Harvey Peeler

COLUMBIA — Nikki Haley will take the oath of office as S.C. governor this morning on the State House’s south steps, just a few dozen yards from statues of former Govs. Wade Hampton and Strom Thurmond, visible reminders of South Carolina’s old guard.

Haley upset that old guard to win a four-way Republican primary in June and then rode a continuing wave of voter discontent to victory in November.

Since the founding of the United States, 85 men have served as S.C. governor.

Haley will be the first woman.

Haley also will be the state’s first Indian-American governor – she is the daughter of immigrants – and, at 38, the nation’s youngest sitting chief executive.

Wednesday’s inaugural ceremony and its participants will recognize the support Haley that saw from across the Palmetto State, said Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey. “People from across South Carolina joined the governor-elect’s movement.”

Among those on the program is the Rev. Brian Rainwater of Mount Horeb United Methodist, Haley’s Lexington County church.

“I never dreamed I would be doing the gubernatorial inauguration,” said Rainwater, who will be giving the invocation.

Rainwater said his prayer will focus on the Haley family and all those taking office Wednesday.

“It is a family event for them,” said Rainwater, adding Mount Horeb’s members have kept the Haleys in their prayers throughout the year.

Inauguration day will begin with a 9 a.m. prayer service at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, the historic church that neighbors the State House.

Haley’s primary win catapulted her into the national spotlight and her inauguration will be watched by the nation as well. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour – a possible GOP presidential candidate and chairman of the Republican Governors Association, which backed Haley – is expected to attend.

However, the weather will keep at least one scheduled group from attending. David Rhyne, conductor of the Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities choir, said by e-mail Tuesday that his ensemble will not be able to make the trip from Greenville. Lingering snow and ice from Monday’s storms forced Greenville County public schools to close today.

The rest of the ceremony will go on as planned, Haley spokesman Godfrey said.

That includes First Sgt. Peter Lara – the 2009 Army Times noncommissioned officer of the year and, like Haley, a resident of Lexington – reading the Pledge of Allegiance.

Haley’s childhood home of Orangeburg will be represented by the Claflin University choir. S.C. poet laureate Marjory Wentworth Heath also will read “The Weight It Takes.”

After the other statewide constitutional officers are sworn in, S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal will administer the oath of office to Haley.

Haley’s inaugural theme – a nod to the state’s $830 million budget shortfall – is “in every challenge there lies tremendous opportunity,” Godfrey said. The speech, which Godfrey said Haley wrote, will take only about 12 to 15 minutes.

Among the Haleys last-minute adjustments, Godfrey said, were adding layers of clothing to cope with temperatures expected in the low 30s when the swearing-in ceremony begins.

Schedule

South Carolina’s inauguration of Gov. Nikki Haley

Today

Prayer service: 9 a.m., Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Columbia. Open to the public

Inaugural ceremony: 11 a.m., Statehouse steps, south side. Open to the public

Open house: 2-4 p.m., Governor’s Mansion, Columbia. Open to the public

Courtesy: Herald Online

If anything positive can be found in a legislative session that is facing massive cuts to state services, it is that Horry and maybe Georgetown counties are likely to gain more political clout, local lawmakers say.

When the 119th General Assembly convenes Tuesday, legislators are facing cuts of anywhere from $400 million to $800 million to the $5.1 billion budget.

They also have to draw new districts for the House, Senate and Congress, and figures show Horry County will get another state House district along with its chances to be the center of a new congressional district.

“That’s important,” said Rep. George Hearn, R-Conway.

Budget-making is going to be excruciating, lawmakers warned, and no one will be spared. The budget this year is down from $7.1 billion two years ago, and state agencies and schools say they can’t cut any more. But it will happen anyway.

Rep. Nelson Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach, said members were told, just as an illustration, that the state could shut down all the agencies and colleges and maybe have enough money for the essential items.

“It’s a mess,” he said.

Hearn said there is no way to make the cuts without substantially affecting all services, and the public might as well know it’s coming.

“There’s no point in beinganything but candid,” he said.

Here’s a look at how local lawmakers see the upcoming session.

The budget

Rep. Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach, is a member of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, and cannot say at this point what exactly will be cut. He formerly chaired the subcommittee that oversaw health spending, but was switched to the panel that oversees commerce and economic development when the new House organized itself in November.

Ways and Means will draft a budget, which then goes to the full House, Senate Finance Committee, full Senate and governor. Along the way, changes can be made but they are fewer when money is tight.

Edge said even though the economy is slowly picking up, the best lawmakers can expect is a $350 million shortfall.

Though he no longer has direct influence over health care spending, which included beach renourishment and similar projects, Edge said his new slot gives him influence over allotments for items such as Interstate 73/74 and economic factors that are important for the coast.

“That’s going to be a good opportunity and a welcome change, and hopefully it’s going to mean something good for this area,” he said.

Redistricting

Every 10 years, legislators must draw new maps for their districts and for Congress, based on new population numbers from the U.S. census. Official numbers have not been released, but the state has received enough preliminaries to know that Horry County is likely to have another state House district, although there is probably not enough growth for a new state senator.

Adding another resident House member to the six in place will give the county more clout in the capital, lawmakers said.

Hardwick said population growth points to a new seat centered in Carolina Forest. State Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, agreed that looks like the spot. Other members’ districts will have to shrink in geographical size while they gain in population.

Hardwick said he was told districts will go from about 35,000 residents now to 37,000.

Growth along the coast will also change the Senate districts.

“I know that I’ve got the second largest Senate district in the state,” said Sen. Ray Cleary, R-Murrells Inlet. He said his linear coastal district may shrink northward and he could lose Charleston County.

Maps are already circulating that show a new congressional district with Georgetown County staying in the district with Charleston, but Cleary said he hears that residents would rather be in the district with Horry County and he said he will fight to make that happen.

Rankin cautioned there is no guarantee that Horry County will be the center of a new congressional district, despite excitement over the prospect. Hints are already coming from legislators in Beaufort, York and Spartanburg counties that they may fight to get the district drawn for their area, he said.

“The growth areas are looking for their own seat,” Rankin said. “It’s not a foregone conclusion that Horry is going to be the center of a new congressional district.”

Rankin is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has a say in how the Senate and congressional districts are drawn, and predicted it will be sticky and complicated.

Hearn, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, also gets a crack at House and congressional district lines, which first go through a subcommittee chaired by Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach.

Hearn said he is encouraged about Horry County’s prospects for new districts, and new political clout, because of Clemmons’ position.

Redistricting is so difficult that 10 years ago, lawmakers had to stay in session after the usual closing time. There will be little sentiment to do that this year because of the cost, though lawmakers will be pressed to do the job by the end of the session in June, because they will not have the figures to work with until late March, Rankin said.

Other initiatives

Most local lawmakers said they don’t expect much to happen besides the budget and redistricting, but Cleary said he is upbeat about what can be done this year because “it’s easier to make change when there’s a crisis.”

He is working on a new voter ID bill that will require voters to present a photo ID at the polls. It failed last year because the House would not agree to the Senate’s changes allowing for more early voting, he said.

Cleary said he also expects action this year on illegal immigration, along the lines of a tough anti-immigrant law passed in Arizona.

He and a few other local lawmakers say they do not expect comprehensive tax reform, but they do expect to see some tweaking of the existing laws. Rankin said one example is the $300 cap on sales tax for new cars. South Carolina is the only state that has a cap, and some deem it unfair to other businesses that don’t get a tax break for their customers.

Hardwick said he expects to see some legislation giving more breaks to businesses and other bills aimed at creating more jobs.

Rankin said he is on a committee working on legislation to equalize school funding. The existing formulas penalize growth areas such as Horry County and they need to be updated, he said.

He is also working on a proposal for a road-building fund for new construction.

“We need to build I-73 and we’ve got to find a way to do it,” he said.

I-73 would connect Horry County with Michigan and Canada and provide a new way for visitors to get to the beaches faster and easier.

New administration

All said, they are hopeful about working with Nikki Haley as the new governor takes office on Wednesday. A former House member, Haley knows how the legislature works and has promised to work with lawmakers to solve problems, local lawmakers said.

“She is one of the savviest politicians I’ve ever met,” Cleary said. “I think we are all going to be on the same page and I’m excited about that.”

“She’s a bright lady,” Hearn said, adding that he shared a legislative office with her and got to know her fairly well.

“I am excited about the prospect of watching her work,” Hearn said.

“She has the intelligence to be a great governor.”

Courtesy: The Sun News

South Carolina’s budget picture for 2011-2012 and the General Assembly’s efforts to solve an $829 million gap are already getting bad reviews. It’s going to be a tough year, for lawmakers and for citizens, as we continue to cope with declining revenues, increasing expenses and the numerous constituencies who say, “Cut what you want to cut but leave my agency alone.” There’s already been some of that, according to Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Darlington and Florence counties, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

The challenges lawmakers face this year prompted Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Anderson County, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, to admit to a roomful of journalists that sometimes — more frequently than ever — he doesn’t like his job very much. Although we’re sympathetic, we’re glad Cooper is the one with the job. He seems up to the task.

“There are no easy answers,” Cooper said Thursday in Columbia at a legislative preview sponsored by the South Carolina Press Association. But answers won’t be coming from taking any of the recommendations of the Tax Realignment Commission (TRAC) report released in December. “I haven’t seen anything in that report that will be introduced by any member of the legislature,” Cooper said, words echoed by most of his colleagues. That’s because many of its recommendations involve that phrase that strikes fear in the heart of lawmakers: raising taxes.

Leatherman put the idea of that possibility firmly to rest early in the day. “There will be no tax increases, absolutely not,” he said. All that is left is to “use the dollars we have as wisely as we can,” he said, adding that there will be some “merging and closing of agencies before we get through.”

Cooper is right in his assertion that few lawmakers would have a taste for following TRAC’s recommendations. There may, however, be some takers among Democrats, including Rep. Harry Ott, D-Lexington and Orangeburg counties, who insists that the almost $1 billion hole comes not strictly from the downturn in the economy but from “poor planning” in the General Assembly. “We’ve seen this train wreck on the track for a long time. … (It’s) the result of tax benefits to the richest people in the state over and over.”

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, was typically frank. It’s interesting, she said, that the panelists (at the SCPA meeting) were adamant about no tax increases but failed to mention any new revenue sources. “We’re delusional if we think we haven’t raised taxes,” she insisted. “We’re just calling them fees and assessments and fines.”

Other lawmakers say that they are doing the bidding of their constituents by making that pledge. “My constituents want me to resist the ‘triple t’ — the temptation to tax,” said Sen. Harvey Peeler, R- Spartanburg, York and Union counties. When asked what would be the first things to be cut, Peeler responded that a better question is what will be the last. It’s unlikely there will be many agencies — or residents — who aren’t affected by cuts.

Most of the cuts will be applied in three areas, Rep. Kenny Bingham, R-Lexington County, said. Education, health care and law enforcement are all under more scrutiny because funding for those areas takes up most of the state budget. “They cannot absorb all the money (90 percent of the budget by his assessment) and not be part of solving the problem. Everything has to be on the table.”

One area in which there was near-unanimous agreement was that job creation and economic development must be at the top of everyone’s agenda. We couldn’t agree more.

Also a priority should be finding a better way to fund public education. TRAC did not include a recommendation to revisit Act 388, much to our disappointment, but it’s apparently a moot point. As several lawmakers pointed out, and as we were reminded when we re-read the legislation that set up the commission in the first place, its final product would require an up or down vote: all or nothing. That doesn’t mean, however, that portions of its recommendations shouldn’t come out in future proposals. (Act 388 decreed public schools would be funded by sales taxes instead of property taxes. Lawmakers also created a trust fund in case taxes didn’t come in as expected –– and they didn’t. That’s money that could have stemmed some of the problems in education and other equally important agencies.)

In the weeks to come, we’ll be taking a look at the progress of budget talks and efforts to improve our economy, as well as what the future holds for services — or the lack of them. But we would remind Bingham and other lawmakers to keep in mind that the reason education, health care and law enforcement make up the primary bulk of the budget is because it would be difficult to find any citizen of this state not affected in one or more of those areas. Although it is going to be hard to reconcile need with reality, they are among the state’s most basic responsibilities to its citizens.

Thus we can no more ignore the health of those areas than we can ignore the financial health of our state.

It’s not going to be just a tough year.

It’s going to be a painful one.

Courtesy: Independent Mail

According to the official General Assembly site, the legislature comes back into session on Jan. 11. That isn’t stopping the Senate Republicans from getting a head start on priorities for the upcoming session. Thursday, Senate Judiciary subcommittees reported out bills that will be at the top of the agenda. Those are voter ID and immigration reform.

Voter ID has been held up on many times by Democrats who do everything from adding superfluous amendments to outright filibuster. With such quick moves, that will be a little harder when the entire Assembly comes back to Columbia next week.

Most people would agree that showing one’s ID at the polls should not be an issue. After all, you have to provide it to register. Yet, we see one stalling tactic after another. Sen. Chip Campsen led that subcommittee and it reported out a voter ID bill, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman.

It allows exceptions for religious reasons and gives a 15-day early voting period. The bill now goes to the full Judiciary Committee. As an interesting note, the bill is numbered S. 1. We have a feeling this might be at the top of the list for early passage.

As for illegal immigration, that topic has bounced around for some time. There are several bills which address it, but a subcommittee chaired by Sen. Larry Martin sent a bill to full committee, where it will be taken up. It’s chief sponsored by Sen. Larry Grooms (S. 20) and co-sponsored by 18 different senators, including the leadership — Peeler, McConnell and Leatherman. Specifically, the bill is Arizona-style legislation that will free up law enforcement to go about enforcing immigration laws like they should be and making people seeking work illegally accountable for their actions.

And again, just think, the session hasn’t really begun yet.

Courtesy: Process Story

COLUMBIA — State lawmakers this year must plug a projected $829 million budget gap, in part due to the loss of federal stimulus dollars that have kept some state agencies afloat.

Several legislators previewed the upcoming session Thursday, taking questions from more than 70 reporters at the South Carolina Press Association’s annual legislative workshop. Early on, Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, pulled a large, orange foam finger out of his briefcase to point at Democrats — a symbol of the finger-pointing to come.

Despite about $429 million in new revenue — which includes a small surplus and the money collected so far from the state’s 50-cent per pack tax increase on cigarettes — the state has more than $1.2 billion in funding obligations, primarily to education and Medicaid.

Cuts are expected. And they will hurt.

“There’s going to be a lot of pain,” Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman said. “Hopefully, we’ll get through it.”

Leatherman said there would be “absolutely” no tax increases this year.

But as stimulus dollars dry up, the state must find a way to replace more than $345 million to K-12 and higher education, and about $659 million to Medicaid for current shortfalls and projected growth. Otherwise, the loss of those funds must be made up with budget cuts.

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, chided her Republican colleagues, saying now that the election is over, everyone can admit the stimulus helped.

House Minority Leader Harry Ott criticized Republicans for letting that money run out without thinking about what comes next.

“It’s not shocking,” Ott said of the budget shortfall. “It comes from poor planning.”

House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Cooper said the optional 10-day furloughs of teacher workdays that school districts were allowed to make last year could become mandatory this year. Such a move could save $200 million, he said.

Ott specifically called on Gov.-elect Nikki Haley to protect funds for disabled children. Cooper said sometimes unpopular cuts were the only alternative.

“I don’t want to cut hospice. I don’t want to cut disabled children,” he said. “But when it comes to cutting Medicaid, your only options are what the federal government allows you to.”

State Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals are scheduled to stop in March if the state’s financial oversight board doesn’t intervene first. At stake is health care for nearly one in five South Carolinians.

Several lawmakers said they supported some level of school district consolidation to help save money. Gov. Mark Sanford’s final executive budget recommendations state $26 million could be saved if school districts are forced to consolidate so that each district has at least 2,500 students.

Several items not related to the budget are likely to get early play when the Legislature reconvenes, including voter identification, tort reform, legislative redistricting, immigration reform and roll-call voting. Democrats criticized some of the measures as the purview of the federal government or as putting philosophy over practicality.

“While we’re sitting around talking about how we’re going to record votes, Rome is burning,” said state Sen. Vince Sheheen, D-Kershaw. “This state is a disaster.”

Courtesy: GoUpstate.com

Roll call voting will likely become an issue again in the South Carolina legislature next year, especially since one senator who opposed a roll-call bill last session is leading a renewed attempt to pass it.

In March, the South Carolina House passed a bill sponsored by then-representative Nikki Haley that would have required both the House and Senate to record who voted for and against most legislation. However, the bill never made it out of the Senate.

Now, Sen. Larry Martin (R-Pickens) has sponsored legislation he says would fix the constitutional problems he had with last session’s bill. Martin says he’s never been against recording votes, but that last year’s bill would have violated the state Constitution.

“There is no basis for such a thing in the South Carolina Constitution. (The constitution) requires the House and Senate, separately, to adopt rules of procedure. That would cut against the notion that you could adopt a statute that both houses would have to pass.”

Martin has proposed three pieces of legislation: a constitutional amendment, a rules change in the Senate, and a bill similar to last year’s. He says the problem with the old bill was that the state’s courts would have been able to strike down the law as unconstitutional.

Roll call voting is when legislators vote alphabetically, and their subsequent votes are recorded. Currently, such votes are only required if the bill involves taxes, funding, or certain other issues.

He said any senate rules not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution can only be decided by senate leaders.

Martin says he thinks the time has come for roll-call voting in both houses.

“We live in a day where voters are demanding…a greater awareness and a better ability to know how their legislator or senate member voted on whatever bill might be of interest to them, and I think they have a right to know that.”

The bill heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Courtesy: South Carolina Radio Network

The past year has been pretty eventful for South Carolina. We passed a number of conservative reforms in the Senate, and made the hard choices when it came budget time. The primary elections revealed some surprises and when Nov. 2 rolled around, conservatives took every statewide office. That means well for next year and the years to come. However, not everything was coming up roses. There are lessons to be learned from what wasn’t working, and what voters are telling elected officials.

Politically, you’d think a nasty virus swept through the electorate. People are sick, but the symptoms aren’t coughs and runny noses. It’s presenting through letters to the editor, phone calls to radio shows, demonstrations and voting out incumbents.

They’re sick of excuses. What we have to do is double down to find solutions to problems like the state budget woes, and not kick it down the road. People are sick of politicians putting faith in government. The way South Carolina moves forward is by empowering individuals to find their own way and allowing businesses to grow in a free market, not coming up with “fixes” from government.

People are sick of Republicans acting like Democrats. A voter goes to the polls to elect a Republican because they expect us to cut taxes, limit government and encourage economic growth. Any elected Republican who begins to stray from that may soon find themselves out of office. The people of South Carolina know that we will fix our economy and create jobs when we put our faith back in people and not in government.

As majority leader, I take my responsibility seriously to help craft the priorities Senate Republicans will champion, work hard for, and see passed into law. The legislative process can be frustrating at times. There are policies we’re fighting for that have stuck around for a while, whether it’s something that happens in committee, or disagreements with the House or with the governor. Next session, though, with a nearly new slate of state officials and large GOP majorities in the General Assembly, we have an unprecedented opportunity to move forward.

One of my top priorities for next year is driving our caucus more to the right and demanding common sense conservative reforms like spending caps and government restructuring, including needed changes to state health care agencies and the Budget and Control Board. The crisis with the funding of Medicaid and other programs through the Department of Health and Human Services, in particular, cries out for changes to make sure needed services are provided without requiring running deficits, higher taxes, more spending or more government.

Also at the top of the list is tort reform. The business community has been desperately asking for action on this for some time, but roadblocks pop up every session and a good, legitimate law never gets through. There’s no excuse. It’s past time for action.

We also need a good voter ID law. As much as our friends on the other side may act like it’s no big deal, voter fraud is not a laughing matter. The rest of the caucus and I are ready to head back to the floor in 2011 and push through the Democrats’ stalling tactics to make certain that our elections are safe, secure and beyond doubt. Considering the amount of things the average person does on a daily basis when they need to show a picture ID, doing it to vote is not that large an imposition.

And let’s not forget on-the-record voting. We’ve passed Senate rules to require on-the-record voting for a particular session, but that’s nothing permanent. At any given session, if enough senators agree, that session could be without what we’ve been doing recently and reassert the old order. We need to pass a law and make on-the-record voting real. Some people say that’s unconstitutional. If that’s proven, then we will put through a constitutional amendment to allow the voters to decide and correcting that issue.

The voters have told us in state government that they’re fed up. I’m listening and I’m going to demand that my colleagues get down to business.

The city of Gaffney unveiled its newly renovated “grand dame” Friday morning during a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house for the new visitor’s center and art gallery.

The center — first known as the federal building and best known as the former post office — was built in 1912-13 and was the Gaffney Post Office until 1991, Mayor Henry Jolly said during the ceremony.

Jolly said state funds secured by Sen. Harvey Peeler and the late Rep. Olin Phillips were used to purchase the building, which was vacant for several years.

Council’s plans to turn the former post office — which had recently fallen into disrepair — into the new visitor’s center and art gallery was a popular decision among city and county residents, City Administrator James Taylor said.

About $2 million — including $400,000 from state appropriations and the remainder from city Hospitality Tax funds — was spent to renovate the building, Taylor said.

Peeler was out of town Friday morning with the Senate caucus and was unable to attend the ceremony. His son, City Councilman Boone Peeler, said the visitor’s center and art gallery was a practical way to utilize one of the city’s most attractive buildings, which due to its impressive architecture, has been recognized by locals as “the grand dame” of Gaffney.

“It’s something we can all be proud of,” Boone Peeler said.

Cherokee Alliance for Visual Artists President Noah Lindemann said the group has worked diligently since the center opened on Oct. 2. CAVA — a group of artists — is based out of the center and will conduct tours as the public becomes familiar with the new center.

The group has secured a $66,483 grant from the Timken Foundation to supply the art and ceramics studio with equipment, including three potter’s wheels and three kilns. CAVA will hold classes in every medium, including drawing, quilting and painting, he said.

The center will be the first in the state to host the New Harmonies traveling show of history and music by the Smithsonian Institute. The center will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Courtesy: The State Newspaper
By: Glenn McConnell

With the state Department of Health and Human Services warning that it may end all payments to doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers in March if it isn’t allowed to run a deficit, a lot of people seem to be getting carried away by emotion and forgetting some basic principles about government.

Rather than focusing on how the lack of funds may impact the delivery of services for those South Carolinians who rely on Medicaid, we should be talking about how we got to this point — and what we need to do as a state to address federal mandates and our limited resources.

I was frankly upset when Director Emma Forkner informed me that she was running out of money and simply assumed that the agency would run a deficit. Nor was I happy to learn that an accounting maneuver was used to move a several hundred million dollar deficit from one year to the next.

Agencies need to balance their books and make the hard choices to live within their means. I believe that is what the state constitution requires, and I believe that is what the taxpayers expect of them.

I am not convinced nor do I believe that S.C. taxpayers should accept the argument that we are powerless to act differently and must spend beyond our means because of federal requirements. If the federal money is not enough to cover the expense of any program, it is not enough, and therefore, the program must stop. Agencies simply cannot pretend that the money is never ending and continue to spend, incurring a deficit to pay the next year. The obligation of executive branch agencies, as I see it, under the constitution, is first and foremost to the taxpayers of this state and not to bureaucrats in Washington. The 30 pieces of silver that our state received in the form of federal stimulus dollars should not be enough for us to disregard either our constitution or our oaths of office.

The question is, what do we do now? The easy but irresponsible thing would be to remain silent and allow Health and Human Services to run a deficit in the current fiscal year. We then would not face denying services on which people rely. But that is not right. Doing right is not easy, but it is what must be done. We are not an administration of comfort, but rather a government of laws. It may be hard to say no, but that is what our oath of office requires when there is no money. The state may have agreed to accept federal money and to expand eligibility, but not at the cost of the balanced budget requirement. When those dollars are gone, so are the services.

It may be a good lesson for our leaders and bureaucrats in Washington to know that when more people are added to the rolls and the program money runs out early, it will be those in dire need of governmental assistance who will be severely hurt. This is not the time for state officials to back away from requiring balanced budgets and no deficits. This is the time for us to stand up for constitutional government rather than administration by comfort. This is the time for our federal government to imitate the fiscal responsibility of the states rather than for the states to imitate the reckless spending of the federal government.

The question is no longer what we want to do, but what we can afford to do. We cannot legally or morally continue to fund programs that we cannot afford. Government must be like any business or family. When the money is gone, so is the ability to do what you want.

We also need to realize that every dollar that is overspent somewhere in state government is one less dollar to spend somewhere else or to return to taxpayers. If Health and Human Services, or any state agency, runs a deficit this year and we have to pay it back next year, then we have that much less to give to education for our children, to our publically funded institutions of higher education and to law enforcement.

We must adhere to the requirement for a balanced budget.

Let’s tell Washington we can spend no more than what is appropriated by elected representatives and what we can afford. Let’s stand up for our constitution and tell these federal bureaucrats that it is a usurpation of state sovereignty to require us to spend beyond what was appropriated and matched.

Mr. McConnell, a Charleston businessman and lawyer, chairs the Judiciary Committee and serves as president pro tempore of the state Senate.

Spartanburg, S.C. – Spartanburg Community College (SCC) honored Senator Harvey S. Peeler, Jr. on Wednesday, September 29 for his support of Spartanburg Community College’s Cherokee County Campus at a naming dedication of the Harvey S. Peeler, Jr. Academic Building.

“Senator Peeler is a champion of higher education and economic development. Everyone knows that economic development doesn’t happen without quality education and workforce training. That is the driving force of this campus,” said Mike Forrester, director of SCC’s economic development and interim director of the SCC’s corporate and community education division.

Gary Towery, chairman of the Spartanburg County Commission for Technical and Community Education, presented Senator Peeler with a resolution on behalf of the Commission and the College. “The Cherokee County Campus has a tremendous impact on this community and a large part of that can be attributed to Senator Peeler’s involvement in the establishment of the campus,” said Towery.

A native of Cherokee County, Senator Peeler was instrumental in establishing the SCC Cherokee County Campus and he continues to be an avid supporter of the College today. SCC’s dedication honors the Senator’s unwavering commitment to education and the economic development of his Upstate community over the years, as well as his many contributions to the state of S.C. throughout his tenure. He has served the people of Cherokee, Spartanburg, Union and York Counties for the past 34 years as a member of the Cherokee County Council and the S.C. Senate, District 14. He has held the position of the S.C. Senate Majority Leader since 2005.

“This honor today has a very special meaning for me. For you to place my name on an academic building, the words ‘Thank You’ just don’t seem strong enough. But from the bottom of my heart, thank you,” said Senator Peeler. “The ‘Field of Dreams’ attitude of ‘If you build it, they will come’ turned out to be an education and economic development bonanza for our county.”

“Senator Peeler is an important member of the SCC family,” said Dr. Para M. Jones, SCC’s president. “The Peeler name is known for dairy and politics, but we also associate this name with a man who is a tireless advocate for education. To commemorate the impact Senator Peeler has had on students, the College and the economic impact in Cherokee County, it’s fitting that we dedicate the Cherokee County Campus Academic Building in his honor. This facility and campus represent the educational legacy of Senator Peeler and his entire family. The Harvey S. Peeler, Jr. Academic Building will change lives and build futures for many SCC students in years to come.”

Perhaps no one could attest to the benefit of the Cherokee County Campus better than Johnica Ortiz, a Cherokee County resident and 2007 Gaffney High School graduate, who shared her personal story on what the campus means to her as a local resident attending college. “As a nursing student, I am grateful that the campus is close to my home. The Cherokee Campus has given me access to resources like the library and computer labs, “ said Ortiz. “It’s very convenient to take my core classes without having to commute.” Ortiz is a true advocate for the campus as she has just been named the new student ambassador representing the Cherokee County Campus at community and college events.

SCC’s Cherokee County Campus opened its doors in August 2007 and has averaged 700 students for the previous two fall semesters. Approximately 35 percent of the students taking classes at this campus are health science majors, 22 percent are University Transfer majors and 10 percent are business majors. “That speaks well for what this campus has meant and will continue to mean for the citizens of Cherokee County in the future,” said Mr. Forrester. “Senator Harvey Peeler played a key role in the development of this campus through his leadership in the S.C. Senate and his reputation as a dedicated public servant and a friend of SCC.”