Lt Gov Andre Bauer refuses to apologize

South Carolina Lt. Gov Andre Bauer, photo from The Palmetto Scoop.


As you probably have heard, there is now a national firestorm over our esteemed Lt Gov Andre Bauer's "ill-chosen" remarks:

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better,” Bauer said.

He made the Washington Post, Jon Stewart and the Rachel Maddow Show! Bauer is famous at long last. ((sigh))

And locally, his reviews haven't been much better:

Bruce Ransom, a political science professor at Clemson University's Strom Thurmond Institute, called those words “shocking.”

“It’s obviously an attack on poor people,” he said.

Rep. J. Todd Rutherford, a Richland County Democrat who said he is a friend of Bauer, said the remarks would be disappointing coming from anyone.

“It appears crystal clear that Jesus has left the Republican Party,” he said. “The only comparison between animals and people that should ever be done is to say that they are all God’s children.”

Rep. Harry Cato, a Greenville Republican, said it sounds like Bauer “has gone overboard.”

“We do have a responsibility as adults, as Christians, to take care of the children,” Cato said. “They’re here, and it’s not their fault that they were not born into loving parents or a life that does not provide for them. Sometimes parents are just down on their luck.”

He added, “Maybe it sounds like the point we’ve all been talking about forever and that is how do you help people that are down on their luck? How do you break the cycle of those who are in a cycle? There‘s a lot of various cycles people get in, and they do seem to go from generation to generation.”

Ransom said he also thought that was the issue Bauer was trying to get at, using an old argument that has been made against welfare recipients on people receiving free or reduced-price lunches. Bauer was saying that poor people are costing the government more and more money, Ransom said.

“The argument is one that shows no sensitivity and no compassion, particularly in that the argument is one that makes the analogy to stray animals,” he said.

Ransom said it’s hard to tell how Bauer’s remarks will affect his run for governor. They will appeal to people who believe that “all these unworthy people out here who are not responsible for their behavior and are not raising their children properly” are a burden on the rest of society, he said.

The local NAACP and Democratic Party have weighed in, also:

South Carolina's Democratic Party chairwoman, Carol Fowler, asked Bauer to apologize for making the remarks.

Fowler released a statement, saying, "Andre Bauer's crude utterances once again reveal his immaturity and poor judgment. Bauer is a bachelor who has never once had to worry about feeding a child of his own. His notion of punishing children by not feeding them because their parents missed a PTA meeting flies in the face of basic South Carolina values."

In response, Bauer said he shouldn't have used the "stray animals" reference. However, he said he knows his comments are politically incorrect, and he does not feel that he needs to apologize. He said his critics have not offered any solutions to what he called a cycle of dependency on government programs.

In a release, Bauer said he feels "strongly that we can and should help our neighbors who are truly needy ... There's a big difference between being truly needy and truly lazy."

The Greenville NAACP isn’t calling for Bauer's resignation, or even for an apology. The group’s leaders say it's too late for that. But what they would like is for Bauer not to run for governor, and if he does, they want him to lose.

Greenville NAACP leaders said Bauer has proved he doesn't deserve to be South Carolina's next governor. They are upset because they said some of the people Bauer aspires to serve are lower income.

In a news release, Clarence Echols, Greenville NAACP president, said to Bauer: "Keep your foot in your mouth. If you do that, we won't be subjected to such stupidity."

Bauer said he regrets using the metaphor, but he stands firm on his main point. He said some people who don't need welfare take advantage of it, and it becomes a cycle passed down through generations.

Echols said, "To see another politician who wants to be a leader in this state step into that same quagmire of speaking before thinking, it disturbs me greatly."

Monday morning, Bauer spoke to WYFF News 4 and said, "If they wholeheartedly feel that there ought to be a discussion, then that's great -- if they think I'm wrong by bringing up a topic that I feel is important. The fact is that we're going to have to cut somewhere in state government. We're having to cut essential services to people that can't actually provide for themselves because we're taking care of people that are just lazy. I think it's a topic worth discussing. If I'm wrong, so be it."

And here is the official non-apology from Bauer's campaign:

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.