Ever wonder how South Carolina’s local governments keep getting spoon-fed barrel after barrel of useless pork in the state budget?
Apparently, it’s pretty easy … they just get their taxpayer-funded union to host drinking parties for State House lobbyists and key legislative staffers.
Take the October 7 shin-dig that the Municipal Association of South Carolina (MASC) is hosting at Carolina Ale House, an event whose invitation list includes almost every lobbyist in the State House as well as top legislative staffers to House Speaker Bobby Harrell, House Ways & Means Chairman Dan Cooper, Treasurer Converse Chellis, Sen. Hugh Leatherman, Sen. Harvey Peeler and House LCI Chairman Harry Cato – in other words all of the biggest cash-blowing RINO’s in state government.
Liberal rag La Socialista (a.k.a. The State newspaper) even managed to snare an invite (assuming they’re still employed on October 7), as did a couple of lucky employees at Chernoff, Silver, Newman & Whoever, the state’s biggest Democrat/RINO PR firm.
The MASC doesn’t get money out of the state budget, of course (and they were careful not to invite any actual lawmakers to their forthcoming boozefest) but if you take a quick gander at the state’s so-called “competitive grants” program (here and here), it’s a laundry list of millions of dollars worth of useless local government crap that directly benefits its members.
And of course all of those MASC members pay their annual dues with … you guessed it … your tax dollars.
Anyway, we figured since your money is ultimately paying for this lobbyist drunkfest (at one of downtown Columbia’s hottest new “it” bars, no less), you might as well swing by the Carolina Ale House (708 Lady Street) on October 7 at 5:00 p.m. and ask them to hook you up with a free cold one.
Oh, and if you’re a B-list lobbyist or legislative staffer who wasn’t cool enough to make the list, here’s the MASC employee directory so you can find somebody to bitch at …
