STATEHOUSE REPORT | ISSUE 23.05 | Feb. 2, 2024
BIG STORY: Dems say McMaster needs to accept millions for hungry kids
MORE NEWS: Polls open Saturday for S.C. Democratic primary
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Different kind of groundhog
COMMENTARY, Brack: Stop fiddling around on aid for Ukraine
SPOTLIGHT: AT&T
MYSTERY PHOTO: Big smile
FEEDBACK: Loved Ariail’s cartoon on Haley’s comet
S.C. Dems say McMaster needs to accept $65 million to feed hungry kids
By Jack O’Toole | South Carolina Democrats in the General Assembly are challenging GOP Gov. Henry McMaster’s refusal to claim an estimated $65 million in federal food aid for needy children by promoting legislation that would force the governor to accept the funds.
“This program provides critical food assistance to hungry kids throughout South Carolina, especially in rural areas,” Orangeburg Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter said this week in an interview. “So my question for Governor McMaster is this: what’s your Plan B? Without this money, what’s your plan to keep these hungry children fed?”
Summer EBT, the federal program under which the funds are available, offers families up to $40 per child each month during the summer break when school is out of session. All children who qualify for free or reduced price school meals are eligible. The money is delivered on a pre-loaded debit card, which can be used to purchase approved food items at any store that accepts EBT. To date, 35 states have signed up for the program, including neighboring North Carolina and Tennessee.
Advocates estimate about 543,000 South Carolina children would be eligible to receive the Summer EBT benefit in 2024 at a total cost of about $3 million to state taxpayers, who would be responsible for 50% of the program’s administrative overhead. All other expenses, including the cost of the benefits themselves, would be paid by the federal government.
For his part, McMaster said he believed the Summer EBT program, which began as a Covid emergency measure, has outlived its usefulness and is not needed in light of existing state and nonprofit feeding programs.
“At some point, we must end these pandemic programs,” the governor said in a January 30 press conference. “Keep in mind, we already have programs to provide food for people below a certain income. We already have that. Also, keep in mind, we have food banks galore all over the state.”
Moreover, he argued, the real answer to the problem of hunger in South Carolina isn’t more government – it’s private-sector jobs.
“We don’t want to create yet another entitlement and grow this bureaucracy,” McMaster said. “The main thing is to provide good work and good careers and good stability for our people.”
Nevertheless, advocates and policy experts like Sue Berkowitz of the SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center said they thought McMaster’s call for a return to normalcy post-Covid missed the point.
“The thing that’s frustrating for me is when the governor says we have to get back to normal,” Berkowitz said. “Normal is one in six kids going to bed hungry in South Carolina. Why would we want to get back to that kind of normal?”
Ultimately, according to Berkowitz, the issue boils down to a question of conscience for everyone in South Carolina, political leaders and citizens alike.
“I believe that if there’s a will in our state to feed hungry children, we can find a way to get this done,” she said.
- Jack O’Toole reports on statewide issues for Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Polls open Saturday for S.C. Democratic primary
Staff reports | South Carolina will award the first delegates in the national Democratic presidential primary following Saturday’s first-in-the-nation party primary.
In past years, New Hampshire came first. But last year, President Joe Biden, recognizing the importance of the Palmetto State to his 2020 campaign, urged the Democratic National Committee to have its first primary in South Carolina.
Polls open across the state on Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at voters’ regular polling location. Anyone in line before 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote, according to the S.C. State Election Commission. Absentee ballots must be received by the county voter registration office no later than 7 p.m. Feb. 3 to be counted.
- To find your polling place or check a sample ballot, visit scvotes.gov, or contact your county elections office.
South Carolina is an “open” primary state, which means anyone registered to vote in the state can participate in the Republican or Democratic contest — but not both.
Voters will need to present a current and valid photo ID when checking in to vote. Acceptable IDs include an S.C. driver’s license, an S.C. voter registration card, a federal military ID or U.S. Passport.
Early voting in the S.C. Democratic primary began Jan. 22. The deadline to complete early voting is 6 p.m. Feb. 2. Visit scvotes.gov or contact your county elections office for a list of early voting locations.
South Carolina will award 55 pledged delegates to its national party convention, a small fraction of the 2,000 needed to secure the Democratic nomination, but Biden largely credited his 2020 win in the S.C. primary with his campaign’s success afterward.
On the ballot with Biden are Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianna Williamson. Phillips earned about 20% of the vote in the unofficial New Hampshire primary, while Williamson, who previously sought nomination in 2020, received about 4%.
Election officials say they likely will get a decent turnout for the state’s Democratic primary, but expect a much bigger turnout for the Republican “first in the South” primary on Feb. 24. Early voting for the Republican presidential primary begins Feb. 12 with the same voting times.
Also in recent headlines:
Senate passes permitless carrying of guns. Following two weeks of debate, a bill that would allow eligible adults in South Carolina to carry loaded guns without any training or a permit is closer than ever to becoming reality after it passed the state Senate Thursday. The bill now moves onto the House, which passed a version of the measure last year. Under current law, people who want to carry handguns in the open in South Carolina have to complete training and obtain a concealed weapons permit. This bill, however, would do away with those training and permitting requirements, but offer free gun training as a means to encourage people to still take the currently-required class.
State Senate readies for floor debate on whopping DHEC restructuring bill. The bill, titled Executive Office of Health Policy, was unanimously approved by a Senate committee on Wednesday and is now headed to the Senate floor. If the bill becomes law, it would see the state departments of Mental Health, Disability and Special Needs, Health and Human Services, Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, and the Office on Aging consolidate with DHEC’s Division of Public Health. It would also create a separate Department of Environmental Control.
S.C. House approves bill restricting minors’ access to social media. A bill advancing at the South Carolina State House would ban kids and teens from social media sites unless their parents say it’s OK, an attempt at large to keep minors safe from the dangers of the internet.
SC-1: Templeton announcing run for Congress, setting up clash with Mace. Republican Catherine Templeton is expected to announce her plans to run for Congress against U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, setting up a crowded GOP primary clash for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. Meanwhile, Democratic challenger Michael B. Moore announced this week that he raised $460,318 in 2023 in hopes to defeat Mace.
S.C. HOUSE: Spann-Wilder wins Democratic primary for open Chas. Co. seat. Tiffany Spann-Wilder, a defense attorney and former magistrate, won the Democratic primary for the S.C. House of Representatives District 109 special election by a comfortable margin Jan. 30.
Murdaugh retrial denied. Former S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal ruled Monday against convicted double murderer Alex Murdaugh’s attempt to get a new trial on allegations that a clerk of court tampered with the jury. Each of the 12 jurors testified to Toal, retired but specially appointed to the case, that comments they heard didn’t directly influence their decision to find Murdaugh guilty, according to news reports. The Colleton County clerk, Becky Hill, denied speaking about the case or Murdaugh with jurors.
Thousands of newcomers pour into S.C. every year. Tens of thousands of people move into the Palmetto State every year, with California and New York being the top two states that people left.
Different kind of groundhog
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail generally has a biting or funny comment about the great state of South Carolina in his weekly cartoon. This week, he shares how former President Donald Trump is kind of a political groundhog as we’ll see a lot of him and former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley in the next three weeks as they battle for S.C. primary delegates.
- Love the cartoon? Hate it? What do you think: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Stop fiddling around on aid for Ukraine
By Andy Brack | A huge plume of gray smoke rose after the shattering boom of a Jan. 23 missile attack in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, as commuters drove to work, their headlights of their cars illuminating the snow on the ground.
Three weeks earlier in a video at the same downtown location, Charleston resident Jamie Price was watching Netflix in the wee hours of the morning when air raid sirens squealed frightening warnings of a possible attack, only to quiet moments later.
“People are concerned,” Price said Jan. 2, “considering what happened a few nights ago before I got here, when several missiles hit the city. Even when they shot down the drones with the missiles, of course, they fall and they can do a lot of damage.”
The war in Ukraine isn’t stopping. Russia keeps up pressure in its attempt to thwart democracy and pound an authoritarian hammer on the country. But the people of Ukraine aren’t giving up, despite more than 10,000 civilians killed and military deaths that could be seven times as high, according to informed estimates. (Ukraine hasn’t released figures of casualties.) Russian losses are thought to be even higher.
“There is tremendous stress,” said Price, who recently went back to Kyiv with a third round of medical and other supplies to support a country where the friends he’s made have become like family. “But there is also a tremendous resilience in living life and that’s what they do.”
Americans need to know that Ukrainians are on the real, bloody and violent front line fighting to protect democracy and thwart Russian aggression, he emphasized.
“They– and I’m saying this – will die to the last person to protect their country and their democracy,” Price told us Thursday. “I have not come across anyone who is negative or says anything about stopping the war or backing down. They’re going to proceed until the end when they win – and I know they will win.”
But right now, Ukrainians are worried about having enough ammunition and arms to persist. Fortunately, European countries are stepping up, as the U.S. drags its feet. On Thursday, the European Union approved a $54 billion aid package to keep Ukraine’s economy going.
But, as Price pointed out, “They do know that the U.S. help is very critical because of their capacity to make weapons and ammunition.”
Do something … now
That’s why it’s vital for South Carolinians to let their congressmen and senators know it’s time to stop playing politics with more military aid for Ukraine. For conservative Republicans – mostly those in the U.S. House – tying up Ukrainian aid to a deal on illegal immigration or something else is unbelievable. This strategy will lead to more people dying and will aid Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s effort to injure freedom. Even more to the point: Who would have ever thought that Republicans, the party of Commie-basher Joe McCarthy, would have ever fallen in lock step with anything to empower the Russian tyrant over Ukrainian freedom?
In the U.S. Senate, Angus King, an independent senator from Maine, this week highlighted how not helping Ukraine would help Russia and, ultimately, China.
“[W]hat we’re looking at here is…the struggle between the idea of democracy and the rule of law and authoritarianism and totalitarianism,” King said. “Ukraine is the opening wedge in that…conflict. … [I]f we cut and run in Ukraine, that will change Xi Jinping’s calculus about Taiwan. He’s going to say well, the Americans aren’t going to stick. We don’t have to worry too much about them helping the Taiwanese defend themselves.”
Just like France didn’t abandon the fledgling American colonists during the Revolutionary War, we need to lead all of the allies of democracy by supplying the ammunition and arms that Ukraine needs to win. Remember, they are supplying the lives to protect freedom.
Call your congressman today and tell him or her to stop fooling around. Tell them to support Ukraine, not Putin. The telephone number for the U.S. Capitol is (202) 224-3121.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
AT&T
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Big smile
We hope this week’s mystery – an old photo taken somewhere in South Carolina will be a little easier to compensate for last week’s puzzler. Where was this photo taken? Send us your guess as well as your name and hometown to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Last week’s mystery photo, “Strange, was just plain hard. A couple of people guessed that the graffiti was done by a Lowcountry group that tags its work with “KOC.” But only two readers – the ever-diligent George Graf of Palmyra, Va., and Bill Segars of Hartsville – correctly identified the location as a Charleston lot along East Bay Street near Charlotte Street. (To be fair, Segars got it on what he admitted was his second “unofficial guess” after we offered a tip to him after a very close first guess.)
Good work everyone – and particularly George and Bill!
- 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.
Loved Ariail’s cartoon on Haley’s comet
To the editor:
Please continue to advocate for those deserving mercy. You are doing a great job and your brief article gave me hope for a brighter future.
After the Iowa and New Hampshire setbacks, I was feeling pretty unhappy about our nation’s future. Granted, those who are name-calling (like a second-grader on the playground), bullying, denigrating, making unkind comments about their opponents, and many times outright lying, are entitled to their opinions but there are others who share your opinions.
I’m so proud of Nicki Haley and would love to see her win the Republican endorsement. Like you, I haven’t always agreed with her decisions but I’m convinced she considered alternatives and acted in her constituents best interests.
– Miriam Mitchell, Seabrook, S.C.
Send us your thoughts
We encourage you to send in your thoughts about policy and politics impacting South Carolina. We’ve gotten some letters in the last few weeks – some positive, others nasty. We 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.
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We Can Do Better, South Carolina!
I am a retired Lieutenant Colonel (Army) with 4 combat zone tours in Iraq. I am firmly opposed to finding Ukraine for their war with Russia. If you think about it, the only wars (no war has been declared since WW2) we have won since WW2 is Panama and Grenada. We lost Iraq. We lost Afghanistan. We lost Korea. We lost Vietnam and many of my friends and our Soldiers died in the process. I have personally spent time in Kharkiv, Sumy and Kiev Ukraine while serving on active duty in the Army. I found the Ukraine government and people to be rife with corruption, infighting and a no sense of duty for country. Cut our financial losses now….Russia will win this war through attrition and our country will add to our $34 trillion debt. We have been humiliated enough. Until we are ready to go all in with a declared war to defend our interests we should stop wasting money. Just sayin…..