State of the State: Another Haley Disappointment

In the midst of the Republican circus this last week, Gov. Nikki Haley gave us the "State of the State" and the Republican blueprint for South Carolina. The speech was full of platitudes, but nothing of substance to improve our schools — unless you count privatizing school buses as a major step forward to improve our 47th ranking in the U.S.

She did say that she would (finally) fund the charter schools — thank you. And hopefully vouchers will not seriously come up this year (although bills are already being introduced for tax credits for the rich who send their kids to private schools- this is your tax money going to the wealthy — both Sen. Mike Rose and Rep. Chris Murphy supported these bills last year).

Haley mentioned nothing of substance about improving our dismal 9.5 percent unemployment rate, and she left out why the Republicans turned away Amazon and 1,200 jobs. No major improvements to our crumbling infrastructure were put forth — even with a $900 million forecasted surplus in the budget. Nor any effort to support immediate effort to improve the critical Charleston Harbor, unlike what she did for our neighbor Georgia and the Savannah Harbor. The Port of Charleston is of supreme importance to the Lowcountry, and the Governor's failure to lead on this issue is a mystery.

Haley only talks in platitudes concerning the much needed reform of the Executive Department and organizations like the much aligned Department of Transportation and Budget and Control Board. No major initiative to bring us much needed Tax Reform. A matter of fact, she seems to have no plan with State Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell and state Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell to get real reform legislation through the State Legislature. So in the end, we will end up with no real changes, and thus our state will continue to suffer with underperforming schools, a crumbling infrastructure, no improvement on jobs and the economy, no movement on improving the Charleston Harbor, and an inefficient state government. 

I also noticed that inefficiency at a "Town Hall Meeting" two weeks ago featuring Rose and Murphy. They had a hard time listing any real accomplishments from the last legislative session. Rose can spend an hour describing what he does, but did any real signed legislation result from that session? I think you know the answer. Both got into a very contentious question and answer session with out Dorchester Two School Board. They did not seem to agree, especially on the “communication issue” between our Representatives and the School Board.

The elections in November will be here before we know it. I suggest that at the local and state level we start looking at the Democrats for some real leadership on much needed reform if we want quality public schools, infrastructure improved, and support to our small businesses to reduce unemployment.