Carolina Politics Online

Rep. Joe Wilson acknowledged Tuesday that he’s under investigation by the House ethics committee for his use of travel funds while on at least one congressional trip to Afghanistan.

Wilson, a South Carolina Republican in a tough re-election fight with Democrat Rob Miller, said the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct — the official name of the ethics panel — is looking into his purchase of six goblets for $12 while in Afghanistan in August 2009.

“As a member of the House Armed Services Committee visiting troops in Afghanistan, Wilson was provided $13 a day for travel expenses,” said Pepper Pennington, his congressional spokeswoman.

“Wilson purchased six small tokens of his appreciation — under $2 each — for Afghanistan (war) veterans and their families,” Pennington said.

McClatchy

Oh, puh-leeeeze.  12 stinking dollars?  When I first saw the title of this very biased “Pravda” article “‘You lie’ Rep. Joe Wilson probed for use of travel expenses” I thought I was actually going to read about real abuses of travel expenses, like $100,000 flights for him and 60 of his friends and stays at 5 star resort hotels, because we all know that never happens…..

Do you know what this is?  This is the Ethics panel opening up an investigation over $12 as vengeance against him for shouting “You lie!” during the state of the union address earlier this year.  They want to try to damage his reputation right before the election to help Miller’s Congressional run against him.  And why else would McClatchy even take time writing an article on it unless they were going to point out the absurdity of the whole thing?  Those people really do deserve to be labeled state run media.   What a pathetic waste of time and resources.

Miller, a former Marine Corps captain who served in Iraq, has called Wilson’s trips to Afghanistan junkets

Naturally, because everyone knows that Afghanistan is on the top of everyone’s list of vacation hot spots to throw away money on luxurious junkets.

Reeves said it’s hypocritical to have Thurmond’s name on the building when the late senator fathered a child with a 16-year-old household servant, particularly when many Democrats have urged Alvin Greene of Manning to abandon his U.S. Senate bid. Greene faces a felony charge for showing pornography to a college student.

The Post and Courier

This is why third party candidates so often at times don’t get taken seriously and people feel like voting for them is a “wasted” vote.  True, Strom Thurmond holds an ugly place in American history, but who really gives a damn about this?  Is anybody going to the voting booth in November concerned about Strom Thurmond’s name being on a Federal building?  Maybe two people, one being Morgan Bruce Reeves.

Reeves should be talking about the economy and what his plan is to lower our double digit unemployment rate and to improve education around the state.  Those are the things people really care about right now.  Then again, I have seen Reeves’ economic plan and for his sake, it’s probably better that he keeps it low profile.

Surely by now you have heard of Shaquan Duley.  She is the “poor, distressed” mother who killed her own children and lied about it.  They were found dead in her car which was at the bottom of the Edisto River.  I can think of many words to describe Ms Duley, none to flattering, but in case you wondering about Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams’ opinion, read on.

“The mom has been basically a good mom,” the sheriff said. “For whatever reason, this was her weakest moment.”

CNN

Uh… what?

“The mom has been basically a good mom,” the sheriff said. “

WHAT???????

What the hell is he talking about??  The woman smothered her two youngest children, aged one and two, with her bare hands, put their dead bodies into a car, pushed it into the river, and then made up a story about the car rolling in with the kids inside and Williams’ opinion was that she was a good mom who just had a weak moment?

Fat people have weak moments when they cheat with that slice of double chocolate fudge cake.  Teenage girls have weak moments when they buy into those lame lines their boyfriends use to get into their pants.  Steven Slater had a weak moment when he cussed out an irritating passenger and exited the plane via the evacuation slide.  Shaquan Duley did not have a weak moment.  The woman is bat shit crazy!  Killing your children is not a weak moment; it’s just plain evil.

Enter Sheriff Larry Williams.  What kind of jackass would make such a thoughtless, boneheaded comment?  Oh, she was really a good mother.  She was just in over her head.  She had no way to take care of her kids.  Oh, bleeding heart!  She is the real victim here.  We just don’t understand the hardships that lead her to this dastardly state.

Well what the heck is welfare for?  She couldn’t drop the kids off at Social Services?  Why was she having children in the first place?  Did Susan Smith just have a weak moment 16 years ago too?

I don’t have to care why she did it and I don’t have to understand.  All I have to know is that she fries in the chair for this!  There is no possible explanation to excuse what this woman did and yet somehow Sheriff Williams seems to think we should be expressing some sort of sympathy for her hardships.  Get real.

Here are a few examples of how “well functioning” the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Department is.  Is it any surprise given the leadership?

Democratic U.S. House candidate Rob Miller proposed slashing Congressional pay and perks, part of a plan to win back voter trust.

Miller’s plan would also cut federal spending by 3 percent to 5 percent, exempting military, veteran’s affairs and homeland security budgets.

“Hard working South Carolinians, men and women, have lost faith in Washington,” Miller said. “Everybody is tightening their belts. It’s long past time for Congress to lead the way.”

Miller’s plan would cut Congressional pay by 10 percent, and he said he would reject any raise until the federal budget is balanced. Miller would also eliminate Congressional perks, such as cars, cell phones and some paid mail, known as franking.

The State

Gutsy plan.  Very gutsy, but I’m liking it.  Words are one thing, though.  The real question is what is Miller’s plan to build a consensus in Congress to get this achieved?  Can he get 217 other members of the House and 51 members of the U.S. Senate to take a ten percent pay raise?  I’m skeptical.  I do think, however, that the proposed three to five percent cuts in Federal spending are fairly realistic, but even that is a tall order.  We know how the Congress critters love to spend other peoples’ money.  Nevertheless, these goals will not be achieved without members of Congress who will push for them.  You get one elected here and one elected there and eventually you have the numbers you need.  If Rob Miller were to stay true to his word it puts us one step closer to some type of reform.

After the 1-hour, 20-minute affair, which included several local speakers, Greene stood on stage signing autographs. The press was kept away. Then he was escorted quickly off the stage by a group of retired master sergeants who were in full uniform. Greene didn’t take any questions. He walked through the halls of the school and got into his Mercury SUV and drove off, escorted by Manning police. One of the retired escorts said he inspected Greene’s vehicle beforehand; it was just a precaution, he told reporters.

The 300 seats set up for Greene’s first public appearance since unexpectedly winning the June 8 primary were all filled. The parking lot of the relatively new school was filled with cars and news media trucks.

The State

Of course the press was kept away.  There is no way they’re going to allow that man to take any live questions.  He has no public speaking qualities whatsoever.  I’ve heard high school kids give better presentations.  No doubt Greene is going to be coached by those that are stepping up in attempt to make the Senate race at least somewhat competitive, but I think Greene is just too far out of his element.

Congressman Joe Wilson (R) and his Democratic challenger Rob Miller are trading barbs as the race for South Carolina’s Second Congressional District is heating up.  Miller sent out a press release yesterday accusing Wilson of accepting $5,000 in campaign donations from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.  Likewise, the Republicans have attacked Rob Miller for accepting thousands in donations from the radical leftist group Moveon.org.  South Carolina Adjutant General Stan Spears condemned Miller yesterday morning for accepting donations from the very same group that ran the “General Betray Us” ads in 2007.  Miller is retired from the U.S. Marine Corps.

The Republicans are claiming that Miller’s accusations of Wilson accepting Abramoff money are false and I searched around the FEC Web site and was not successful at finding any myself, however I did find several donations from Moveon made to Miller.

The Fat Man cometh.

Controversial South Carolina state Sen. Jake Knotts will take questions during a live online town hall at 7 p.m. July 15.

Knotts, R-Lexington, made national news when he called now-GOP gubernatorial nominee Nikki Haley a “raghead” on a Columbia webcast before the June primary. The slur was directed at Haley’s Indian-American decent. He also used the same slur against President Obama.

Knotts is scheduled to appear on Citizen Hill (http://citizenhill.com).

According to an e-mail from the site’s founder Michael Stevens, Knotts will be accept questions from the public on any subject. To participate, individuals must sign up for an account on Citizen Hill, which is free.

The Political Briefing

The questions will naturally be screened.  I’m wondering if they’ll let anybody ask the Fat Man about resigning from the State Senate for his continued pattern of disgraceful, self-serving behavior.

COLUMBIA — Conservatives in U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson’s district are facing facts: They’re angry that he voted for the 2008 Wall Street bailout, but they know opposing him could send his Democratic opponent to Congress.

Exhibit A is GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley, who declared in April that Wilson should “absolutely not” get another term but said Thursday that she now supports his re-election.

“This is about electing the most conservative candidate,” Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey said. “In November, Congressmen Wilson is clearly the most conservative of those two candidates.”

Wilson, best known for shouting “you lie” last year while President Barack Obama was addressing Congress, is in a rematch against Democrat Rob Miller.

Wilson beat him two years ago with 54 percent of the vote, and this year’s contest is one of the nation’s most expensive U.S. House races, mostly because of the money that poured in to him and Miller after Wilson taunted Obama. Wilson’s most recent campaign finance report, filed May 19, shows he’s raised nearly $4 million while Miller has raised nearly $2.4 million. Their next reports are due next week.

Jane Kenny, organizer of the Tea Party Patriots of Bluffton at the foot of Wilson’s district near Beaufort and Hilton Head Island, said there’s no question that tea party activists are unhappy about Wilson’s bailout vote.

But, she said, “at this point in time we have a choice between Mr. Miller and Mr. Wilson. Mr. Miller is telling us he supports the Obama agenda, so by default, Wilson is our man.”

The Post and Courier

I don’t think Joe Wilson has a whole lot to worry about.  Unlike Barrett, who in my opinion ended his political career when he voted for the bailout, I agree that Wilson will escape the fury.  The first point is what Ms Kenny already stated.  If you are a conservative or even a moderate in Wilson’s district and your alternative to Wilson is a candidate who supports the incredibly unpopular Obama agenda, who are you going to vote for?  You’re going to vote for Wilson.

Second, as much as his behavior at the State of the Union address helped fuel Rob Miller’s candidacy, ironically it may have actually saved Wilson.  While he took a lot of flack over the “You lie!” outburst, people are realizing he was right.  Obama is a liar.  He marketed himself as this enlightened politically centrist figure who could bridge the gap between an increasingly divided America.  In actuality he’s become more polarizing than George Bush and he turned out to be the radical leftist that smart people like me knew he would be.

Right now, Democrat is a dirty word.  We’re in a total 180 from where we were politically the last two election cycles.  The momentum has been and I think will continue to be behind the GOP all the way up to Election Day and that will put Wilson over the finish line regardless of the mistakes he’s made.

Congressional candidate Jim Pratt won the Republication nomination in a recount in which he was certified as the winner over Nancy Harrelson by 111 votes.  Pratt will now face Congressman Jim Clyburn in the November election.  Harrelson ran against Clyburn in 2008  Clyburn handily defeated her, receiving 67.5% of the vote.  The district is a gerrymander special, carved out to specifically elect a black Democrat.  It encompasses the cities of Columbia, Florence, Sumter, and North Charleston.  The Cook Partisan Voting Index scores this seat as D+12 which puts it pretty handily in the Democrats’ column.  Although it’s not impossible for there to be an upset, especially with all the anti-incumbent angst this year, I don’t expect to see Mr. Clyburn leaving Washington.

His latest “raghead” gaffe may have finally been the straw that breaks the Fat Man’s back.

Lexington County Republicans voted to rebuke state Sen. Jake Knotts and ask him to resign his office after he used a racial slur last week against state Rep. Nikki Haley.

Both lawmakers are from Lexington County and the dispute was a feud between old guard Knotts and Haley, who represents the rising conservative wing of the party. Knotts referred to Haley, whose parents are Indian immigrants, as a “raghead” on an Internet political talk show.

Knotts said Thursday night he would not resign, and said the resolution was pushed by supporters of Haley and Gov. Mark Sanford, Knotts’ longtime adversary.

“This is not a Republican Party, this is a libertarian party,” Knotts said, noting the group did not censure Sanford last year after he admitted an extramarital affair. “This is nothing but politics. I’m not resigning. I could care less.”

The State

LOL!  I assure you Mr. Knotts, this is not a libertarian party.  Take it from a libertarian.  Mark Sanford may be more libertarian than Republican, as well as Mrs. Haley, but the overall Republican Party in South Carolina is represented by big government stooges like you who have spent away our money on waste and your own political enrichment.  The Republican Party claims to be the party of small government, but you have done more to work against those ideals than any other Republican in the State Senate.  Maybe finally, the other members of your party have gotten tired of your crap.

But others said Knotts sets the wrong example. Ed Boyle said he has voted for Knotts.

“I have on several occasions regretted that vote,” Boyle said. “I don’t believe we as a party can ignore this.”

The issue likely will head for a state party vote at a meeting on the 26th. Greenville County Republican Party chairman Patrick Haddon asked Knotts to resign earlier in the day.

“We vehemently oppose these comments and are taking this opportunity to distinguish the Lexington County Republican Party policies from Senator Knotts’ comments,” read a statement the party released Saturday. “We are a party that disregards cultural, ethnic, racial and other superficial distinctions and instead focus on the ideas, philosophies and character of the people running for office and participating in the process.”

The State

If they really want to express their condemnation they’ll not back him for reelection.  As a matter of fact, they can get behind Katrina Shealy.  She has declared today that she will make another primary challenge to the Fat Man in 2012.

I strongly recommend watching this. It’s only about six minutes long and this guy has a great take on Knotts.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2010

Columbia Residents Invited to Join National Discussion on Debt
Diverse Group of Local Leaders Come Together to Endorse June 26^th National Town Meeting

Columbia, South Carolina – Columbia is one of six primary sites selected for an unprecedented national discussion on the national debt on Saturday, June 26^th.  A diverse group of local leaders, ranging from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina CEO Ed Sellers and BB&T President Mike Brennan to Urban League President J.T. McLawhorne and Columbia College President Caroline Whitson, encourage Columbia residents to participate in AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy, which will bring together Americans here and across the country to learn about the issues involved, weigh the options and develop recommendations for leaders in Washington.

“The Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce is involved in promoting this national discussion for one reason, and that is the national budget and our national debt will impact the economic security not only of our generation but of generations of the future,” said President and CEO of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce Ike McLeese. “This is the most urgent of all the national issues we are facing.”

The United Way of the Midlands, AARP, Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties, and Hispanic Connections are among a long list of local organizations that support the historic event. Led by Columbia’s host organization, Central Carolina Community Foundation, these groups are working to ensure that Columbia residents are well represented in the national discussion.

Columbia residents, reflecting the demographic, geographic and political diversity of the area, will come together to weigh in on the difficult choices necessary to put our federal budget on a sustainable path. On June 26^th the public will be presented with a set of options that are designed to represent a range of approaches before policy makers. Participants will use keypad polling and groupware technology to identify views that transcend geography, demographics or politics. AmericaSpeaks will present the priorities that emerge from the National Town Meeting to the President and Congress.

Columbia was selected as one of about 18 communities across the country that was chosen to host a National Town Meeting site, each of which will be linked together by satellite and the Internet for the national discussion. Participants at the town meeting sites will be joined by smaller conversation sites organized by volunteers in other communities across the country. More information can be found on the online hub for Our Budget, Our Economy, USABudgetDiscussion.org, including videos, reports on the budget and economy, blog posts, site registration and much more. The site also provides a platform to share ideas at the national and local levels through links to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn.

“The United States is on an unsustainable path, and the fiscal challenges facing our nation stand out as issues that will require compromise from the left and right in order to address the scale of the problems we face,” said Carolyn Lukensmeyer, founder and president of AmericaSpeaks. “Columbia’s participation represents an unprecedented opportunity for residents to get involved in the larger national discussion to start finding agreement about steps to redefine our fiscal future.”

This unique national discussion is a project of the nonprofit organization, AmericaSpeaks, and is supported by three leading foundations with a shared commitment to informing the American public and policymakers of the fiscal realities facing the country. It is being made possible by generous contributions from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Columbia’s event will take place at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center from 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM. Registration is now open at this site. Visit USABudgetDiscussion.org to join the discussion and to learn more.

###

About AmericaSpeaks
AmericaSpeaks is a nonprofit organization that provides citizens with a voice on the most important decisions that impact their lives. The nonpartisan organization has convened more than 150,000 people to shape policy making. For more information, visit www.americaspeaks.org.

About the Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Founded by Peter G. Peterson with a commitment of $1 billion, the Foundation is dedicated to increasing public awareness of the nature and urgency of key fiscal challenges threatening America’s future and to accelerating action on them. To address these challenges successfully, we work to bring Americans together to find sensible, long-term solutions that transcend age, party lines and ideological divides in order to achieve real results. For more information, see www.PGPF.org.

About the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. Visit www.macfound.org for additional information.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, established in 1930, supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society. Grants are concentrated in the United States, southern Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Visit www.wkkf.org for more information.

SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/usabudget

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/usabudgetdiscussion.org

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/usabudgetdiscussion.org
Find an Event: http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/widgets/event.html

Email Sign Up: http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/widgets/email.html

For information contact:
Keely Saye
(803) 446-3824

keely@keelysaye.com

QHFJQE9Q8YNE

It’s unconstitutional for the votes of every member of the state legislature to be on record?  Oh, the Fat Man sure is grasping for straws.  How dumb does he think we are?  Although, I do have to question the intelligence of some of the folks in Lexington County.  They keep reelecting him year after year.

On Thursday, South Carolina state government became a little more accountable to the people.  State Representative Nikki Haley’s bill H.3047, the Spending Accountability Act, finally passed the House and with a unanimous vote by the body.  The current bill was filed in January of 2009,  but the fight began long before.  Haley even lost a committee appointment for pushing for this transparency against the wishes of the State House Speaker Bobby Harrell who I imagine is scared to death of his constituents finding out exactly just how much of their money he wastes on his own greedy self interests.  The gravy train might leave the station.

As it currently stands, the vast majority of votes in the South Carolina state legislature are not recorded.  For decades politicians have been funneling your money back to their districts in the form of projects and pork in the hopes of buying your vote in the next election and all of it anonymously.  Now they’ll have to be on record for all to see.

Ever since the Socialists gave the American people a big fuck you on Sunday night and rammed through a nationalization of 1/6th of the American economy, a process that was riddled with months of corruption, lies, and bribery all too similar to the shenanigans you’d see in a banana republic, they are now feeling a threatening backlash from people around the country.   Several socialists have been getting threatening phone calls and rocks thrown through their office windows and some are now concerned about their safety.  Astoundingly they are surprised this is happening.

Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC-06) says that if you retaliate against your government which terrorizes you, that in turn makes you a terrorist yourself.

It seems Mr. Clyburn is intent on abusing the word terrorist and diminishing the value of its meaning in much the same way he has the words racism and civil rights. When Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky tried to hold up extended unemployment benefits a month ago and he received death threats from socialists, evidently they weren’t engaging in terrorism. When protesters shut down and violently threatened conservative pundit Ann Coulter at the University of Ottawa a few days ago, evidently that wasn’t terrorism. When Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo had his speech shut down at UNC last year because an angry mob of socialists threw a rock through the window, I guess that wasn’t terrorism either because neither Clyburn nor his ilk expressed any feigned outrage nor did these events get more than a five second mention from the out of the mainstream media. Hell, I could go write a novel on all the vitriol perpetrated by the socialists during the Bush administration. Terrorism is apparently only defined as right wingers who cherish freedom and make scary telephone calls to corrupt members of Congress, or leave a coffin on their front lawn, in order to protect it.

So the big headlines of the day are that the socialists fear they will be on the receiving end of real violence. You know what? It may end up turning out that way and if it does, I can’t say that I give a damn. They brought it upon themselves the day they stopped acting like representatives and instead became tyrants. It might be the only way they get the message that they work for us, not rule over us.

If these people are terrorists then so were George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. After all, they didn’t send threatening messages by carrier pigeon to their British overlords expressing their anger. They launched a full fledged war and killed thousands.

I am certainly not one of those paranoid nitwits that run around seeing terrorists in every Middle Eastern person that walks by, but when we see yet another instance of American soldiers committing terrorist acts on an American military base and they all happen to be Muslim, well, I think you can connect the lines.

CBN News has learned exclusively that five Muslim soldiers at Fort Jackson in South Carolina were arrested just before Christmas. It is unclear whether the men are still in custody. The five were part of the Arabic Translation program at the base.

Patrick Jones, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer for Fort Jackson, confirmed for CBN News yesterday afternoon that an investigation was ongoing .

Prior to this posting, CBN News learned that these details were also confirmed by a government official with knowlegde of the investigation.

The men are suspected of trying to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson.

CBN

What will be interesting is to wait and see if the Feds attempt to spin this one at all like they did in the wake of the Fort Hood massacre.

I also have some concern however, that a second incident like this in the military in recent months could start sparking a backlash against Islamic soldiers in our military who do not share these violent radical views and have bravely and honorably served this country.  Panic stricken mob mentality can be just as frightening.

Columbia attorney Gregory Brown has entered the Democratic primary for South Carolina’s Sixth Congressional District, challenging Congressman Jim Clyburn.  I don’t know what this guy’s chances are of defeating Clyburn, but I wish him all the luck.  Jim Clyburn has been an epic fail of a representative.  Higher debts, larger government, and a worsening of the “Corridor of Shame” has been Clyburn’s legacy for nearly 20 years now.  The only reason he got elected to Congress in the first place was because the Supreme Court forced the state to carve out a district just for him.  He’s never received any serious opposition.

First it was the Charleston County Republican Party that came out and publicly scolded Senator Graham for his Cap and Trade and illegal immigration support.  Now it’s the Lexington County GOP following in step.  They too have formally rebuked the Senator by passing a censure vote among the county committee.  A censure is really just a symbolic way of shaking their finger at Graham to show their disapproval.  It doesn’t actually have any effect on his ability to hold his office, but now that it’s happened to him twice he may consider taking his head out of his ass.

Of course, South Carolina could have had an excellent Senator in Democrat Bob Conley, but 58% of voters in 2008 decided to stick with Grahamnesty, but continue to complain about him.

The following is a press release from the Voice for School Choice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Neil Mellen
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
(803) 212-1051

The public schools in Fairfield County have been placed on “probation.”

That’s according to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the accreditation organization tasked with reviewing district policies and procedures.

SACS evaluators identified a lengthy list of concerns ranging from excessive spending on travel, wasteful spending on redundant bureaucratic positions, to misuse of authority by board members, and exceptionally low student test scores. The Association has placed the district on “probation,” with the understanding the schools could lose all accreditation if the school board fails to comply with the SACS inquiries and recommendations.

State Representative Boyd Brown (D-Fairfield) is now calling for an investigation of the Fairfield County School Board.

In a public statement Brown explained “It’s a sad day in Fairfield County. For us to finally see evidence that our school board and administrators are robbing our students and teachers of a better education and learning environment” Brown went on to say, “I just can’t think of anything more disgraceful.”

Data from the South Carolina Budget and Control Board indicate the Fairfield School district spent over $44 million dollars in fiscal year 2008, or, over $15,000 per-pupil. The statewide average for that year was $12,000.

Brown is just the latest in a series of Democratic lawmakers to voice frustration with shortcomings in the administration of South Carolina’s public schools.

In November, Bakari Sellers (D-Bamberg) publicly called for the elimination of the Education Oversight Committee (EOC) a controversial state assessment program he characterized as siphoning money away from classrooms. State Senator Robert Ford (D-Charleston) has advocated a program of tuition tax credits, noting that 247,000 children in the state are trapped in failing public schools.

Randy Page, president of an education watchdog organization in Columbia, praised Brown’s announcement and called on other lawmakers and education officials to join in. “Jim Rex, our state superintendent, lives in Fairfield County but has remained silent on this tragic situation. Superintendent Rex, the School Administrators Association, the School Boards Association, the Education Oversight Committee, and other lawmakers have an obligation to the students and parents in Fairfield to act decisively and correct the failures.”

Page, whose South Carolinans for Responsible Government (SCRG) advocates expanded parental choice, remarked that the accusations of waste and bureaucratic excess indicate the accreditation crisis is due to “a lack of leadership, not a lack of funding.”

###

$15k per student for a school district about to lose their accreditation.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2007, the nationwide average spent on education per student was $9,666.  It’s certainly more than $10,000 now.  So Fairfield County school district spent 55% more money on education than the nation average from two years ago and they are about to officially be declared a failure.  Oh, can we please have more of this!

In my opinion, if it’s taken this long for SACS to put them on probation, then they have the bar set really low.  The above information also supports what I have been saying for a long time about how money is wasted by school districts.  Education spending doesn’t need to be anywhere near the amount it is.  School districts just don’t manage their money and they waste it on bureaucracy and bloated administrative costs.  The U.S. spends more on public education than any other country, yet we aren’t getting the bang for our buck.  When will people demand a change from the status quo.