SC House Bans Gubernatorial Lobbying

The S.C. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying in the governor’s office – putting S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley in the awkward position of having to lobby the legislature to overturn the amendment.
First, here’s the text of the amendment (sponsored by S.C. Rep. Boyd Brown) that passed the House:
SECTION 1B, Amendment 95
Rep. [...]

One Vote Could Sink SC Educrats’ Exploitation

We hear excuses every day from status quo backers in Columbia as to why South Carolina’s public education system is so atrocious.
It’s poverty, they say. Or racism. Or insufficient funding. Or it’s the fault of parents. Then there’s our favorite excuse – that the ongoing debate over parental choice has “shifted our leaders’ focus away [...]

SC: Where One Size (Still) Fits All

By one vote, South Carolina’s “Republican-controlled” House of Representatives killed a universal school choice bill that would have provided expanded academic options for all parents and a lifeline for more than 100,000 children trapped in failing public schools.
The debate took less than half an hour – which is interesting when you consider that lawmakers spent [...]

Sheheen Rolls Out Reforms

S.C. Senator Vincent Sheheen may have lost the Palmetto state’s governor’s race last month – but he’s still pushing ideas that he believes will make South Carolina’s state government more efficient and accountable to the taxpayers it’s supposed to serve.
Some of them actually will …
On Thursday, Sheheen rolled out a six-piece reform agenda that includes [...]

Effort To Ban Taxpayer-Funded Educrat Lobbying Fails

By FITSNews || So much for South Carolina lawmakers working to “put more money into the classroom …”
Last Thursday – by a one-vote margin – the “GOP-controlled” S.C. House of Representatives rejected a proposal that would have prohibited school districts from routing taxpayer money to fund bureaucratic advocacy groups, which use the money to lobby [...]

“Cracking Skulls?”

HOUSE SPEAKER BOBBY HARRELL’S “BREAKFAST CLUB” STRATEGY
FITSNews – July 31, 2008 – Angry over the untimely demise of his gubernatorial ambitions and frustrated by the widely-held belief that he runs a “loose ship” in the S.C. House of Representatives, sources close to S.C. Speaker Bobby Harrell say 2009 will be different.
“He’s cracking skulls from here [...]