Blatant Reality

Representative Ballentine has posted on his blog the letter Governor Sanford sent the House that  includes all the line-item vetoes used on South Carolina’s State Budget. You can take a look at this horribly(?) long letter here.

South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan has a good blog post about why he, as a conservative, cannot support this cigarette tax hike. Here is a quit excerpt from the article:

We stand at a crossroads in South Carolina as we debate the Governor’s Veto of the Cigarette Tax. There are some things that the proponents of a cigarette tax are not telling you. While I firmly agree that reducing smoking is a good idea for the citizens of this state, I think a government using its power of taxation to change behaviors is a slippery slope to it using taxation to punish unpopular activities.

 

The argument that it will be a deterrence to underage smoking is a ruse used to gain support. If we want to be serious about underage smoking, then let us adopt policies in this state that really penalize youthful offenders.

I would recommend reading the rest.

Being a conservative, I tend to agree that taxes aren’t the way to go for things like this. The idea that this is a slippery slope is a very real idea. Back during the midterm elections in 2006, a proposition came up about whether or not to raise the cigarette tax in Missouri and I voted against it. This ended up being the only result I was happy about.

Anywho, the slippery slope idea means that the government might start with a tax on cigarettes, which everyone mostly agrees are bad for you, but then they will start taxing other things like fast food or carbon emissions (anthropological global warming is a bunch of junk science by the way).

So instead of taxation, there are other ways like education to get people to stop smoking. I’m not one for a complete ban though. I have faith that humans are pretty smart creatures. They should know that if you smoke 3 packs a day you are in fact addicted and that addiction might end up costing you your life. As long as you aren’t affecting anyone else (aka second hand smoke, etc.), I feel it is your right to smoke yourself into oblivion.

As long as the information is out there for people to know of the risks and there are age requirements (I don’t feel that 12 year olds have the reasoning or foresight to see the long term consequences), than I don’t think the government should be trying to make them stop.

Now does this idea extend the people who say it is there right to smoke marijuana? Hmmm…I don’t know. The side affects of pot seem to have more of a chance of affecting people other than just the smoker (driving while high?).

Anyways, this post wasn’t supposed to be this long. I just wanted to point out Rep. Duncan’s stance against raising the cigarette tax and I hope every conservative will stand behind his decision.

FITSNews posted “Ninety-Five theses” that Sic Willie is rumored to have come up with how the South Carolina state government should be reorganized/restructured. Here are just some of the few that I thought were interesting and worth mentioning.

19) The state’s personal income tax is hereby repealed, with the resulting increase in economic activity and capital investment coming into the state serving as sufficient revenue replacement.

 

20) The state’s income tax on businesses that employ fewer than fifty persons is hereby repealed, with the resulting increase in economic activity and capital investment coming into to the state serving as sufficient revenue replacement.

 

22) No private company in the State of South Carolina shall be permitted to solicit or accept union representation, engage in collective bargaining or hold a general strike.

 

29) An independent Commission on Best Budgeting Practices comprised of corporate leaders shall be established and charged with assigning specific rankings to each recommended disbursement of taxpayer funds in the state budget. These rankings shall be based on each budget item’s “essential and necessary value” toward achieving the broader objectives outlined in the new “zero-based, activity-specific” method of state budgeting.

 

34) Any spending item included in the state budget must bear the name of the individual legislator who sponsored it as well as the name of the individual legislator whose district is to benefit from it.

 

38) The use of taxpayer resources for the purpose of lobbying the legislature or any official of government is expressly forbidden. Public employees wishing to lobby the government must do so on their own time, using their own resources, like every other citizen.

 

50) The State of South Carolina shall maintain an Internet database searchable by a) elected official b) contributor (individual, corporate or other) and c) industry or lobby for all political contributions made to any elected official.

 

74) State colleges and universities are hereby prohibited from raising tuition at a rate exceeding the growth in population and inflation.

 

75) State colleges and universities and the Department of Education must immediately implement at 10% reduction in adminstrative force, while holding teachers and professors harmless.

 

81) South Carolina hereby refuses the acceptance of any radioactive waste within its borders that is not accompanied by a definitive timetable for removal.

 

86) The Ben Tillman, Jr. statue on the State House grounds is hereby removed and a permanent moratorium placed on the erection of any future memorials. Any memorials which are approved must be paid for exclusively with private funds.

 

89) The Confederate Flag compromise reached in 2000 shall be written into the new State Constitution and any bill which seeks to undo it shall have to be adopted as a Constitutional amendment.

 

94) Any South Carolinian who is 18 years of age or older and who is serving our Armed Forces may consume alcohol with a valid Military ID.

Those of just some of the few interesting ideas proposed. I would recommend reading the whole thing.

I don’t know if you have heard about the Utah nuclear waste company that wants to import waste from Italy but now they are becoming one of the largest contributors to several politicians, including one from SC. I’m guessing people aren’t really to hot about the idea of having to ship nuclear waste all the way across the country.

Since 2005, the company’s political action committee, executives and investors have poured nearly $400,000 into congressional campaigns through January, up from about $40,000 in the four previous years, Federal Election Commission reports show.

 

The company’s growing influence in Washington will be tested this year as it tries to kill a bill that would ban the importation of low-level radioactive foreign waste, which would be disposed at its dump in western Utah’s desert.

 

“I’m sure this means many millions of dollars to them, so I’m sure they’re going to be working hard to stop it,” said Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., the bill’s co-sponsor.

 

EnergySolutions increased lobbyist spending from $680,000 in 2006 to more than $1 million last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.

Since Utah has this tiny problem of being a landlocked state, the nuclear waste would obviously have to first make its way through a port. What port is it? Well, as the saying goes, all you have to do is follow the money. Guess where the biggest chunk of money has gone too. None other than South Carolina’s very own Lindsay Graham.

The biggest recipient of EnergySolutions’ recent spending spree is Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ardent supporter of nuclear energy.

 

Graham has received $24,000 in campaign contributions from EnergySolutions’ PAC and more than $19,000 from company investors and executives since December 2006.

 

He is encouraging the NRC to allow the construction of two nuclear power plants in South Carolina, where EnergySolutions manages the site through which the Italian waste could be imported.

 

The company wants to import the waste through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans for processing in Tennessee.

Now I’m not bashing on Senator Graham because I, for one, am all for nuclear energy. Therefore, I know that this problem of shipping nuclear waste from one place to another is a major issue that will have to be dealt with. The fact that Charleston would be the main port for something like this is great because there have been recent reports that Charleston’s port has slowly been receiving less shipments. This will be great to pump some extra cash into the economy.

However, South Carolina’s main source of income is tourism and Charleston is a major tourist city. Therefore, if there were to be an accident dealing with nuclear waste in Charleston, a very vital of the state’s livelihood would be gone. What this means is that even though I am all for nuclear energy and even possibly this Utah deal, there better be some hell of regulations to ensure that everything goes smoothly and safely

The Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer along with 50 state legislators are scheduled to address the issue of affordable housing this month.

The S.C. Workforce and Affordable Housing Special Interest Caucus is an outgrowth of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s special task force on Affordable Housing. Increased housing costs, stagnant incomes and limited availability of affordable housing make finding safe, quality housing a nightmare for hardworking citizens on modest incomes, according to a release from Bauer’s office.

 

[…]

 

The caucus will will work to address the issue through education, funding opportunities and reduction of regulatory barriers to increase the supply of affordable housing, which is critical to the state’s economic future.

 

The caucus will meet on April 9 in Room 321 of the Blatt Building in Columbia.

Three Republicans battled it out yesterday at a debate in Hilton Head’s state House District 123. The three participants in the debate were challengers Starletta Hairston and Stu Rodman along with incumbent Richard Chalk. Throughout this “civil” debate, education seemed to be the number one priority on the peoples’ minds.

The issue that received the most attention was the state’s education formula, which the candidates agreed puts local public schools at a disadvantage.

 

The biggest difference among the three was over who could bring home the most money for education.

 

Voicing her frustration with the current formula, Hairston, a former county council member, said, “I’d like to be that squeaky wheel in Columbia that talks about this and shows them that we have families that are low income; we have families with children that (receive) free or reduced lunch, which they think we don’t have down here.”

 

Stu Rodman, a current county councilman and a former school board member, argued his experience working with the schools makes him ideally qualified to find creative solutions to the funding problem. “I came out of a financial background,” Rodman said during the debate, “but my heart is really in seeing if we can make a difference in education and education funding.”

 

Chalk pointed out that he was already sitting on a task force in the House to examine the funding formula and argued that the best chance the county has to see improvement is by gaining clout in the state legislature.

I’ve just launched a new website called SC Statehouse Blog that I will be running in conjunction with Blatant Reality. Its a blog focusing on what is happening inside the South Carolina State Legislature. Our main source of information will be from one-on-one interviews with various Republican and Democrat legislators. We already have one interview with Representative Michael Pitts about a new bill concerning the release of the concealed-weapon permit list. Check it out.

South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint is often herald as one of the few Senators to stand up against the immigration bill last summer. He was the one the tipped off Drudge to what was going on which led to the ultimate defeat of the bill in the Senate. According to Senator DeMint, this experience is what showed him the true power of the internet.

Now, in order to continue his message of border control, DeMint has created a new website to keep voters informed on what is happening.

He recently created a new Web site — www.completethefencenow.com — to update progress on security the nation’s border with Mexico. “People want to know. We’re responding in a traditional marketing sense. Here’s a consumer need. We’re going to put this site on and let people know,” he said. “I know it’s frustrating for people who call our office and say ‘Nothing is happening.’ I don’t hear anything.”

 

Byars said the site also is a way to communicate with bloggers, who can link to it or ask DeMint’s office to research questions they have about drug or sex trafficking along the border. “It’s an interactive way for us to work to build support outside the dome,” Byars said.

 

“If I don’t have support outside the dome — loud and vocal support — people inside are not going to listen to me,” DeMint added. “They’re going to ignore me whenever they can if it’s anything about changing the culture or the ways things are done. I’m almost completely dependent on the American people to help me push some things through.

 

“In some ways, it’s been encouraging that people have been responsive and engaged. They get information and have a way to respond. They do. It’s like it is a government for the people.”

This is the way government should work. It should allow the people to be educated about what is happening in Congress and allow them to voice their opinions. Whether or not the Congressman listen to their constituents all depends on if they feel voting against the people’s opinion is worth the possibility of them losing their job.

Both South Carolina Senator Kevin Bryant and Representative Jeff Duncan have announced their intent to run for re-election this coming November. Both Bryant and Duncan are two of the very few South Carolina legislators that run their own blogs. To see Bryant’s announcement for re-election on his blog, go here and to see Duncan’s, go here.

It looks like South Carolina Governor Mark Sandford’s top aide Tom Davis will run for one of Beaufort’s Senatorial seats. This seat is currently being held by Republican Catherine Ceips and she seems to be taking the news pretty well.

Tom Davis, 47, a partner at downtown Beaufort law firm Harvey and Battey and a key architect of both of Sanford’s gubernatorial campaigns, said Friday he’s “given a lot of thought” to running against Sen. Catherine Ceips for the District 46 Senate seat.

 

“It’s always been in the back of my mind; it’s always been something I’ve thought about primarily because the approach I have for government is consistent with where I think people in Beaufort County are coming from,” he said. “I think there’s been a loss of focus on what makes us great, which is liberty and the people and their ability to drive the economy.”

 

(…)

 

If he runs, Davis would face Ceips in a June Republican primary for the Senate seat that represents most of Beaufort County. Ceips claimed the seat last year after a hard-fought Republican primary against County Council Chairman Weston Newton. The District 46 seat became vacant in February 2007 when then-Sen. Scott Richardson resigned to become director of the state Department of Insurance.

 

Ceips was elected to three terms in the state House before moving to the Senate.

 

“You’ll never hear me say anything negative about people who want to offer public service,” Ceips said Friday of Davis’ possible candidacy. “And that seat doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to the people.”

We shall see if she keeps to her promise.