Comments on: The Nikki-Nathan Show

By: Not so transparent, after all | The Palmetto Scoop

Not so transparent, after all | The Palmetto Scoop — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:30:57 +0000

[...] the Haley/Ballentine brand of transparency may apply only to others and not to themselves, according to documents obtained by The Palmetto [...]

By: What I took away from this....

What I took away from this.... — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:06:51 +0000

A wise person once said, â€œThe cause is everything, the credit is expendableâ€. The thing that resonated with me the most about the time we got to spend with Reps Haley and Ballentine last week was that they really just want this cause to pass and aren’t worried about who gets the “credit” for it at the end of the day. Rep. Haley said that if someone else wants to “claim” the fame when it passes she doesn’t care; as long as it the public can have complete access to how their Legislators have voted!

By: Olivia DFHS senior

Olivia DFHS senior — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:03:32 +0000

Not only do I agree with 100% on the record voting, I also believe that our Legislatures should make a taxpayerâ€™s addendum as a required addition to every law. My class discussed how this could further increase fiscal transparency. Every time a legislature co-sponsors a spending bill, they would be obliged to affix their signature to an addendum reading:
I __________________ , in sponsoring/co-sponsoring this bill, do hereby affirm that I believe it is more important that the South Carolina government seize the money appropriated herin from the taxpayers to fund this bill, than to allow the taxpayers who actually earned this money to retain it for their own needs.
Seriously, every time a member of the Legislature votes to spend one dollar of taxpayer funds, that member is in essence saying that the South Carolina government has a greater need for that money than did the person who earned it.

By: Current Issues Observer

Current Issues Observer — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:52:32 +0000

Why does our House leader love the concept of mob rule?

By: Adrienne

Adrienne — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:53:56 +0000

Nikki Haley and Nathan Ballentine taught me a lot about transparency. Many people donâ€™t even realize that they arenâ€™t able to see how their reps. are voting on certain topics. Both reps. were very kind and handled my questions well. It is pretty bad if our reps. are ashamed to let their constituents see how they are voting behind closed doors. I am still a slight bit confused on how the HIGH and MIGHTY Bobby Harrel was able to get away with his devious acts but I have no worries because what he does in the dark shall come to the light soon enough.

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:53:02 +0000

It seems like â€œthe systemâ€ is structured so that youâ€™ll have a hard time winning the Transparency issue. House leadership has all the leverage in being able to influence its members with committee assignments, seating in the chamber, office space assignments, invitations to participate in prestigious things like joint meetings, press conferences, bill signing, and travel. Although the system is quite flawed here in SC, I am very happy to find that some of our legislators are fighting it for the benefit of their constituents. Thanks to Rep. Ballentine and Rep. Haley for being those necessary fighters on the issue of government transparency and for visiting DFHS to teach my class even more on the issue.

By: Travis

Travis — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:42:25 +0000

During the past few years I have learned a lot of things in current issues with the help of Mrs. Payne. She shares with us about the current events that are going on today. She let us meet famous people like Rep. Nathan Ballentine, a Republican that is trying to get his point for Transparency in our state. I love this class because we also study current medical breakthroughs in science like brain cancer research.

By: Alysia-DFHS

Alysia-DFHS — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:36:16 +0000

Thank you for writing this article. As a student at Dutch Fork, or more importantly a student of Ms. Payne, I think that it is vital to work towards what you believe in no matter what the cost. That is why I have been so supportive of this transparency issue. By joining clubs like interact, doing alive @ 25, taking current issues, and going to rotary, I have learned so much in such a short time. When I began this school year I didnâ€™t know squat about politics. Ms. Payneâ€™s class really opened my eyes to a new word (forgive the clichÃ©) and so did reading your articles on FITSNEWS. Now, I can better understand these current issues in a fun way. Thanks again for this article, we try to make a difference in every way we can.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:35:30 +0000

It was a great pleasure to have Representative Ballentine and Representative Haley to come speak to our class. They were very knowledgable and were able to answer all of the questions that we had on transparency and what exactly happened to them. It was good to hear that both Mr. Ballentine and Mrs. Haley aren’t totally out of the loop. They both care alot about our state and the people they represent

By: Trevor of DFHS

Trevor of DFHS — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:34:55 +0000

Mrs. Payne is sure to teach us on whatâ€™s happening everyday thoroughly in the news. Our interest in current events is fed by Mrs. Payneâ€™s eagerness to inform us on everything, with no sugar coating. Iâ€™m personally not involved with the Alive@25 program, but I, along with the rest of my classmates, most certainly support Mrs. Payne and all of the students participating in it. The things they do are setting a strong foundation for the improving of our future society.