Category Archives: South Carolina

The Huntsman Girls, tonight on Pub Politics

I emailed Wesley yesterday to let him know I would be available if he needed me this week or next on Pub Politics (which would me my unparalleled eighth appearance on the show). He said he’s let me know if he needed me.

Since then, he’s been distracted by the demise of the candidacy for which he was working.

But that didn’t prevent him from lining up a show with considerably more appeal that I could bring:

Did you know that the human body produces its own supply of alcohol naturally on a continuous basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week? Did you know that the world’s oldest known recipe is for beer?

And did you know that the Huntsman Girls are going to be our special guests this week on Pub Politics? Meet Wes and Phil and the girls at Pearlz Oyster Bar in the Vista this Thursday, January 5 at our usual time, 6pm. We’ll chat politics and partying to celebrate Phil’s birthday.

The Huntsman girls – Mary Anne, Liddy, and Abby – the eldest three children of presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman are most notable for their recent viral YouTube videos. Mary Anne, 26, is a concert pianist and works on the fundraising side of her father’s campaign, Abby, 25, works in broadcasting and handles media with the campaign, and Liddy, 23, is a recent college grad recruiting young voters.

You can follow them on twitter @Jon2012Girls or check out their YouTube videos where they mock a Herman Cain ad or offer up their own rendition of a popular Justin Timberlake song.

Look out, SC! You’ve been chosen as site of the GOP Götterdämmerung

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Perry. Rick Perry...

Yikes! I didn’t expect this. Perry just faked everybody out. After sounding (and looking) like a loser last night, and mumbling about going home to lick his wounds and reassess (with New Hampshire a week away), suddenly Rick Perry tweeted this out:

And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State…Here we come South Carolina!!!

Oh, and the above picture was included with the Tweet. I think he’s trying to give a James Bond impression. Like he just climbed out of that pond, and he’s going to take off that wetsuit-looking thing and have a tux on underneath or something.

Here’s what National Journal is reporting:

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa –- Just hours after announcing via Twitter that he would be continuing his presidential bid in South Carolina, Texas Gov. Rick Perry blasted Iowa’s caucus process and blamed it for his fifth-place finish.

“This is a quirky place, a quirky process to say the least, and we’re going to go into places where they have actual primaries and there are going to be real Republicans voting,” he told reporters. “Not that there aren’t real Republicans here in Iowa, but the fact it is was a pretty loosey-goosey process and you had a ton of people who were there that admitted they were Democrats voting in the caucuses last night.”

Sshhh! Don’t anybody tell the governor that we have open primaries here, and don’t register by party! Let it be a surprise!

Should Santorum skip N.H., head straight here?

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That was the buzz at the Big Round Table at the Capital City Club this morning, fed by Preston Grisham, lobbyist and veteran of SC GOP campaigns. This is where the more fertile ground is, and maybe he could get up and running fast enough here, whereas there’s no time left in New Hampshire, with the primary six days off.

It makes sense.

Interestingly, the Republican Grisham was thinking along the same lines as progressive columnist E.J. Dionne, who was already speculating yesterday morning that a win in Iowa positioned Santorum particularly well in South Carolina.

Of course, mix into that the fact that Gingrich is preparing for a serious stand here, and you’ve got a battle.

Also… and I probably need to deal with this in a separate post… I’ve got the feeling that Romney might sew it up here. I need to give Warren Tompkins a call…

Got a nice note from E.J. Dionne this morning

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I appreciated E.J. taking the time to point something out to me...

So we’re entering the stage at which national media are about to start paying attention to what is said in South Carolina. So it is that I got a note from E.J. Dionne this morning. After praising this “poetic” passage in my blog earlier: “What fools the calendar doth make of us, even when we know better.”

… he went on to say,

OK, but still, does it have any impact? Huck wouldn’t have come within 3 points of McCain without Iowa — and Fred Thompson probably made the difference.

But you are right about our being fools. Original sin and all that.

Warmest EJ

He’s got a point. Especially about the Original Sin thing. But then, E.J.’s a smart guy. And a Catholic.

Yes, if Santorum wins Iowa, this is fertile territory for him. Being a values guy and all.

As for Iowa… My dismissive statements may be based in what I wish were true. As in, “Iowa shouldn’t matter, so I’ll say it doesn’t.” I wrote a column urging everyone to ignore Iowa four years ago. Then, when Obama won there, I started hoping it DID mean something — only to see him get body-slammed in N.H.

As I’ve mentioned here before, my baptism in national politics came when I covered Howard Baker in Iowa in 1980, for my Tennessee newspaper. Since I was covering it, Iowa took on disproportionate importance in my mind. When Reagan lost there, I was eager to pronounce his candidacy over. We know how that turned out. My prejudice also arises from the fact that, as a voter, I am barred from participating in a caucus. I’d have the same problem, of course, in a primary state with party registration. Fortunately, we don’t have that here in SC, and our primaries are open.

In the views of some of my cartoonist friends…

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When I received the above cartoon from Bill Day, it caused me to go look for Robert Ariail‘s latest on the subject (more or less).

There’s an interesting area of agreement there — interesting because, given their political predilections, Bill would welcome the idea of the GOP being led into obsolescence, while the idea of Obama being the beneficiary would be distressing to Robert.

Politics aside, I hope this New Year will be a great one for both of these guys. Which reminds me: It’s past time Robert and I got together again at Yesterday’s. I need to find out when he’ll be in town…

Apparently there’s ennui in Iowa, as well

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Over the last couple of months, I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions that I’m perceiving a certain… lack of enthusiasm… over the GOP presidential nominating process in South Carolina this year.

Today, at the very height of hoopla in that neck of the woods, I see an indication that there is a similar dearth of excitement in Iowa (thanks to Andrew Sullivan for bringing this Philip Klein piece to my attention):

Those following the Iowa caucuses from home, hearing a steady stream of reports such as this about “packed rooms” that are “standing room only” with people still waiting outside, may be getting the impression that there’s a groundswell of enthusiasm for this year’s candidates that will drive turnout for the caucuses to stratospheric levels.

But don’t be fooled. The truth is that the venues candidates are holding events at this year are much smaller than in 2008, back when some candidates were filling large ballrooms or even small arenas. When going into a Barack Obama event in 2008, it wouldn’t be unusual have to get there early and still park a five or 10 minute walk away from the actual rally site, only to come into a massive venue where crowds in the thousands were going wild. Even on the Republican side, Mike Huckabee was filling larger venues.

Yet yesterday, reporters, photograhers and a few actual patrons were packed into a tiny diner at a Mitt Romney event in Atlantic, Iowa. True, later that evening, he attracted hundreds to a town hall-style building in Council Bluffs, but it was still a relatively small venue.

On Saturday, Newt Gingrich squeezed people into a diner in Council Bluffs and a small corner of a Coca Cola bottling factory in Atlantic.

At the same time, the audiences seem a lot more subdued than in 2008 — less shouting and sign waving….

Clever of the candidates’ handlers to make it look like they’re in demand by shrinking the venues. But I’m grateful to hear that this certain lack of vitality is not just a South Carolina phenomenon — and even more importantly, not in my imagination.

The causes? I haven’t sorted that out entirely, but among the causes I suspect are lack of enchantment with the field, an ongoing identity crisis in the GOP (are they about fiscal libertarianism? or is it values? and what happened to a muscular foreign policy?) and a general gut feeling, fairly broadly held, that the incumbent will win in the end.

The table is open to entertain other theories — as well as evidence to the contrary regarding this diminution of enthusiasm.

By all means, let’s ban kids from ATVs

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Admittedly, not quite all kids use ATVs this way, it was the best freely-available picture I could find to illustrate the post. attritubion: Royalbroil

I got a bit of a debate going on Twitter this morning when I reacted to this tragic news:

HENDERSONVILLE, SC (AP) – A 12-year-old girl has died after a wreck on an all-terrain vehicle in Colleton County.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reported rescue crews were called to a home near Hendersonville shortly after 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Colleton County Fire and Rescue Director Barry McRoy says witnesses said some children at a birthday party were driving two all-terrain vehicles in the woods behind the house when 1 of the vehicles rolled over.

The girl was treated by paramedics and was flown to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston where she died. Her name has not been released…

My reaction was simple, and straightforward: “Why is this legal?”

My rhetorical question was quickly reTweeted by two or three users, with Tyler Jones adding an answer: “Rednecks in the Gen Assembly.”

Palmetto Record added this elaboration, “The under-16 helmet law was signed earlier this year — should kids now be banned from ATVs altogether?”

To which my answer is, yes.

But the libertarian view was represented, as it always is. This time, my friend Bryan Cox played the Mark Sanford role, saying, “I’ll bet more kids die riding in cars than driving ATVs. Ban those too? Risk is inherent to freedom.”

For me, that was easy to answer. Riding in cars is an unavoidable risk, in a society that lacks adequate public transit. Riding an ATV is absolutely unnecessary. Big difference.

Bryan elaborated on his point by saying:

If govt should ban those under 18 from activities deemed an unnecessary risk — why not skiing, swimming, football as well?

My reply? I merely expressed my weariness with the “We shouldn’t do A unless we also do B” argument, which is always presented as a way of preventing us from doing A, never as a way of advocating that we do B. In fact, B is generally deliberately chosen for its utter lack of political viability.

Bryan added, “The judgment ATV riding isn’t of value, but football is = opinion. Govt making those arbitrary content calls isn’t freedom.”

No one can ever accuse me of valuing football. But I also know there is little point in trying to ban football, in this society. There is a chance of banning ATV riding by minors. So we should do it, and at least save the lives we can.

That’s because that’s what government is — communities deciding for themselves what they will countenance and what they will not. It’s not some entity out there imposing something. It’s us. And I know my neighbors. They won’t even consider banning football. So I’ll say it again: Let’s save the lives we can.

Man the barricades; run out the guns! Never mind: It’s just another hyperbolic rant from the SC GOP

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For a brief moment there, when I saw the headline on the release, I had the light of battle in my eye and was calling for my sword… but then I realized it was just more hyperbolic, apocalyptic silliness from the South Carolina GOP:

South Carolina is Under Attack

Over the past few months we have endured the full effects of the federal government’s war against South Carolina. While we try to deal with problems on a state level, they federal government has tried to block our actions multiple times.

For example, the federal government has trampled over our right to hold fair and free elections by striking down Voter ID, taken away our ability to secure our state from illegal immigration while leaving Americas borders unsecured, and nearly derailed the ability of Boeing to create jobs in Charleston thanks to the NLRB.

As our state attempts to monitor our borders, recruit industry, and secure our elections, the federal government’s efforts cripple our ability to improve our state.

Ultimately, the federal government is putting our state’s future in jeopardy, and we have tried to limit ourselves on relying on Washington and the 16 trillion dollars of debt Congress has accrued.

And we will not give up the fight. The federal government will continue to suggest that we can’t secure our own future but the S.C. Senate Republican Caucus will continue the fight against this every step of the way.

-Wesley Donehue
[Senate Republican] Caucus Spokesman

Maybe the folks who make those excruciatingly boring ads — such as this one and this one — for the presidential candidates should get my Pub Politics friend Wesley to write some stuff for them, spice things up a bit. Maybe we’ll see some real fire in a Bachmann ad, since Wesley’s working with her…

I don’t blame Wesley for the nonsense in that message; I have little doubt that his assertions reflect well the views of many of the Republican state senators he works for. They believe this stuff.

The irony here is that, with the exception of the completely uncalled-for (and recently abandoned) outrage of the NLRB business, none of these are cases of the federal government getting aggressive with the state of South Carolina. Quite the opposite. Voter ID was a completely uncalled-for attempt to address a largely imaginary problem in a way that invited invocation of the Voting Rights Act. As for South Carolina’s attempt to completely usurp one of the few functions that is clearly federal, the control of the nation’s borders, well I should smile, as Mark Twain would have said.

And the NLRB thing didn’t turn out to be much of an “attack,” did it?

As satirists viewing us from afar well know, the only entity “crippling” South Carolina’s ability to improve itself is South Carolina. Most of our wounds are self-inflicted.

Newt answers flag question as I would

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Our friend Michael Rodgers brings this to my attention:

Brad,

Have you seen this video with Newt in Charleston?

The reactions of the crowd are revolting. Why would they cheer so
much? After all, the people of South Carolina want the flag down.
Our will is being thwarted by our legislature. That’s where we are
today. This issue is just one example of far too many issues where
partisan politics and legislative dominance trample over what’s
clearly right.

BTW, the Republican presidential primary in SC is just a few days
after MLK day. It’s Saturday the 21st, when MLK day is Monday the
16th. Should be an interesting week.

Regards,

Mike

Well, I have to say first that Newt answered the question about the way I would — although perhaps for different reasons, since he’s running for the GOP nomination here. Of course what we South Carolinians fly on the State House grounds is our business and no one else’s. And if I were a presidential candidate passing through from elsewhere, if asked, I would say, “That’s your problem, not mine.”

If someone from elsewhere could somehow coerce South Carolina into removing the flag, nothing would be accomplished. The only way that anything is accomplished by furling the flag is if South Carolina grows up enough to decide, on its own, through our elected representatives, to take that step.

That step is long, long overdue. Every day that we leave it there is an insult to our ancestors as well as to ourselves and our neighbors today. We’re not hurting anyone in the world but South Carolina by flying it, and it’s incumbent on us to decide we’ve engaged in far more than enough nonsense, and put the thing away. A banner designed to be taken into battle in a war we lost 146 years ago should be under glass in a museum (and we have one for that purpose), or represented with a modest bronze plaque, not flying as though it and what it stands for is alive.

It’s no one else’s concern. Of course, it helps them decide what they think of us. But so far, we’ve been satisfied to let them think what they like. Which is fine, in a way. Because in the end, we need to get rid of the flag because we understand that it’s wrong, that it’s something we need to put behind us. If we did it simply because of what others thought, and still wanted, deep-down, to fly it, nothing would be accomplished. We would not have grown as a people.

Everything I’ve ever written about the flag has been aimed at persuading my fellow South Carolinians who are not yet convinced that we need to go ahead and take it down. It’s about us, the people of this state. Always has been.

Bachmann names “grass-roots” team in SC

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This came in today. Seems odd that she’d be announcing organizational stuff like this so late, but campaigns are like that. They have their own timing and rhythm. I suspect that part of her reason in putting together this extensive list now is to tell everyone that she is, too, in the running for SC.

I don’t know most of these folks, but the ones I do know — Kelly Payne, Ray Moore, Louise Geddings and (by reputation) Lee Bright — paint a recognizable portrait of the segment of the GOP that is still backing her. And of course, my Pub Politics friend Wesley Donehue is working with her:

Michele Bachmann Announces South Carolina Grassroots Team
Leaders to form the state’s strongest “Get Out The Vote” machine

Columbia, S.C. – Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann today announced the team of grassroots leaders who will propel her campaign to victory in South Carolina. This announcement leaves little doubt that the Bachmann campaign has the most organized ground game in the Palmetto State.

Led by campaign chairman Lee Bright, campaign director Sheri Few, four paid field staff and senior advisors Ron Thomas and Wesley Donehue, the team of 33 county chairmen join the previously announced 56 Tea Party leaders and other new grassroots leaders to form the state’s strongest “Get Out The Vote” machine. The grassroots county chairmen consists of five S.C. Republican Party executive committeemen, former GOP county chairmen, and local GOP officers and executive committee members.

“Grassroots activists across the state are tired of Washington insiders, flip-floppers and fake conservatives,” State Sen. Lee Bright said. “Michele Bachmann is the consistent conservative we need as President of the United States and we’ve built the best political machine in South Carolina to get her to the White House.”

Upstate Chairman State Rep. Bill Chumley said, “Our network is ready to catch the momentum Michele will receive from a big showing in Iowa. Our team is energized, active and enthusiastic. They’re not going let some Washington insider win in the nation’s most conservative state.”

Fifth District Chairman and State Rep. Ralph Norman said, “This race isn’t going to be won by who has the most money — it’s going to be won by the most organized team of passionate conservatives who are putting in hours of sweat equity for their candidate. We have the hardest working team in South Carolina and we intend to work hard for a win for Michele Bachmann.”

“We are excited to announce South Carolina’s most organized and energetic grassroots network,” Bachmann said. These are hardworking conservatives who are ready to return our country back to prosperity. They’re working around the clock to ensure that a consistent conservative wins the nation’s first-in-the-south presidential primary. I’m honored to have them on our team.”

The Bachmann for President South Carolina Grassroots Team includes the following County Chairmen and grassroots leaders:

Abbeville

Vinnie Maxwell – Chairman

Aiken

Susan Swanson – Chairman
Erin Ashley – Grassroots Coordinator
Eric Brown
Marilyn Ericson
Executive Committeewoman Diane Giddings
Spencer Grothier
Jerry & Philomena Guerin
Leslie Hutto
Walter King
Douglas Noel
Debbie Osmundsen

Allendale

Shushanna Koontz – Chairman

Anderson

Henry Jordan – Chairman
Kristine Caufield
Marvin Collier – TEA Coalition
Jonathon Hill – TEA Coalition

Bamberg

Ryan Koontz – Chairman

Barnwell

Clifton Baker – Chairman

Beaufort

Lauren Martel – Co-Chairman
Sharon Nelson – Co-Chairman
Shelia Morgan – TEA Coalition
Tom Morgan – TEA Coalition
Tom Russo – TEA Coalition

Berkeley

Executive Committeeman Joshua Finn – Chairman
Gerald Addison – TEA Coalition
Linda Addison – TEA Coalition
Raye Chapman – TEA Coalition

Charleston

Charles Steinert – Chairman
Daniel Bostic
Jeff Diemier – TEA Coalition
Lynda Fry – TEA Coalition
Robert Fry – TEA Coalition
Maurice Isaac
Tyler Jones
Jacqueline Mckool
Steve Rapchick – TEA Coalition
Cathy Tyler

Cherokee
Fred Keller – Co-Chairman
John Neel – Co-Chairman
Will Cobb

Chester

Dena Espinoza – Chairman
Don Murphy

Chesterfield

Zachery Michael – Chairman
Joe & Doris Foch

Clarendon

Third District Vice Chairman Marie Dukes – Chairman

Dorchester

Ken Uthe – Chairman
Jerry Wolf

Florence

Nancy Elaime Kelly – Chairman

Greenville

Stephen Brown – Chairman
Dean Allen – TEA Coalition
Greg Ashe
Steve Bomar
Javan Micah Browder – TEA Coalition
Theodore Drinkhahn
Paul Fallavollita
Levi Fox
Shane Franks
Braden Hal
Jim Hargett – TEA Coalition
Samuel Harms
Representative Gloria Haskins
Matt Holmes
Virginia Jelley – TEA Coalition
Austin Jones – TEA Coalition
Bobby Jones
Dawn Lennon
Dorine Lennon
Nate Leupp – Grassroots Coordinator
Charles Lewis
Rick Moesser – TEA Coalition
Scott Napier – TEA Coalition
Gwen Neighbors
Gill Robison
Sean & Toni Sharp

Greenwood

John Sparks – Chairman

Horry

Cris Panos – Chairman
Carlene Carmen
Linda McHugh – Grassroots Coordinator
Leo O’Brien
Cheryl Savage – TEA Coalition
Dennis Stancoven

Kershaw

Executive Committeeman Shelby Price – Chairman
Sally & Jack Burdin
Jim Morris
Christie Thompson
Republican Women’s Treasurer Mary Young

Lancaster

Executive Committeeman Donnie Jones – Chairman
Indian Land Republican Club Comm Chairman Steven Coley – Grassroots Coordinator

Lee

Rebecca Shadwell – Chairman
Hank Shadwell – TEA Coalition

Lexington

Preston Baines – Chairman
Joe Mac & Annie Bates
Steve & Lisa Cunningham – Grassroots Coordinator
Pat & Lu Donlon
Ashleigh Milam
Linda Panis
James Rizzuti
Leo Senn – TEA Coalition
Ross Snell – TEA Coalition
Helen Watson – TEA Coalition
Helen Watson

Marion

Lisa Cunningham – TEA Coalition

Marlboro

Peter Robyn – Chairman

Newberry

Arnold Queen – Chairman
Mark Hockman

Oconee

Codi Butts – Chairman

Orangeburg

Harold Blitch – Chairman

Pickens

Kyle Porter – Chairman

Richland

County GOP Secretary Kelly Payne – Chairman
Lee Adams
Steve & Gail Eisenecker
Jim Fry
A.L. & Louise Geddings – TEA Coalition
Matt Gottlieb – Grassroots Coordinator
Jan Horvath
Debra Langley Kennedy – Grassroots Coordinator
Republican Women President Deb Marks
Ray Moore
Jo Ann Narewski
Jim & Geri Sampson
Brandon Sandusky
Bruce Snell
Zan Tyler
Glenn Wilson – TEA Coalition
Justina Wilson – TEA Coalition

Spartanburg

Representative Lee Bright
Representative Bill Chumley
Executive Committeeman Doug Cobb – Co-Chairman
Nicole Cobb – Co-Chairman
Celia Anderson – TEA Coalition
Linda Clark-Reel
Stan Crenshaw – Grassroots Coordinator
Loretta Gilchrist – TEA Coalition
Paul Huber – TEA Coalition
Christina Jeffrey – TEA Coalition
Cibby Krell – TEA Coalition
Grace Lecara
Ramona Ludvik – TEA Coalition
Robert Ludvik – TEA Coalition
Tony Mormando
Harry & Carol Musselman
Beverly Owensby – TEA Coalition
Dorothy Powell
Sara Romney – TEA Coalition
Barron Young

Sumter

Executive Committeeman Ashby Rhame – Chairman
Shirley O’Quinn – Grassroots Coordinator
Nancy Pugh – Grassroots Coordinator

Union

Nora Lewis – Chairman
Robert Bailes – TEA Coalition
Harold & Nora Lewis – TEA Coalition

York

S.C. Representative Ralph Norman
Executive Committeeman Mark Palmer – Chairman
Ron Case – Grassroots Coordinator
JoAnna DiPastena – Grassroots Coordinator
Deidre Mazzoni

###

Here’s what I would have done with regard to Occupy Columbia, had I been the governor of SC

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Apparently — and surprisingly — the Occupy Columbia folks haven’t been getting enough attention from our governor. This came in an hour ago:

ACTION ALERT!

Tent March to the Governor’s Mansion at 4pm Tomorrow

ACTION ALERT: We are calling on all Occupiers and supporters to join us tomorrow for a march with our tents from the State House to the Governor’s Mansion. Once there, will deliver a special present to Governor Nikki Haley.

Please join us at 4:00pm at the State House and bring your tents!
With solidarity,

Occupy Columbia
www.OccupyColumbiaSC.org

I have no idea what this “special present” is, or why they’re taking their tents. Not knowing that, my mind turns to other, vaguely related, matters…

You know what I would have done over the last few weeks had I been governor? I’ve been thinking about this since the Budget and Control Board meeting the other day. I would have ignored Occupy Columbia.

Well, not ignored, as such. I think I might have gone out of my office and strolled around and chatted with them from time to time, totally low-key, in a nonconfrontational manner. I would have adopted a sort of traditional Hawaiian attitude — Burl should appreciate this. I would say things like, “Ain’t no big thing, bruddah,” and “We get ’em later…”

Beyond that, I would have left the situation alone, either until the Occupiers got tired of their shtick or until the Legislature came back. And if the Legislature wanted to pass legislation affecting the use of the State House grounds, they could do so.

Because the Legislature — the source of all power in South Carolina — has made it pretty clear that it is jealous of its authority over the State House and its environs. Witness its decision back in the 90s to make flying the Confederate flag — first on the dome, then starting in 2000, behind the monument — a matter of law, to make sure that no governor took action on the matter.

Even in a state where the Legislature doesn’t dominate as this one does, I would have understood that I couldn’t simply make up rules as I went along, enforcing “laws” never passed by a legislative body.

If lawmakers, such as Harvey Peeler, didn’t like the Occupiers, I would let them pass a law, and I would, within whatever executive authority allowed me, enforce it. If the solons wanted me to act more independently, then they could grant me power to do so in the future.

In the meantime, I would just be cool, and not go all Dean Wormer on the kids.

That’s what I would do.

Occupy Columbia says “Haley lies”

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This just came out a few minutes ago:

VIDEO: Gov. Haley lies about inviting Occupy Columbia to make a public statement

The video above shows Governor Nikki Haley falsely claiming that Occupy Columbia had been invited to make a public statement at a Budget and Control Board meeting, in which they proposed new regulations aimed at evicting Occupy Columbia. We are still waiting on the invitation.

In reality, Melissa Harmon called the Budget and Control Board yesterday and requested to make a public statement. I know this because I was sitting next to her when it happened and tweeted about it. When they did reply to her, she was told explicitly that we could not make public statements and instead would have to submit written ones. We did not choose to submit written statements, as the Governor stated.

Maybe the Governor should check with her staff about these things before speaking to the media. If she did intend for us to have that opportunity then she should consider slowing this down and allowing adequate time to hold public hearings.

How do Occupiers eat? Here’s how…

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Just in case you, like our governor, are sitting up nights wondering whether how the Occupy Columbia protesters are getting nutritious, sanitary meals, here’s an explanation from Maris Burton, a member of the Occupy Columbia Food Committee:

Dear Budget and Control Board members,

It has come to my attention that the storage and cooking of food is being used in an attempt to demonstrate the need for emergency regulations to protect the public health.

I have been involved with supplying and arranging delivery of food to the Occupiers. I have taken part in several discussions regarding how to safely handle food and how to provide nutritious cooked meals. People are not living on the State House grounds; they are Occupying the grounds as a form of protest.

Since the eviction from the State House grounds on Nov 16, 2011 and the subsequent temporary restraining order that allowed the use of tents and a 24 hour occupation as part of our right to free speech, we agreed to lessen our footprint and to focus on having non-perishable items such as individually wrapped snack packets of crackers and nutrition bars, and water available to the Occupiers.

Dry goods are kept in a sealable plastic tub, not accessible to wildlife. We have a rotating food schedule of volunteers who prepare hot meals off site and bring them to the State house. We have one cooler on site that is kept supplied with ice and sometimes contains yogurts, cheese or packaged sandwich meats or creamer for coffee. Food is brought at set times and cleared away promptly.

Any used dishes are collected each evening and washed at a volunteer’s home and then returned to the State House.

There have been no incidents of food related illnesses, and there has not been a problem with any wildlife coming near the food.

I welcome any questions you may have.

Such things are mildly interesting to me, because of my own strong aversion to living in the open. I’ve always thought, for instance, that the hardest part about serving in combat infantry would be the bivouac thing. Storm Omaha Beach, with the Germans having presighted every square inch and ready to rain lead and high explosives on me? Yeah, OK, just as long as I get a warm dinner and comfortable, dry bed that night, preferably back in England. To me, the real horror stories of war are those about the defenders of Bastogne getting frozen, literally, into their foxholes every night for a month during the coldest winter in Europe in a century, or the extremely gross conditions on Okinawa, living in a muddy soup of human waste and decomposing bodies. The fighting, by comparison, seems far less objectionable.

But I see even optimal outdoor living conditions to be less than desirable. I am not what you’d ever call a Happy Camper. By definition: If I’m camping, I’m not happy. Comparatively, anyway.

So it’s interesting to know how they’re managing over at the State House.

Nothing like openness and transparency, eh?

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I had missed this local news clip, but alert correspondent Burl Burlingame, way out in our Honolulu bureau, brought it to my attention.

Nothing like openness in an elected official, huh? Here’s the WACH story about what you see above…

Well played, sir: Newt says he’s got Wilkins

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Not brother David, the ex-speaker and ambassador, but Billy Wilkins, the former head of the 4th Circuit:

After Gov. Nikki Haley endorsed Mitt Romney for president this morning, S.C. frontrunner Newt Gingrich responded by announcing the endorsements of Billy and Debra Wilkins.

Billy Wilkins is a partner at the Nexsen Pruet law firm and a former chief justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. His wife Debra is a former member of the board of visitors at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Gingrich’s campaign noted that Billy Wilkins is “most recently known for playing a pivotal role in Boeing’s decision to locate in South Carolina.”…

Billy Wilkins

Maybe it doesn’t cut much ice with the rank and file voters who still like Nikki Haley, but they are, ahem, in the minority now. As for this minority of one, I certainly find the endorsement of Judge Wilkins to be more impressive than the one Romney bagged. For what little that’s worth. Newt’s all like, Yo, maybe you’ve got Nikki, but I’ve got somebody serious. So much for me being the wild man, huh?

Interesting that Romney, the closest thing the GOP field has to an establishment candidate, gets the Tea Party governor’s backing, but Gingrich the Perpetual Insurgent comes up with an endorsement as Establishment as Billy Wilkins.

You just can’t make any assumptions in this contest…

Haley’s for Romney: So does that mean Gingrich has sewn up SC now?

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I suppose you’ve seen this news:

Haley endorses Romney

By ADAM BEAM and GINA SMITH – abeam@thestate.com, gnsmith@thestate.com

Gov. Nikki Haley has endorsed Mitt Romney for president and will campaign with him in Greenville today and Myrtle Beach and Charleston tomorrow.

“He is a conservative businessman who has spent his life working in the economy, and he understands exactly how jobs are created,” Haley said in a news release from Romney’s campaign.

In a none-too-veiled slap at Romney’s chief GOP rival, former House Speaker Next Gingrich, Haley added, “He is not a creature of Washington, and he knows what it means to make decisions – real decisions – not simply cast a vote.”…

The first thought this prompts is, Does this mean Newt Gingrich is a shoo-in in South Carolina? Maybe I’d better call back the folks from the British consulate and say, Hey, I now know what’s going to happen.

Or not. This year is so unpredictable that even an endorsement by a Republican who is less popular in South Carolina than Barack Obama is not a sure thing.

Now, confession time: I feel a little bad that that was my first thought. Because it means I’m thinking like those people who used to say that “The State‘s endorsement is the kiss of death.” Of course, they were so demonstrably wrong — I ran the numbers, and over the course of the years I was on the editorial board, 75 percent of our endorsees in general elections won — but I still hate to be so dismissive.

But what am I gonna do? That was the first thing it occurred to me to say. Of course, you might say that I could wait a minute, and have other thoughts. To which I would say, Hey, this is a blog, not print.

I suppose, if I do think a bit more, I would say:

No news here. It’s what everyone expected. She was for him in 2008, back when she was a mere backbencher. And he endorsed her early for governor (something I still can’t get used to; outsiders interfering in our elections).
Romney is using the standard playbook here, getting the endorsement of the sitting governor — as though he were George H.W. Bush, and she were Carroll Campbell. Well, he isn’t. And she isn’t. And this is a year in which the playbook seems to have been torn up. But we’ll see.
I wonder what she would have done had Sarah Palin stayed in it?

By the way, the national media still don’t get Nikki Haley and South Carolina. They think it’s a biggie, or at least some of them do. Samuel Tenenbaum said he was taken aback when he saw this reported on MSNBC at 5 this morning. (Routine for him; Samuel is an early riser.) But probably not everyone in SC reacted the way he did. Or the way I did. It takes all kinds to make up a South Carolina.

Which is my way of saying, maybe this is a bigger deal than I think it is. But it seems unlikely.

Tell Her Majesty that I just don’t KNOW…

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Yesterday, two representatives from Her Majesty’s Government came to see me to talk politics, as they periodically do.

It can be fun to play the local expert, whether for national or foreign media, or in service of the Special Relationship — especially if you’re an Anglophile like me. Maybe I can’t see “Tinker, Tailor” where I live (yet), but I can contribute to a report that might, just might, cross a latter-day George Smiley’s desk. OK, so it’s not very likely, but hey, I can dream…

The temptation is to sound like you really know what’s going on, even if you don’t — like The Tailor of Panama, or Our Man in Havana. But I’m not the type to mislead HMG. Perish the thought.

So yesterday, I had to tell my visitors that I just can’t explain what’s happening in the South Carolina primary, and therefore can’t predict anything. And that’s the unfortunate truth.

I don’t know why Newt Gingrich is suddenly leading by double digits in polls in South Carolina, other than it’s his turn. I don’t know whether that trend will continue, because I don’t understand the dynamics that led her to this point.

And one of the problems is this: I’m not hearing from people who are Gingrich fans. I have to acknowledge that maybe there are things I don’t hear, or am not exposed to, because I’m no longer the editorial page editor of the state’s largest newspaper. Maybe that’s why I feel like I understand what’s happening now less than I understood the situation four years ago.

But you know what? So much of what I was hearing and seeing then was through my blog. I wrote relatively little about national politics in the paper, so most of my interactions in that area were online. And to the extent that I was seen as someone engaged in writing about the presidential race, it was online. For instance, a number of the national and international media types who were interviewing me initially didn’t even know I worked at the newspaper; they had come to me as a widely-read blogger.

And I’m more widely read online now than I was then. My monthly page views are at least four times what they were then. And yet…

My traffic hasn’t been steadily climbing in the months leading up to the primary, the way it did four years ago. It hit a peak in August, then dropped a bit.
I haven’t had a request for an interview from national or international sources since I spoke with E.J. Dionne at the start of November, which would be weird anytime, but especially with a primary coming up.
I just don’t run into people who are excited about the upcoming primary, either online or in person. Think about it — beyond Doug’s perpetual support for Ron Paul, who have you seen here who is pumped about a candidate? Well, it’s like that in the wider world. Quick — name five people you know who are eager to vote for Newt? You probably can’t. I know I can’t. People may be saying they’ll support Newt when a pollster asks, but they’re not going around bubbling with public excitement about it.
There were several national and international advocacy groups that had set up SC offices for the duration four years ago — and they had done it months before now. By the summer of 2007, they were up and running. This time, I know of one such group that has started a local office in recent months — One, the Bono group. I know a lot of nonprofits are far less flush with money than they were then, but it’s still remarkable.

Yes, I know that the buzz in SC should only be half of what it was four years ago, since only one party is having a primary. But it’s really much less than half. Things just feel dead by comparison.

I think one reason for that is expressed in that same Winthrop poll I referenced above. It also shows that 59 percent of those polled — and that includes Republicans — believe that Obama’s going to be elected. That, combined with a lower energy level (compared to last year) among Tea Partiers, has led to a really subdued campaign.

In a normal campaign, the fact that Newt is so far ahead, this late, would mean that he had it more or less locked up. This year, I don’t know. The polls give so easily this year, and can so easily take away. And this is Newt Gingrich — a guy with a well-known talent for self-destruction.

Normally, at this point, South Carolinians would be coalescing around the Republican most likely to with the nomination — usually, the establishment. A Bush. Bob Dole. John McCain. Now, the very definition of what it is to be a Republican — much less a South Carolina Republican — is more up in the air than at any time I remember.

So it seems to me there’s a better-than-even chance that SC won’t pick the eventual winner this time. The whole process is too wobbly, and less susceptible to steadying factors than in the past. And if that happens, there will be even less energy, and much less national attention, focused on the SC GOP primary four years from now.

But I just don’t know. When it’s hard to explain why what is already happening is happening, it’s very hard to predict what will happen next.

Court unanimously finds against McMaster

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Kathryn, to whom I think the topic is near and dear, brings this to my attention:

Former state Attorney General Henry McMaster on Monday lost his legal challenge as a landlord of Columbia’s law that barred students from creating mini-dormitories in residential neighborhoods.

In a 5-0 vote, the S.C. Supreme Court rejected McMaster’s argument that the city’s zoning ordinance capping at three the number of unrelated people who may share a residence. McMaster, through his PJM Properties, contends the ordinance violated the state constitution’s due process clause…

For those who wish to delve deeper, here’s a copy of the actual decision.

Today’s news haiku: Nikki’s poll numbers

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Nikki Haley is now less popular in South Carolina than Barack Obama:

South Carolinians have soured on Nikki Haley, turning the relatively new governor from a national Tea Party favorite into a chief executive struggling to maintain support among members of her own party, the latest Winthrop University poll shows.

Only 34.6 percent of those surveyed — 1,073 registered S.C. Democrats, Republicans and independents — said they approved of Haley’s job performance, according to the poll. Far more — 43 percent — said they disapprove of the way the Republican is handling her job as governor. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 2.9 percent percentage points.

Haley’s approval rating is lower than that of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, according to the poll. Obama has a 44.8 percent approval rating in strongly Republican South Carolina, according to the Winthrop poll….

This has to be a bitter pill for Nikki, since she ran against Barack Obama. That was her whole strategy. What’s she going to do next time? Will she be reduced to actually running against the Democratic nominee for governor? Stay tuned.

In the meantime, in a totally unrelated development, I was reading something about bad poetry over the weekend, and it inspired me to revive my “news haiku” feature.

Oh, stop yer bellyachin’! You don’t have to read it if you don’t want to. Even I admit this isn’t good haiku (where, for instance, is the nature reference?). But I thought it had a certain poignancy to it:

She’s Nikki Haley,

our shiny, national star!

Why don’t we love her?

bradwarthen.com

All The News That Gives You Fits

Category Archives: South Carolina

The Huntsman Girls, tonight on Pub Politics

Should Santorum skip N.H., head straight here?

Got a nice note from E.J. Dionne this morning

In the views of some of my cartoonist friends…

Apparently there’s ennui in Iowa, as well

Man the barricades; run out the guns! Never mind: It’s just another hyperbolic rant from the SC GOP

South Carolina is Under Attack

Newt answers flag question as I would

Bachmann names “grass-roots” team in SC

Here’s what I would have done with regard to Occupy Columbia, had I been the governor of SC

ACTION ALERT!

Tent March to the Governor’s Mansion at 4pm Tomorrow

Occupy Columbia says “Haley lies”

VIDEO: Gov. Haley lies about inviting Occupy Columbia to make a public statement

How do Occupiers eat? Here’s how…

Nothing like openness and transparency, eh?

Well played, sir: Newt says he’s got Wilkins

Haley’s for Romney: So does that mean Gingrich has sewn up SC now?

Haley endorses Romney

Tell Her Majesty that I just don’t KNOW…

Court unanimously finds against McMaster

Today’s news haiku: Nikki’s poll numbers

She’s Nikki Haley,

our shiny, national star!

Why don’t we love her?

And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State…Here we come South Carolina!!!

South Carolina is Under Attack

ACTION ALERT!

Tent March to the Governor’s Mansion at 4pm Tomorrow

VIDEO: Gov. Haley lies about inviting Occupy Columbia to make a public statement

Haley endorses Romney

She’s Nikki Haley, our shiny, national star! Why don’t we love her?

She’s Nikki Haley,

our shiny, national star!

Why don’t we love her?