Editorials from across South Carolina: Haley’s leadership, education superintendent, Roof’s death penalty
Haley’s leadership
(Gov. Nikki) Haley played a key role in pressing for the removal of the Confederate battle flag shortly after the fatal shooting of nine Charleston church parishioners by a white supremacist.
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Haley says goodbye, thanks residents for changing SC's image
Highlights from Haley's final State of the State Address
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The governor was really on her game during Hurricane Matthew. We were extremely impressed with how she balanced serenity with seriousness in communicating the dangers of the approaching storm.
She didn’t tell South Carolinians not to be stupid. She didn’t say this storm will kill you. Her poise under pressure exuded leadership, a refreshing break from the normal chest thumping we see from governors who resort to rhetoric.
Perhaps these were the qualities President-elect Donald Trump saw in Haley ….
True, we’ve butted heads at times with Gov. Haley over her confrontational and occasional single-mindedness on public policy issues.
But no leader enjoys universal adulation, nor should they. Part of being a leader is sticking close to one’s ideals and responding to critics.
Nobody can accuse Haley of waffling or flip-flopping. We knew where she stood. Her leadership during potentially dark times shined a bright light on South Carolina, and we’ve no doubt she’ll represent America admirably in the U.N.
School accountability
Lawmakers like to debate whether public schools need more money. Some talk about how “throwing money at problems” won’t fix them. Others acknowledge that paying staff, providing facilities and offering educational programs all cost money — and even more money when those things are increased.
A well-informed governor who has closely overseen the superintendent and education department and who might conclude that additional state money needs to go to schools is more likely to strike a chord with the legislators who need to approve those funds.
And, conversely, the governor would be in a good position to determine if requests for more money are not necessary, or are not being directed correctly.
Gov. Nikki Haley and Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman called on lawmakers in November to support upcoming bills that would make the top education job part of the governor’s Cabinet. The job is a Cabinet position in all but 13 states.
“Instead of moving the state forward with a common vision for education priorities, this divided leadership structure can result in incompatible positions, a lack of coordination and fragmented accountability for failures in our Pre K-12 education system,” Mrs. Haley told them.…
In its Abbeville opinion, the Supreme Court said that education was one of the most important functions of state government.
Putting the superintendent in the governor’s cabinet should allow the state’s efforts to be more efficient, more coherent and more effective in educating children. It’s time to make the change.
Roof sentence
Let him rot in jail.
That’s a phrase that has been around a long time. We, like many others -- and not just those opposed to the death penalty -- share that sentiment when it comes to Dylann Roof, the 22-year-old who killed nine people during a Bible study at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME church in June 2015.
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Up next for Dylann Roof: 2nd trial, long death row wait
Reaction to Dylann Roof’s death sentence
Roof gets death penalty after telling jury, ‘I still feel that I had to do it’
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That Roof is so hardened in his hatred of blacks (and, apparently, Jews), that he expresses absolutely no remorse for his actions, that he could, at such a young age, be so cold and calculating, is pitiful. It is sad. It is pathetic. It is bone-chilling. It is scary. Jurors who last month found Roof guilty of committing nine murders this month decided his fate -- the death penalty by lethal injection. Understandable, really, that people would want to end the life of someone who committed such heinous crimes, someone who comes about as close to fitting the description “monster” as anyone in recent criminal history.
Still, we would rather have heard the jury return with a verdict of life in prison for Roof. Let him, day after day after day, reflect on what he did. Put him in solitary confinement for all the hours feasible so that little else can or will cross his mind. If that’s possible. The death penalty he has been given will be followed by automatic appeals, with or without his consent. There’s no need for that. It’s a waste of time and money.
This story was originally published January 16, 2017 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Editorials from across South Carolina: Haley’s leadership, education superintendent, Roof’s death penalty."