TheState.com: SC Politics

Haley: SC House leader pushing ethics investigation

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:03 EDT

Gov. Nikki Haley’s office Thursday all but accused House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, of a political vendetta. Meanwhile, Harrell’s office accused Haley of attempting to short-circuit a House Ethics Committee investigation into whether the governor broke state law.

Haley aides questioned whether Harrell unfairly is influencing the six-member panel’s review into whether Haley illegally lobbied or broke other ethics laws while a state representative. The panel is appointed by the full House.

“It is totally inappropriate for any member outside of the committee, including the speaker, to force himself into this process and order the committee to do anything,” said Rob Godfrey, Haley’s spokesman. “This is supposed to be a process where law and rules – not politics – determine the outcome.”

While both Republicans, Haley and Harrell have a history of conflicts.

However, Harrell’s office Thursday denied the speaker has exerted undue influence over the ethics investigation. Harrell did not ask the committee to review any specific documents or seek out any specific information, his office said.

Compromise on abortions ‘a win-win’

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:39 EDT

Public money would not pay for some abortions under the state health insurance plan, according to a compromise brokered Thursday by two state senators.

The state health plan, which covers 417,000 people and is financed by a combination of premiums paid by state workers and taxpayers, now pays for abortions if the life of the mother is in danger, or in cases of rape or incest.

The compromise — worked out between state Sens. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, and Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg — would prohibit using taxpayer money to pay for abortions in the case of rape or incest. Instead, premiums paid by state workers alone would pay for those procedures.

Employees who do not support abortion could opt out, and their premiums would not pay for the procedures, if there are any. Since 2006, the state health plan has paid for six abortions. All six were performed to save the life of the mother, according to the state Budget and Control Board, which administers the state health plan.

The compromise will not be part of the $6.7 billion general fund budget that Senators approved Thursday. Instead, a budget rule would require the state health plan to determine how much, if any, premiums paid by state workers would have to increase in order to satisfy the proposal. Then, lawmakers would have to pass a law establishing the new guidelines. The health plan’s report is due to legislators by Nov. 15.

Columbia cops arrest state representative for DUI, weapons possession

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:39 EDT

Columbia police officers arrested a state representative Thursday for driving under the influence of alcohol and the unlawful carrying of a pistol after he was stopped for speeding.

S.C. Rep. Ted Vick, D-Chesterfield, was released from the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on personal recognizance bonds for the charges. He also was given a ticket for speeding.

Vick, 39, is one of several candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for South Carolina’s new 7th congressional seat. That primary is scheduled for June 12.

Vick was stopped at 1:12 a.m. Thursday on Devine Street by a Columbia police officer who had pulled him over for driving 44 mph in a 30-mph zone, according to a Columbia Police Department report. The officer smelled alcohol, but Vick refused to take a field sobriety test or a breath test, the report said.

When Vick was taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, a jail officer discovered a Kel-Tec .380-caliber pistol in his front pocket. He had not notified officers that he was carrying a gun, and a concealed-weapons permit in his wallet had expired in 2007, the report said.

SC political briefs

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:59 EDT

Senate OKs $6.6 billion budget

The state Senate has approved a $6.6 billion spending plan that gives most state workers a 3 percent raise, distributes more money to public schools and hires more than 100 law enforcement officers.

The Senate gave the budget final approval Thursday, sending its plan back to the House, which has passed a differing spending plan.

Approval came after senators defeated attempts by state Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, to remove roughly $4 million for private nonprofits and local public projects from the budget. Items Massey wanted removed included $300,000 for a North Myrtle Beach museum, $100,000 for a fire station in tiny Andrews and $200,000 toward preserving Mitchelville on Hilton Head Island, America’s first community of freed slaves.

Democratic senators trumped Massey’s amendment by adding dozens of items, including money for public schools and colleges, to the list of spending to be cut. The Senate then killed the whole thing.

Video a fundraising tool for SC governor (+ VIDEO)

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:32 EDT

Gov. Nikki Haley, angered by a video of a union leader in South Carolina bashing a pinata with her image on it, is using the incident to raise campaign cash.

Haley’s campaign sent an email Wednesday to supporters, asking them to watch a video that shows S.C. AFL-CIO president Donna Dewitt swinging a bat at a pinata with Haley’s image on it. The email then asked supporters to “show big labor we will not stand for their bullying” by donating $50 to $250 to Haley.

“We’re for civility in politics, the kind of civility President Obama has called for many times both before and since his inauguration,” Haley wrote in the email. “His allies in Big Labor are obviously not. They have tried to bully South Carolina businesses with Boeing and the NLRB, they have tried to silence me through frivolous lawsuits, and now this.”

The video, which is posted on the Internet and drew publicity nationally, was condemned by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin whose endorsement boosted Haley’s 2010 gubernatorial bid.

“It’s a perfect example of union boss thuggery,” Palin wrote of the video on her Facebook page.

Veto showdown over ETV brewing again (+ SURVEY)

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:14 EDT

Lawmakers appear headed toward another veto showdown with Gov. Nikki Haley over state money for the 11 TV and eight radio outlets that make up S.C. Educational Television.

Haley has said she thinks ETV should be paid for with private money, not taxpayer dollars. Last year, she vetoed the agency’s state money, but lawmakers overruled her.

This year, House lawmakers agreed to pay for ETV indirectly, funneling money to it through several other state agencies that use its services – an approach that Haley has agreed to, said state Rep. Kenny Bingham, R-Lexington.

But state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, one of Haley’s chief rivals, amended the state’s $6.7 billion budget proposal last week for the fiscal year that starts July 1 to pay for ETV directly, setting up another possible veto fight.

“I don’t mind calling somebody’s bluff, but that’s not my goal here,” Sheheen told The State newspaper. “It’s important that we have accountability in the budget, and that we know what we are funding, and that the public can see it.

More Haley papers sought by House ethics panel

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:46 EDT

A legislative panel is asking for more employment documents from Gov. Nikki Haley to confirm she did not violate state ethics laws while a House member.

House Ethics Committee chairman Roland Smith, R-Aiken, confirmed Wednesday that a committee staff member had asked for tax records and other documents detailing the consulting work that Haley did for Wilbur Smith Associates, a Midlands engineering firm that has done work for the state.

On May 18, the Ethics Committee requested W-2s and other documents that detailed Haley’s work as a fundraiser for the Lexington Medical Center Foundation.

The staffer subsequently asked for the information about Wilbur Smith.

Haley has until noon Friday to turn the documents over to the committee.

SC political briefs

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:28 EDT

Metts, Sanford to host fundraiser for Bolen

Lexington County Sheriff James Metts and former Gov. Mark Sanford will hold a fundraiser for state Senate candidate Rich Bolen.

Bolen, the former chairman of the Lexington County Republican Party, is trying to unseat state Sen. Ronnie Cromer in the June 12 Republican primary. Cromer lives in Newberry County, but his newly redrawn District 18 now includes even larger parts of Lexington County.

Other candidates in the Republican primary include Lexington County residents Kara Gormley Meador, a former anchor and reporter for WIS-TV, and Alan Hunter, a retired engineer.

Bolen’s fundraiser is set for May 31 at the Cotton House on St. Andrews Road.

S.C. political briefs

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:50 EDT

Video shows S.C. union leader striking Haley pinata

A YouTube video of the retiring president of the S.C. AFL-CIO hitting a piñata with Gov. Nikki Haley’s face on it has the national union distancing itself from what it calls an “inappropriate joke.”

The video shows Donna Dewitt striking the pinata Saturday of Haley’s face featuring the Republican governor’s quote that unions are not wanted in South Carolina.

Click here to watch a pro-Haley presentation of the video, or here for an anti-Haley version (embedding of this version was disabled by its owner).

The video circulated widely Tuesday in social media. Haley encouraged her Facebook followers to check it out.

How should SC pay its teachers?

Wed, 23 May 2012 09:37 EDT

The influx of an extra $1.4 billion into the state’s budget next year has prompted a debate over the best way to pay S.C. teachers.

The Senate version of the state’s $6.7 billion budget that takes effect July 1 includes $48 million to give all teachers a 2 percent raise next year. But it also would require most school districts to unfreeze the state’s salary schedule, which gives teachers raises based on how long they have been teaching.

Sen. Wes Hayes, R-York, said that move was designed to nudge school districts back into giving teachers regular pay raises based on their experience after several years of ignoring those experience raises because of state and local budget cuts.

But others say the state should look into paying teachers based on how well their students do in class, instead of how long they have been teaching.

The Senate budget proposal, which would allow some school districts to continue to ignore the experience raises if they can prove they can’t afford them, would create a committee to study teacher pay “that may include a pay-for-performance model.”

SC colleges defer $1.1 billion in needed maintenance

Sun, 20 May 2012 22:32 EDT

South Carolina’s colleges and universities have an estimated $1.1 billion backlog in building maintenance that they have put off, the result of years of state budget cuts and shifting priorities.

“It’s been running about that level for some time,” said Gary Glenn, director of finance and facilities for the Commission on Higher Education. “The institutions have been maintaining ... basically the status quo.”

But some help — up to $32 million — could be on the way.

A state budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts July 1, approved by the S.C. House in March, included $11 million for “deferred maintenance” at colleges and universities. But the House did not include any money for projects at technical colleges or USC, which, with 6 million square feet of teaching and research space on its 212-year-old campus, has the largest estimated maintenance backlog.

However — thanks to the increased ticket sales for the Mega Millions jackpot in April — the state lottery announced earlier this month that it has a surplus of $18 million. The state Senate, which resumes debating its version of the state budget Tuesday, proposes to give most of that money to colleges and universities for building maintenance, increasing the total for maintenance to $32 million, including $4.7 million for the University of South Carolina’s Columbia campus.

The Buzz: So long, @PhilBaileySC

Tue, 22 May 2012 09:17 EDT

So long, @PhilBaileySC

Senate Democratic Caucus director Phil Bailey got in trouble last week for calling Gov. Nikki Haley “Sikh Jesus” on his Twitter page.

Bailey was attempting some barbed humor concerning Haley’s attempted resurrection of her ally Katrina Shealy’s on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again June GOP primary challenge to Haley foe state Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington. The attempt at humor, however, crossed the line into offensive, something The Buzz, sadly, knows a little about.

In response, state Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, the head of the Senate Democrats, said: “I don’t even know exactly what Twitter is, but he’s not going to be doing it.”

And, by midafternoon Thursday, Bailey’s Twitter account, @PhilBaileySC, was gone.

SC political briefs

Sat, 19 May 2012 18:21 EDT

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“I want to have fresh faces, fresh voices in that building over there.”

– Gov. Nikki Haley , R-Lexington, addressing the state GOP’s executive committee before it decided whether to reinstate Katrina Shealy to the June 12 Republican Primary ballot to run against Haley foe Jake Knotts , a GOP state senator from Lexington. The panel voted to reinstate Shealy. However, the state Election Commission said Shealy would stay off the ballot, citing a state Supreme Court order. Haley responded by decrying “a government bureaucracy that stands in the way of a free and fair election.”

“This is a private feud that has gone public. This could have ripple effects we can’t measure.”

– Clemson political scientist Dave Woodard , a sometimes GOP consultant, on the Haley-Knotts vendetta

GOP upset puts focus on DeMint’s influence in races

Sat, 19 May 2012 20:18 EDT

When an unheralded state senator, Deb Fischer, rose from nowhere last Tuesday to win Nebraska’s Republican Senate nomination, she beat more than just the state’s attorney general, Jon Bruning, and its treasurer, Don Stenberg.

She also beat U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, the Greenville Republican on a mission to bring what he sees as a more pure strain of conservatism to the Senate.

Fischer’s upset primary victory has shined a light on the maverick senator’s campaign apparatus, which operates like a guerrilla version of the official party campaign arm, picking underdog conservatives and priming their campaigns with money and grass-roots mobilization in the hope of electing those who share his views.

But Wednesday, as the dust cleared from Nebraska, DeMint’s pick, Stenberg, finished a distant third, and DeMint faced a backlash from his colleagues.

U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns, a Republican and former Nebraska governor, said he told DeMint that he had contributed to his own candidate’s defeat. The flood of money into the state turned the contest into a mudfest between the two favorites, he said, and “once they start throwing dirt, then dirt spreads everywhere.”

House ethics panel wants documents from Haley

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:03 EDT

A S.C. House of Representatives ethics panel wants W-2s and other employment documents from Gov. Nikki Haley to prove she was working for a hospital’s charitable foundation, not the hospital itself, and support her defense that she broke no state ethics laws.

At issue is whether Haley, while a state representative from Lexington, illegally worked as a lobbyist for Lexington Medical Center, as it sought legislative approval to build an open-heart surgery center, and exploited her status as a lawmaker to land donations from lobbyists and businesses for the hospital.

Based on the documents Haley turns over, the House Ethics Committee could decide to close the case against Haley or move it to the full House of Representatives for possible further action.

Earlier this month, the House Ethics Committee reviewed the complaint against Haley and decided there was “probable cause” that an ethics violation occurred. But the panel then immediately ruled Haley had broken no laws and no further review was needed.

But some lawmakers, including state Rep. James Smith, D-Richland, were not satisfied with the committee’s work. They contend state law requires the committee to conduct a thorough investigation – not a superficial review – once probable cause of a violation is established.

Time may tie Senate’s hands

Thu, 17 May 2012 21:24 EDT

Time is running out to make sweeping changes to South Carolina State University’s board of trustees this year as lawmakers try to handle recent upheaval at the state’s only historically black college, a state Senate leader said Wednesday.

The Senate has not taken action on a bill, approved by the S.C. House, that would replace the school’s 13 trustees with seven members who would serve temporarily for two years. Senate President Pro Tem John Courson, the Richland Republican who heads the Senate Education Committee, said he plans to take up the bill at meetings next Wednesday.

Courson said he would like to see a “strong structure” at the Orangeburg school, which is facing ongoing financial shortfalls and declining enrollment while it deals with the fallout from the firing of eight high-ranking employees in February and the resignation of school president George Cooper in March. Former SLED chief Reggie Lloyd also has said that his internal investigation of S.C. State found unspecified criminal issues, but no charges have been filed.

Courson said senators need to move quickly.

“I’m realistic enough to know that – with so few days left in the session and a calendar that’s 75 pages long – the chances of getting consensus in time is nearly impossible,” he said.

SC lawmakers at odds on tax breaks

Fri, 18 May 2012 17:24 EDT

CORRECTION: The article originally contained erroneous information about the sponsorship of some tariff-suspension bills by members of the South Carolina congressional delegation. Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan has sponsored seven. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson has sponsored 20. Copy corrected below

For decades, lawmakers helped home-state manufacturers lower the cost of imported materials by crafting bills that reduced or eliminated tariffs on products that range from massive factory equipment to vats of industrial-strength chemicals.

Not anymore.

Instead, the once-routine bills are opening a rift among Republican lawmakers, pitting the likes of U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint against his fellow South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, and dividing the state’s freshmen congressmen.

The bills benefit the likes of Michelin and Milliken, huge South Carolina employers.

SC political briefs

Fri, 18 May 2012 07:54 EDT

Senate adjourns budget debate until Tuesday

The S.C. Senate adjourned debate Thursday on the state’s $6.7 billion budget, planning to take up the issue again at noon on Tuesday.

State Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, had vowed to slow the budget debate down, saying lawmakers and constituents needed more time to study the spending proposal for the state’s fiscal year that starts July 1. About 2:30 p.m. Thursday, state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, the Senate’s chief budget writer, noticed 15 senators already had left for the day.

That’s when Leatherman asked senators to take the weekend to think about the budget before meeting again on Tuesday.

The Legislature normally is off Fridays and Mondays, working Tuesdays through Thursdays.

GOP reinstates Shealy on ballots

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:50 EDT

After hearing a passionate speech by Gov. Nikki Haley about trying to change the state’s political culture, S.C. GOP leaders voted Wednesday to certify Katrina Shealy to run in the June 12 Republican primary against veteran state Sen. Jake Knotts of Lexington, a longtime Haley foe.

Haley, a Shealy supporter, told the GOP executive committee that she was not trying to influence its decision over Shealy’s protest. Instead, she said she was sickened by the partisan bickering she had heard during Shealy’s hour-long appeals hearing in Columbia, adding that she was tired of Palmetto State politics being called a blood sport.

“I want to have fresh faces, fresh voices in that building over there,” Haley said, referring to the State House. “If you want to fix it, you can. When I go out of that door, I want to be proud of my state.”

The S.C. Supreme Court ruled that Shealy and more than 180 other candidates statewide could not stay on the primary ballot because they failed to submit a written statement of economic interest on time.

Shealy testified Wednesday that she had completed a written form but was not asked to submit it when she filed for Senate District 25 at the West Columbia Shoney’s on March 16. Shealy said she filed the form online that same day and thought she had submitted it. State election officials say they have no record of her computer filing, according to testimony at the hearing.

SC voters may decide joint ticket question

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:13 EDT

S.C. lawmakers want candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to run on a joint ticket just as the candidates for president and vice president do.

But the GOP-controlled Legislature doesn’t want the change to take effect until after Gov. Nikki Haley is out of office – to the chagrin of the Lexington Republican, who has a tenuous relationship with many of her former fellow legislators.

The House agreed Wednesday with a controversial state Senate proposal to put the measure before voters in a statewide referendum to be held in November. If voters approve the change to the state Constitution, the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor would run jointly starting in 2018.

Haley has long supported the idea of a joint ticket, advocating for it while running for governor and hoping it would take effect in 2014, when she will be up for re-election.

Haley’s spokesman was not available for immediate comment Wednesday.