SC Gov. candidate James Smith touts endorsements in his opponent’s backyard

S.C. Rep. James Smith may be looking to corner his challenger in the governor’s race on his home turf.

The Richland Democrat’s campaign released a list of endorsements from 22 Charleston-area Democrats on Wednesday.

The list not only shows Smith is reaching out beyond his Columbia base, but that he’s racking up endorsements in the home town of his opponent, Charleston businessman Phil Noble.

The endorsements include Smith’s fellow S.C. House members Robert Brown, Wendell Gilliard, and Leon Stavrinakis of Charleston; Joe Jefferson of Berkeley; newly elected Rep. Marvin Pendarvis, who just won a North Charleston special election on Nov. 7; and Sens. Marlon Kimpson of Charleston and Margie Bright Matthews of Colleton.

Also on the list were Charleston County Council Chairman Vic Rawl, former Reps. Robert Barber and Floyd Breeland, and county treasurer (and former Rep.) Mary Tinkler.

“I am humbled to receive the support of these dedicated South Carolinians who have worked tirelessly to make Charleston and the Lowcountry better places,” Smith said in a press release.

The rest of the state’s Democratic voters will decide on who will be their gubernatorial candidate in a primary next June.

SC makes former congressman feel ‘inferior,’ New Yorker alleges

The debate over a GOP tax bill got spicy this week after a Republican congressman slammed the White House budget director for trying to “screw” his state.

U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., tweeted Tuesday that Mick Mulvaney, a former S.C. congressman, “probably feels inferior” because, when it comes to paying federal taxes, New York “subsidizes his state of South Carolina.”

King’s blast follows comments from Mulvaney in favor of a GOP tax plan that eliminates deductions for state and local taxes. Mulvaney argues the current tax law benefits federal taxpayers in higher tax states like New York.

“You live in New York City, and I live in South Carolina. Why should I pay more federal taxes than you do?” Mulvaney said in an interview Tuesday. “Because that’s the way the world works right now. And I think you could make the argument that is not fair, that is not right.”

Like New York, South Carolina has a state income tax. However, it is not as high as New York’s. New York City also has a local income tax, unlike anything in South Carolina.

However, as King noted, states like New York pay more into the federal government than they receive from it. South Carolina, on the other hand, gets more in federal benefits than its citizens pay in taxes (a point Mulvaney did not mention).

The debate wasn’t enough to stop House Republicans from approving the bill on Thursday. But the proposal is seen as driving a wedge between Republicans from higher tax states like King and lower tax conservatives like Mulvaney.

Mulvaney represented South Carolina’s 5th District in Congress from 2010 until earlier this year, when he was appointed to head the Office of Management and Budget by President Donald Trump.

This week at the State House

Thanksgiving doesn’t mean state lawmakers are getting the week off.

Both the House and Senate panels looking into the failure of the V.C. Summer nuclear plant hold meetings on Tuesday.

The Senate committee only has a “policy discussion” scheduled for 10:30 a.m., but the House panel meeting at 11 a.m. will discuss six specific bills that could increase regulations on utilities and limit how much state utility customers would have to pay for the failure.

That isn’t the only work lawmakers have to do before the holiday. A Senate judiciary panel considers a bill to prevent children detained by law enforcement from being put in adult jails at 10 a.m. Monday.

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 1:14 PM with the headline "SC Gov. candidate James Smith touts endorsements in his opponent’s backyard."