Jul 03 2008
The State is reporting that Governor Sanford (R-SC) will be attending an event in Aspen, Colorado held by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) on August 14 and 15. This obviously continues to fuel speculation that Sanford could be a possible runningmate pick for McCain in November.
Jul 03 2008
COLUMBIA — Gov. Mark Sanford on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have expanded the use of genetic information in criminal cases, saying collecting DNA samples when suspected felons are arrested is an invasion of privacy.
“We see this legislation as a reach past that very foundation upon which this country was founded,” Sanford told legislators in his veto. He called the bill a “further encroachment on our civil liberties and privacy rights.”
And that it is, Governor. Amen for Mark Sanford. There were just too many problems with this bill.
The legislation required a DNA sample to be taken when people were arrested for felonies as well as for eavesdropping, peeping or stalking. Those samples could be destroyed if suspects are not convicted.
The governor cited statistics showing that only about 40 percent of people arrested on felony charges are convicted.
And how could the destruction of those samples by proved? Would we actually be expected to trust the government?
There were some other good provisions in the bill that I would like to see passed at some point. I favor prisoners having the right to DNA testing to prove their innocense. There was also a condition that would have allowed family members of missing persons to have their DNA tested against unidentified remains.
DNA sampling is at the core of those efforts because of the potential for finding cold hits on old crimes and getting repeat offenders off the streets, McConnell said.
“It is the public’s civil right to be protected in their person and their property,” he said. “This bill was the single biggest thing that we could do in the battle against violent crime.”
At the expense of civil liberties, Glenn. Wise up.
Jun 30 2008
Last year, Sanford vetoed a bill that would have allowed law enforcement to collect DNA samples at the time of arrest, and the House decided to uphold the veto. Sanford outlined a number of privacy concerns with the bill. If he vetoes the bill this year it will remain in limbo until January, when the Legislature reconvenes.
All states require DNA samples from convicted sex offenders and upon conviction for certain other crimes. Some states allow samples to be taken at the time of arrest, primarily for felony charges.
The bill Sanford is reviewing contains a number of provisions in addition to collecting pre-conviction samples. It also allows prisoners to request their DNA be tested to prove their innocence and a provision that would allow the family of missing persons to have their loved ones’ DNA tested against a database of unidentified human remains.
This same provision is up again in a similar DNA bill that has passed both chambers of the legislature. I think, as before, Sanford should veto this bill. I don’t like this idea of collecting a person’s DNA based upon an arrest. Being arrested is not an indication of guilt. So what happens to your DNA sample if you are found not guilty?
I agree with the provisions allowing prisoners to demand a DNA test to prove their innocence as well as that which allows family members of missing persons to have their DNA tested against human remains for identification. Those are good ideas and they should have been put up as their own bills instead of being combined with the forced surrendering upon arrest.
Jun 25 2008
I have no doubt the Senate will concur.
COLUMBIA — The House voted 109-0 to override Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto on the bill intended to get sprinkler systems in more homes and businesses.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where two-thirds of the body must agree to override the veto.
The Legislature reconvened at noon. So far, the Senate has taken up three bills. The House has spent most of the morning recognizing members who lost re-election campaigns.
Such a sufficient use of the peoples’ time and tax dollars.
Sanford wrote in his veto message that he agreed with the intent of the legislation but saw the incentive as a government subsidy.
“Things get more expensive when someone else is picking up the tab,” Sanford wrote. “If the costs are largely paid by a third party, as they are in this proposal, competitive pricing becomes a secondary concern and, in this regard, taxpayers suffer.”
The legislation was prompted by the Sofa Super Store blaze that killed nine Charleston firefighters.
Sanford is right on this. When a company is doing business with the government they can jack up the price enormously because they know the government is picking up the tab with our money. That is part of the reason why health care is so damn expensive in this country.
This bill was a knee jerk reaction to what happened in Charleston last year and historically bills that are thrown together like this out of an emotionally charged incidents with little forethought end up having unintended consequences. Look at how TSA is operated at the airports and all of the flaws that the media has uncovered with airline security. Look at the Patriot Act!
Jun 20 2008
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint has endorsed Katrina Shealy over Jake Knotts for a Lexington County state Senate seat, weighing in on a race that has divided local, state and federal politicos.
DeMint’s endorsement follows that of Gov. Mark Sanford. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson has appeared in television commercials endorsing Knotts, while U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham told House and Senate incumbents earlier this year that he would support their campaigns.
Nice. Very nice. Shealy must win this race. That is a shot in the arm this state needs.
This is the difference between politicians like Sanford and DeMint and politicians like Wilson and Graham. Sanford and DeMint stand on their principles. Wilson and Graham are party hacks.
Jun 18 2008
Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor would be open to “lifting the moratorium if states got to decide what happened next.” He said: “The states (must) get to decide what happens off their own coast.”
Sawyer said that Sanford recognizes the energy challenges facing Americans, “but we would certainly have some hesitation just based upon tourism and the natural beauty along the coast. We certainly wouldn’t want to do anything that would kill the goose that laid the golden egg.”
I agree with Sanford’s position that the states should decide what happens off of their shoreline, but I disagree with him on opposing the drilling. These oil rigs will be so far off the coast that nobody would be able to see them. This argument about oil drilling hurting tourism has been used by Florida Governor Charlie Crist as well, but it just doesn’t make sense to me.
Jun 17 2008
This was not at all expected.
Gov. Mark Sanford, despite saying he wouldn’t get involved in the Senate District 12 race, on Monday endorsed Lee Bright over state Rep. Scott Talley.
Sanford announced his endorsement at Bright’s campaign headquarters at 1220 John B. White Sr. Blvd. in Spartanburg, only a few hundred yards from Talley’s law office.
This endorsement has sent waves through Talley’s campaign because Sanford has praised Talley in the past as a taxpayer hero. Personally, I would like to have seen Talley support more of Sanford’s vetoes and maybe that has a little something to do with it. Perhaps he thinks Bright can be more reliable in that area. It’s funny because I was actually leaning towards Bright in this race myself, but as I said a couple of weeks ago I still believe that any of the guys that were running in this race would be a good fit in the Senate.
Jun 17 2008
The State reports that Governor Mark Sanford attended the annual Bilderberg Conference last weekend in Chantilly, Virginia. The Bilderberg Conference is a gathering of high ranking politicians throughout the Western world as well as media moguls and wealthy and influential businessmen. It dates back to its first meeting on May 31, 1954 at the Hotel de Bilderberg in The Netherlands from where the conference gets its name.
The origin of this conference was to put to rest growing anti-American sentiment in Europe by bringing leaders from both sides of the ocean together each year to promote better cultural understandings. Nobody really knows for certain what gets discussed at the conference each year as it is closed to the media and as a rule of thumb attendees don’t divulge the information or identify other attendees. The conference also has notoriety among New World Order conspiracy theorists who believe it is a secret meeting forum of the world’s elite to plot their take over of the globe.
Sanford’s attendance raises speculation that he may indeed by eyeing higher office. Could there be more truth to the rumors pinpointing him as a possible running mate to John McCain? Could Sanford have his own presidential ambitions in mind further down the road?
Jun 12 2008
The Republican governor vetoed the measure a week before the anniversary of the June 18 Sofa Super Store blaze that killed nine Charleston firefighters.
Sanford said he vetoed the bill because it was so big that it amounted to a government subsidy rather than an incentive.
I agree with Sanford’s veto. This bill would have the taxpayers funding the bulk of the money being used by businesses to install the sprinklers. We shouldn’t be footing the bill for private enterprise.
Jun 11 2008
I made a brief post last night summing up the results of several primaries across the state. There were candidates I was really gunning for who came up short and others I was hoping would fall on their faces who managed to eek it out, but nonetheless, the reformers made gains.
The two most watched races in the Senate both had positive results. Tom Davis managed to knock off RINO Catherine Ceips last night in Senate District 46. With Davis being Sanford’s former Chief of Staff, we know we’ll have someone in there who will support the Governor’s low tax, low spend, pro-growth agenda far more than Ceips did, which was practically never.
The other race was in Senate District 23. Katrina Shealy, the Chairman of the Lexington County Republican Committee came up short by five points, but managed to force Jake Knotts into a run off election. I think Shealy would have won this race by her own right had there not been a third candidate running, but that no longer matters. Knotts received 45% of the vote, which means the majority didn’t want him to return. The run off election will be determined by who has the best ground game.
Randy Scott is out in Senate District 39. He was defeated by former State Senator Mike Rose who is another reform minded conservative. With Scott gone that is one less RINO working against our governor for a better South Carolina.
Jim Ritchie may be seeing his final days in the Senate since Shane Martin also held him to a run off. Martin actually beat Ritchie by almost 18 points last night, but he didn’t make the 50% mark. He ended up with 49.63% of the vote. Doh! Fortunately, since Martin did so well I think the odds are in his favor in the run off.
There was some improvement in the House as well, but the Senate is the one that really needs gutted. I would have preferred to see a few more victories last night. We needed Carl Gullick out of the House and it almost happened. We also needed B.R. Skelton out and his opponent gave him a bit of a scare. Luke Rankin is another worthless glutton in the Senate we could have done without. Hopefully, the strong efforts by the challengers that came up short will be enough to force these guys to reevaluate what it is they are doing in Columbia. Of course, I am not holding my breath.
Overall, I am happy with the results of the election and I hope to see some better things from the new legislature in 2009. As for the survivors who should have been voted off the island and didn’t, now is the time to start finding their replacements. We have two years to prepare them.
Jun 10 2008
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.
Jun 06 2008
High schools will be required to have defibrillators under a new law that goes into effect this fall, despite Gov. Sanford’s veto of the proposal. The Senate and House overrode the veto Thursday, hours after Sanford vetoed the bill. Sanford said only about one death a year would be expected to occur in a South Carolina high school.
This is ridiculous. Once again the state legislature is playing the role of over protective nanny and costing taxpayers a nice chunk of change. When was the last time you heard of someone at a high school going into cardiac arrest? As Sanford pointed out, the average is about one death a year across the state.
This waste was sponsored by 11 House Democrats:
And the Governor’s veto was overridden by your “fiscally responsible, small government” Republican majority.
Jun 04 2008
Under the health care measure, the state will spend an additional $21 million to expand the federal-state children’s health insurance program by raising the family income limit for eligibility. Advocates say the program will offer health care to an additional 88,000 children.
Sanford had vetoed that bill and the $6.3 million for the indigent defense program from the state’s $7 billion budget, saying the poor economy didn’t allow for expanded programs. He wanted savings used for prison budgets and school bus fuel costs.
So I have to keep paying high tax rates to fund the doctor visits of other peoples’ brats. I just got a $500 doctor bill in the mail today. Will Columbia pay that for me?
The House and Senate Journals should be updated tomorrow. I’ll be able to see at that point who voted for what.
The Senate spent about five hours on the vetoes, ultimately overriding all but one of the vetoes the House had also overridden. They agreed with Sanford’s veto of a measure that would have required the state’s Medicaid agency to make monthly reports to the Legislature.
Their decisions meant that only $2 million of Sanford’s $72 million in vetoes were sustained after the Legislature overrode 57 of 69 vetoes.
The governor offered a blunt response.
“While we believe that the House ultimately failed to address our state’s financial situation, what the Senate did in not sustaining a single dollar’s worth of vetoes shows not only a disdain for taxpayers, but a complete abdication of their constitutional duty to put forth a budget that is indeed balanced,” Sanford said in a a prepared statement.
He’s absolutely right. There is nothing else to say.
Jun 04 2008
Fat chance of that!
COLUMBIA — Advocates for Hispanics delivered a message Tuesday to Gov. Mark Sanford: Illegal immigrants living in South Carolina should be granted amnesty or the state will take hits to its agriculture and tourism-driven economy.
And South Carolinians have a message for illegal immigrants: Get the hell out or find your behind on an INS truck back to where you came from.
“It’s unfair. We just come here to have a nice life,” said Luis De La Cruz, 9, whose parents moved to Goose Creek from Mexico when Luis was a year old.
Unfortunately Luis, your parents jumped ahead of a lot of other people who also want a nice life but are still waiting because they’ve been following the law unlike your criminal parents.
Alejandro Dominguez, a North Charleston businessman who was born in Mexico and granted citizenship through amnesty, said he only hires illegal immigrants. He pays them between $15 and $16 an hour, he said, to work on kitchen counter top construction and installation.
So Dominguez is hiring criminals to work for him while depriving American citizens a decent paying job. Gee, isn’t that exactly what we’ve been saying is part of the problem with illegal immigration?
Salazar said illegal immigrants, who have come through the borders without much trouble for the last several decades, should not be forced out for the politics of an election year. They should be granted amnesty, she said.
“We’re not terrorists; we’re not criminals; we’re just human beings who want to prosper,” Salazar said.
I’ve pointed out in the past that Diane Salazar is a propagandist bimbo and she obviously needs to purchase a dictionary so she can look up the definition of criminal.
May 30 2008
The State House voted in a landslide yesterday to agree to the Senate approved version of the illegal immigration bill that Harrell and McConnell worked on together to finally get completed in both chambers. I imagine Sanford will approve the bill and we will soon begin to witness the exodus of these lawbreaking invaders from our state, just as it was seen in Arizona and Oklahoma.
Of course, there were a few objections:
“The trail of probable cause sways toward racial profiling,” said Whipper, whose district
includes a large population of immigrants.
Whipper said he is worried that legal Hispanic immigrants, specifically, will face hardships as a result of the legislation.
He also says he does not think legal immigrants were involved enough in the process to have had their voices heard and that they might be unaware of what’s coming down the pike.
Why do legal immigrants need to have more of a voice concerning this legislation? What makes them different than anyone else living in South Carolina?
Whippersnapper’s concern about racial profiling may have some validity to it, but it’s not due to any elements of racism. It’s just a fact that the vast majority of illegal aliens in this country are from south of the border. That’s just the way it is so naturally people are going to suspect Hispanics that don’t speak English as being here illegally. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you know?
The Post and Courier provides a list of what the bill will do. I’m satisfied:
– Authorizes the State Law Enforcement Division to reach a deal with federal agencies for the enforcement of immigration laws.
– Requires people to prove their lawful presence in the U.S. to receive public benefits, although some exceptions apply, such as for emergency medical treatment.
– Adds additional penalties for ID fraud in connection to an illegal immigrant.
– Requires all businesses to check the legal status of workers by using a state driver’s license, a license from another state that has the same eligibility requirements or E-Verify (a free, online database that lets employers check Social Security numbers).
– Mandates fines for employers between $100 and $1,000 for every time they fail to verify the legal status of a worker, charge employers who knowingly hire an illegal immigrant with a felony and suspend right of businesses to operate when they get caught with illegal workers.
– Allows fired citizens to sue their former bosses if they’re replaced by illegal workers.
– Prohibits illegal immigrants from attending state universities or receiving state-funded college scholarships.
– Outlaws “sanctuary cities.”
– Requires judges to check immigration status when setting bail.
– Expands the state grand jury’s jurisdiction to include immigration fraud.
– Creates an illegal immigration hot line through the state Commission for Minority Affairs.
– Creates a felony for harboring and transporting illegal immigrants.
May 29 2008
Harrell, who opposes spending the $159 million the tax increase would raise on health care for the poor, railed against “entitlement” programs and raising a generation that would expect state-funded health care.
He’s precisely correct. The welfare state in this country has been a complete disaster. We have a few generations of people now who have been raised since birth to believe that it’s the government’s job to wipe their ass for them. This is not a country of collective rights. We are a nation of individual rights and in order to have the freedom and liberty to enjoy those individual rights you have to be able to provide for yourself and your family. You can’t do it addicted to government programs. You aren’t free when you’re being provided to by the government. You’re living in serfdom and you’re handing the control of your life over to bureaucrats.
And I haven’t even gone into the fact that it’s simply immoral to use the government to force your neighbors to pay your way. What happened to the idea that you get what you work for? Working people have their own bills to pay and their own families to take care of. Taking more of their money to throw away at drug addicts, drunks, and unwed babies mamas and their children makes it harder for the working families who are living responsibly to make ends meat. The supporters of the welfare state know this to be true, but they won’t admit it. Enter Gilda Cobb-Hunter:
Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, was on the phone talking national Democratic Party politics when Harrell’s words caught her attention and left her stunned.
“It was so hurtful to a lot of people,” she said. “I could not sit there I was so angry. I’ve never heard him use language like that.”
Democrats accused Harrell of using “code words” and speaking with the “privilege” of white skin.
Cobb-Hunter said she and others had come to accept they would lose the vote, after House GOP leadership worked to keep members from overriding Sanford’s veto. But Harrell’s comments felt like “piling on” to her and other black lawmakers.
Tuesday “was so, so sad and so unnecessary,” she said.
What’s so, so sad and so unnecessary is Ms Cobb-Hunter (or Mrs. Terry, what ever she calls herself) to turn into a race baiting bitch because she can’t professionally and honestly address the issue. She knows darn well what Harrell said is the truth and being confronted with it backed her into a corner. Like most Marxists, when she couldn’t defend her position she started ranting on about racism. Such frequent false accusations of discrimination from so-called “black leaders” has dulled the ears of most Americans. Nobody cares about racial accusations anymore. People like Sharpton and Jackson and many black politicians have cried wolf on it so many times that people just roll their eyes now when they hear it and just ignore it. The sad part about that is in the instance of a real incident nobody believes the victim.
But the Medicaid question is not likely to go away. Expanding Medicaid was a key provision to Senate Democrats, and Senate Minority Leader John Land, D-Clarendon, said he would not vote for a bill without it. The money, he said, goes right back to the state economy through doctors, nurses and other health care providers.
Observers noted the landscape for passing a cigarette tax could change between now and January. Most notably, elections in June and November that will change the members of the General Assembly, who again will be faced with making a decision.
Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, who helped strike a cigarette tax compromise in the Senate, said that despite hurt feelings, he believed the issue could not be ignored.
“If it’s worth doing, if it’s the right thing. It will get done.”
As long as Sanford is in the governor’s seat we’re safe on this for at least the next two years. Whether or not we’ll be able to stave off the legislative Socialists like Tom Alexander, Rex Reed, John Land, and Gilda Cobb-Hunter will depend on how many of these GOP primaries go on June 10th. If they manage to oust many of the RINOs then South Carolina has a positive future ahead of it.
May 28 2008
COLUMBIA — Compared with previous years, Gov. Mark Sanford issued a considerably smaller veto list this afternoon, including cutting funding for McClellanville Arts Council and the rural dentist program at the Medical University of South Carolina.
In all, he vetoed 69 items from the upcoming $7 billion budget recently passed by the Legislature, freeing up $72 million that Sanford wants to go toward agencies that are projecting deficits such as the Department of Education and the Department of Corrections.
As is usual, most of these will probably be overridden by the RINO led state legislature, but since Sanford is asking for this money to actually be redirected they may sustain more than normal.
May 27 2008
Governor Mark Sanford has officially vetoed the Cigarette Tax hike that the Socialist RINOs in the General Assembly sponsored in order to addict more South Carolinians to big government Medicaid. Sanford has instead proposed they use the cigarette tax to lower the state income tax of 7% to a flat 3.4% with no deductions. The RINOs controlling the legislature, however, don’t seem to be on board with that. Big shock there. I think there is enough resistance to the tax to sustain the veto.
May 26 2008
COLUMBIA — E-mails and letters from Gov. Mark Sanford’s office detail how deeply he has been involved in the S.C. Ports Authority’s effort to sell the Port of Port Royal property.
Sanford personally thanked local residents who wrote letters to the editor supporting his approach to developing the land and apologized to a campaign contributor and bidder for the land whose ties to the governor were the subject of news stories.
Sanford said last week he is looking out for taxpayers by putting his background in real estate to use for them.
“My be-all and end-all, in the world of politics, is I believe in trying to watch out for the guy who owns nothing more than a johnboat in the front yard and he lives in a very simple mobile home or a very simple house,” Sanford said. “That is the forgotten man in politics.”
You can read the details of what was learned in the emails at The Beaufort Gazette. There is no reason to not believe Sanford’s claim. He has a proven track record of looking out for the taxpayers. No reasonable person can argue that. The man has probably vetoed more spending bills than any other governor in American history. If we were to rank the 50 U.S. governors in terms of fiscal responsibility and preservation of personal liberty, I would put Mark Sanford right at the top in the number one spot.
Mark Sanford has never been the problem in South Carolina government. That lays with the members of his party who want to maintain the status quo in order to buy their reelections.
May 20 2008
SENECA — Gov. Mark Sanford said he could count the number of personal endorsements he has made in local races on both hands and he made one more Monday backing former Oconee County Republican Party chairman Ed Rumsey.
Rumsey, 75, faces incumbent Bill Sandifer, R-Seneca in the June 10 primary. The primary winner has no opposition in the November general election.
“We need more leaders that are less concerned about staying in office,” Sanford told a gathering of about 45 people Monday at South Cove Park on Lake Keowee.
Sanford said he needed reformers in Columbia who would work for choice in education and reform the structure of state government.
Good luck to Mr. Rumsey. Sanford is right. He needs more reformers on his side. The Republican majority in Columbia is full of big government RINOs who don’t care one bit about the small government principles the party claims it stands for.
