Teacher Pay at Stake; Sanford on SNL; Health Care Rages; So Does DeMint; Jobs; It’s MONDAY Morning in the Palmetto State
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THIS FIRST — TEACHER PAY ‘ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK’ — “A teacher program, billed for the past dozen years as a way to improve South Carolina’s public schools, is on the chopping block” today according to Gina Smith at The State. “The program’s precarious future will take center stage Monday during a meeting of the Education Oversight Committee, the state’s education watchdog group. … Some S.C. educators say the program, known as National Board Certification, is a failure that is not increasing student achievement, is costing the state $62 million annually and deserves to be cut during these tight economic times. The state gives more than 6,000 certified teachers an additional $7,500 in salary per year.”
FUN N’ GAMES — Sanford Gets the ‘SNL’ Treatment
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Cali politico, Tom Kise, celebrates today.
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NATIONAL LENS — THE POLITICS OF HEALTH CARE — “Given the disproportionate share of voters age 55 and older likely to comprise the electorate in next year’s mid-term, passage of health care reform legislation would pose a serious risk to Democratic majorities in the House and Senate according to a new survey released today by Resurgent Republic, a non-profit conservative organization that gauges public opinion toward government policy proposals.” In an Op-Ed, co-founders Ed Gillespie and Whit Ayres (a Palmetto State alum), write, “voters 55 and older opposed health care reform being debated by congress by 48-39%, with intensity running strongly against the legislation’s proponents (40% strongly opposed versus 25% strongly support). … Perhaps more important politically, Independents 55 and older now oppose health care reform by a 52% to 33% margin, view Republicans in Congress favorably (44% to 41%) and view Democrats in Congress unfavorably (52% to 31%).”
TEACH A MAN TO FISH — “For critics of the Democrats’ $849 billion health care bill, this may be the ultimate irony: millions of dollars set aside so the government can help teach citizens how to handle their own money better,” Politico reports. “The funding is part of a broader, $375 million program aimed at promoting responsible lifestyles — a five-year plan to fund state efforts to educate adolescents on abstinence, contraception and other ‘adult preparation subjects’ such as healthy relationships, increased child-parent communication and ‘financial literacy.’ You can imagine how Sen. Jim DeMint feels. ‘The federal government is never going to encourage personal responsibility and never has,’ the South Carolina Republican said. ‘Personal responsibility is a good principle — but not the government doing it.’”
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WEEKEND LEGISLATION — “The Senate on Sunday passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill with increased budgets for vast areas of the federal government, including health, education, law enforcement and veterans’ programs. … Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, both R-S.C., voted against the bill. (AP)
TO THE RIGHT — Liberal stalwart and columnist, Al Hunt, puts DeMint under the microscope. “The broadcasting entertainers Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, while influential with conservatives, Republican strategists explain, aren’t officeholders or political decision makers. Jim DeMint is. The Republican senator from South Carolina is a force moving the party to the right on big issues. He is actively endorsing conservative insurgents over established party candidates from Florida to California. He’s a favorite of the grass-roots ‘tea party’ brigade and Fox News. His growing appeal is such that party insiders even talk about him as a potential presidential candidate. Some conservatives are nuanced: libertarian conservatives, compassionate conservatives, neo-conservatives; not the 58-year-old Mr. DeMint. He goes right on everything, from the economy and health care to immigration and hot-button social issues like gay rights. He is a leading barometer of the Republican Party’s important and non-nuanced conservative base.”
TEA PARTY COMPETITION — DeMint is also taking place in “what’s billed as ‘Code Red’ … an ‘emergency rally’ on Tuesday to remind Americans that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is lacking only three votes before Obamacare is a reality.” (Washington Times)
VIEWPOINT — GOOD GIRLS — Columnist Luisita Lopez Torregrosa writes, “So here we go. At the end of this week of Tiger Woods and reports of his vixens and hookers, madames and skanks, big-boob blondes and big-butt brunettes, finally we’ve got ourselves a Good Woman. Jenny Sanford filed for divorce from her husband, Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, and instantly became Exhibit 1 in the week’s Good vs. Bad Girls wars.”
WEEKLEY REPORT — TIME Magazine — Jenny Sanford: The Savviest Spurned Woman in History
FILINGS — “Dick Withington, a former Navy officer and retired accountant living in Horry County, said Friday he will seek the Democratic nomination for the 1st Congressional District seat,” according to the Post & Courier. “If elected, he said he would work across party lines and try to end the United States’ involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. … ‘The Republicans are in disarray, and there’s a softening of the anti-Democratic mood out there.’”
STATEWIDE — State stands to gain money, pull
AIKEN — ROTC cadets lend a hand
GREENVILLE — Number of homeless students soars
LOWCOUNTRY — New Bus Service Helps Visitors and Veterans
COWPENS — Longtime Mayor Dies At 75
MYRTLE BEACH — Airport expansion will bring 400 construction jobs
NO JOBS FOR YOU — “While a legislative committee is expected to work for months to reform the state’s unemployment agency and help people get jobs quicker, and gubernatorial candidates are vowing to bring jobs to South Carolina, economists say there is little the Legislature can do to turn around the state’s high unemployment rate next year. ‘We need jobs, and that is not going to come out of this (the committee’s effort),’ said Don Schunk, a research economist at Coastal Carolina University. ‘The fact of the matter is we need to generate hundreds of thousands of new jobs in South Carolina, and that’s what’s going to correct this unemployment problem. And that’s not going to come out of this effort.’ … Bruce Yandle, a professor and dean emeritus from Clemson University’s College of Business and Behavioral Science, said, ‘I would be somewhat skeptical there would be some new discovery about an improved process for identifying needs of the unemployed and more rapidly matching those needs with jobs. ‘I would be skeptical that something more meaningful could be discovered and put into place so that we could say, ‘Aha,’ so the unemployment rate in South Carolina, all other things being the same, is going to be lowered next month or in three months.’” (Post & Courier)
FINALLY THIS — “South Carolina is making changes in placards displayed by disabled people on their rear-view car mirrors.” The AP reports that “starting Jan. 1, the Department of Motor Vehicles will include a picture of the person on the placard. Officials say the change will make it easier to make sure someone using the placard to park closer to businesses and other buildings is the person who is actually disabled. People with current disabled placards can keep them until they expire, but will then have to get a replacement with their photo.”
THAT’S IT FOR THIS MORNING – STAY TUNED ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK FOR UPDATES THAT JUST CAN’T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW. HAVE A GOOD ONE!
