Loftis and the High Cost of Political Courage

Election Commission Says NO to Shealy

The South Carolina Election Commission negated the SCGOP decision last night to place Katrina Shealy on the upcoming June 12th primary ballot for Senate District 23.

According to a press release issued Thursday, the Election Commission is holding certification of candidates to the May 4, 2012 date set by the S.C. Supreme Court May 2nd.

“Under order of the S.C. Supreme Court, state and county political parties were required to provide the state and county election commissions with an updated list of candidates who properly filed for office by noon, May 4th,” reads the commission website.

“As an agency of the State of South Carolina, the State Election Commission has no authority to accept additional candidates after the May 4, 2012 noon deadline set by the Supreme Court,” said the commission in a press release.

Nikki Haley Overrules S.C. Supreme Court

By a vote of 26-0, an SCGOP Executive Committee placed Katrina Shealy back on the June 12th primary ballot for Senate District 23.

Shealy was the fourth of five candidates whose protests were heard by the committee. She was the only one successful in reversing a former decision about her certification for the ballot.

The entire candidate filing controversy has been pinned to Shealy’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Jakie Knotts who, reportedly, had someone challenge Shealy’s filing in a lawsuit heard by the S.C. Supreme Court with original jurisdiction of the case.

The Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit in ruling on a strict interpretation of S.C. Code Section 8-13-1356(B).

Despite Primary Loss, SC in Mitt’s Corner

Haley, in an appearance in Greenville on Monday, said that she does not think (Mauldin Patch) Mitt Romney and South Carolina voters have never been a very good match. Whether it is the former Massachusetts governor’s religion or his lack of consistency on issues that matter to the Palmetto State’s overwhelmingly conservative electorate, Romney just hasn’t aroused much passion. He finished a distant fourth in the 2008 South Carolina Primary with 15 percent of the vote. This year, as the [...]

Obama’s Budget Fails in Senate: 99-0

Obama’s Budget Fails in Senate: 99-0 (TWS) Senate Democrats and Republicans unanimously rejected President Obama’s proposed budget this afternoon. The final vote tally was 99-0. Likewise, the House also unanimously rejected the budget in March. Prior to the vote, Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions blasted the budget. “It was voted 414-0 in the House this year,” said Sessions. I suspect in an hour or so it will go down again on the floor of the Senate by unanimous [...]

Haley Consultant Resurrects Raghead

Haley’s inner circles are as giddy as preschoolers at an ice cream social, having successfully shopped video footage of Jake’s so-called infamous preprimaries raghead remark in 2010 or so we are told. The not so curiously timed release of the video footage coincides with the full S.C. House poised to re-consider ethics complaints against Gov. Nikki Haley. The video was reportedly and successfully shopped to Buzzfeed, an online aggregator of all thing’s video by Haley’s D.C. Consultant Jon Lerner. What remains to be seen is whether or not the rerelease will retain any leg, our guess is it will not, in our opinion this really never evolved into Jake’s Jimmy the Greek moment.

Most interestingly and or not is that it appears not one of the participants in the episode Pub Politics calls the senator out on his remarks, instead they just sit there looking uncomfortably into their beer, waiting, for the moment, to pass, see for yourself here.

SC Senate Must Be Champions Of Change

Recently, it was an honor to welcome former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to South Carolina for the Empower Education Reform Summit (click HERE to see video of Gov. Bush’s talk).

The event was an uplifting opportunity to hear the story of Florida’s hard-won public education renaissance and exciting, bipartisan innovations happening all around the country: innovations that are producing measurable gains in achievement for incredibly diverse student populations.

An educated citizenry is the foundation of our Republic and the cornerstone of our future economic competitiveness. South Carolina is a great place to do business, realizing incredible gains in skilled manufacturing jobs from BMW, Michelin, Boeing, Continental, Bridgestone and many, many others. Yet businesses routinely share with me their concern over a shortage of available, qualified workers.

This cannot stand in South Carolina. And I’m confident it won’t.

State Ethics Committee Violated State Law

The appeal of Republican operative John Rainey to House Speaker Bobby Harrell asking the full House to re-consider ethics complaints against Gov. Nikki Haley, for actions when she was a House member, virtually screams for an investigation to be opened.

The fact that stands out most in Rainey’s appeal is that just minutes before voting 5-1 to dismiss an ethics complaint by Rainey against Haley, the House Ethics Committee voted unanimously that probable cause existed to investigate the complaint.

S.C. Code of Laws Section 8-13-540 states, “If the ethics committee determines complaint alleges facts sufficient to constitute a violation, it shall promptly investigate the alleged violation and may compel by subpoena the testimony of witnesses and the production of pertinent books and papers.”

In failing to investigate the complaint and, instead, voting to dismiss it, the ethics committee violated state law. There doesn’t appear the committee is allowed any discretion in this decision as the law plainly states “shall promptly investigate.”

S.C. House To Reopen Nikki Haley Investigation?

BIPARTISAN PUSH COULD LEAD TO FIRST REAL PROBE INTO ETHICS ALLEGATIONS

“Haley’s everyone-is-doing-it defense stains the integrity of this body and all honest public servants,” – John Rainey

(FITSNews)

Republicans and Democrats in the S.C. House of Representatives are on the verge of reopening an ethics investigation into S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, multiple sources at the S.C. State House have confirmed to FITS. In fact a resolution sponsored by S.C. Rep. James Smith (D-Columbia) would direct the House Ethics Commission to reopen its inquiry into allegations that Haley illegally lobbied on behalf of at least one of her employers (and committed numerous other ethical lapses).

Curtis Loftis: Expand the boundaries of choice

Across the state, I meet people worried about their local schools.

Parents worry about dropout rates, job placement, and college admission. Employers worry about workforce qualification and training. Local officials worry about the costs of services required by those who’ve slipped through the cracks. Faith and community leaders worry about poverty and inequality.

As the state’s chief financial officer, I see a more eminent concern: unchecked, the traditional model of public education in South Carolina will bankrupt the state within our lifetime.

K-12 education now consumes a third of all state government spending and nearly two-thirds of local government spending. Taxpayers will provide South Carolina’s public schools with over $8 billion next year. The figure, taken from the state budget, only includes money for day-to-day operations. Spending on buildings, retirement, and other long-term obligations could bring the total closer to $10 billion.

Lindsey Graham’s Inquisition

On December 31, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012, codifying indefinite military detention without charge or trial into law for the first time in American history.

So, Happy New Year, y’all! The NDAA’s detention provisions would authorize the president – and all future presidents – to order the military to pick up and indefinitely imprison people captured anywhere in the world, even American citizens, far from any battlefield. This would be a good point at which to remind ourselves of Amendments 4, 5, and 6 to the U.S. Constitution here and attempt to reconcile this law with them.

Can’t do it? There’s a reason for that – it can’t be done.

Florence’s Jordan tops poll at 7th CD Debate

A crowd of more than 500 piled into the West Florence High School auditorium Monday night to hear what the Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for the 7th Congressional District race had to say – and to cast some of the first votes in that contentious race.

The event’s unique forum, which was driven at least in part by the fact that the race in the brand new district has attracted so many candidates (9 Republicans, 5 Democrats), called for 45 minutes of debate followed by a straw vote to select five candidates for 45 minutes of debate. A final, post-debate poll was supposed to reveal how the crowd felt after hearing both halves of the show.

Apparently it was feeling pretty pro-Pee Dee.

Federal Judges Reject Kincannon Lawsuit

Election ballot issues shifted from the court room to the living room Monday when a federal three judge panel threw out the lawsuit challenging the continuing candidate certification issues for upcoming Republican and Democratic primaries throughout the state.

The complaint said military personnel serving overseas should have 45 days before the election to receive, fill out and return their ballots. Absentee ballots for federal elections, Congressional races this year, were sent 45 days prior to the election, according to the S.C. Election Commission.

A separate ballot, containing names for state and local candidates was sent later, after the S.C. Supreme Court decision eliminated nearly 200 candidates from certification two weeks ago. The complaint argued the splitting of the ballots was illegal under election law.

The Election Commission argued the 45 day rule only applied to federal elections, which was met, and that the state had split ballots in prior elections due to the necessity of certifying state and local candidates later than federal candidates.