FULL TEXT: Democratic message from Columbia businesswoman Jill Moylan

Hello. My name is Jill Moylan. I’m not a politician. But I AM a lifelong SouthCarolinian, a wife, a mother, and, for the past 20 years, someone who’s workedHARD to build a small business here.

Like all of you, I love our state. Like all of you, I know our state can do BETTER.

It’s frustrating when politics keeps us from fulfilling our potential. Especiallywhen doing BETTER requires nothing more than doing what’s RIGHT.

As a South Carolinian and a business owner, I am disappointed that our Governorand her team chose to ignore expert advice and decided NOT to take the stepsnecessary to protect our personal and private information. Their choices haveneedlessly endangered not only MY business and MY identity, BUT ALSO theidentity of my children and every other South Carolina tax payer and their family.

As a businesswoman, I see economic opportunities across our state. So it’sheartbreaking that South Carolina continues to have one of the highest jobless ratesin the nation. Let’s do the right thing. Instead of helping Georgia’s port, we shouldhelp South Carolina’s port. Instead of taking tax payer funded trips to Paris, ourgovernor and her team should take a trip down Main Street, and focus on a fairer taxsystem that helps our small, South Carolina businesses grow.

Small businesses are forced to shoulder more and more of the tax burden. Too muchof our attention is focused on large, out of state corporations, and we are ignoringour own home grown businesses. It is not right. It is not fair, AND it costs jobs. WeCAN do better.

Economic development and education go hand in hand when it comes to realizingour potential. And we DEFINITELY can do better on education. As a public schoolparent, I worry that our officials seem to have forgotten the importance of publiceducation.

It bothers me to read how our schools are doing less for our kids than schools inGeorgia and North Carolina. But it seems pretty simple when you know that thosestates have full day, four year old kindergarten. As a mother, I believe EVERY childin South Carolina should enter first grade ready to LEARN. Let’s accomplish THATbefore we even consider giving our tax dollars away to private schools.

And let’s stop using health care to score political points. My family and I havebeen fortunate to have access to great doctors. EVERY South Carolinian deservesthe same. Compromise may be a bad word to politicians, but it is the way we getbusiness done. Name calling and press conferences won’t improve the health care ofa single person in this state. So let’s say “enough” of that and make health care workfor EVERYONE. We know we can do better.

I’m a mom, a wife, and a small business owner, but I’m also proud to be a SouthCarolina Democrat. After 10 years with Republicans controlling the Governor’sMansion, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, there is no one left. toblame. We need a new direction. We need leaders who think more about our statethan they do about themselves and their political futures.

It’s time for comprehensive tax and spending reform, so that our tax dollars arespent efficiently and responsibly.

And we need REAL ethics reform to make the system work for US rather than thepeople who run it.

The Scriptures tell us that we have an obligation to the least of these. And the leastof these doesn’t just mean the poor. It means our children. It means our parents. Itmeans the people in our state who work hard every day just to pay the bills. Weshould no longer tolerate public officials making decisions based on what is good forthem rather than what is good for ALL of us.

As a woman, we need leaders who care enough to insist that South Carolina does notcontinue to rank among the worst states for domestic violence. We must do better.And we must do more to ensure that the physical beauty of our state is not ruinedfor generations to come. God gave us the most beautiful state in the country, and it’sour obligation to protect it.

We need leaders who can make government work for ALL of us. We need torecognize that no single party has a monopoly on good ideas and that DemocratsAND Republicans must all work together. To move forward, we must end thestrident partisanship, strive for civility, and work together.

It’s just that simple: we CAN do better. And to do better, we need change.

Good night, God bless you, and God Bless South Carolina.

This story was originally published January 16, 2013 at 8:07 PM with the headline "FULL TEXT: Democratic message from Columbia businesswoman Jill Moylan."