Thumbs up
Mullen, Riley. Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley showed solid leadership in the hours after the shooting at Emanuel AME Church. Thank you from a grateful city and state.
Presidential candidates. It’s good that presidential candidates like Jeb Bush and Donald Trump have canceled their campaign trips to the state following the shooting. As Trump said, “This is a time for healing, not politics.”
In the middle
State Senate. We understand how senators can say that they haven’t yet reached consensus on big road funding, which led them to put off moving forward this year. But then again, we don’t understand it either. It wasn’t like it was a last-minute thing. Missing in action: Real leadership.
Peeler. We were surprised as many were that Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, called for Senate President Pro Tem Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, to step down after questioning whether being Senate leader and chair of the Finance Committee was too much responsibility. But what happened this year in the Senate seems to be far more about one personality or another. It’s more of an issue of a Senate fractured into three groups: Democrats, tea party Republicans and country club Republicans. They need to get along better. More.
Thumbs down
Haley, Scott. Think about the response that the crowd at a prayer vigil gave when controlling gun violence was vigorously applauded. Keeping to your seats was a visible expression of what’s wrong with the gun debate. Shame on you both.
Hatred, racism. Who knows why Dylann Roof allegedly shot nine people in a church? But the hate in his heart was learned behavior. We’ve got to stop teaching children to hate.
Injury deaths. South Carolina has the 17th highest rate of injury-related deaths in the country, injuries that include homicides and suicides, traumatic brain injuries, traffic fatalities, falls and drug overdoses. More.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!