Mowing For Change

Kudos to State Rep. Mick Mulvaney for pulling off one of the most original press events we’ve seen since Gov. Mark Sanford carted a pair of piglets named “Pork” and “Barrel” into the S.C. State House four years ago to protest wasteful spending.

Mulvaney, who is running for State Senate in Lancaster and York Counties (i.e. the Charlotte suburbs), started hearing from constituents last week that grass on one of the district’s most traveled arteries was beginning to grow so tall that it was obstructing motorists’ view of oncoming traffic.

Typically, the grass is mowed by State Department of Transportation crews, but recent across-the-board budget cuts have forced the DOT to abandon its mowing program.

Enter Mulvaney and a team of volunteers, who spent several hours yesterday mowing the grass themselves.

“When you come from a small business background like I do, you don’t wait around for a committee to figure out what needs to be done, you get a team together and you do it,” Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney said the grass – which had grown as high as five feet in some places – was creating a safety hazard at multiple intersections, including those near local public schools.

Specifically, impaired visibility due to tall grass was the cause of a near-fatal accident a few years ago in Lancaster when a student was struck in her car while pulling out of her high school.

The student’s father – Lancaster resident Evan Scott – said he supported Mulvaney’s efforts.

“The last thing we wanted to see was a repeat of what happened to my daughter,” he said.

Neither Scott nor Mulvaney blamed SCDOT for the problem, but Mulvaney singled out lawmakers who supported pork barrel spending, saying they “consistently voted for pet projects instead of the core services government is here to provide.”

“Across-the-board budget cuts are a disgrace, and a prime example of how we have lost (our) grasp of common sense,” Mulvaney said. “When we cut every program by an equal percentage, we don’t prioritize. So a hot air balloon festival (that we pay for with state dollars) gets a 3% cut, and so does SCDOT’s budget. That is nonsense. The festivals should have been cut entirely long before road maintenance was reduced.”

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