The Wilkins Award – They’ll Give It To Anybody (Again)
Former S.C. Speaker of the House David Wilkins likes to brag about his conservative, “Republican” legacy, but the award administered in his name by Furman University’s Riley Institute of Government has become little more than a pat on the back for some of the biggest (and littlest) big government boondogglers in South Carolina history.
Created to honor state lawmakers who “embody the highest principles of leadership based on integrity, civility and courage,” it has instead become a reward for liberal lawmakers who spend the most taxpayer money – including several ethically-challenged “Republicans In Name Only.”
Take this year’s recipient, ten-term lawmaker Danny Cooper, who for the past five years has served as chairman of the S.C. House Ways and Means Committee.
In that position, Cooper has dutifully administered House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s vision of unchecked, unsustainable government growth and government-run economic development, with disastrous results for the Palmetto State economy and the taxpayers who support it.
Harrell, incidentally, was the 2006 winner of the Wilkins Award.
Under Harrell’s six-year tenure at Ways & Means, the state budget grew from $12.7 billion to $16.8 billion a year.
For the last five years under Cooper, it has grown to more than $20 billion annually – in spite of the global recession.
Along with previous Wilkins’ award recipient Hugh Leatherman, Cooper has also served as a reliable big government vote on the S.C. Budget and Control Board, where the legislative branch effectively enjoys a 3-2 majority.
Finally, Cooper and Leatherman were responsible for administering the controversial “competitive grants” program, a $46 million legislative slush fund that was ultimately shut down after being exposed by FITS two years ago.
Cooper will nonetheless collect his hardware at a gala dinner on January 11 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
Former CNN anchor Judy Woodruff (wait … she’s still alive?) will deliver the keynote address.
Comments
By kyle on December 15th, 2009 at 11:13 am
isn’t that thing on Cooper’s face called a man pussy?
By vicupstate on December 15th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
So the budget has grown about 5% per year. That would be less than inflation and population growth combined. In fact inflation would pretty much cover that. So what are you bitching about?
By Yea don't think so on December 15th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/
By Lalane on December 17th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Um, Vicup? Where you gettin’ five percent? The budget grew by around $4billion. That makes the figure more like 32%.
By political hack on December 18th, 2009 at 10:27 am
vic you are bitching about bitching about a problem that is a significant misallocation of wealth. Yes, the budget has grown because of inflation, but the fact remains that growing budgets and inflation are both problems you and I will have to pay for…in the true fashion of political financing – one of these days!