TweetI certainly hope Moe Baddourah read Warren Bolton’s column this morning, and took it to heart. Excerpts: WHILE COLUMBIA City Councilman Moe Baddourah will take his first formal vote at today’s council meeting, it’s doubtful that many of his official votes loom as large as an unofficial decision he made following a May 8 public […]
TweetI continue to be fascinated by Rick Perry’s TV ads, largely because they are so startlingly lacking in anything that might ordinarily fascinate an active mind. They are so formulaic, so trite, so astoundingly lacking in originality, that it is truly remarkable. And on top of that, they are badly executed — which is also […]
TweetI said a moment ago that I didn’t have anything to say about Joe Riley’ latest victory except congratulations again, but apparently I lied. It just hit me what else I wanted to say… Aside from my happiness for Joe, it occurs to my what it does my heart so much good to turn toward […]
TweetA friend sent me this last night: Interesting note: I just got polled about the following issues: view of city-county council, opinions of USC economic development, Harris Pastides, Innovista and funding the bus system. Also asked about funding a new baseball stadium, riverfront and Zoo improvements. Even (da-dum) strong mayor! You might throw that out there (without […]
TweetToday, at the invitation of my good friend Jack Van Loan, I attended another Kaffeeklatsch with Steve Benjamin at the Gourmet Shop. He said many of the sensible things he’s said in the past about TIFs (he doesn’t think the city should go it alone) and restructuring (he’s for strong mayor, but believes this system […]
Tweet Quite literally… This morning when I met with Steve Benjamin and Jack Van Loan at The Gourmet Shop, Steve started doodling on his legal pad to illustrate the problem with Columbia’s current system of government. As you may be able to better see at right in the low-res action photo from my Blackberry, he […]
TweetFYI, 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 […]
TweetOne point I'd like to make with regard to this letter on today's page, which takes exception with our advocacy of a strong-mayor system for Columbia, most recently articulated in our Sunday editorial: City’s government should remain as is I read The State’s Sunday editorial, “City should change system, not hire another manager,” with dismay […]
TweetSpeaking of Mayor Bob, as we were earlier… A few days ago, he sent us an op-ed submission. Then he resent it with an additional byline on it — that of Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine. It was about the recent city council retreat. Trouble is, we had run a piece from him just days earlier […]
TweetThis morning, I got this e-mail from the anonymous folks over at The Pulse of Columbia: To: Our Friends in the City of Columbia From: THE PULSE OF COLUMBIA With “Charles in Charge”… it begs the question “What About Bob”? The State says we need the “Strong Mayor” system, but could Mayor Bob really run […]
TweetWhich will it be, Columbia voters: ‘right’ or ‘effective’?By Brad WarthenEditorial Page EditorCHALLENGER Kevin Fisher talks a lot about Columbia Mayor Bob Coble. He criticizes, in great detail, a long litany of actions and inactions by the mayor. He talks about how he would have done things differently. The ad and PR man says […]
TweetTo respond to three questions raised by Lee in connection with a previous post: 1. What good does it do if the council members are puppets of special interests? I’d rather have a crooked mayor — which would be easy to see and do something about — than a corrupt, fragmented system with no clear […]
TweetThere’s no either/or:Without the system,you don’t get the man “Charleston will not put up with inefficiency. We’ve been efficient too long.” — Charleston District 7 City Councilman Louis L. Waring “I go to bed thinking about something that […]
TweetSome quick, friendly rebuttals to the Rev. Wiley Cooper’s op-ed piece today: We don’t just want a "czar" for the city. We want one for the state, too. This isn’t some whim on our part, but something we’ve called for consistently on the state and local levels for years now. We see the weakness of […]
Tweet It’s been awhile since one of these. Let’s dig in… House GOP advances impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas — This happened a bit after midnight last night, on a completely partisan vote, of course. I heard an account of it on a podcast from the NYT while I was out walking earlier today. […]
Tweet I’ve mentioned before, I think, that one of a number of reasons I enjoy reading The Boston Globe is that it tells stories about serious people dealing with real issues in ways I don’t find morally and intellectually offensive and painful to read. I saw that in the lede story in the paper a […]
TweetThe Op-Ed Page By Paul V. DeMarco Guest Columnist After my June column, “Losing well is critical to democracy,” in which I praised Tom Rice for his grace in defeat and compared his response to Donald Trump’s incessant lying about his loss, I received an email from someone whom I will call “Randy” who is […]
TweetOne nice thing about a Top Five list of TV shows is that you can bill it as “all-time” and still stick to stuff you know from your own lifetime. You don’t feel like you have to go back and pull in “Greensleeves” or “Veni, veni, Emmanuel” to make up for neglecting Top Songs before Elvis. […]
TweetThe Op-Ed Page By Paul V. DeMarco Guest Columnist In September 2009, I attended a town hall meeting in the gymnasium of Francis Marion University featuring Lindsey Graham. It was about six weeks after the confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Graham was the only Republican senator on the Judiciary Committee to […]
TweetJust a normal, quiet day — the kind I was looking forward to when I voted last year. Which is nice. But here’s some stuff to talk about… What? It’s Mardi Gras already? — So tomorrow’s Ash Wednesday. What to give up? Or maybe I should say, what else should we give up? Cayce could be […]