Proposed SC State Health plan won't cover abortion

...unless the mother's life is in danger. Rape and incest are A-OK, and if by chance you should be a victim of one of these (includes minors), you will be forced to give birth.

Yes, nothing but COMPASSION from the Republicans.

From the Columbia STATE:

South Carolina’s state health plan would not pay for abortions in the case of rape or incest, according to a budget proviso unanimously approved by a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday.

The proviso, sponsored by Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, would only allow state taxpayers to pay for an abortion if the life of the mother is in jeopardy. Lawmakers have tried, and failed, to pass this proviso for at least two years. The proviso would only apply to people covered by the state’s health insurance plan. But it has come to represent the broader abortion debate in general, sparking passionate debate in the House and Senate while slowing the budget process.

“We’re focusing on the rights and the liberty of an unborn child, and I can’t understand why the life of a child that’s a victim ought to be terminated,” Bryant said.

But critics say barring abortions in the case of rape or incest only victimizes the mother.

The three exemptions in the state health plan -- rape, incest or life of the mother -- mirrors the policy of the federal government health plan, commonly referred to as the Hyde Amendment, named for former U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois.

Since 2009, state taxpayers have paid for 19 abortions. Seventeen of them were fetal deaths and two were to save the life of the mother, according to the state Budget and Control Board.

Sens. David Thomas and Mike Fair, both Greenville Republicans, also voted for the proviso. The next step is to pass the full Senate Finance Committee before it reaches the Senate floor.

Besides the garden-variety misogyny involved in forcing a 12-year-old raped by her father to give birth, what really gets me is: these same Republicans claim they are all about saving money, and how much money has all this pro-life political wrangling cost us, compared to a measly 19 abortions? How many working hours have been wasted on this noisy grandstanding to the right-wing base?

Basically, they like to fuss about saving money when they have nothing else to say. They don't mind spending our money arguing endlessly over stuff THEY have chosen to raise hell about. As we have previously established, David Thomas keeps collecting that pricey pension while still in office (that he claimed he didn't believe in), so regardless of what happens, he'll be just fine. He loves to take away the rights of others, all while giving himself more, more, more. No wonder he is such a successful politician.

Mike Fair, we have singled out here before. His entire political career is mostly based on abortion.

WHY are we stuck with these jokers, again? (sigh)

GPATS likes to spend your money

On Monday, Greenville Occupiers attended the GPATS (Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study) meeting at County Square in Greenville, South Carolina. The only good thing I can say about it: they had donuts.




Ostensibly, we had come to support Joel Ann Chandler, the woman whose business (Mauldin Open Air Market) is currently under attack by the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

SC-DOT (under the auspices of the mysterious GPATS) is currently engaging in a naked land-grab scheme, attempting to steal a goodly section of her already-small parking lot, using Eminent Domain. The time and money spent on all these hearings (where Joel Ann always has supporters present) seems to be no object; they appear determined to go forward. And yet, they invariably table her specific concerns until the next meeting.

It seems they prefer to grab someone's property when the victim isn't sitting right there; it unnerves them to steal it while the public is looking.

Joel Ann has repeatedly attempted to find out what's going on and why they want her property so badly. Various movers and shakers are buying up the property around Mauldin High School (across from Joel Ann's market), and future subdivisions are in the works. Obviously, this whole land-grab scheme is crucial to these plans, and the sacred TURN LANE (which will shave off most of her parking lot) will be necessary for traffic management after the subdivisions are built. But right now, the extra lane is unnecessary. Thus, they are planning on taking significant areas of her property in PREPARATION for what the money-men have planned for the neighborhood. It is NOT about what's going on with the traffic-flow right now.

WHO, then, IN PARTICULAR, is agitating for the turn lane, and why won't they name themselves? And what connections might they have to the individuals sitting on the GPATS board?

In short, why is GPATS doing the dirty work of the real estate interests who expect to make money off the subdivisions? Do they serve the people, who love Joel Ann's market that has sold local produce to the community since forever (the land has been in her family since the 20s)... or do they serve the special interests (real estate, banks, lawyers, construction companies, property owners) that expect to make money off the future subdivisions?

Well, that is certainly an interesting question, in light of the meeting. I had never been to one of these, so it was educational.

GPATS has lots of projects going. LOTS. And some of them are fairly obvious to me. Fairforest Way, for instance, is the home of the local UPS hub. It is also the main road leading to Cavalier Drive, home of Christ Church Episcopal School, where the affluent kids of Greenville are educated. Thus, Fairforest Way rates a big road project. Our tax money is therefore paying to maintain a main thoroughfare for wealthy private-school kids and staggeringly-wealthy private-industry. How many of Greenville's citizens will this road actually serve? Is this ethical? And still another project will insure ICAR has good access roads, since of course we all know Clemson's partners in this endeavor, Microsoft and BMW, can't afford to build their own. (Link to GPATS pdf file detailing these projects)

At left: David Thomas, glad-handing the citizenry at the GPATS meeting.


Besides that, all of these roads-projects have hefty price-tags--millions of dollars earmarked--with little discussion. In fact, make that NO discussion. There was no itemized list of costs presented to this board, packed with Republicans and chaired by Head Teabagger, State Senator David Thomas, a shyster-politician who thoroughly believes in living off the beneficent state.

I thought Republicans didn't believe in squandering taxpayers' money? (No, I have never believed that either, but that is the okeydoke they put out.) So, how about an itemized list, detailing exactly where these millions of greenbacks are going, and an explanation of why THESE particular road-projects have been given precedent over others in poorer neighborhoods? Did they submit these projects to a public bidding process, to insure the cheapest bid? Who knows? GPATS works in secret... the board is composed of many elected officials, but how did they get appointed to GPATS? We counted about two dozen board-members, all white men, with one black woman and one white woman, period. (Now, who decided on THAT?) There are plenty of elected officials they could have asked to be on the GPATS who aren't white males, but perhaps they don't know any? How is one for selected for the GPATS board?

Who decided this board was the Alpha and Omega of the roads projects in Greenville County? How did this rather shadowy group of politicians get put in charge of millions of dollars, as well as the power to steal a private-business-owner's property? Most local citizens I have talked to, did not realize GPATS was calling the shots instead of the SC Department of Transportation.

Yes, this is the way politics in the South works, mysteriously and behind-the-scenes, by way of the Old Bubba Network.

And it sucks.

~*~

During the meeting, my Consigliere rose and made some rather forceful public comments about the demographics of the GPATS board not matching up with the demographics of Greenville County. He wasn't too popular.

We also listened to a rich woman's lawyer talk about saving her property from one such intrusive road-project, by installing a "modern roundabout," and we then watched a little video about the roundabouts, which keep traffic moving and save energy and so on. GPATS board member Jim Burns immediately said it was a good idea... and by my calculations (noting the map where this rich woman's property is), I figured out that Burns is her County Council representative, so he knows which side his bread is buttered on, as my grandmother used to say.

Can we trust this process, coming from a board with no electoral oversight? (Chaired by a man who famously says one thing and does another?)

I realized, this ongoing abuse of Joel Ann is merely the tip of the iceberg, and GPATS, responsible for allocating millions of dollars, has plenty to answer for.

Like, who are they? Who decides which projects get priority? How does one get on the GPATS board? Is there a bidding process? If not, how do they decide which companies get these plum contracts?

We can start there.

~*~

We will be discussing GPATS and other interesting local politics on my radio show Saturday morning, so stay tuned. WFIS radio, 9-10am, 1600AM and/or 94.9FM in upstate SC. To listen via your phone: 724-444-7444, Call ID: 112747#

We would especially like to hear from GPATS board members, as well as folks who have had dealings with them, up close and personal. TELL US ABOUT IT! Studio phone line: 864-228-WFIS which is also 864-228-9347.

And please support the Mauldin Open Air Market, where last year I met the legendary Country Earl! They have the very best, fresh, locally-grown peanuts in town.

Republicans use SC Governor's mansion as Motel 6

Newt Gingrich, presidential candidate, is spending the night in the South Carolina governor's mansion tomorrow night, as Governor Nikki Haley's guest.

And that's perfectly fine, if she wants guests. But can I see the books, please? Who is paying for this? And what's on the menu? Laundry service included? WiFi, continental breakfast and hot showers will be readily available, one assumes. All of that will run you a good $200 a night at a Hampton Inn... and at a nice Columbia-area bed-and-breakfast, would likely be even higher. (Meals not included.)

Perhaps that isn't a lot of dough to Marie Antoin---oops, I mean Governor Haley, but to us unemployed people out here, it sure is.

Is the governor cleaning the room herself, after the Gingriches depart? Who is? And who pays THAT person? Wait, let me guess.

And why are WE being used as a Motel 6 by Newt Gingrich? Is his campaign so bedraggled that he can't pay his own motel bills? After staying the night in Nikki's swanky digs, Newt will truck his useless ass on down to Hilton Head (and where else!?!) to "host" a movie at Coligny Theatre. Thus, staying at the Governor's Mansion is a nice little cost-cutter for his campaign. Nice work if you can get it!

I don't think I should have to pay for that, as I recently paid for a similar slumber party featuring Nikki and Michele Bachmann. As I ALSO PAID for Nikki to party in Europe and stay at the nicest hotels in France.

WE CAN NOT AFFORD this so-called "fiscal conservative"--this FAKE, who admits she intends to steal pensions from hard-working police, teachers, librarians, road-construction workers and firefighters, all so she can support her friend's presidential aspirations. HOW DID WE GET STUCK WITH THIS PERSON?

Exactly like State Senator David Thomas, Haley is opposed to "government spending"--unless the spending is on Nikki Haley. These people are abject phonies. GREEDY, self-serving phonies, at that.

The next time you hear them nattering on about "government spending"--ask to see the books. I assume most of them are just as phony as Haley, Bachmann, Gingrich and Thomas. Liars, all.

Otherwise, the Motel 6 for you tomorrow night, Newt. I don't like paying your bills, although I realize you have your (third) wife's hefty jewelry debts to pay! I can see why you are trying to save a buck, just not at MY expense.

Maybe you should start managing your money the way you self-righteously tell everyone else to?

Grandma Daisy's: "We don't dial 911"

I see Renegade Evolution's existential question... and I raise her one! At left, photo reads: Grandma Daisy's: "We don't dial 911" and is punctuated with a nice old-school firearm. (This is an antique store in Fredericksburg, Texas, and of course, I could not resist taking the photo for my blog!)

Not coincidentally, various folks over the years have joked to your humble narrator, that I probably didn't need 911, and they are probably right about that. ;)

Speaking of which: Suitably adorable Grandma photos of my trip, for anyone interested. I loved seeing my grandbabies! (I worried that photos of me and Barbie would ruin my feminist cred, but hey, I think that was already compromised a long time ago!)

~*~

A sort of all-purpose post, as I create links for the Daisy Deadhead show tomorrow. (Commercial: LIKE US ON FACEBOOK!) I suppose I could bring my laptop to the radio station (WFIS, tomorrow, 9-10am), but trying to fiddle with the keyboard and talk, at the same time? Sounds risky to me. I am NOT Wolfman Jack. Maybe when I get a little more proficient at this stuff.

First up, will be the illuminating story in the Austin Statesman, Personal ties key to Rick Perry's wealth:

Gov. Rick Perry might like for people to believe he made more than $1 million while holding elective office in Texas through shrewd business decisions, but in almost every case he was steered to his investments.

From his father-in-law renting space in a building Perry owned back home in Haskell to a high school buddy from Future Farmers of America helping him make a million in a Horseshoe Bay land deal, Perry has been more than just lucky or shrewd. He has been a man with friends.

The question of whether Perry's real estate windfalls have been a result of friends helping friends or are evidence of some sort of corruption has been fodder for some of his past campaign opponents.

"From abusing his power over appointments to getting sweetheart real estate deals from supporters, he's a regular get-rich-quick icon," U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign manager said of Perry before last year's gubernatorial primary.

During the general election campaign last year, Democratic opponent Bill White said of one deal, "Perry's investment was enhanced by a series of professional courtesies and personal favors."

Over the course of about 18 years , Perry and his wife, Anita, grew from struggling to make ends meet in Haskell County to having a comfortable retirement nest egg built primarily from real estate deals Perry made while he was a statewide elected official.

And rest assured, there is plenty more dirt where THAT came from. Tune in for my personal assessment of Rick Perry's business acumen! NOTE: I DO have my all-purpose, FCC-approved, NO CUSSING sign, as I mentioned HERE, so I am required to keep my anti-Perry commentary squeaky clean. (It's a challenge, but I am up to it.)

On the local front, we will be peeling and digesting State Senator David Thomas (R-of course), who opposes "government spending"--except when the spending is on David Thomas. Another faker, like Governor Haley.

He carefully voted himself a cushy pension for working only A SCANT FEW YEARS:

At age 55, South Carolina state Sen. David Thomas began collecting a pension for his legislative service without leaving office.

Most workers must retire from their jobs before getting retirement benefits. But Thomas used a one-sentence law that he and his colleagues passed in 2002 to let legislators receive a taxpayer-funded pension instead of a salary after serving for 30 years.

Thomas' $32,390 annual retirement benefit — paid for the rest of his life — is more than triple the $10,400 salary he gave up. His pension exceeds the salary because of another perk: Lawmakers voted to count their expenses in the salary used to calculate their pensions.

No other South Carolina state workers get those perks.

Since January 2005, Thomas, a Republican, has made $148,435 more than a legislative salary would have paid, his financial-disclosure records show. At least four other South Carolina lawmakers are getting pensions instead of salaries, netting an extra $292,000 since 2005, records show.

And finally, I will try to include Anna's comments at Mills River Progressive, which came courtesy of Onyx Lynx. (THANK YOU!)

It just seems so obvious, but sometimes, people have to spell out the obvious:

All the Politicos Yapping About "Creating Jobs" Avoid the REAL Solution

Which is to stop sending the jobs overseas. Duh. That would be the logical course of action, if the U.S. Congress actually worked on behalf of the citizenry. Obviously they don't, and therefore none of them will propose the only lasting solutions to our massive unemployment. End our destructive trade policies, restore fair trade policies and practices, invest in new sustainable industries on the domestic front (other than weapons), and sweet pygmy Jeebus STOP REWARDING CORPORATIONS THAT SEND JOBS OVERSEAS!

There. That's not too difficult, is it? It's not rocket science. And it's well within the realm of the possible. But *they* won't do it. They won't discuss it. Almost no one will mention it on the floor of Congress. Why? Why won't the people who supposedly represent our interests do the things that will lead to a reversal of our crumbling fortunes and dismal futures? Because their handlers - their actual bosses, the financial elite, the investor class, the 1% - don't want that.

The reality is that our lives are of no importance to them. In fact, we're obsolete. They make enormous amounts of money by sending our industries, our (former) work to the third world. They're profiting like never before; why on earth would they want to return to the bad old days, when profits were hampered by trade policy, by benefit packages, by paying a middle-class wage?

I will try to quote the whole thing, if there is time. We hope to be hearing directly via telephone from Green Party members who are currently occupying Wall Street. YEAH!

I will also slip in a mention of Duke Energy's intention to raise our utility-rates, and the necessary information about the local public hearings. The print on the teeny-tiny postcard recently mailed out by Duke Energy is nearly microscopic, and very difficult to read.

I'm sure that's only a coincidence. They wouldn't try to dissuade people from coming to the hearings, now would they?

Mark Sanford, continued, still, again...

Photo of our esteemed governor is from WJBF-TV.


In the continuing (and always entertaining) Governor Mark Sanford saga, Lt. Gov Andre Bauer (who just moved into the Thornblade neighborhood, which is why I've been seeing him everywhere lately) asked him to resign, and he refused. No quitter he! And now, he sets up a podium in an empty field (!), across from the office of his chief critic, state Senator David Thomas (R-Fountain Inn) and commences preaching.

Thomas is running for congress using Sanford as his "let's clean up this joint" object lesson, which totally flips out Sanford.

Gov. Mark Sanford attacks travel probe as 'pure politics'
Sen. David Thomas denies charge, says he wants governor to answer questions

Gov. Mark Sanford went to the doorstep of one of his critics to defend himself Thursday, declaring in Greenville that state Sen. David Thomas is attempting to advance his political career by questioning the governor's travel practices.

“If you look at sort of where people are coming from, some people think it's in their best interest to drum up some of what's been going on because they think it'll help them climb to the next ladder in politics,” Sanford said. “With other folks, they think it's payback time. They didn't particularly like where we've come from on restructuring or spending or some other things.”

Said Sanford: “There's something wrong with selective outrage.”

The state's embattled chief executive chose to make his stand in an empty field across from the Wade Hampton Boulevard law office of Thomas, who is the chairman of a Senate panel examining the Republican governor's travel.

Thomas, R-Fountain Inn, also is running for Congress. He refused to back down from the travel investigation, telling reporters, “I'm not on a witch hunt.”

He said he has asked the governor to appear before his subcommittee after Labor Day to answer its questions, but “there's no response from his attorney to that question.”

“We can, hopefully, get a lot of things answered,” Thomas said. “But there are many things on the table that haven't been answered, and I requested his presence to accomplish that.”

Thomas, who was working in his office as Sanford spoke from a hastily erected podium across the street, said afterward, “I wanted to join the governor, but it seemed such an odd, strange situation.”

“I've been in public office a long time and I've never seen anything like this,” Thomas said.

The governor preaching from a field? You've never seen anything like it? Ah come on, Senator Thomas. How odd can that be?

A field. Set up a podium IN A FIELD.

Sanford's travels and use of state aircraft have been under scrutiny since the governor disappeared from Columbia in June and returned to admit an affair with an Argentine woman.

There have been calls for an ethics investigation and some lawmakers say Sanford could face impeachment proceedings.

Thomas has said he believes some of Sanford's foreign flights violated a state law that requires state employees to choose the least expensive method of travel. He has focused on six overseas flights made by Sanford in which he said the governor flew business class.

[...]

Sanford, who is in his second term and can't run for re-election, told reporters in Greenville that calls for investigations of his actions and related media accounts are “pure politics.”

Usually, that sorta thing comes OUTSIDE of your own party, though, doesn't it?

When your own party is gunning for you, time to leave.

“Let's not make decisions based on hyperbole, on simply media” reports, Sanford said.

“Let's make decisions on facts,” he said. “When one looks at the facts, we have a compelling record in terms of watching out for the taxpayer.”

Some House GOP leaders said even if Sanford's contentions about other governors and officials prove true, it will not impact impeachment talk.

“Two wrongs do not make a right,” said House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham.

House Speaker Pro Tempore Harry Cato of Travelers Rest said Sanford's argument reminds him of the rationale used by his children.

“Everybody else was at the party, why couldn't I?” Cato said. “I don't think the ‘me, too' argument is going to hold much weight.”

Cato said more problematic for the governor is that he has chastised lawmakers and other officials over the years for not being frugal enough in travel.

“Probably the thing this governor is most guilty of is just being a hypocrite,” he said.

Rep. Nathan Ballentine of Irmo, one of Sanford's closest allies in the House, said Sanford laid out his travel arguments and facts when he met with him earlier this week to ask him to resign. He said while Sanford believes his side of the story hasn't gotten out to the public, Ballentine believes the most important question is a larger one.

“The decision shouldn't be about what's best for what individual,” he said. “The decision ought to be about what's best for our state. And I think in order to have our officials refocus on what's important, the story has to change.”

Michael Sponhour, a spokesman for the State Budget and Control Board, said the travel regulations referred to by Thomas were first created in 1981 and then amended in 1992 to change prior approval of foreign travel by the agency to reporting such travel after the fact. He said the regulations are designed to be used in granting employees reimbursement for travel, not prior approval by his agency.

Also Thursday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dwight Drake told reporters he believes four of the state's constitutional officers should act immediately upon a state constitutional provision for removing the governor by declaring him unable to carry out his duties.

“It's crystal clear,” Drake said. “This fellow is not able to do his job.”

Drake said unless at least three of the four officers — the state attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller general and treasurer — act, the issue will be left to the Legislature and impeachment hearings, which could drag on throughout next year.

But all four constitutional officers said they disagree with Drake's interpretation of the provision, which is referred to under the heading of disability.

“We don't have a matter of physical or mental disability here,” said Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, a Sanford ally. “We have a lot of political hysteria.”

Treasurer Converse Chellis said it would be inappropriate to use the section “without some real documentation of either a mental or physical disability that would hinder Mr. Sanford's ability to govern.”

Secretary of State Mark Hammond said his counsel's advice is that the provision does not apply.

“Being unpopular and ineffective is not necessarily a mental or physical disability,” he said.

Mark Plowden, a spokesman for State Attorney General Henry McMaster, a GOP candidate for governor, said McMaster was asked about the provision earlier this summer and does not believe it applies.

“The attorney general believes it's written quite obviously as if the governor has fallen ill or is somehow incapacitated, not anything else,” he said.

Meanwhile the State Law Enforcement Division announced the arrest of a Hilton Head man on charges of threatening Sanford. According to the warrant, Brian Joseph Macdermant, 39, is accused of telephoning the governor's office and conveying a threat to Sanford through a staff person.

Macdermant is charged with threatening the life of a public official, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Also on Thursday, Sanford continued to his push for public forgiveness with a luncheon stop at the Greenville County Republican Women's Club.

He apologized for his “moral failure” for the extramarital affair, but told the club it's time to move on from the scandal.

Sanford said he has “an incredible opportunity” to make his last 16 months in office the most productive because he has no remaining political ambition.

“This is it,” Sanford said.

Do you believe this?

Why are we stuck with this arrogant dick?

I don't believe he has no remaining political ambition...why else would he be hanging around, unless he thought he could do some powerhouse thing to redeem himself?

Certainly, he has no political power in the state right now, to accomplish anything.

Some folks think he just can't give up the office, he LIKES it too much.

Jenny's finally had enough

...and as the Associated Press photo at left shows us, she is hauling ass out of the Governor's Mansion and decamping to Sullivan's Island. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)


Our hapless romantic Governor Mark Sanford and his family had just returned from the much-ballyhooed European vacation, (where things would get all ironed out, one assumes)... only to see the wife pack up her shit and get out. GOOD FOR YOU, JENNY!

Huffington Post comments:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford moved out of the official governor's residence with their four sons Friday, a little more than a month after he admitted to a yearlong affair with an Argentine woman he called his "soul mate."

First lady Jenny Sanford and several other women moved bags of clothes, a suitcase and armloads of suits and dresses on hangers from the governor's mansion in Columbia before departing in a caravan of sport utility vehicles. Three of the four boys were present, carrying tote and duffel bags.

Before departing, she hugged several of the women who helped her carry belongings out. In a statement, Jenny Sanford said she was heading to the family residence on Sullivans Island, some 120 miles southeast, for the upcoming school year.

"From there, we will work to continue the process of healing our family," she said. "While we will be leaving Columbia, we will return often, and I will remain engaged in activities in my role as First Lady, acknowledging that my responsibilities to my family come first."

The governor, who spoke to reporters elsewhere in the state later Friday, termed the reconciliation "a day at a time process" and said the move was a mutual decision.

"It's been brewing for a while and something we've been back and forth on and kicked around at length. It was not entered into lightly but with a whole lot of thought and prayer," he said.

Jenny Sanford is a former Wall Street vice president who helped launch her husband's political career only to endure his tearful public confession in June. She had separated from her husband and sought refuge with her sons at the couple's coastal home two weeks before news of the affair broke.

The coastal home is a low, two-story house set back 50 yards from the beach, featuring a large great room with windows overlooking the water. It was briefly on the market earlier this year with an asking price of $3.5 million.

So, Jenny can obviously take care of herself. Don't cry for her, Argentina!

Now, we have some more goods on Mark Sanford:

COLUMBIA — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford used state aircraft for personal and political trips, often bringing along his wife and children — contrary to state law regarding official use, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Records reviewed by the AP show that since he took office in 2003, the two-term Republican has taken trips on state aircraft to locations of his children's sporting events, hair and dentist appointments, political party gatherings and a birthday party for a campaign donor.

According to state budget law, “Any and all aircraft owned or operated by agencies of the State Government shall be used only for official business.”

On March 10, 2006, a state plane was sent to pick up Sanford in Myrtle Beach and return him to Columbia, the state capital, at a cost of $1,265 — when his calendar showed his only appointment in Columbia was “personal time” at his favorite discount hair salon. He had flown to Myrtle Beach on a private plane and attended a county GOP event.

The trip home on the state aircraft took off at 1:50 p.m. and arrived in Columbia at 2:35 p.m., enabling the governor to keep his plans for a 3 p.m. haircut across town. There were no other appointments on his official schedule that afternoon; the trip back to Columbia would have taken about three hours by car.

Also, on five of the last six Thanksgiving weekends, Sanford used a state plane to fly himself, his wife and their four sons from the family's plantation in Beaufort County to Columbia for the state Christmas tree lighting. The cost for those flights alone: $5,536, including $2,869 for flying the plane empty to pick them up.

Sanford, 49, has been under increased scrutiny since he admitted in June to having a mistress in Argentina. He's vowed to stay in office and says he is trying to reconcile with his wife, though she moved out of the governor's official residence on Friday with their sons and plans to spend the school year at the family's beach house.

The governor has made a political career out of being outwardly thrifty — known to demand that state employees use both sides of Post-It notes. He has frequently railed against government spending, and attempted for months to block federal stimulus money for South Carolina schools.

Last month, the AP revealed how Sanford had flown first class and business class on commercial airlines at taxpayer expense, despite a law requiring lowest-cost travel.

On many occasions, records show, the governor mingled his non-official travels with official business.

For example, on March 23, 2005, Sanford flew on a state plane from Columbia to Mount Pleasant, near the beach house, where the governor was scheduled for a 5 p.m. appointment with a dentist. Later that day, he had a TV interview before speaking at a Republican Party event for Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties along with U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint.

Such mingling also is problematic under South Carolina regulations.

Aeronautics Division rules say that “under no circumstances shall aircraft owned and operated by” the division “be used for personal or politically partisan purposes.” But there's no clear enforcement mechanism for such violations; the division says it simply lets citizens know that statements attesting to official use of the planes are open to public inspection.

Still, misuse of state resources arguably could subject Sanford to civil or criminal penalties under the state's ethics laws, which are enforced by the South Carolina Ethics Commission. Any public official found to have used state property for personal financial gain is subject to as much as a $5,000 fine and five years in prison. Only incidental use that does not result in additional public expense is exempt.

On April 29, 2006, a state plane flew Sanford from Greenville, not far from where one of his sons was in a soccer tournament, to Charleston, so the governor could attend a National Republican Senatorial Committee meeting on Kiawah Island.

“That's personal use and political use. That's not what the state plane is for,” said former Gov. Jim Hodges, a Democrat who said he occasionally mingled official state business with political and public events while using state aircraft, but only if the main purpose of the trip was official business.

Peggy Kerns, ethics director for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said she knows of no state that allows its property to be used for personal or campaign purposes. “It's like a no-brainer,” she said.

Government watchdogs said federal officials have to repay the cost of flying government planes for personal or campaign events and said they didn't know of a state that permitted planes to be used for such trips.

The AP review also raises questions about how South Carolina polices the use of its aircraft and reveals a system rife with shoddy record keeping and violations of laws that require the public be able to see documents.

In South Carolina, governors are able to use aircraft run by different agencies: a King Air twin turboprop run by the Aeronautics Division that can seat nine passengers, and smaller, slower propeller-driven planes managed by the Department of Natural Resources.

As governor, Sanford has flown 353 hours aboard the larger plane and an additional 73 hours on the smaller, propeller planes — a total cost of nearly $373,000, according to Sanford's office and other state records.

Sanford's children spent more time on the bigger state plane than the children of the past two governors, records show. At least one of Sanford's sons was aboard 43 flights during his first term alone. That compared with 11 during Hodges' single term and 12 during David Beasley's one term.

Overall, flights that included his children cost taxpayers more than $50,000, or about 14 percent of his total travel on state planes.

“If it was somewhere the governor was going, sometimes the kids tagged along. There is no additional cost to the taxpayers for the kids to be on the plane if it's somewhere the governor is headed anyway,” said Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer, who stepped down Aug. 5.

Additional matches of flight documents and Sanford's schedule show:

— An Oct. 14, 2004 pickup in Bishopville, where his schedule shows his son Marshall's private school football team was playing. Afterward, the plane took him to Charlotte, N.C., for a commercial flight to Dallas, where his schedule placed the governor at a lake house in Texas for a gathering of Republican donors.

— A Nov. 14, 2006 flight to Mount Pleasant, where he attended a book signing. He then flew to Aiken for the 65th birthday party for a business owner who had donated more than $12,000 to his campaign.

— A July 8, 2005 use of the state's turboprop to fly from Charleston to Greenville, where Sanford lists the official use of the King Air for a round-table discussion with business leaders, interviews and “Greenville County Bronze Elephant Dinner,” a county GOP event.

Sawyer said the governor had fewer hours on Aeronautics Division planes in his first term than his two predecessors: 229 hours, compared with Beasley's 303 hours and Hodges' 310 hours. Sawyer characterized the review of Sanford's flight schedule as “continued cherry picking,” a term he used when the AP examined the commercial flights.

“Every time the governor used the plane it was for an official state purpose and that state purpose was documented,” Sawyer said.

He also said Sanford's schedule doesn't chronicle all his official activities. “The governor's schedule is not reflective of everything he's doing that day,” he said.

Former state Rep. Margaret Gamble, a watchdog on political travel issues, said Sanford should get the benefit of the doubt on a case-by-case basis. For instance, one of Sanford's flights took him from Anderson to Marion County for a soldier's funeral and then to Greenwood so he could get to a McCormick County GOP fundraiser. “Maybe he had a prior commitment,” she said, but needed to go to the funeral, too, and the plane was the only way to keep his promise.

Other governors have faced questions about aircraft use, including Beasley for using a state helicopter to get to a speech and then back for a golf game. John Crangle, state director for government watchdog group Common Cause, said governors “have been given almost unlimited latitude to do as they please, to come and go as they please or when they want to and to use the state's resources for travel when they want.”

He said the AP research indicates Sanford repeatedly made mistakes.

“This was the Wild West for the governor's travel when basically anything was permitted or done and accepted as normal,” Crangle said.

In fact, state law requires the Aeronautics Division to collect and keep sworn statements from aircraft users certifying flights were for official business within 48 hours of flights. Sanford's office routinely filed that paperwork days or weeks late and the division destroys documents more than three years old.

“They're actually destroying data that the Legislature gave them no permission to destroy. That's like destroying evidence,” said state Sen. David Thomas, a Republican congressional candidate who has begun holding legislative hearings into Sanford's use of state funds.

The same law requires the agency to post those records on its Web site. That was done briefly earlier this month, but the Aeronautics Division pulled the link to the records as the commission that oversees its operation reviews the law. Until July 1, the agency reported to Sanford's cabinet.

And the law required the natural resources agency to keep official statements on flights, which it never has. Governors appoint the entire board overseeing the agency.

“The situation is one that's dramatically out of control and needs to be completely overhauled,” Crangle said.

Added Thomas: “It's an overwhelming ethical issue here. To me, this is clear misuse of state property.”

Can we please, please, please get rid of this embarrassing asshole? Pretty please.

(((Daisy fumes on her way to work)))

SC Senate investigating Mark Sanford

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford holds forth at a press conference at the Greer DMV on Tuesday. He was mostly baited about the mysterious Maria from Argentina, and the fact that he was not wearing his wedding ring. (Photo by Owen Riley Jr of the Greenville News)

Yeah, sports fans, it got ugly!

~*~


More on the never-ending saga of Mark Sanford:

S.C. Senate's probe of Mark Sanford has little precedent
Only twice before has governor been investigated, historians say
By Tim Smith • Capital bureau • July 24, 2009
Greenville News

COLUMBIA — A Senate subcommittee today will begin what historians are calling an unprecedented investigation of a sitting governor in modern times when it convenes to look into the travel of Gov. Mark Sanford, with the governor and his family in Europe on a two-week vacation.

Sen. David Thomas of Fountain Inn, chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Constitutional Officers, announced the probe last week as part of his panel's oversight responsibilities. He has said it has nothing to do with his race for Congress.

Sanford announced June 24 that he engaged in a yearlong extramarital affair with an Argentine woman, Maria Belen Chapur. He denied spending state resources on the affair, but wrote the state a check for more than $3,000 after admitting he had met Chapur on an economic development trip to Argentina and Brazil in June 2008.

A State Law Enforcement Division review of Sanford's travel expenses on the five trips during which the governor said he met Chapur in Argentina or New York found no wrongdoing, SLED's director announced earlier this month.

Thomas said, however, the SLED review was based entirely on trips volunteered by Sanford. He said he wants a more thorough look at the governor's travel, to see where he went during the dozens of times he told his security detail not to follow him.

“It (the SLED review) only looked at five trips that zeroed in on Chapur,” Thomas said. “It did not look at the mass of trips and the issue that is in front of the committee, which is was there any misappropriation of state funds on non-state-related business.”

The other members of Thomas' three-member subcommittee may not appear today because they are on vacation, Thomas said, but he hopes at least one may attend anyway.

“If they can come, they can come,” he said. “If not, I can at least lay out the outline of what we're going to be doing.”

Thomas had planned to call SLED Director Reggie Lloyd as the panel's first witness but Lloyd said he couldn't make it on Friday, Thomas said. Lloyd is providing a memo about SLED's review but not the agency's formal report on the matter, Thomas said.

Jennifer Timmons, a SLED spokeswoman, said the report is “not available yet.”

The subcommittee's probe of a sitting governor is unusual, according to historians, and unprecedented in modern times.

A.V. Huff, a retired Furman University history professor who chairs the State Archives Commission, said only twice since reconstruction has the Legislature confronted a governor with an investigation or vote of nonsupport.

The last time, he said, was in the 1930s, when then-Gov. Olin Johnston demanded the resignation of the State Highway Commission, which refused, prompting the governor to call out the state militia to surround the agency.

The commission, he said, appealed to the Legislature, which refused to support the governor and the crisis faded.

“It was a political standoff, which I suspect is what is going to happen here,” he said, referring to Sanford.

The Legislature in 1872, Huff said, investigated then-Gov. Franklin Moses Jr. and he was indicted for stealing. Moses then surrounded the governor's mansion with troops to avoid arrest, he said.

University of South Carolina political science Professor Blease Graham said he doesn't know of any other instance in modern times in which lawmakers investigated a sitting governor.

“It is very unusual,” he said.

Officials in Sanford's office have reacted to the probe by Thomas' committee by saying the office will be cooperative but view the inquiry as unnecessary after the SLED review.

Thomas said he has invited other members of the Senate Finance Committee to attend.

He said he hopes the hearings can be finished in 30-45 days. Should the panel need subpoena power, he said it will need to request that from the full finance committee. He said his panel also might simply note that certain witnesses or officials were uncooperative in the subcommittee's report, should that happen.

Senator Thomas claims none of his colleagues have openly opposed the hearings. He says there are "innuendos" and "undercurrents" that he should not be continuing, but nobody has come right out and told him to stop.

I think they call that, talking out of both sides of your mouth.

Stay tuned, sports fans!

South Carolina drops out of campaign to attract gay tourists

Left: Mr Natural, by R. Crumb.

~*~

This embarrassing local issue has already been covered at Feministe and Joe.My.God. (among other blogs)... And here is the Greenville News version:

State drops out of campaign to attract gay tourists

July 11, 2008

COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s state tourism agency has dropped out of an effort to attract gay tourists.

The State newspaper of Columbia reported Friday the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department had joined a campaign tied to gay pride week celebrations in London that included ads saying “South Carolina is so gay.”

The newspaper says Atlanta, Boston and New Orleans were also part of the campaign.

The state agency said Thursday it would not pay a fee of nearly $5,000 to participate in the ad campaign.

Director Chad Prosser says an agency advertising manager had signed off on the contract proposed by the state’s London advertising coordinator.

Prosser says the agency will require more review of future overseas advertising.

Greenville Sen. David Thomas called for an audit, after learning of the matter.

AND THAT'S IT, my friends. No reporting AT ALL about WHY this advertising might prove problematic. It's just UNDERSTOOD.

It's UNDERSTOOD that Prosser and Thomas DON'T WANT GAYS TO VISIT THE STATE. Otherwise, what is the problem? We target all kinds of other groups of people for their tourism dollars, don't we? Gold Wing Road Riders Association just had their huge "Wing Ding" convention here--didn't somebody invite them?

(Is the Greenville News something, or what? Not for nothing do some call it the Green-Vile News.)

Senate bill allows display of Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments

They finally figured out a way to sneak them in. They are now "historical" documents and are included solely for that reason.

Of course, this begs the question: the Catholic or Protestant version of the Ten Commandments? (I bet I know the answer to that one!)

Senate bill allows display of Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments

By Tim Smith • STAFF WRITER • May 23, 2008 • GREENVILLE NEWS

COLUMBIA -- The Senate passed a bill today that would allow displays in public buildings of the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer as historical documents.

The bill, without the Lord’s Prayer amendment, already passed the House and now returns there for legislators to determine whether they agree with the Senate’s change. If they agree, the bill goes to Gov. Mark Sanford.

Passage came with one prominent opponent. Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell said the Lord’s Prayer amendment is "constitutional quicksand" that will draw a court challenge and unnecessary legal fees.

"There are at least five different versions of the Lord’s Prayer," he said. "I have no problem personally with the Lord’s Prayer being publicly displayed. But the courts have spoken pretty clearly about where they are on the separation of church and state and these documents."

The bill would allow public bodies, including schools, to display a set of 11 documents lawmakers say help make up the nation’s foundation of law and government. Included are the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation and Martin Luther King’s "I have a Dream" speech, as well as the national motto, "In God We Trust."

The documents must include language included in the bill that explains each document’s historical significance.

"The historical documents bill passed by the Senate is a win because it will help to further educate people about the documents that formed the foundation of our country’s history and provide deeper meaning to the great and rich history that we have in this country," said Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens, who shepherded the issue through the Senate.

"It will also be a great tool for history, civic and government teachers to use in their classroom."

Martin said afterward that a number of senators were nervous about including the Lord’s Prayer but did so out of fear of what voters would think if they voted against it. The amendment was proposed by Sen. Brad Hutto, an Orangeburg Democrat.

"Some people felt like there was no way they could go back home and explain why they voted against the Lord’s Prayer," Martin said.

Sen. Mike Fair of Greenville said the bill is "sound." He added, "It’s not religious. It’s historical."

Parts of the Lord’s Prayer, Fair said, was referenced by an early governor of Georgia in removing a provision for debtors’ prison.

However, McConnell, the only senator voting against the bill, said if the Lord’s Prayer is left in, the bill will be overturned by the courts.

"I cannot vote for a bill when all of the advice from the lawyers leads you to the presumption that it is unconstitutional," he said.

"The taxpayers are going to end up footing the bill for all of this. If we had stuck to the documents that have been pretty much court tested, we would be fine. But we expanded it beyond that. And I believe it will cause the package to explode in the courts."

Sen. David Thomas, a Greenville County Republican, disagreed. "It’s true that the Lord’s Prayer wasn’t included in some of the test cases," he said. "But the condition of the test cases is whether the item is placed into historical context. I think they made it where we have a good shot at maintaining the constitutionality of it."

Thomas said he doesn’t mind the bill being challenged because it could expand the documents that can be set in such displays.

What else qualifies? What else might we get put on display? (I see no foreseeable end to the Bible verses.)

And if this is challenged in the courts, I don't want to pay for it. Do I get a choice?