Another “Sleeve” Sellout

In case you’ve already forgotten about the whole “rolling up their sleeves” press conference fiasco, it was a made-for-TV political event that took place earlier this spring up in Spartanburg, S.C.

Basically, two fake Republican Senators stood up with their colleagues and pretended to be fiscal conservatives, but then turned around and voted with the State Senate’s big government RINOcrat majority when it came time to actually do what they said they were going to do.

Who were the two sellouts (at least as far as this latest example of South Carolina “Republicans” saying one thing and doing another is concerned)?

Sen. Shane Martin and Sen. David Thomas – and by listing their names again here we guess that means you can consider yourself reminded.

Again, that’s S-H-A-N-E (space) M-A-R-T-I-N and D-A-V-I-D (space) T-H-O-M-A-S … in case there was any confusion.

Oh, and you can email Martin here and Thomas here, if you’re into letting elected officials know exactly what you think of them when they act like the taxpayers’ best friends in front of the TV cameras but then turn around and vote like their worse enemies.

Anyway, even prior to this gratuitous reminder of his H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y, Senator Martin will not soon forget being called out by the long arm of FITS.

In fact, he was so embarrassed by our original story about his flip-floppage that he went and changed his vote on whether or not to accept federal “stimulus” funds in the state budget.

No really.

He flat out changed his vote, which of course spawned a week-long controversy that eventually resulted in a ridiculous explanation being offered by the Clerk of the Senate.

His excuse? Martin was somehow “distracted” when he cast his vote. Oh, and we’re not even close to being done with that story, FYI …

Anyway, Martin’s decision to vote for the very money that he had previously “rolled up his sleeves” to work against was at least followed by a few fiscally conservative votes to sustain Gov. Mark Sanford’s budget vetoes.

Sure, that’s the equivalent of offering somebody a band-aid after you just shot them in the face, but we give Martin credit for at least attempting to salvage a modicum of credibility with the taxpayers. No doubt he was working hard to save face with the 60% of his constituents who voted for Sanford three years ago.

The same cannot be said for Sen. Thomas.

Unfortunately, he voted in lockstep with Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman to roll Sanford on almost every single one of his budget vetoes.

Thomas’ refusal to vote like a real Republican is especially curious, considering Sanford registered over 67% of the vote in his Greenville, S.C. district back in 2006.

Thomas is one of five “squishy” GOP votes in the Senate that is costing South Carolina taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Every once in awhile he’ll vote conservative, but more often than not he’s doing the left’s bidding – which we chronicled in extensive detail last session.

That’s too bad.

By aligning with Leatherman, Thomas and these “squishy” Senators are handing control of the State Senate over to the “RINOcrat majority,” a collection of current and former Democrats led by Leatherman and Senate President Glenn McConnell.

To a man, they are hellbent on preserving – and expanding – our state’s failed status quo. Oh, and fighting against tax cuts, spending limits, parental choice and government reform.

Over the course of the next few weeks we’ll be bringing you several “Profiles in Cowardice,” i.e. up close and personal looks at some of the big government “Republicans” in both the S.C. House and Senate who are pissing your tax dollars away on the same old bloated bureaucracies and outdated “solutions.”

In more pleasant news, we’ll also be bringing you a list of the “few and far between,” the taxpayer heroes at the S.C. State House who are actually voting the way Republicans are supposed to vote on fiscal issues.

Stay tuned …