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SCDOT and Press Release No. 44

SCDOT and Press Release No. 44

Robert J. St. Onge, the Secretary of the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), has been issuing press releases about the agency’s cash position since it was first revealed that SCDOT had no cash around April 2011.

We are now up to press release No. 44.

Millions of dollars in contractor fees and purchases went unpaid as it became clear that the agency’s cash management existed “in name only,” creating a crisis that has been an embarrassing debacle for SCDOT and our state over the past year. But according to the press releases from St. Onge’s office the agency’s cash position has a “continued positive outlook” and contractors and purchases are mostly being paid in a timely manner – a “rosy” picture indeed.

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State Farmers Market Purchase on Hold

State Farmers Market Purchase on Hold

Expansion of public ownership in the State Farmers Market in Lexington was avoided this year when House members of the budget conference committee would not agree to the $13 million the Senate wanted to appropriate.

S.C. Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers asked the General Assembly to appropriate nearly $17 million in this year’s budget to purchase the property. It is owned by Columbia developer Bill Stern who also serves as the chairman of the State Ports Authority.

According to Weathers, the $17 million amount was based on an appraisal provided by Stern. The Senate agreed but the House balked. The Senate came down to the $13 million amount in conference, but the House still wouldn’t agree.

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First Shot Fired Against Jake Knotts

First Shot Fired Against Jake Knotts

The first shot in what promises to be a vicious fall campaign was fired today when a story on Sen. Jake Knotts appeared in a Columbia newspaper hinting the incumbent District 23 senator may be considering retirement after his next four year term.

I have been in the news business long enough to recognize a planted story when I see one and this one has all the earmarks. It seems like a not so subtle attempt for Gov. Nikki Haley to weigh in on Knotts to the advantage of her best friend and Knotts’ opponent Katrina Shealy.

Shealy will have to be a petition candidate in the fall because she failed to file her candidacy forms properly during the March filing period. Therefore, she needs to build awareness for her candidacy because she won’t be the nominee of a party on the ballot and benefit from all the straight party voters.

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Independence Day 2012 - Photo Credit Bluffton Today

Honoring the USA on Independence Day

Independence Day, better known as July Fourth, is a national holiday established to honor the founding of America. The holiday also commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. American Thinker interviewed a few patriots who have served their country, asking them what this holiday means to them, as well as how current events affect American values.

Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ) celebrates this holiday by reconnecting with family and country. For him, the most important American values are personal accountability and responsibility. Part of this country’s greatness is that anyone “can make something of themselves. You can aspire to do exceptional things, yet if you fail, you have the opportunity to build again. That is the magic of America.”

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Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment Repealed

Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment Repealed

Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment, “Thou shall not speak ill of any Republican,” died in Lexington, South Carolina on Monday night. The party’s executive committee approved a resolution that GOP Party officers may now support non-Republican candidates in the upcoming November general election.

The resolution only formalized what has been going on in Lexington County and around South Carolina for months. Speaking ill of other Republicans has become the sport of this election season.

A second resolution to try and run incumbent Sen. Jake Knotts out of the party failed, but demonstrates the political infighting currently rampant within the party. Knotts is expected to be opposed in the fall by petition candidate Katrina Shealy, best friend of Gov. Nikki Haley. Knotts is the Republican nominee. Shealy will have the support of the state’s nominal top Republican office holder.

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Lexington County GOP Eating It's Own

Lexington County GOP Eating It’s Own

The Lexington County GOP will consider a resolution Monday evening that will allow party officials to ignore a state party rule in order to support non-party candidates in the generalelection.

The county party is trying to find a way to support petition candidates, should they become eligible for the ballot, who failed to file candidacy papers in accordance with state law so they could appear on last month’s primary election ballot.

These petition candidates will be opposing duly nominated Republican Party candidates on the general election ballot.

Of course, we all know what exactly is happening here. The county party is trying to find any way possible to kow tow to Gov. Nikki Haley and support her Best Friend Forever Katrina Shealy in the upcoming November general election.

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"Public pensions must be more transparent, accountable." Curtis M. Loftis Jr.

Public Pension Plans Must Be Transparent

It’s no secret that public pension plans and their investment boards nationwide are underperforming. Blame is often assigned to the economy, over-promising politicians, unrealistic assumed rates of investment returns, and workers that retire earlier and live longer. But, is there more to the story?

“In all 50 states hard-working public employees and taxpayers supply the money for these investments. They should not be riding in the back of the bus, and in fact they should be driving the bus. ”

My research and experience shows that many pension investment boards lack vital transparency and accountability. The absence of these key principles of good governance leaves the plans vulnerable to increased risk. The inner workings of these investment boards are mysterious to outsiders; in fact these investment boards are places where enormous sums of public dollars are entrusted to a select few, but coveted by many.

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MBIA

A Lesson in Government Folly

It was interesting to note, earlier this week, a media story that passenger arrivals at Myrtle Beach International Airport were down approximately 13 percent for the current year. The downturn in passenger numbers occurs while the airport is in the midst of an approximately $120 million expansion of its terminal facilities.

Horry County Council member Carl Schwartzkopf called me up to ask if I had read the story and asked my reaction.

I told him my reaction was limited to four words, “I told you so.”

The reason for the conversation is Schwartzkopf was elected to council in a special election in district 8 in late 2003 to fill the unexpired term of member Liz Gilland after Gilland was elected council chairman in a special election earlier in the year.

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Nikki Haley, The Innocent Little Girl

Nikki Haley, The Innocent Little Girl

In a move that should surprise no one who watched the ethics hearing Thursday, all four ethics charges against Gov. Nikki Haley, for actions while she was a House member, were dismissed by the S.C. House Ethics Committee Friday morning.

The voting was a small encore to what was an incredible performance the day before when the committee ‘purportedly’ was presented the case against Haley.

It was obvious from the beginning of the hearing that the fix was in to exonerate Haley. The accuser, attorney and Republican fundraiser John Rainey was never called to testify. The ‘presenter’ of the case, an attorney hired by the House for the event, never called an accusing witness.

All witnesses called in the hearing were done so to make sure Haley got off on all charges.

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Governor Nikki Haley’s EthicsReforms – Style Trumps Substance

Nikki Haley’s Festival of Lies

“With all due respect, Mr. Rainey is a racist, sexist bigot who has tried everything in his power to hurt me and my family,” Gov. Nikki Haley told the S.C. House Ethics Committee.

That statement sums up the performance Haley put on for the committee. Combined with what came off as an innocent little girl act, Haley got away with character assassination while Rainey was never called to testify.

This was not an adversarial hearing. Rainey’s complaint was not represented by anyone. Even the attorneys hired by the House to “present” the case did not advocate Rainey’s complaints.

Although not listed on the witness list, Haley was called as a witness by her attorney Butch Bowers. There was no complaint against her testifying by the other side. And Rainey, a lawyer himself, built up a convincing case in his complaint but was never called to present it, defend it or explain it. No accusing witnesses were called.

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