Category Archives: South Carolina

Yeah, what Vincent said (on cigarette tax)…

Dang, I wish I hadn’t posted that Sheheen video earlier, because now that I have a good comment from him on Sanford’s veto of the cigarette tax increase (the increase that only goes half as far as 70 percent of South Carolinians want it to go, but at least is better than the 30-cent we almost had to settle for), it looks like this blog is all Sheheen, all the time.

Anyway, here it is:

“Gov. Sanford’s veto of the cigarette tax is absolutely indefensible,” said Sheheen. He continued:

“I don’t know what world the governor is living in, but here in South Carolina, we’re facing unprecedented budget shortfalls — cutting vital medical services for many South Carolinians and laying off teachers, including my own child’s third grade teacher. Increasing our state’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax will qualify our state for millions of dollars in federal matching funds for health care while reducing teen smoking and smoking-related health care costs. It’s the responsible thing to do.

It’s time for us to elect a governor who will be committed to the people of this state rather than committed to an unbending political ideology that ignores the basic needs of everyday South Carolinians.

Yeah, what he said. And yeah, this does illustrate why South Carolinians need to be really, really careful for once about electing a governor. And it’s why we can’t even consider Nikki Haley, and increasingly — and I hate this, because as you know, I like to have a dog in every party’s fight — ALL of the Republicans seem determined to disqualify themselves from being considered by rational independents (I discussed that previously back here).

And as soon as I get a good comment — heck, any comment — coming over the transom from someone else, I’ll post that, too.

By the way, it just so happens that my office door these days actually does have a transom. I don’t think it opens any more, though…

The actual transom over the actual door of my actual office.

Vincent gets up off some of that money he’s been sitting on

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Vincent Sheheen has unveiled his first TV ad, above.

Now maybe he’ll get up off a little more of that money and buy a blog ad, and get some real results…

How was YOUR Confederate Memorial Day?

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Never got around to writing about this yesterday. I almost put it on my front page, but didn’t. I almost did that because I thought it would be largely glossed over by the MSM, and the thing is… it’s really startling news.

Seriously, yesterday the state that we (most of us, anyway) actually live in observed Confederate Memorial Day. We shut down government offices, people, paying all those thousands of employees to stay home and remember and honor the Confederacy.

In 2010. In America. The country that generation after generation of South Carolinians have bled and died for long after the madness of 1860-65 was behind us. You know, that episode in which our ancestors (mine, anyway; I don’t know about you) rose up and went to war against the United States of America.

Think about it.

Maybe it’s just as well that I didn’t write about it until now, because I know that most readers (whether they work in the public or private sectors) tend to read this blog during working hours — I feel sort of guilty about that, but only a little — and I’d like to ask the state employees among my readers a question:

How did it feel to have the day off for that reason?

Mind you, The State newspaper used to celebrate it, too, but before my day. Or at least, the paper used it as an excuse not to give employees the day off on Yankee Memorial Day. Only during my tenure at the paper did we start taking off that day at the end of May. But to the best of my recollection I never actually had Confederate Memorial Day off.

So I’m curious as to what state employees who were off think about it.

You mean that’s NOT a Haley campaign ad?

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Under the headline, “Is this even legal?,” Wesley Donehue shares the above ad being paid for by ReformSC.

Which makes me wonder — surely no one’s pretending this is anything other than a Nikki Haley ad… are they?

Well, maybe there’s one difference… I’m thinking Nikki herself might be embarrassed to pour it on THIS thick. Wouldn’t she?

Graham comments on Kagan

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Since he is one of those rare senators who will actually fairly consider a court nominee based on merit rather than party affiliation of the nominating president (he voted, for instance, for Sotomayor), I take interest in what Lindsey Graham has to say about each nominee. Here’s what he said today about Elena Kagan:

“Solicitor General Kagan has a strong academic background in the law. I have been generally pleased with her job performance as Solicitor General, particularly regarding legal issues related to the War on Terror. I look forward to meeting her again, this time to discuss her qualifications to sit on the highest court in the land.

“As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I intend to be fair and firm in my questioning of the nominee. The hearings can be a valuable public service as they give us a window into the nominee’s judicial philosophy and disposition. I hope we will have a meaningful opportunity to explore the qualifications, judicial temperament, and judicial philosophy of Ms. Kagan.”

Shocker: Sanford’s favorite club backs Nikki

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Chad Walldorf at the SC Club for Growth is a nice, sincere guy, and I’ve always liked Nikki Haley. But both of them are so in step with Mark Sanford that there’s not a bit of surprise in this:

The S.C. Club for Growth has endorsed the Republican gubernatorial bid of Lexington Rep. Nikki Haley. Club chairman Chad Walldorf said Haley bets fits the group’s belief in limited government and free market principles.”We have seen Representative Haley’s incredible work in the South Carolina legislature and are thrilled to have a candidate with her track record running for our state’s top office,” Walldorf said in a statement. “As our governor, Nikki Haley will continue to make South Carolina more business friendly, protect our hard-earned tax dollars, and perhaps most importantly, shine a light on the darkest corners of state bureaucracy.”…

What does Innovista success look like?

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How will we know when Innovista is succeeding? Well, to begin with, we won’t be at the point where we can call it a complete success for many years, at best. But along the way, there will be signs.

Some of them will be big, such as the new baseball park and the Moore School moving to the geographic area that is central to the Innovista movement. Or the eventual construction of the waterfront park that makes the area more inviting. Most important will be the development of high-tech start-ups that you won’t even be aware of at first, but that will grow and feed off each other as the dynamic starts working.

But there will also be other less obvious signs. Here’s one small, but definite, sign that jumped out at me in recent days…

Have you heard the radio ads for Thirsty Fellow Pizzeria and Pub? The part that jumps out at me is when this eatery/watering hole announces that it can be found in USC’s Innovista. I’m never in a position to take notes when I hear it, but here’s what the Thirsty Fellow says on its website:

Owners Willie Durkin, Chuck Belcher, Dean Weinberger and Terry Davis want you to join the Thirsty Fellow family. Located in the USC Innovista area, we have a comfortable atmosphere, a great menu, a full bar and plenty of televisions. Open for lunch, dinner, late night and Sunday brunch, put Thirsty Fellow on your “to do” list.

“Located in the USC Innovista area.” Whether you take that as a boast — a desire to be associated with the idea of the Innovista — or merely as an acceptable way of giving directions (thereby suggesting that everyone knows where the Innovista is), this is a small-but-telling sign of the concept moving forward, taking hold in the marketplace.

Let me say that again: In the marketplace. You know, that place where Gov. Sanford and the Policy Council don’t want USC to go messin’, the place where they believe, with all the fervor of their secular anti-gummint religion, it is doomed to fail.

And yet, the place where, in this tiny way, it is taking hold…

Welcome, NPR…

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Just got a call from Carol Klinger at NPR. She wanted to know what I’d written lately about the governor. I suggested checking out the blog.

To make it easier, here are a few key riffs:

My video commentary, “Love Story II, starring Mark Sanford“
One headlined “A Little White Guy Who Lies“
My beef about how the governor gets more vacations than I do, and I’m unemployed
Just look down at your shoes and walk away, gov
More video commentary: “Pure Politics“
The infamous press conference
My somewhat abstract take on the latest.

And from back in the day, before all the current mess:

My editorial explaining in no uncertain terms why McCain should NOT pick Sanford as a running mate.
A column from just before the election, essentially disowning the guy.
A piece on when he vetoed the entire state budget.

Carol, enjoy…

COEXIST or else, y’all

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In case you’re wondering about a comment by Kathryn way down back on this post (comment No. 36, I believe), she’s responding to something I wrote on Twitter earlier today:

Driving in Columbia today, I wondered: Do they issue you a “COEXIST” bumper sticker when you move to Shandon?

And to save you having to look, KB said:

They do indeed issue a COEXIST bumper sticker at closing when you buy a Shandon house. Do you get the Confederate flag one when you buy your house in Lexington County or does that cost extra?

You’ll note how that drips with Shandonista scorn. For that matter, my daughter responded thusly on Facebook:

Yeah, but mine’s not on my car since I don’t use fossil fuels, I just stuck it next to my LGBT rainbow and my peace sign on my reusable organic cotton grocery bag.

As a Lexington Countian, let me reply that indeed I do have a Confederate flag. It was given to me by John Courson. It once flew over the State House. But it ain’t a-gonna fly there no more.

Oh, and my wife noted something about Shandon to me just this evening. They might have a lot of nice things we don’t have (such as sidewalks), but there’s one thing they have that we can do without — big ol’ honkin’ cat-sized rats (I added the modifiers) running down the street trying to escape the overburdened sewer system.

Ahem.

Governor faces 37 flavors, uh, charges

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The AP has reported that:

SC gov faces 37 charges he broke state ethics laws
SC State Wire

JIM DAVENPORT
Published: November 23, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford faces ethics charges he broke state laws more than three dozen times by violating rules on airplane travel and campaign money, according to details of the allegations released Monday.

It’s up to the state attorney general to decide whether to file criminal charges. Sanford’s lawyers have claimed the allegations involve minor and technical aspects of the law.

The second-term Republican governor has been under scrutiny since he vanished for five days over the summer, reappearing to tearfully admit to an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina he later called his “soul mate.”

A series of Associated Press investigations into his travel showed the governor had for years used state airplanes for political and personal trips, flown in pricey commercial airline seats despite a low-cost travel requirement and failed to disclose trips on planes owned by friends and donors.

The State of Columbia newspaper also questioned whether Sanford properly reimbursed himself from his campaign cash.

Of course, you come here for instant analysis, which I provide when I feel like it. My instant analysis of this situation, of which I learned while surreptitiously checking Twitter during Rotary, is that this revelation means the following:

The number of charges leveled against the governor is a prime number, which means it is divisible only by itself and 1.
The particular prime number is the one that comes right after the prime number that is the number of original flavors at Baskin Robbins. This is 20 less than the number of flavors for which Heinz is famous, which is not a prime number even though it looks like one.

Not bad for analysis done while eating dinner, huh? And no, I was not eating mushrooms or anything else untoward. My stomach is still a bit uncertain today…

I’ll get back to you when I have further observations. In the meantime, y’all have at it.

By the way, have you ever heard of that “State of Columbia newspaper” that the AP referred to? Neither have I. Perhaps they meant “The State newspaper of Columbia…” Oh, and by the way, as I’ve been stating for decades, you wouldn’t have to say “newspaper” if you’d just use the italics as God intended.

Whew, I’m so glad THAT’s over (the recession, I mean)

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Well, it’s been rough and it’s been real, folks, but I have to say I’m glad the recession is over, according to a USC economist.

Oh, but wait, there’s more (like you had to tell me). It seems that, ahem, “significant challenges remain,” a phrase that to a guy in my circumstances bears a certain understated, bureaucratic chill reminiscent of Ronald Reagan’s “Mistakes were made.” No, it doesn’t mean the same thing. I’m talking aesthetically, or metaphysically, or something. The flavor of the words…

Anyway, the recession’s over, but…:

In spite of national economic growth of 3.5% during the third quarter, significant challenges remain for South Carolina’s economy — particularly for labor markets — said Coastal Carolina University research economist Don Schunk.

“I expect slower real (gross domestic product) growth in the coming quarters as the effects of various temporary boosts to the economy fade,” Schunk said. “The recession may be over, but this does not mean we are on a path of sustained recovery. As the private sector grapples with deciding what a ‘new normal’ for the economy may look like, we will likely see continued restraint in terms of consumer spending, private-sector investment, and business expansion and hiring.”

Just so you know. I don’t know about you, but I live in South Carolina, which apparently will be stuck for sometime in “yes, but…” mode in this recovery.

I’m thinking about adding “The New Normal” to my list of possible names for my band.

Come give blood with me

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First, I really should have mentioned this sooner, but I just remembered that I’m going to give blood at the Red Cross at 5 p.m. today, and the need is sufficiently great that they asked me to “bring a friend” if I could.

So far, the people I’ve mentioned it to in person have not stepped forward — which is par for the course, and besides, it was relatively short notice for them, too.

But in case any of y’all can drop everything and come join me, please do. You might not be able to do exactly what I plan to do (if my iron is high enough), which is give double red cells, but I’m pretty sure they’ll take whole blood from a walk-in.

And if you can’t make it today, how about tomorrow, or some other time soon? I’ll be glad to help you set it up, or you can call (803) 251-6000. The need is great, particularly now, according to a piece I saw last week in The Wall Street Journal:

A number of blood centers are reporting an unusual drop in collections because too many potential donors are sick with the H1N1 virus, or swine flu. Some blood drives in high schools and corporate offices have had to be scaled back or canceled because of high levels of absenteeism.

Another problem: Some centers say a growing number of donors are calling a day or two after giving blood to say they’ve come down with flu-like symptoms, forcing the centers to dispose of the blood as part of government regulations. Researchers in a government-funded study are testing samples of these donors’ blood for viremia, the medical term for virus in the blood.

That’s nationally. Here in the Midlands, we always have a shortage, because, well, we don’t give as much as we should in this community. So come on out and help, if you can.

More power to Jenny (just not POLITICAL power, OK?)

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Last week, a Republican friend drew my attention to jennysanford.com, which he derided as being … I forget the word he used, but it was something like “egomaniacal.”

But when I looked at it I saw little to criticize. It’s apparently been up for awhile — I saw posts from 2008 and even 2007 — and why shouldn’t the First Lady have a Web presence? It was tasteful, and had been quietly updated with such language as:

Mrs. Sanford is enjoying spending more time in her most important role as mother of her four sons … and is separated from her husband…

I mean, what else are you gonna say?

Anyway, Jenny made a bit of a splash over the weekend when it was learned that, right after the Argentinian bimbo eruption, she went out and trademarked her name.

Well, so what? Hey, when you find yourself in the center ring of a media circus, which always creates the possibility that somebody‘s going to make some money off your name, why wouldn’t a reasonable person make sure that she is that someone?

You know what I did, first thing, when I learned I couldn’t take my old blog with me when I left the paper? I went out and bought bradwarthen.com. One of the few smart things I did, even if it hasn’t lead to any money yet. And I advised Robert to run out and buy robertariail.com, which he did.

More power to Jenny, say I. Just not any political power, please. We’ve had enough of where that leads, in the past seven years.

Lay a little capitalism on me, baby

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No matter what your political views, you’re bound to get at least a smile out of the S.C. Policy Council’s new “Unleashing Capitalism” site.

For my part, I was prepared to be bored to death when I followed the link, only to be greeted immediately with this:

“I stopped going bald because of capitalism.”

So I kept watching the automatic slideshow, and while none of the other assertions had quite the comic punch of the first one, the others weren’t bad:

I lost 70 pounds with the help of capitalism.

I sleep with the windows open thanks to capitalism.

Our marriage was saved by capitalism.

I don’t hate Mondays thanks to capitalism.

I learned algebra because of capitalism.

I am not, as Dave Barry says, making this up.

I didn’t know my friends at the Policy Council (and I do have friends over there) had this much of a sense of humor. But I’ve got to hand it to them; this is a grabber. It’s cute, and enjoyable whether you agree with the Policy Council’s worldview or disagree sharply.

Of course, it’s not all sweetness and light. Far from it.

Be sure you’ve taken your antidepressants before you watch the video on the site, which paints a picture of South Carolina that makes “Corridor of Shame” look like a Chamber of Commerce production. It makes the Airstrip One of 1984 look like Disneyland. It makes South Carolina look even worse than it looks to me as a guy who’s been looking for a job for 8 months.

And of course, guess what the cause of all this misery is? Well, no, there’s not a lot of guessing to be done with an organization that would assert that capitalism, and not public education, is the best provider of algebraic knowledge.

But interestingly, the video doesn’t attack government so much as it attacks “politicians,” with assertions such as:

We gave politicians too much power…

We’ve trusted them to make decisions for us…

It’s time to take power back from politicians.

Of course, this is a direct attack on the greatest form of government ever devised — representative democracy. You know, the system in which we elect representatives to make public policy decisions. The only logical conclusion to derive from this presentation is that we should grab our pitchforks and run riot in the streets, a la France in the 1790s.

Which persuades me once again that, no matter what you may say about it, the Policy Council is certainly not a “conservative” organization.

By the way, lest you get too depressed watching the video — it gets all happy at the end. And here’s a thought to cheer you up even more — I’m guessing those bustling free-enterprise operations they’re showing (in the color, Dorothy-arrives-in-Oz part) actually exist already in this world that is supposedly crushed and oppressed by “politicians.”

One last thought, though, just to cover all my bases: Hey, if you’re going to unleash some capitalism, unleash some on me. The public sector isn’t hiring, because we live in a state run by politicians who would rather have their eyes put out with sharp sticks than raise taxes to maintain even the minimal level of services we have come to expect in South Carolina. In fact, if underfunding gummint will unleash capitalism, we should be experiencing a tsunami of private investment about now. I’ve got my surfboard, and I’m ready…

Charleston GOP praises Graham with faint damnation

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The Charleston County GOP has censured Lindsey Graham for the unpardonable sin of … gasp! … bipartisanship. From the resolution:

“U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in the name of bipartisanship continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom, rule of law, and fiscal conservatism…”

Weakening the GOP brand? Golly, who’da thunk it was possible?

The True Believers of the Holy City also complained that their senior senator “has shown a condescending attitude toward his constituents” with regard to their hyperventilating against his attempt at comprehensive immigration reform.

The Lowcountry GOPpers really don’t have to go to this much trouble to make me like Lindsey. I already thought he was a good guy, who would be welcome in the UnParty any time; they don’t have to go to this much trouble to reinforce it.

Bauer looking for “creative way to announce”

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This morning Andre Bauer stopped by my table at breakfast, and while chatting picked up the Metro section of The State and glanced at the story about Jenny Sanford endorsing Nikki Haley.

“What do you think about that?” I asked. What he thought, he said, was that it would really mean something if Jenny could deliver some of the Sanford financial backing to Nikki. This led to some general remarks on what a shame it was that money meant so much in politics, and so forth, but then Andre shifted gears to say that he was proof that money could be overcome — “Your paper (a reference to a newspaper with which I was once associated) reported that Campbell outspent me three to one,” for all the good it did him. He also noted with satisfaction that Mike Bloomberg, despite outspending his opponent by significant margins, was barely re-elected.

I noted that Andre always seemed to overcome the odds by being a “hard worker,” which is true, and which he did not dispute, that being a large part of his public persona.

Then he said he was trying to think of “a creative way to announce,” which of course would give him some exposure he wouldn’t have to pay for.

“You got anything for me?” — meaning ideas. Nope, I said — and managed to hold myself back from begging him to give Sanford just a little longer to resign (not that any amount of time would be enough, of course) …

Nikki gets a Sanford endorsement that actually might help her

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The brains of the Sanford outfit has sent out a letter endorsing Nikki Haley, which is of a whole lot more value than if the gov himself were to do so.

Of course, in terms of substance, it’s the same. Which is to say, an endorsement of Nikki is an endorsement of more of the same stuff we’ve suffered through for seven years. An excerpt from Jenny Sanford’s letter:

With many of our public schools shamefully underperforming, I dearly wish for better educational opportunities for our children. With a state government structure that rewards the status quo and stands in the way of change, I wish for vital government reforms. It’s amazing how much better off the people of our state would be if those things happened.
But they won’t happen by just wishing for them. They won’t happen without an enormous amount of hard work. And they won’t happen without making a lot of entrenched powers upset.
I’m proud of the work Mark and his Administration have done over almost seven years now, trying very hard to move the ball forward on all of those fronts. Little in life that is worth accomplishing ever comes without some setbacks along the way. While the Sanford Administration has had some defeats in its efforts to reduce out-ofcontrol state spending, reform archaic state government structure, and give children more educational choices, it has also had successes.

Jenny was always the brains behind Mark. So while her endorsement might generate more sympathy, in terms of political substance, it means the same.

Did I miss anything over the weekend?

Mild-mannered demagoguery in the echo chamber

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Just now I got an automated phone call on my land line inviting me to take part in a telephone “town hall meeting” with Jim DeMint. So I listened in.

And first, I want to say that I appreciate that Jim DeMint is mild-mannered. None of that shouting, in-your-face demagoguery for him.

But that said, I have to say that after awhile, hearing some fairly extreme ideas espoused mildly and politely starts to creep me out.

Basically, the way this thing worked was that ordinary, regular, plain, normal, average Americans in the 2nd District asked the senator question after question in a manner that was rather like T-ball. Nobody was trying to throw it past him, and he kept saying “good question” to little sermonettes from folks who are worried about that Barack Obama guy giving away “our freedoms,” on issue after issue. Whether we’re talking global warming or trade or monetary policy to crime to health care, that’s what it always boiled down to: Thank goodness we have you, senator, to stand up for our freedoms. No problem, folks, glad to do it, and be sure to sign up for my “Freedom Alert” reports…

When somebody calls in, truly worried about crime — her house has been broken into twice, she said — and says “Is it possible that they’ll be able to take away our constitutional right to bear arms?,” it seems to me that the right thing to do would be say, “Of course, not — no one is trying to do that to you.” But not Jim. In his own mild, butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-his-mouth way, he makes sure he gives the impression that the only reason ATF goons aren’t about to batter down your door and take your guns from your cold, dead fingers is because he’s there stopping ’em: “I’m doing all I can,” he promises, “to make sure we don’t lose our constitutional rights.”

So why am I not reassured?

Yes, I could have hit a button and tried to butt in with a “Hey, wait a minute” sort of question, but all those years of not upstaging regular folks — of not wanting to become the story — stopped me.

One guy, though, did — right at the end — ask Jim what in the world would be wrong with ordinary working Americans having the same kind of health coverage as Congress (this was the only question I heard on the subject that wasn’t about that Obama wanting to take away our Medicare and turn it over to the gummint). Jim assured him that HE wanted ordinary Americans to have good health care, which was why he provided insurance when he was an employer in the private sector, and that he thought members of Congress should be forced to sign up for whatever gummint plan it cooked up, etc., etc. — everything, of course, except to say that yes, members of Congress are in a government health care system, and it works just great for them.

Far more typical was Hazel, who wanted to know why she had worked to pay into Medicare for over 40 years, and now that Obama “wants to take it away from us.”

And of course, Jim didn’t say, “You like Medicare? So what’s wrong with having it for everybody?” That would apparently defeat his purposes.

Anyway, when it was over Jim went away feeling all that much better about his brave stances against health care reform and cap and trade and so forth.

Maybe I should have said something. You think I should have said something? I should have said something…

Pickin’ ’n’ grinnin’ in the center of the city