I’ve written here before about how such GOP legislative leaders as Speaker Bobby Harrell keep putting out the word, sotto voce, that the things that Nikki Haley and her allies say about them are untrue.
But he and the other top elected officials who know what a mistake it would be for South Carolina to elect Rep. Haley won’t break ranks and stand up and oppose her openly. They know that the things Cyndi Mosteller’s group says are true. But they just won’t take the risk.
As a result, they are not likely to hold their leadership positions for long.
If she wins on Tuesday, it will be like a shot of adrenalin straight into the heart of the Tea Party movement to overthrow the real conservatives in the Legislature:
Conservative activists are stepping up their efforts to oust legislative leadership, launching a petition drive to replace the House speaker and change Senate rules for seniority-based chairmen.
The effort raises questions about where Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley’s allegiances lie — with the insurgents with whom she is politically aligned or with legislative leadership with whom she has pledged to work?
The focus of the conservative activists is House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, and the State Budget and Control Board, a five-member financial panel that approves contracts, state property sales and bonds, among other decisions. Leading the effort are the Campaign for Liberty and other Tea Party-minded groups looking to reduce legislative influence, who are collecting voter signatures to ask lawmakers to replace Harrell and change Senate rules…
And you know what? If they don’t have the guts to speak up and oppose her now — when it might make a difference, when it might move some rank and file Republicans who are on the fence to vote for Sheheen or stay home — then they don’t deserve to stay in power.
This is a situation that calls for boldness. And while you could find good things to say about each of these leaders, they are not bold men.
So it would serve them right to lose power in a state that needs bold reform. Trouble is, the rest of us would have to suffer with them.
Agreed. South Carolina’s Republican leaders could justify their years of comfortable tenure in the General Assembly if they were honorable men who would speak the truth about Haley as they surely see it, now, when it matters so much. If they don’t (and I have little hope of it), you’re right, they don’t deserve elected office by any reasonable standard. I’m also waiting for a Republican leader to explain what the word “socialist” actually means to his TEA party gang and point out that Obama isn’t one, and that fomenting hatred and irrational anger are not sound approaches to governing a state and a nation. Finally, I’m going to wait for a visit from Tinker Bell the fairy to cheer me up, which is about as likely to happen as either of these.
I was silent when they came for the legislative leaders…
Well, Brad, am I supposed to worry that the leaders of the legislature may be voted out of their positions of power? Heck, I think it would be a breath of fresh air if they were voted out. This is a legislature-dominated state and has been for over 100 years. Where has it gotten us? Fundamental change needs to happen to the way we govern ourselves. The executive branch of the government needs to be running the everyday operations of the state and the legislative branch needs to be making the laws. Simple as that. I know you dislike Governor Sanford but he has tried from day one to bring attention to the way our state is run. Yes, he has openly opposed some legislators who want things to stay the way they are with mixed results. However, we have been governed this way for over 100 years so it will take time to change our government. We do not need a Governor who goes along to get along with the legislature. Vincent Sheheen will do just that. We need a governor who will continue to use the bully pulpit to effect needed changes in the way we govern ourselves. To me, this trumps the argument that we need a governor who can get along with the legislature so that things are accomplished. I am interested in the big picture. I will be voting for Nikki Haley not because she is the perfect candidate but because I think she is the right person at this time in our history to be leading our state.
Brad, do you or any of your readers know if something Nikki Haley said at the debate Tuesday night is true? I’m referring to the statement she made that she had worked on or checked the books (not sure which) of Lexington Medical Center and that she had gotten the Lexington Medical Center to change the way they budget. It seems odd to me that a fundraiser for the medical center would have that type of influence over the accounting system there–especially a fundraiser who is not a CPA. Can someone find out if that is another lie to be added to the list?
A miracle of sorts has occurred – The Spartanburg Herald-Journal has endorsed Vincent Sheheen for governor.
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20101028/ARTICLES/10281001/1128/opinion?Title=Sheheen-for-governor
Their comments are reasonable. I had wondered what they would do after her recent comments about the legislature and other inconsistencies. Sheheen is picking up steam in the upstate.
Irony is dead nowadays. Front-page story in THE STATE this morning tells about Jenny Sanford’s $ 15K speech to USC students. A successful Wall Street exec, from a wealthy family, with a nationally advertise book on sale, and with (no doubt) a hefty settlement from her ex, and she still expects a nice speaking fee. With all the talk about how the state can’t afford this and that, Jenny makes certain she gets her money up front.
Brad, if you want to know why Haley will be the runaway winner Tuesday just take a long, hard look in the mirror. You constantly support every damn tax increase in this state. And folks are tired of it. Now we have an 11% sales tax increase which is dishonstly portrayed as just a “penny” increase. I actually could support this if the voters were given a choice to repeal the dreadful hospitality tax. Even the State, hardly a paragon of tax sensibility, suggested the hospitality tax is bad.
As a result of all this more, more, more government at all levels folks over-react and turn to a candidate who is clearly unqualified for the job but offers some hope for “common sense” tax relief. Seriously Brad, you really need to see the other side of the coin here. Without the constant battle cry for tax increases by so many in the many folks like Sheheen would not be identified (unfairly) as the candidate of tax and spend.
It’s time to put up or shut up. Will you support the repeal of the hospitality tax? Until you can answer that then your continued berating of Ms. Haley just comes across as desparate and undignified.
I wonder if any of the Christian Exodus, a group moving to SC to gain power and ultimately seceded from the union, is leading or infiltrating the Tea Party.
http://www.christianexodus.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Exodus
Bud, I don’t have to take a look in the mirror, because I know the facts. For instance, I know that what you just said about me is untrue. I know my record.
If you, and others, misunderstand my record, it’s most definitely not my fault. I’ve done more than anyone I know, and anyone you know, to explain every move I’ve ever made and every position I’ve ever taken.
If you have misunderstood that, I don’t know what to say.
The most frustrating thing about what I do, and have done all these years, is that I work myself to death explaining, and then I still get people saying things back to me that show I didn’t get the message across.
And I don’t know what else to do. It’s not that I explain myself poorly. One thing I learned at an early age, and have had confirmed thousands of times since, is that I’m better at most people at explaining things clearly. There are a lot of things I’m bad at, but that’s something I’m good at.
So I don’t know…
Now that answer speaks volumes. I support Sheheen, find him personable, honest and smart. Haley is clearly not suited to the job.
But the more I read Brad the more I wonder if I’m making the right decision. Could it actually be true that Sheheen will try to raise our taxes? As long as pundits like Brad continue to be so callous in the face of un-necessary taxes the voters of this state, even those who don’t like Ms. Haley, will have to at least ponder the possibilities.
Why is it so hard to understand the angst and frustration of so many voters? Some of us haven’t gotten a pay raise in years. But our tax bills continue to go up. A very fine little restaraunt called Nice-n-Natural just called it quits. Was there a connection with the hospitality tax? Maybe. Folks just can’t continue to anty up for meals out in these hard times. Let’s take a look at Richland County and SC taxes and see where we can cut back. If Sheheen and his supporters would actually do that then maybe, just maybe Vince would stand a chance.
Sadly the Haley message resonates well in an enigmatic messaging environment created by Vince and Brad. Folks are left confused by a message that leaves them seeking answers in the Laitril of politicians: Nikki Haley.
THE ONLY REASON REpublican leaders are not speaking out against Haley is
REDISTRICTING.
There is almost NO support for Haley with Republican leaders in the House or Senate in the General Assembly.
Even the House Speaker gave a luke warm statement about Haley saying that it was important to elect her for the future (and that is a statement that legislators would understand to mean Redistricting- but the public wouldn’t understand without it being explained)
Good Lord, Bud, what have I done now? You’re a nice guy, and it really distresses me that I seem to upset you so often.
But it upsets ME to be mischaracterized.
So now I’m a guy who never met a tax I didn’t like, huh? Why is that — because I’ve decided to endorse this one tax (that would be levied on ME, unlike other ways to finance services in Richland County) because it’s our one chance to save (and even improve, which is badly needed) our local bus service?
The thing is, Bud, I’m about as neutral as a guy can get on taxes. I look at a particular tax in a particular situation, and I look for logical reasons to take a particular position on it — raise it, lower it, eliminate it, place or remove restrictions on it, whatever.
At no point does any sort of personal FEELING about taxes enter into it. And that is where I have a miscommunication with a lot of folks, I suppose. Because one of the first things I had to learn, long ago, as a journalist, is that most people (unlike me) care passionately about taxes.
I don’t know why I’m the way I am on that, and I certainly don’t know why other people are the way they are. If I have two dollars left and the gummint takes one, I don’t feel an emotion. Now I may decide that’s not a fair tax and advocate for a change in policy so that people with only $2 don’t get taxed at a 50 percent rate, because that’s crazy. But it’s a policy question to me, not something I take personally.
And don’t talk to me about how I don’t understand what it is to be on a fixed income. What with being a journalist and having five kids to support, for most of my adult life I have never had as much as $1,000 in the bank. (I had a 401k, which is now an IRA, but we can’t touch that.) And I now make a LOT less money than I did a couple of years ago. In the last few months, I’ve gotten to where I’m pretty sure I’m not going to lose my home now, but less than a year ago I was facing that possibility.
So no, I’m not “poor” in any objective sense. But then, my notion of “poor” is more dire than most people’s — I’ve lived in the Third World. I’ve seen it and smelled it (it smells like inadequate plumbing).
In fact, my concern here is making sure we have a transportation system for folks who can’t afford to own a car (which is sort of the definition of poverty in this country). I don’t like that the mechanism is a sales tax (except for the part about people like me, from outside the county, paying it), but until someone waves a magic wand and does a brain transplant on the Legislature, we are going to have an overburdened sales tax.
You know why that is? It’s because of the ANTI-tax people. In this state, anti-tax sentiment has tended to center on property taxes and to some extent the income tax. So basically we’ve pushed down on those (especially the property tax, and most especially the tax on owner-occupied homes), creating upward pressure on sales taxes.
Which is just fine with the anti-tax movement in SC, because there’s a certain line of thought followed by a lot (although certainly not all) of its adherents: “Government is a thing that is hostile to people like me (white, middle-class people). Government exists to do one thing: take money away from people like me, and give it to undeserving people (black, poor people), either through direct payments (welfare as we knew it) or services for THEM and not for ME. A property tax is unfair because it penalizes me for working hard and paying to buy a home. A sales tax is fair because THOSE PEOPLE have to pay it, too (never mind that the taxes on rental property are higher and are passed on as part of rent).”
So you end up with essential services, from school operations to transportation infrastructure, being paid for by the overburdened sales tax.
That’s not good, for a host of reasons. But that’s the way things are, and that is the reality that Richland County has to deal with. This is the option it has.
As you know, I continue to advocate strongly for comprehensive tax reform. This state badly needs to get on a sounder, fairer, better-balanced fiscal footing. (One of the great ironies of politics in SC is that we’ve now gotten to where EVERYBODY, including Vincent and Nikki, are for comprehensive tax reform — but we still haven’t gotten it.) But I understand that Richland County does not have the power to make that happen, and has to deal with the situation before it.
And this sales tax is a sound, practical way to get the job done.
I’ve weighed all the pros and cons here, and in the balance, this referendum is the way to go.
A couple of days ago a good friend of mine who is a prominent conservative Republican who is against the sales tax increase sort of jabbed me about “just thinking this tax hike is wonderful.” I explained to him no, I don’t. I’m probably about 45 percent against it. But I’m more than 50 percent for it, when all is weighed and measured.
That’s the way I see these things. So no, I don’t like being characterized as “You constantly support every damn tax increase in this state.” That is neither fair nor accurate.
Oh, and by the way — Vincent Sheheen would oppose any tax increases as long as our economy is in this slump. And once we get out of the slump, well, we won’t need tax increases. But he IS for comprehensive tax reform, and fixing the imbalances in our system. Nikki is not; but defends Act 388, the one biggest move to foul up our system in the past decade.
And here’s the thing — if Vincent says something, you can believe him. HE, for one, does not lie.
I just cannot believe that the demand for eating out is so sensitive that 1% either way is going to make a significant difference. Nice and Natural may have gone out of business because there are a lot more lunch options in the area, all of which are easier to see from the street–I never went in there (I did have food from there brought into the office when I worked in an office) because I wasn’t sure what it was all about–and I am a healthy-eating person.
KBF, thing of it as the boiling frog analogy. Slowly heat up the water and frog won’t jump out. Same with taxes. Slowly increase them, a penny at a time, at folks won’t notice.
Look, I’m not a big libertarian thinker when it comes to taxes. We need government services and the bus tax seems pretty sensible for the most part but during a recession it seems a bit callous to continue collecting a hospitality tax when folks struggle to put food on their families (as per George W. Bush). All I’m saying, and I appologize if I’ve come across too stridently, is that if the “penny” tax hike fails it’s simply because it has not been properly promoted. That promotion should have included a provision to repeal the hospitality tax. I think it would be a cinch to pass with that tradeoff. If I lived in Richland County I’d vote against it as it stands now and that’s why.
Bud’s got it right. There are some people who have this misguided notion that increasing taxes a penny (not really a penny but a penny on every dollar spent) is just a little inconvenience that we all just need to accept for the greater good. Except that penny is added to the two pennies from a couple years ago. And is there any doubt that it will increase in the future (ref: California and New York)?
Look at Social Security. In 1956, the tax rate was raised to 4.0% (2.0% for the employer, 2.0% for the employee). In 1961, the tax rate was increased to 6.0%. Today, the combined tax rate of these Medicare and Social Security is 15.30% (7.65% paid by the employee and 7.65% paid by the employer). Is there any reason to believe that percentage WON’T increase in the future?
The whole fear mongering about anti-tax people is wrong. Most are like me: anti-spend. I would not complain nearly as much if I ever saw the government prioritize spending and make choices versus just going back to the well for more tax dollars.
The hospitality tax only applies to food eaten out. Folks struggling to put food on their families, as you hilariously put it, should eat at home (as I do all but two meals, tops, a week), or pack a lunch.
Nikki Haley wants to tax groceries–which *will* hurt frugal families–to fund a corporate tax break!
The “penny” tax will most likely fail because most voters don’t care about bus riders.
Brad,
Thanks for the lecture on what conservatives should do. What’s next? Are you going to tell a cardiologist how to perform heart surgery or maybe reprimand Maestro Alan Gilbert on his music technique?
And what, EXACTLY, DOES Cyndi Mosteller’s group say? All I’ve seen or heard from that band of malcontents is whining and accusations. Kinda like you and Will Folks.
Why shouldn’t Brad, an expert political observer and commentator, tell conservatives (or liberals, libertarians, etc.) what to do?
Hmm… that was bizarre. Not sure it deserves an answer, but I have exactly as much qualification to say what a conservative should do as anyone else in the world.
And perhaps we should start with the definition of the word “conservative,” because I’ve seen it used in some pretty strange ways lately. I even see journalists going along with calling reactionaries and even revolutionaries “conservatives” because they call themselves that. (Is it OK if I talk about what journalists should do, Charlie, after 35 years distinguished service in the newspaper biz?)
Hint: If you meet under a flag with a snake on it and “Don’t Tread on Me,” you’re not a conservative. That was a symbol of revolution. If you want to style yourself a revolutionary, do so, and take pride in it. But don’t use words that suggest you’re some sort of Tory.
The King’s English has meaning, particularly if you’re, well, a conservative…
@ Charlie
heck, most folks in South Carolina apparently can’t recognize all the Libertarians running as Republicans this year so I think Brad should be telling Conservatives what to do since they seem to have missed the obvious.
Did anyone see the “UnParty” pictures at the Washington Post website today? Pretty funny! And the crowd looks lots bigger than what’s-his-name’s. One person was holding a sign that said “My wife thinks I’m on the Appalachian Trail” 😀