see it here on my old blog): “You’re either on the blog or you’re off the blog.” It was, of course, a paraphrase of what Ken Kesey told the Merry Pranksters: “You’re either on the bus or you’re off the bus.” More specifically, here’s the full quote from when he spelled out the policy — which was a reference to state of mind as well as physical location:

There are going to be times when we can’t wait for somebody. Now, you’re either on the bus or off the bus. If you’re on the bus, and you get left behind, then you’ll find it again. If you’re off the bus in the first place — then it won’t make a damn.

Anyway, for years, I’ve thought about whether to stick with that, or go with the one you see up there now: “All the News that Gives You Fits.” This is a play on the Rolling Stone slogan (“All the News That Fits“), which is in turn a play on The New York Times‘ “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”

It’s also the official motto of The Status Quo, the fictional newspaper featured in a comic strip that Robert Ariail and I planned, but never fully executed, back in the 90s. The strip was set in the capital of a small Southern state, and it also featured:

  • A protagonist named Hampton “Sugarboy” Shealy Ravenel (or something like that), who was a lobbyist and general all-around fix-it man who may not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer, but knew everybody and meant well. I got the nickname from Robert Penn Warren, and the idea for the character from Randy Newman (“…college men from LSU/Went in dumb, come out dumb, too./Hustlin’ ’round Atlanta in they alligatuh shoes/Gettin’ drunk every weekend at the barbecue…”).
  • Auntie Bellum, the owner of the boarding house where our anti-hero lived. She is already a regular character in Robert’s cartoons. You’ve seen her before — such as in this cartoon and in this one and in this one — you just didn’t know she had a name.
  • The state’s junior senator, Grits Holler, and the senior senator, Storm Thunder. We thought we’d introduce the characters by initially introducing Grits merely as The Junior Senator, and he would be drawn looking like a centenarian.
  • Two mice, named Sol and Edgar, who lived in the Statehouse and who, unbeknownst to everyone except our hero, actually wrote all of the legislation that ever passed. They did so at night, when no one was looking. The protagonist’s value as a lobbyist arose from his close relationship with the mice.

Anyway, you get the idea. A mix of political satire and Mayberry-style downhome gags. Sometimes the strip would consist merely of dialogue among boarding house residents settin’ on the porch shelling peas for Auntie Bellum, a la Andy and Barney. Other story lines were less down-to-earth — such as a recurring thing where Sugarboy gets taken up into the spaceship by aliens who take the form of two-headed Elvis impersonators. Anyway, the whole thing was too Southern for the folks in New York who Robert tried to sell it to. So we set the project aside.

I’m sufficiently fond of some of the characters and situations that, since the strip didn’t fly, I now and then think of writing a novel based on the characters — less cartoony, of course, more serious, but some of the same characters and situations. Now that I’m unemployed, I’m thinking more and more about that novel…

All of which makes me happy to turn to The Status Quo for my new catchphrase, which — knowing the backstory as I do — at least makes me smile…

Eckstrom declares stimulus failure after 13 days

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I saw that among the gov’s appointments on his public sort-of schedule was a briefing from S.C. Comptroller General Rich Eckstrom, having to do with the stimulus. The schedule didn’t say when or where said meeting would take place, but maybe it was today, since we now have this report:

Eckstrom: Revenue down 10% in June; stimulus not working

Monday, 13 July 2009
Staff Report

COLUMBIA — State general fund revenues for June were down 10%, or $71.7 million, compared with revenues for June 2008, evidence that the stimulus funds are not having the desired effect, S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom said.

For the past 12 months, the general fund revenues were down 12.5%, or $828 million, Eckstrom said.

“While everyone wants to see our economy improve, these revenue numbers indicate that it’s just not happening, even months after the president’s trillion-dollar stimulus spending bill. State and national unemployment rates keep climbing higher, so there’s certainly no evidence that jobs are being created or saved through the massive deficit spending that’s occurring in government,” he said.

How do you like that? We finally get the full stimulus coming to us after months of his ally doing all he can to stop it. It was to be spent in the budget that started 12 days ago, on July 1.

But ol’ Rich has already declared it a failure on the 13th. How about that?

You don’t suppose that, like some folks of the other party with regard to Iraq, he wants us to fail — do you?

Sanford’s “public” schedule, sort of

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Here’s Mark Sanford’s second-ever public schedule. Still no actual public events, but there’s no news in that — he never has been much of one for such events. One of the minor complaints I’ve gotten about this guy since Day One was that he has a tendency not to go to the kind of schoozing events that most politicians love.

One reason I predicted a couple of weeks back to ETV that he would decide soon to resign was because he has NEVER liked the “being on display” thing. This is a guy who would MUCH rather be digging holes on the “farm” than interacting with humans. Since a governor of South Carolina can get away with doing very little, it wasn’t so hard on him, until the Argentina trip. I predicted that it wouldn’t take long before, with all this new scrutiny, he would decide it wasn’t worth it. Not because of people demanding he resign or anything, but just because it wasn’t worth it to him. Perhaps, if he ever starts having actual public events, my prediction will turn out to be correct. But so far, I missed the call. (If you want to see actual video of me getting it wrong, click here.)

I’ve always figured that the reason his office didn’t put out a public schedule was that they didn’t want anyone to notice just how little he did in public — or worse, how little he did in private, either.

But with the new “openness,” he’s putting them out — sort of. Here is his list of chores for the week, without days or times — just stuff he says he’ll do sometime this week:

Gov. Sanford’s Public Schedule – Mon., July 13 – Fri., July 17, 2009

Columbia, S.C. – July 13, 2009 – No public events are currently scheduled for this week, but we will advise individually for any event added. Gov. Sanford will be working in Columbia for the week, with intermittent trips to Sullivan’s Island.

Meetings and briefings Gov. Sanford will take part in this week include:

– Meeting with staff and First Steps Director Susan DeVenny regarding the potential transfer of the Baby Net program from DHEC to First Steps

– Meeting with new Emergency Management Division Director Ricky Platt, who was named recently to succeed retiring director Ron Osborne

– Briefing by Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom regarding the work of the Stimulus Oversight Task Force

– Briefing by Board of Economic Advisors Chairman John Rainey regarding revenue forecasts in advance of the following week’s BEA meeting

– Receive a revenue update from state Department of Revenue Director Ray Stevens

– Receive an economic development briefing from Secretary of Commerce Joe Taylor and Deputy Secretary for New Investment Jack Ellenberg

– Briefing by Department of Social Services Director Kathleen Hayes regarding the upcoming release of an LAC audit of DSS.

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Yesterday’s UNrally

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First, I have to say that I didn’t stay for the whole thing. I was going to, but I got an emergency call from my youngest daughter just after 6 — she was on the side of the road on I-26 between the I-20 and St. Andrew’s exits with an overheated engine — so Daddy had to run.

And the “rally” proper had just begun. A 19-year-old kid named Zach (I’d have gotten his full name if I’d stayed) was giving a speech about why Mark Sanford should no longer be governor, and not doing a bad job for his age. He was getting a smattering of applause and cheers from the handful of watchers there (and jeers from one of the two counter-protesters I saw). And I see that Phil Noble spoke later. But I had already spoken with Phil — he came up and tapped me on the shoulder just seconds after I finished shooting the above video. He had expressed his disgust that more people had not shown up, which he attributed to apathy. Citing a poll showing 60 percent of South Carolinians wanted Sanford gone, he indignantly wondered where they all were.

But the fact that I was able to shoot the video at 5:55 of a “rally” that was supposed to have started at 5:30 testifies to there being more wrong with this rally than public apathy. It’s rather telling that in the mercifully brief account in The State today, SC Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler made a point of saying that she didn’t organize this.

Folks, I’ve been to a lot of demonstrations at the State House over the years — from the stunning first “King Day at the Dome” in 2000 with its 60,000 marchers to more modest, yet still-respectable, affairs, such as the recent one in favor of the stimulus (which featured FAR more people demanding Sanford be impeached than showed up for this one) to the “Tea Party” shortly thereafter), and this was the saddest one I’ve actually witnessed.

One of the actual organizers, my Facebook friend Catherine Fleming Bruce (who posted this picture of me from the event; you’ll note that I don’t exactly have a crowd around me), tried hard to get things rolling when she started the rally proper, introducing Zach at about 6. She rattled off an impressive list of folks who had suggested the governor resign, Democrats and Republicans both (prompting the heckler to say “all liberals!” which was almost as pathetic as the rally itself — Glenn McConnell a liberal? please…). But that merely raised the painful question — so where were all those prominent people? Catherine and Phil were the only two on the steps I recognized.

So, try as Catherine and Phil (and Zach) might, this was a bust. By the way, here are my Tweets on the subject yesterday in real time, up to the moment I got the urgent call from my daughter:

As I arrive, late, for the anti-Sanford “rally,” it looks like a pathetic bust…

The neo-nazis had a better-attended (and better-organized) State House rally than this sad little anti-Sanford affair…

There are a couple of stolid Sanford-supporting counter-protester, who must be thinking “Why bother?”…

Catherine Fleming-Bruce is up there trying, but it’s time to face the fact: this rally ain’t happening…

Catherine cites list of leaders of both parties who have called for resignation — but they’re not here…

A 19-year-old kid is addressing the crowd, and making a brave effort. Smattering of applause…

Did I say “crowd?” Sorry… I meant the, um, assemblage…

If you were there after I left, and would like to contradict me — hey, that’s what the comments function is for. Good luck…

unrally

Otis to Sanford: It’s not personal; it’s strictly business

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You may recall that a while back I chided the head of the state Chamber for not taking a stand against (or for, for that matter) our governor during the stimulus farce (“Otis, tell him what YOU think,” April 30).

Well, Otis Rawl has gotten over his shyness about the gov, of so this item seems to indicate:

State chamber exec: Sanford’s departure now or later could benefit I-85 project

Embattled Gov. Mark Sanford’s woes could be good in the long run for a development off Interstate 85 and State 14 in Greer that legislators have said may include a Bass Pro Shop, according to the president of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

Sanford opposed special tax breaks for magnet retailers, such as Bass Pro, and “if everybody was playing by the same rules, that’s fine,” state chamber president Otis Rawl said.

But other states offer incentives, he said, adding “If we don’t play the game, we lose jobs.”

“I think that all that’s happening around Sanford and depending what Sanford does will lend itself positively to whether Bass Pro Shop decides to locate here,” Rawl said. “It’s awful hard for a company to look at South Carolina and your governor, who’s supposed to be your biggest cheerleader, not supporting trying to get a company that would create anywhere from 500 to 1,000 jobs in the community.”

A Sanford resignation would put Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in power, who would be “one of our businesses’ biggest cheerleaders,” Rawl said.

If Sanford does not resign, “It’s got to be a step forward for us to look toward 2010 to have a new governor that focuses on jobs and economic development,” he said.

In other words, whether sooner or later, Otis — like many in positions of business or political leadership — is really looking forward to the day when Mark Sanford is out of office. And it’s nothing personal. It’s strictly business.

Imagine you’re Janet Napolitano, and you’re meeting Mark Sanford…

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This morning, like many of you, I read the highly important, yet fairly routine, story about security at the port of Charleston:

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Project Seahawk, a port security effort developed in South Carolina, is vital to waging the war on terrorism and a model for ports around the nation, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Monday.

Graham, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Gov. Mark Sanford and other leaders had a private briefing on the project during a visit to the Project Seahawk headquarters at the old Charleston Navy Base.

Seahawk, created in 2003 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, brings together representatives of state, federal and local law enforcement agencies who meet each day in a command center to share and compare information on harbor activity.

But as I read it, all I could think was: Say you’re Janet Napolitano. You’re the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. You’re a serious person, with a serious job, and you’re here for a serious purpose. As you enter the room, visiting dignitary that you are, serious people turn to greet you… and Lindsey Graham introduces you to Mark Sanford.

So… do you have to suppress the urge to crack up? Do you say to yourself, Don’t smile, because then you’ll crack up! But then think, I have to smile, or it will seem unnatural… must make it the right kind of smile… And just when you think you’ve got the situation mastered, suddenly some line from a late-night comic, or something about crying in Argentina, or something else wildly incongruous to the sober subject of Homeland Security pops into your skull, just for a second, and you’re in trouble again…

Is there any way to carry on a normal conversation? And what about that first moment or so of small talk, when the natural thing is to mention something you’ve heard or read about the person you’re meeting, and naturally you think that just last week, this guy was going on and on with the press about his soulmate, going out of his way to cement his reputation as a total flake…

If you’re not a South Carolinian, and have no other context for perceiving this guy, how can you think of anything else upon meeting him? After all, while in South Carolina the headline on this story is, “Graham: Charleston port security project vital,” on CNN’s political ticker, it’s “Graham: Sanford says there’s hope’ for reconciliation with his wife.” Which was actually an element in the S.C. story; but to CNN, that’s all they care about.

Seriously. Follow the links. Previously, he was known nationally at the anti-stimulus guy. Now, he’s far better known (partly because of the same lurid popular culture that gives us obsession over Michael Jackson) as the runaway-to-Argentina guy.

Mind you, my imagining of the scene probably has flaws in it. Since they were both elected governor in the same year, Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Sanford may have already known each other. But still. A solemn, serious moment with this underlying sense of total absurdity.

That’s the way I imagine it, anyway. And if it didn’t happen that way this time, there are going to be plenty of times in which an important visitor keeps thinking, Here I am with the famous runaway governor! He actually runs this state (People from out of state wouldn’t know how insignificant the office of governor actually is here)! How weird the people of South Carolina must be!

Karen Floyd thinks it’s over. The party censures him and it’s over. Fat chance. As several people no doubt pointed out during that four-hour conference call, every minute that this guy is still governor, still going through the motions representing our state to the world, is a gold-plated gift to the Democrats in next year’s election.

No wonder the GOP executive committee was so divided:

Twenty-two committee members voted for a reprimand, 10 called for his resignation, while nine voted to support the governor.

That settles it: Miss SC says Sanford should stay

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I posted this on Twitter this morning, but I didn’t want y’all to be left out of the loop. The Spartanburg paper reports that the newly-crowned Miss South Carolina says our governor should stay, even though she was “a little shocked” by his recent confessions:

Newly crowned Miss South Carolina Kelly Sloan said in an interview Sunday that the embattled governor of the state she’s now the public face of should be allowed to finish his second and final term…

“People make mistakes,” Sloan said. “I was a little shocked, to tell you the truth. But as a governor, he’s done his job. I do not think he should resign. He’s asked for forgiveness, and I think forgiveness is something we should all have for one another.”

One wonders what she means by “He’s done his job,” but hey, who’s quibbling? Could I win a beauty contest? I don’t think so. Then I should ne’er presume to second-guess her. As Theodoric of York would say, “Who’s the barber here?”

No word yet on what Her Majesty thinks about the abdication of former beauty queen Sarah Palin, or the all-important, burning issue of Michael Jackson still being dead.

Speaking of which, did you see that TV networks plan to anchor the news from his memorial service? In a world in which priorities are that far out of whack, I suppose it’s not out of line at all to ask a beauty queen about who should govern us…

Tom Davis appointment a case of qualification trumping connection

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Here’s something you don’t see every day in South Carolina:

Columbia, SC – July 6, 2009 – South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler announced today that he has recommended State Senator Tom Davis (R-Beaufort) for appointment to the State Ports Authority Legislative Oversight Committee.  The 10-member legislative committee was recently created with the passage of the port-restructuring bill to help ensure stability and efficiency in state ports operations.

Tom Davis is one of Gov. Mark Sanford’s closest friends and advisers, and has said the gov should stay in office. Harvey Peeler was one of the first GOP senators to call on the governor to step down. Tom served previously on the Ports Authority, as a gubernatorial appointee. And he holds up the Jasper port deal with Georgia as a key achievement of the Sanford administration (when I suspect it is actually a key achievement of Tom Davis).

But Sen. Peeler appointed Sen. Davis anyway. We need to see more of that in South Carolina, a lot more: People being chosen for office because of their qualifications, rather than who their friends are.

Anyway, good choice there, Sen. Peeler.