Haley’s ‘middle-school comments ... poison the well’ (+ video)

Gov. Nikki Haley, who promised to work with the General Assembly this year, has angered some powerful S.C. lawmakers by suggesting members of an industry trade group would need a “good shower” after visiting the State House.

“Because I know many of you are going to the State House, which I love, just make sure you take a good shower when you leave,” Haley said Tuesday to a S.C. Realtors group, according to a recording posted on her YouTube page.

Haley, a Republican, followed that suggestion with comments about the GOP-dominated General Assembly being out of touch with the public.

“(L)egislators don’t feel the burn like we do,” she told the real estate group. “Legislators don’t remember what it was like when you go through days without a sale. ... Legislators don’t remember what it means to truly live day to day.”

Legislators bridled Wednesday at Haley’s remarks. The Republican speaker of the House took to the House floor to say “middle-school comments” threaten to “poison the well.”

Haley’s office said the governor, a state representative from Lexington before she was elected in 2010, has made comments similar to her “shower” remark over the past decade and was not referring to lawmakers.

“She herself works in the State House, as do her staff, and hundreds of politicians and lobbyists,” Haley press secretary Chaney Adams said. “It’s nothing personal, and there’s no need for crocodile tears.”

However, some legislators said Haley’s comments were yet another jab at them, saying they could hurt her efforts to win support for her roads-funding proposal.

Haley’s remarks also elicited comparisons to her predecessor, Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, who openly fought with legislators, once bringing two pigs to the State House to criticize what he said was pork-barrel spending in the state budget.

“The relationship with Gov. Sanford was never really good,”, said House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington. “I thought that we were setting a new tone, and I thought we were building a good relationship with Gov. Haley.”

Haley had a fiery relationship with lawmakers in 2011, her first year in office, including issuing report cards on how legislators voted on issues important to her. But she subsequently had mellowed, working on more compromises leading up to her re-election last year.

The governor had said she looked forward to working with Lucas, who succeeded Haley nemesis Bobby Harrell as the House leader before this year’s session.

But any new era of good feelings has crumbled as two of Haley’s main proposals — ethics reform and a tax-swap proposal including roads funding — have met resistance in the General Assembly. Haley also fought the House on a $500 million bond bill, which was rejected after the governor rallied supporters on Facebook.

Recently, Haley has taken to criticizing lawmakers during speeches and news conferences. Her verbal bombs have led some lawmakers and political experts to suggest the term-limited Haley is angling for an administrative position if Republicans win the White House in 2016, which she has denied.

Her “good shower” comment to the Realtors this week crossed a line for some top legislators.

Speaker Lucas took to the House floor Wednesday — flanked by House Majority Leader Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, and House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland — and called the governor’s remarks unwarranted and unprovoked.

The speaker said the governor’s comments were inappropriate when speaking of lawmakers who include military veterans and working mothers.

“I believe the comments of the governor were below (her) office,” Lucas said. “I believe these are serious times with serious issues, and they demand serious people with serious answers — not name calling, not middle-school insults that serve no purpose but to poison the well.”

Other Republican legislators also criticized Haley.

Rep. Jim Merrill, a Berkeley Republican and former House majority leader, said Haley is contradicting herself after criticizing recent comments by Rutherford, who called the governor a “selfish, vindictive narcissist” during the bond debate.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian White, R-Anderson, said the governor’s comments were insulting.

“I didn’t pick a fight,” said White, who played a key role in developing the failed bond proposal. “I hope she’s not trying to pick fights. ... That’s not healthy for the state in general.”

State senators were not pleased with Haley’s comments either.

“That doesn’t even warrant a response,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence. “It’s so far out there.”

Two weeks ago, Haley criticized Leatherman during a stop in Florence, saying he had stalled ethics reform. Asked if he could work with Haley after her comments, Leatherman said: “I can’t control what people say.”

During her speech to the real estate groups, Haley’s shower remark came just before she started talking about her fight to win over lawmakers on her tax-swap plan to repair roads. Her proposal includes a proposed income-tax cut that some lawmakers consider too costly to the state. She has promised to veto any roads bill that includes a gas tax increase but not a large tax cut.

State Sen. Larry Grooms, a Berkeley Republican who has helped spearhead roads-funding proposals, said Haley’s remarks to the Realtors could hurt negotiations, adding, “Good manners make good sense.”

“Talk like this will not get the potholes filled,” Grooms said. “We have to come together and understand what we have in common, and we have to do it in a way without insulting one another.”

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 1:07 PM with the headline "Haley’s ‘middle-school comments ... poison the well’ (+ video)."