Governor’s Office: Bobby Harrell Is No Ray Kinsella
S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s office took issue with $750,000 of state money going to fund hydrogen fuel cell research at a time when even the big-spending federal budget of Barack Obama is zeroing out the technology.
“If our state is going to make investments in research, we need to be following the private sector, rather than trying to lead the market around by its nose,” Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer told FITS. “And just like any business, our investments need to come with clear expectations as to what the rate of return is expected to be.”
Sawyer’s comments came just days after the U.S. Department of Energy decided not to fund fuel cell research – a crushing political blow to S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, who has staked tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on the Palmetto State becoming a leader in developing the technology.
Harrell repeatedly promised taxpayers that jobs and private investment would develop around the state’s new fuel cell economy, but the University of South Carolina “Innovista” research campus was already falling flat on its face prior to the DOE announcement.
Drawing even tighter aim, Sawyer compared Harrell to Ray Kinsella – the Iowa corn farmer played by Kevin Coster in one of the greatest sports movies of all time.
“‘If you build it, they will come,’ worked pretty well in Field of Dreams,” Sawyer said, “but it isn’t panning out so well for things like Innovista and Clemson’s submarine campus in Charleston.”
Whoa! Nice dig.
In addition to referencing one of our favorite movies of all-time, Sawyer is absolutely correct, too.
S.C. taxpayers have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Harrell’s hydrogen dreams and Senate President Glenn McConnell’s ongoing (phallic?) obsession with the Confederate submarine, H.L. Hunley.
What has it gotten us?
Yeah … nothing.
UPDATE - Check it out … Field of Dreams turned 20 years old last month. “Hey dad, you wanna have a catch” (Sic weeping).
Comments
By Liberty For Me on May 11th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
“If you give them tax relief they will come”…..Thats the slogan that should be preached. Give them Tax benefits to build nuclear plants.
Give corporations reasons to invest in our state…If you give up front ,you will reap job and tax benefits in the future.Why is this so hard to understand??..We dont need to invest our money,just let people keep some of their own and they will be glad to invest it in research and development.Gee isnt that the way this country is supposed to work??
By Jonathon on May 11th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Bobby Harrell has got to be the worst speaker this state has ever had. He is a hopeful gambler who always ends up broke at the end of the evening. There are no brains, just conniving and backstabbing tactics to get him what he wants.
By GGIH on May 11th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
That would be “its nose.” Other than that, I can’t argue with this post. I think that’s a first.
By Build it and they will come on May 11th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
When government spends money speculating on something possibly occuring in the future, you need to run out the door ASAP and make sure you got your wallet.
The port authority wants to build a big expensive terminal hoping that somehow someway some business might appear that will use it .
Maybe we can run our under-utilized new port terminal on fuel cells that are not feasible to use.
By Statesman on May 11th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I was made aware of this technology 8 years ago while living in Upstate NY. Plug Power is a NY company that made a lot of money for a lot of people. I find it hard to believe that SC can be on the leading edge of technology of hydrogen fuel cells when this appears to be “Old” technology. BTW Plug’s stock has fallen dramatically this year. PLUG is their NYSE symbol.
By Ron on May 12th, 2009 at 10:22 am
B Harrell and General McConnell fund their own special interests which is sad but not surprising. The taxpayers of SC have had about all we can afford of Harrell’s and McConnell’s politics as usual. Bobby and Glen, haven’t you gentlemen (term used loosely) been in Columbia long enough to retire on the taxpayer dime? Well come on home please!
By Earl Capps on May 13th, 2009 at 10:22 am
That’s bad, but so is Sanford’s SC DSS costing tens of millions of dollars in fines because they wouldn’t complete the upgrading of the state’s Child Support Enforcement system to national standards. Work which they accepted federal funds for.
There might be a story in that, if you’re interested in rooting around to see who is to blame and why the Governor’s office isn’t more concerned aboout this expensive problem.