Tag: Nikki Haley

SCGOP In-Fighting

Nikki Haley Campaign Ignores State Law

You have to give Nikki Haley credit for consistency. Whenever the governor comes up against a law she doesn’t like, she ignores it.

The latest comes with having her campaign reimburse the state for the costs of state law enforcement officers providing security while she is on the campaign trail.

Haley’s latest end run around state law results from a trip to North Carolina she made in June where Haley attended an event held by a foundation supporting N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory. During the course of her attendance, Haley picked up a total of $34,500 in campaign donations.

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The I-73 Contradiction

Gov. Nikki Haley was in Horry County Monday pumping the benefits of the I-73 project and her re-election campaign.

Speaking to the Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors, Haley said I-73 is hugely important for this area.

It’s so important she said someone else would have to pay for it because the state wasn’t about to.

And that is the crux of the I-73 contradiction.

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SCGOP In-Fighting

Nikki Haley and her Dead Voters

The Columbia Free Times reported last week that the claim of Gov. Nikki Haley that dead persons were voting in South Carolina elections was completely unfounded.

Of the 957 deceased voters Gov. Nikki Haley alleged voted in statewide elections, exactly none have been verified.

After 18 months of investigation, SLED issued a 500 page report last week finding no evidence that anyone cast a ballot in the name of a dead person.

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Ethics Reform – Not So Fast

Another Ethics Reform Failure

There is no ethics reform this year for South Carolina politicians because the S.C. Senate wasn’t interested in changing the way the ethics of its members is monitored.

Last summer, Gov. Nikki Haley ran around the state, accompanied by Attorney General Alan Wilson, trumpeting the need to tighten ethics laws in the state and overhaul the way in which ethics oversight is accomplished.

That no bill was passed in the General Assembly this year says everything that needs to be said about the way in which the state is governed.

The 1895 Constitution, which governs the state, places all real power in the General Assembly. If it doesn’t want to act, no force on earth can make it.

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S.C. Ethics Reform? – Don’t Bet On It

The South Carolina Commission on Ethics Reform, appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley late last year, released its recommendations to tighten state ethics laws Monday.

Some of the recommendations should be considered no-brainers, such as: (1) Disclosing all private sources of income, and identifying all “fiduciary” positions, or positions of trust, held, whether compensated or uncompensated; (2) banning leadership PAC’s; (3) expanding the definition of lobbyists and lobbyists principals and increasing their annual fee and (4) strengthening public corruption laws.

It would seem that number (1) with regard to sources of income would be the most important. From outside interests of lawmakers and other public officials corruption generally rises. However, don’t hold your breath waiting for that provision to become law.

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South Carolina’s Transportation Infrastructure Problems

The battle to save South Carolina’s transportation infrastructure, especially roads and bridges, seems to be joined in the state government this year.

A bill to do away with the State Infrastructure Bank and roll its responsibilities into the Department of Transportation appears to have a chance of success as does one that would require prioritizing road projects with maintenance and repair of existing roads as the top priority.

In her State of the State address, Gov. Nikki Haley urged state lawmakers to fix crumbling roads and bridges.

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Ethics Reform Discussion on Wrong Track

The current discussion on ethics reform for public officials in South Carolina appears to be veering off the main track that will establish public confidence in the governing process.

The discussion this week appears to be about additional funding for the S.C. Ethics Commission. Extra funding is necessary for this agency, which has been way underfunded for way too long.

According to ethics commission director Herb Hayden, approximately 70 percent of the funding for the agency’s budget comes from fees and fines.

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SCDOR Cyber-Hacking Scandal

A S.C. House special committee investigating the cyber-hacking scandal at the S.C. Department of Revenue heard shocking testimony from former SCDOR security officer Scott Shealy yesterday regarding incompetence at the agency.

Shealy worked as an IT security officer for DOR from 1997 – 2011 when he resigned to go to work for the S.C. Judicial Department. His testimony described an agency that was more interested in pinching pennies than assuring security of the records it was responsible to protect.

Maybe Shealy’s most shocking revelation was that the data security chief position he held went unfilled for 10 months after his departure while the data security team that worked for him was effectively dismantled.

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Election Filing Mess Leads 2012 Stories

As we look back on the news of 2012, the top story in South Carolina this year was the election filing mess that kept nearly 300 candidates off the ballot.

Most candidates affected were challengers to incumbent Republicans, although many Democrats got left off too, in the June primary. They were ineligible to be certified as candidates because the state and local Republican and Democratic parties did not understand, and did not make allowance for, a minor change in state law that required electronic filing of the candidates’ Statement of Economic Interests.

The party leaders never saw it coming and they blew it. I don’t believe it was a big conspiracy to keep new candidates off the ballot. Some newcomers did file properly and did get certified, too few for a real democratic process, however.

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Mark Sanford Back in 1st?

The name of former Gov. Mark Sanford has been prominent in the last several days in connection with the S.C. 1st Congressional District seat vacated by the promotion of Rep. Tim Scott to senator.

This is only natural as Sanford once represented a former iteration of the 1st District for three terms in Congress before honoring a personal term limits pledge and stepping away from the seat. Two years after stepping down from Congress, Sanford was elected to his first of two terms as governor.

Sanford’s name is well known as is his strict conservative, libertarian political philosophy. As we have stated before, Sanford was Tea Party before there was a Tea Party.

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