STATEHOUSE REPORT | ISSUE 22.07 | FEB. 17, 2023
NEWS: Haley heads to N.H. after launching 2024 bid in Charleston
NEWS BRIEFS: House again passes near-total abortion ban
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Millions
COMMENTARY, Brack: Lawmakers wrong to loosen state gun laws
SPOTLIGHT: SC Clips
MY TURN, E. Brack: More civility needed in Congress
FEEDBACK: Here’s an accountability mess legislators must clean ups
MYSTERY PHOTO: Looks like a paradise
Haley heads to N.H. after launching 2024 bid
By Skyler Baldwin | Former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley hit the presidential campaign trail late this week with two stops in New Hampshire, the location for the first Republican primary in 2024, after launching her bid in Charleston on Wednesday.
On Thursday, she held her first New Hampshire town hall in Exeter. Her second event was to be Friday in Manchester.
Also this week, Haley picked up an important New Hampshire endorsement. A former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in the administration of former President Donald Trump, Haley campaigned in New Hampshire in fall 2022 to support retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc in his race for U.S. Senate. Now, Bolduc has endorsed Haley via Twitter.
Haley, first elected to the S.C. House in 2004, this week touted herself as part of a “new generation” of conservative leaders ready to take on longtime politicians.
“America is not past our prime — it’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” she said. “We’re ready — ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future.”
Haley pointed to Republicans’ loss in the popular vote in seven out of the eight presidential elections, including former president Donald Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden in 2020, as evidence the GOP had “failed to win the confidence of the majority of Americans.”
“If you’re tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation,” she said.
While Haley made multiple comments regarding “socialist Democrats” in Washington, she asserted she does not agree with “identity politics.” She avoided criticisms of Trump and focused on targeting Democratic leaders and establishment politicians, calling for term limits in Congress and “mandatory mental competency tests” for political leaders over the age of 75.
A political pedigree
Haley received an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., prior to taking the stage. Norman, a Trump ally, introduced Haley as someone who shares many qualities with the former president.
“In 2016, President Trump was exactly what the Republican Party and our country needed,” Norman said. “You see, for too long, the Republican Party has been marginalized and watered down by liberals in both government and throughout the media.
“But when President Trump came along, he reminded Republicans how to stand boldly for our beliefs and commitments to the freedoms that we enjoy today. And I want to thank Donald Trump for his service and his place as one of the great leaders of all time. During the Trump years, folks, the American people recognized what qualities we needed in a leader. Nikki Haley has those very qualities desperately needed in America today — a fierce, bold leader, who will fight for America.”
Haley so far is the only Republican to challenge Trump in the 2024 GOP primary, but political experts are watching for similar challenges from GOP leaders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
Haley, whose parents are from India, was born in Bamberg, a cultural dichotomy she embraced in her speech to fight back against claims of racism in the United States. She then served three terms in the S.C. House of Representative after an election victory over the longest-serving legislator in state history in 2004. She later won an election for the state governor seat in 2010 and reelection in 2014. Under the Trump administration, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2018.
“When I ran against the longest serving legislator in the state, no one said I had a shot, but together, we won. When I ran for governor, people said, ‘Nikki who?’ But together, we won. We cut taxes, created thousands of jobs and revitalized our economy … When President Trump nominated me for ambassador to the United Nations, people said I didn’t have the experience, then I went to work … I’ve been underestimated before, and that’s always fun, and I’ve been shaking up the status quo my entire life. As I set out on this new journey, I will simply say this: May the best woman win.”
Haley is set to travel to Iowa next, continuing to make stops in key states for the 2024 primary elections.
- A version of this story first appeared in the Charleston City Paper, where Baldwin is a reporter. Have a comment? Send to feedback@statehousereport.com
S.C. House again passes near-total abortion ban
Staff reports | The S.C. House of Representatives on Wednesday again passed a near-total abortion ban and showed no signs of budging on its long-held stance. The bill included exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly and the patient’s health and life. The bill poses a possible impasse for GOP lawmakers.
S.C. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said the upper chamber lacks the votes for the House’s more restrictive bill, and has instead advanced an amended version of the prior ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected around six weeks.
“The House has taken another giant step in protecting human life,” said House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, and added that the House did not have enough votes to pass the “more lenient” Senate version, which passed last week.
The House believes its version is the only one that could withstand legal scrutiny. Earlier this year, the S.C. Supreme Court ruled that a similar law from 2021 violated constitutional rights in a 3-2 vote.
In other news this week:
State senators alarmed by Eckstrom’s $3.5 billion accounting error. The chair of the Senate Finance subcommittee said he lost confidence in S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom’s ability to accurately answer questions about the state’s overstated cash balance of $3.5 billion over the last 10 years.
S.C. on the verge of enacting the school voucher program. The bill that creates a program for poverty level and some middle-class families to apply for scholarships has the backing of the Republican majority.
S.C. lawmakers propose ‘Yankee Tax’ for newcomers moving to S.C. A bill sponsored by S.C. Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet, would allow counties to impose an extra $250 driver’s license fee and extra $250 vehicle licensing registration fee on out-of-state newcomers.
S.C. lawmakers revive efforts to remove gun permit carry requirements. Republican lawmakers have revived efforts to allow firearm owners to carry without a permit.
S.C. bill could keep cities, counties from redistricting for short-term rentals. The bill would cut off state funding for cities and counties that redistrict short-term rentals.
Bill banning “Carolina Squat” vehicles passes S.C. Senate. The South Carolina Senate gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would ban what’s known as the “Carolina Squat.” A similar bill was introduced last session, but failed to make it to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk.
New S.C. legislation could allow minors to play pinball machines. Pinball supporters are pushing to have what many see as an outdated South Carolina law reversed so that people under the age of 18 can play legally.
Millions
Cartoonist Robert Ariail often interprets things a little differently, but always has an interesting take on what’s going on. Love the cartoon? Hate it? What do you think: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Lawmakers wrong to loosen state gun laws
By Andy Brack | Logic, it can easily be stated, has never been something with which the S.C. General Assembly has an oversupply.
Lawmakers obviously agree that government controls like licenses and insurance requirements are handy tools to make sure people follow rules and do things in certain ways. There are business licenses, building permits, certificates of existence, corporate licenses, permits to sell liquor and licenses for more than 139 professions and occupations including, but not limited to, beauticians, barbers, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, doctors, accountants and lawyers. The list is endless.
There’s not a clarion call to get rid of this panoply of licenses. One lawmaker, in fact, seems so infatuated with drivers’ licenses – which you have to have to drive a car legally – that he wants to hike the fee on out-of-state newcomers by $250 and then add another $250 extra for licensing and registration of any newcomer’s vehicle. There aren’t any co-sponsors yet for GOP state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch’s “Yankee fees.”
But what about guns? What do legislators want to do there, you might ask. Well, with guns, Republicans seem to want to take the anti-license approach to make it as easy as possible to walk around with a loaded weapon that can kill with the quick click of a trigger.
State House Republicans pushed a measure through a committee this week to let owners of firearms carry handguns in the open or concealed without a permit. It’s another attempt to loosen gun restrictions based on the idea that people have the “constitutional right” to carry a gun.
Supporters say they shouldn’t have to get a government permission slip to carry a gun. Which makes zero sense in an environment in which those very same people willingly get licenses to drive a car, pay insurance for the ability to drive a car and pay taxes so they can have a car.
Two years ago, lawmakers battled over gun rights and ended up with a law that allows gun owners with concealed weapons permits to carry their guns in the open, but it also required them to undergo training and background checks if they want to carry a concealed weapon. The new proposal would eliminate the training requirement on how to carry a firearm in public responsibly.
Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds says eliminating the training requirement is not a good idea, particularly in a culture where mass shootings are on the rise. He said he was alarmed and outraged that the House bill passed out of committee on the fifth anniversary of the Parkland school massacre, in which 17 people, including 14 children, died.
“I’ve been a gun owner for most of my life, I’m a supporter of the right to bear arms and I believe we have an obligation to ensure that those who own guns do so responsibly,” Reynolds said Thursday. “Requiring permits and basic training on how to use firearms safely are critical to maintaining safety for everyone, including the gun owner.
“Allowing people to carry guns without any permit or training would create an enormous threat to public safety and make the jobs of law enforcement even more difficult and dangerous.”
Gun-control advocate Patty Tuttle of Moms Demand Action said in a statement, according to the Associated Press: “Let’s make one thing clear: lawmakers are preparing to strip us of one of our last remaining public safety laws — and at the expense of our lives. Keeping our current system of concealed weapons permitting does not violate anyone’s constitutional rights. It is a simple mechanism that makes all South Carolinians safer.”
It’s unclear what the future holds on the bill requiring no permit to carry a gun. Two years ago, the Senate, which hasn’t changed this year, didn’t even take up an almost identical House bill.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
SC Clips
Statehouse Report is brought to you weekly at no cost thanks to our underwriters. In the spotlight today is SC Clips, an affordable, daily information digest that provides you with the South Carolina news you need every business day. Subscribers receive a daily email news round-up before 10 a.m. that provides a link to each day’s edition of SC Clips.
Each issue (click for sample) provides a concise summary of dozens of the latest newspaper and television reports of news with statewide impact, politics, business and local stories. Readers also are linked to key opinions by South Carolina’s editorial writers.
- Learn more about this great news service that will save you time — which saves you money.
- Get a trial run at no cost.
More civility needed in Congress
Editor’s Note: This column was published Feb. 10 following President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Even though it’s a week old, we think it’s important for South Carolina legislators and Statehouse regulars to keep civility alive in Columbia. Remember – all of this modern-day heckling got started when U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., yelled “liar” at President Barack Obama during an address.
By Elliott Brack | Discourteous people bother me….seriously. It doesn’t matter who, when or where someone shows bad manners, it’s telling…about that person.
Shocked!
Yes, we were shocked at the lack of civility Tuesday night (Feb. 7) when the president of the United States was heckled by many Republicans during the State of the Union address.
No matter who is the president, no matter the party, no matter the time in our history, those in Congress should at least pay respect to the office of the president itself. Any president of the United States should be shown this common courtesy, no matter who he is now or was. Yes, the Congress was courteous to a now-deposed president, Richard Nixon. And when addressing the Congress, Donald Trump did not hear the Senators or Congress members trying to shout him down.
What these resentful Republicans showed was a lack of civility. It was wrong, rude, and far uncalled for. Not only that, these GOP members were showing a lack of good manners in front of the entire nation and the world, watching on television. Sadly, these catcalls were led by a Georgia Congresswoman, that Marjorie Taylor Greene person.
Have the people who are supposed to guide our United States, those elected to the Congress, now stooped so low that they cannot calmly sit and listen to the concerns of the president addressing the nation? The halls of Congress are not like that of the British parliament, where debate among its members often draws hoots and slurs from the opposite party. American debate has traditionally been civil.
Debate in Congress today has unusually fallen to dangerous levels of pure partisanship, to the detriment of our country. Both minds of members of both parties seem to be well made up in advance, so that the debate means nothing more than posturing for the audience of their constituents. Weighing the remarks of debaters in Congress seems to be a lost art.
In effect, “You can‘t argue with me. My mind is made up.” That is too often true.
In reality, watching the heckling makes a person wonder about the parents of those GOP members more intent on shouting down the president. Their parents, raised to be courteous, would be ashamed of them. It’s sad, and scores heavily on the upbringing and background of what is supposed to be learned and polite gentlemen (and women)!
Do the Democrats heckle a president? We have no record of it. But we have not remembered news reports of such heckling and jeering of the president of the United States before, except for one Republican who shouted at President Obama during a State of the Union address.
Do Congressmen have a difference of opinion from the president? That is common in Congress and expected from people with different views. How can these discourteous Republicans ever think they are leaders if they are so disposed that they cannot listen with good manners? Can’t they simply show their differences by sitting there quietly, perhaps without clapping, when the president gives the State of the Union address?
February 7 was a rude and sad night at the Congress. It was not the best face of the United States when people are so closed-minded that they resort to such bad manners. It was not the finest night for Republicans, who most decidedly embarrassed themselves…..but many of them do not even realize it. Meanwhile, let’s offer prayers for them, also for the Democrats, and for our country.
Veteran Georgia columnist Elliott Brack is editor and publisher of GwinnettForum, where this first appeared. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
An accountability mess legislators must clean up
To the editor:
On the $3.5 billion accounting error by SC Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom: “Nobody lost one dollar,” one insider said. “Nobody embezzled one dollar. It’s simply a reporting error.”
This reveal is what will be memorialized as an infamous administrative accounting error. Ten years long surrounds a considerable sum of $3.5 billion. It has been the object of scrutiny provided by internal checks, audits and “never let it happen again safeguards” blessed by the legislature. Proposed to be blamed on what is assumed to be fully system-tested state-level computer software that could have been worse than presented. Who knows?
Obtuse accounting language provided to taxpayers goes only so far as protection. Systemic errors of all kinds are found in our local governance as no one is watching the money and reporting it understandably.
Two years of The Post and Courier‘s reports in its Uncovered series document real money flights that need to be drawn upon. It gives ample testimony to the many threads of the state-local system. Screw-ups established by legislators are too willing to look away from self-reckoning.
Further, taxpayers are easily rolled over by local elected majorities. Officials are hell-bent, insulated from fiscal accountability and rendering their own unprofessional opinions on the state of county finances.
The lack of South Carolina institutional monitoring to ensure fiscal health is the core issue for the legislators in this examination. Don’t hold your breath that this gets done correctly. SC has failed this test previously. Competence matters even more in the statehouse, even if we don’t elect officials using that basic standard.
Watching the S.C. candy stores with what integrity level is the policy issue. If our legislators fail to rectify this substantively, it will haunt us even after 10 years.
– Fred Palm, Edisto Island
Send us your thoughts. We’ve gotten some letters in the last few weeks – some positive, others nasty. We like to print non-defamatory comments, but unless you provide your contact information – name and hometown, plus a phone number used only by us for verification, we can’t publish your thoughts.
Have a comment? Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com. Make sure to provide your contact details (name, hometown and phone number for verification. Letters are limited to 150 words.
Looks like a paradise
Wow. This is an awesome looking place. Where is it? (Hint: S.C.) Send us your guess – as well as your name and hometown – to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Last week’s photo, “Tasty photo,” showed a parking lot near the Colleton County Courthouse where people watching the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh often eat lunch thanks to a few food trucks.
Will Bradley of Las Vegas traveled to the area to watch the trial for three days and was familiar with the trucks. His reaction to the trial: I am glad to live in a country where the accused is presumed innocent and one can get a fair trial. [Dick] Harpootlian seems to be a brilliant lawyer and I thought it inappropriate for [Attorney General] Alan Wilson to be in attendance as the attorney general. He seems to be grandstanding to be governor which I find inappropriate.
Hats off to these other sleuths who identified it: Frank Bouknight of Summerville; David Lupo of Mount Pleasant; Truett Jones of Summerton; Lisa Griffin of Tega Cay; Steve Willis of Lancaster; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Bill Segars of Hartsville; and Martha Strickland of Walterboro.
>> Send us a mystery picture. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
- ORDER NOW: Copies are in Lowcountry-area bookstores now, but if you can’t swing by, you can order a copy online today.
- Now available as an e-book!
ABOUT STATEHOUSE REPORT
Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided to you at no charge every Friday.
- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
Donate today
We’re proud to offer Statehouse Report for free. For more than a dozen years, we’ve been the go-to place for insightful independent policy and political news and views in the Palmetto State. And we love it as much as you do.
But now, we can use your help. If you’ve been thinking of contributing to Statehouse Report over the years, now would be a great time to contribute as we deal with the crisis. In advance, thank you.
Buy the book
Now you can get a copy of editor and publisher Andy Brack’s We Can Do Better, South Carolina! ($14.99) as a paperback or as a Kindle book ($7.99). . The book of essays offers incisive commentaries by editor and publisher Andy Brack on the American South, the common good, vexing problems for the Palmetto State and interesting South Carolina leaders.
More
- Mailing address: Send inquiries by mail to: P.O. Box 21942, Charleston, SC 29413
- Subscriptions are free: Click to subscribe.
- We hope you’ll keep receiving the great news and information from Statehouse Report, but if you need to unsubscribe, go to the bottom of the weekly email issue and follow the instructions.
- Read our sister publication: Charleston City Paper (every Wednesday in print; Every day online)
- © 2023, Statehouse Report, a publication of City Paper Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!