Carolina Politics Online

A poll released by Inside Advantage shows the current match up for this year’s gubernatorial elections in South Carolina.  The numbers weren’t too surprising, but there was one ranking that stood out.  Gresham Barrett is tanking.  As I predicted a year ago, his Wall Street bailout vote was political suicide.

If the Republican gubernatorial primary were held today, the results would be as follows: Henry McMaster and Andre Bauer would tie with 22%, Nikki Haley would follow with 13%, Barrett is fourth with 9%, and Larry Grooms brings up the anchor with 6%.  28% are undecided at this point in time.

On the Democrat side of the aisle, Jim Rex leads with 21% followed by Dwight Drake with 15%.  Vincent Sheheen comes in third with 8% and Robert Ford and Mullins McLeod trail each with 6%.  The undecideds are much higher among Democrats, 44%.

No general election match up was done yet to see how who would fair against who.

The latest polling from Public Policy Polling of the South Carolina gubernatorial race shows the Republican candidates with comfortable over the Democrats.  AG Henry McMaster at this point seems to be the best prospect for the GOP as he leads Democrats Jim Rex 40 – 31, Vincent Sheheen 41 – 26, and Robert Ford 42-27.  Congressman Gresham Barrett has similar leads but with slightly smaller gaps.  McMaster has the highest approval rating of the three Republican candidates polled while Barrett has the lowest.  The only real competitive match up at this point would be between Lt Gov Andre Bauer and Jim Rex in which Rex actually holds a one point lead over Bauer.

Republican candidate Nikki Haley was not included the poll.  She is the only Republican I consider supporting at this point.  Robert Ford is the only Democrat I would vote for.

State Sen. Robert Ford, whose gubernatorial bid has raised only $1,300 during the past three months, said he’s being blackballed by Democratic donors.

“I don’t like that word ‘blackball,’ but the public understands what that means,” he said. “They should not be allowed to control the nomination like that.”

Ford has raised only $7,797 for his campaign, including almost $3,000 of his own money, according to the most recent campaign disclosure forms. He had $31 on hand as of July 10.

Ford said some Democrats “want Sheheen or Mullins to have the nomination because, in their sick way of thinking, a white Democrat has a better chance of winning than me.

The Post and Courier

I wouldn’t be surprised if in the back of their minds they are thinking that, but I don’t think that is the problem Ford is facing.  This is:

But it’s not true. I have two issues that are very popular with people” — school choice and legalizing video poker.

School choice does seem to be growing in popularity around the state.  Unfortunately for Senator Ford, it’s the kiss of Judas within the Democrat Party.  For some reason the failure of public education is one of the holy grails of the Democrats and I have honestly never understood why.  Is it to placate the unions and the teachers to keep the millions in campaign donations coming in?  They continuously engage in fearmongering to the general public that any form of school choice will ruin the public education structure.  First of all, public education in this country is already ruined and it hasn’t improved regardless of how much money has been thrown at it.  Secondly, in a sense, they are right.  School choice will ultimately destroy the failed status quo and open parents and their children up to bigger and better educational opportunities.

Ford understands all of this, but he’s probably in the wrong political party to get the support he needs and even as a Republican it would be a gamble.

Senator Robert Ford (D-Charleston) is getting a taste of what it’s like to buck his party and challenge status quo leftists with logic, facts, and reality.  Now, Republicans and us libertarian minded folks go through this daily so we’re well equipped for these kinds of battles, but actually Ford seems to be holding his own quite well.

Black legislative, community and education leaders joined state Superintendent Jim Rex on Thursday in denouncing a bill filed by Sen. Robert Ford that would offer tuition tax credits to students who attend private schools.

The opposition comes two days after Ford, a Charleston Democrat, advocated using public money to allow students to transfer out of failing schools. It’s the latest battle in the state’s ongoing debate about private school choice. While Ford’s bill would give money to public school students who transfer to higher-performing public schools, the most controversial part of the legislation is its redirection of public money to private schools.

“As an African-American and an educator, I’m shocked and appalled that this is the position that someone who is supportive of our community would propose,” said former state Teacher of the Year Traci Cooper. “It’s bad legislation.”

The Post and Courier

A former Teacher of the Year finds it appaling that someone would want to get kids out of dangerous, failing schools.  I wonder if the committee that awarded Ms Cooper with this honor were the same people who gave Yassir Arafat the peace prize.

Here comes the good part.

After hearing the names of those who spoke out, Ford said that none of them have made “one contribution to black people or to education.” None would send their children to a failing, predominantly black school, and they should be more worried about the hundreds of thousands of black families in that situation rather than criticizing him, he said.

Ouch!

I bet that stung and it should have because Ford is right.  All of these Chicken Littles, where do their kids go to school?  What have they done for these communities?  Not a damn thing.

I wonder how long these piss poor schools are to be given chance after chance after chance to clean themselves up before these kids are finally allowed their right to a real education instead of being turned out as a dumbed down deficient product of the government education system.  Then again, I also sometimes wonder if that is really the actual intention of those who would seek no change.

The State Senate, lead by Senator Robert Ford (D-Charleston), is finally going to hold public hearings next Monday and on the 30th about legalizing church raffles and what is being termed as “friendly” poker games.  It would be nice to see South Carolina move into the 21st century and rid ourselves of some of these archaic 19th century blue laws.  The fact that our state wastes resources on raiding homes of private citizens playing Texas Hold’em while we have the highest violent crime rate in the country seems to indicate a set of misplaced priorities, not to mention that it kind of goes against that whole freedom and liberty thing they keep telling us we have, you know?

Public hearings are scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday in North Charleston City Hall and March 30, beginning at 5:30 p.m., in Greenville County Council Chambers.

To speak, attendees will have to sign in when they arrive and comments will be taken as time permits.

The Post and Courier

A black state senator is pushing a bill that would require South Carolina cities and counties to give their workers a paid day off for Confederate Memorial Day or lose millions in state funds.

Democratic Sen. Robert Ford’s bill won initial approval from a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. It would force county and municipal governments to follow the schedule of holidays used by the state, which gives workers 12 paid days off, including May 10 to honor Confederate war dead. Mississippi and Alabama also recognize Confederate Memorial Day.

The AP

I’m not a native southerner, yet despite that I have at many times defended the flying of the Confederate Flag at the capitol in Columbia because I understand the pride that many people here have of that history and heritage despite the fact that some of it was pretty ugly.  However, I don’t agree that we need to add an official state holiday immortalizing a pseudo-nation that hasn’t existed in almost 150 years.  I think adding this holiday will only cost the taxpayers money in lost productivity for that day out of the year while every city still has to pay their employees.

Let’s get real here too.  If people in South Carolina are going get a day off of work for Confederate Memorial Day how many of them are actually going to take even a second out of that day to pay homage to the war dead from so long ago?  Very few.  I work for a bank.  I get 11 paid holidays a year and to me, like most people, they’re just a free day off.  I don’t think twice about Messrs. Washington and Lincoln on President’s Day or Martin Luther King or the dead on Veteran’s Day and both my father and grandfather are war veterans.  For me, these days are extra days for me to sleep until noon and get some errands done.  I don’t see the sense in the state adding one more.

I also don’t know why Jim Davenport, who wrote the quoted article, felt the need to mention that Senator Ford is black, but that was apparently important to him.

State Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, presented $1,000 in checks — much of it from his personal or campaign funds — to Charleston Progressive Academy Friday morning to help it fight a plan to close it.

The K-8 school at Meeting and Ann streets is among several the Charleston County School District has targeted for closure as the district struggles to cope with a financial shortfall.

Ford gave $450 from personal checking accounts, $250 from his campaign fund and $200 from the Twin City Outreach Ministry Black Community Developers. Three other individuals and businesses contributed $100.

The Post and Courier

A very generous act on behalf of Senator Ford, the kind that you rarely see from a politician, let alone people in general.

As lawmakers found themselves in the position of cutting services for autistic children, draining funds for land conservation and eliminating an advocacy program for disabled residents, they started asking the half-a-billion-dollar question:

What’s happening to the state’s money?

The Post and Courier

Is this a serious question??  What has happened to the money???  It’s been spent on crap!!  How many posts have been made on this blog and others throughout the state hammering the state legislature for reckless spending?  How many think tanks in the state like the Club for Growth and South Carolinians for Responsible Government have detailed all of the wasteful pork projects the legislature throws our money away on every single year?  This has to be a rhetorical inquiry.

Those changes set the backdrop in a state that’s becoming increasingly dependent on the volatile sales tax that also gives $1.5 billion in exemptions to everything from furniture purchased by churches to paper used to print the news and fuel burned by shrimpers.

There is nothing wrong with depending on a sales tax for state revenue.  Tennessee and Florida do not have a state income tax and rely heavily on their sales tax to provide money for the government.  They’ve been existing in that form of government since day one.  I do agree that South Carolina has too many exemptions in our sales tax and many of those should probably be removed.

Several lawmakers also are calling for the creation of a commission to review the more than 100 sales tax exemptions, many of which have been in place since 1951.

Quite frankly, I think everything should be subject to sales tax and we should do away with the income tax in this state.  Minor adjustments can be made to the tax each year if there is a suspected revenue shortage or windfall in the near future.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, wants South Carolina to legalize gaming, a cash cow he said could cure all the economic woes.

I agree with Ford on this.  Why the hell not?  Of course, it’s not going to happen.  This is a state where we still have dry towns and counties that won’t allow bars to serve alcohol on Sunday, God forbid ye be cast into the firey depths of Hell.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, has been lobbying for a constitutional amendment that would limit what the Legislature can spend during a given year, based on average of revenue collections over a decade.

Another good safety guard that would help the state so naturally, we’ll never see it.

Republican Gov. Mark Sanford said he thinks the Legislature simply is spending too much, and doing it recklessly. His potential vetoes of the budget cuts could bring lawmakers back on Oct. 31, with all likelihood that any changes to the tax structure will wait until next year, when a new Legislature convenes.

Sanford is right on the money as usual.  People in this state are not paying attention to what their representatives are doing.  They better wake up or this kind of incompetence will continue to plague this state.

You can view all of the cuts here.

S.C. Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston is unfazed by the urging of Democratic leaders for party unity. Wednesday, he’ll cast his delegate vote at Denver’s Democratic National Convention for longtime friend Hillary Clinton.

“Party unity? That’s national media crap,” Ford said Monday between bites of bacon and sausage at the S.C. delegation breakfast. “Democrats have always had divisions.”

The State

I have no doubt that Obama will get the nomination.  Circumventing the primary results by superdelegates would be political suicide for the Democratic Party.  They aren’t that stupid.  I am intersted to see, however, in what way this will carry forward to the general election.  There is a deep divide among the party nationwide with Hillary backers feeling snubbed.  Several polls show that a large chunk of them will not vote for Obama in November or haven’t decided.  In the end, the I think the majority of those people will come around and pull the lever for him, even if holding their noses, but the chance of a sizable enough portion of them sticking to their guns and voting for McCain or not at all could and costing the Dems the election is plausible.

Gee, didn’t see this one coming.  Yes, that’s sarcasm.  This is how liberty is stripped away.  It always starts out as some bright idea from some authoritarian politician in Town A.  Then after it’s passed Town B thinks, “Gee, what a great idea Town A had.  Let’s do that here too.”  Then more towns jump on the bandwagon.  Eventually the state lawmakers decide it’s their jobs to save the entire population so they pass a state law and some times even D.C. takes notice and goes for the full monty.  Whether its banning smoking in public places, trans fats in restaurants, fast food bans in South Central Los Angeles or criminalizing saggy pants it always starts the same way.

Jasper County passed a ban on saggy pants a few months back.  Since then other parts of the state have followed their lead and predictably a member of the State Senate wants to eradicate it statewide.  Today’s authoritarian is State Senator Robert Ford (D-Charleston).

State Sen. Robert Ford is the latest to try to bust the sag. And as sure as politicians have opinions, he won’t be the last to hitch his star to the issue.

Ford said Friday that he wants to take local efforts to ban the clothing style one step further by trying to stop it with a new state law, but a host of critics, including civil liberty groups, have come forward.

The Charleston Democrat said he believes that sagging pants worn below the underwear line — a style widely believed to have come from emulating prisoners who are not allowed to wear belts — is a setback.

“If these guys want to look like prisoners, what’s the next step?” Ford said. “We, those of us who fought civil rights battles in the ’60s and early ’70s, anticipated wonderful things for African-Americans once we broke down a lot of barriers.

“This generation hasn’t built upon anything except destructive stuff.”

I’m not necessarily disagreeing with Ford’s assessment of today’s generation and it’s not just black kids, but kids of all creeds who enjoy shuffling around town with their pants drooping around their ankles like a bunch of ass clowns.  What I don’t agree with is the government exercising its will on the people and making a proclamation of what we can and cannot wear.  I’m not going to be told by Senator Ford or anyone for that fact how I am going to dress on my own leisure.

If Senator Ford really wants to address problem in the black community he might want to try and tackle the 70% out of wedlock birth rates among black children for starters.  That can be tied to just about all of the other issues that typically plague black communities and other poor neighborhoods:  drugs, gang activity, violence, etc.  It is the welfare state that Ford’s party thrust upon us a couple of generations ago that has perpetuated those problems.  Telling kids they can’t wear sagging pants isn’t going to eliminate these nuisances from society.  Senator Ford and his Columbia comrades ought to be spending their time on more pressing matters and solutions with actual results, not feel good dribble such as this.

The State Elections Web Site is not up to date that well. Some races have already been called in the media, but the state site still shows them unreported. What I know so far is the following:

In Senate District 46 Tom Davis has ousted RINO Catherine Ceips. This is a huge, huge win for all the reformers in this state and it shows that Mark Sanford still holds a lot of clout with his constituents even though the legislature snubs him.

In Senate District 23 Katrina Shealey has managed to push Jake Knotts into a run off election, as I predicted would be the case. This is another good turn of events because Knotts is the sorriest excuse for a Republican probably in South Carolina history.

In Senate District 42 Robert Ford managed to miraculously keep his seat from challenger Dwayne Green and by a 50 point margin. I don’t know how he pulled this one off. Ford must have made a deal with the devil.

In House District 38 Joey Millwood has ousted incumbent RINO Bob Walker by 19 votes! This is another victory for those hoping for government reform.

Scott Talley has won the race for Senate District 12. I commented the other day that all three of these guys were decent so this was a win, win situation and step forward.

In House District 37 Steve Parker has trounced incumbent Ralph Davenport by 25 points!

The State is reporting that Senator Randy Scott has lost to his primary challenger, Mike Rose, but I can’t find any returns on that race yet.

Jim Ritchie will have to face challenger Shane Martin again in a run off election for the 13th Senate District.

B.R. Skelton prevailed over challenger Trey Whitehurst in House District 3.

Bob Leach was defeated by his challenger Bill Wylie in House District 21.

Charleston lawyer Dwayne Green decided to run against state Sen. Robert Ford after he heard Ford say that if U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois were to win the Democratic presidential nomination, it would doom the party’s candidates in the fall.

Ford apologized soon afterward, but the comment was out there.

Ford, who needs to defeat Green in the June 10 Democratic primary to get re-elected to a fifth term, was not impressed with his opponent’s reasoning.

“That’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard in my life, somebody running because of a comment I made about another candidate,” Ford said, adding that Green mentions how he graduated from Princeton University. “If that’s the kind of craziness they teach at Princeton, then they need to shut down that institution.”

The Post and Courier

What did Ford apologize for, being honest? Obviously that is how he really feels or he wouldn’t have said it and there is nothing wrong with his opinion. As far as Green challenging, well maybe it is a silly reason, but Green can run for whatever reason he wants. Green’s fund raising has been very competitive so apparently many voters in the 42nd are ready for a change. This is one to watch next month.

State Senate challenger Dwayne Green has raised twice as much campaign cash as incumbent Sen. Robert Ford, a sign that their Democratic primary showdown might be one of the Lowcountry’s closest races this June.

Green, who has raised more than $60,000 and still has about $25,000 on hand, said he was pleased to have such support. “Incumbents have a natural advantage,” he said, “I know that finances are only half the battle, but it’s encouraging. I hope it will help me to get my message out.”

Ford has reported raising $31,698, including a $2,000 loan and a $5,000 contribution from the South Carolina Democratic Caucus. He has about $5,896 on hand.

Ford said Tuesday the contributions don’t foreshadow a close race, partly because of his style of politics and because of his frequent mailings to voters.

The Post and Courier

Robert Ford can pooh-pooh this all he wants if it helps him sleep better at night, but he’s in serious trouble. Fund raising is campaigning. The vast majority of the time he who raises the most wins and when an incumbent is being out raised two to one, he may want to start making plans to fill up a lot of the free time he’s going to have in the future.