***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — CUTS — “School, health care, social service and prison agencies are about to catch another round of budget cuts [today] as the state’s financial oversight board tries to keep a $5.3 billion spending plan from falling apart,” according to The Associated Press. “[Today’s] reduction is expected to be a minimum of 2.6 percent, or $122.4 million, but that may not be nearly enough to cover problems looming in tax collections as the state’s jobless rate remains among the nation’s highest. For now, the planned reduction would take $53 million from public school spending; $20 million from the state’s Medicaid programs and more than $3 million from the Department of Social Services. Meanwhile, the state Department of Corrections would lose $8.3 million and is asking the Budget and Control Board to allow it to run a deficit of $13 million.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Sen. Mark Warner and Sonny Crockett
THINK TWICE before getting a puppy or kitten as a Christmas gift
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NATIONAL LENS — Chris “The Fix” Cillizza (a must read for political aficionados … we’ve said it before, but we don’t mind repeating ourselves) leads with two big election stories. “The retirement announcement of Tennessee Rep. Bart Gordon on Monday set off a fresh round of speculation that House Democrats may be on the verge of large-scale retirements that could imperil their electoral prospects in the upcoming midterm elections.” Seeming to compound the problem is Cillizza’s number two story: “Resurgent Republic, the conservative polling consortium formed in the wake of the 2008 election, is out with a new poll today surveying 1,000 voters aged 55 or older … voters [who] usually comprise a disproportionately large segment of the electorate in midterms. … Sixty-eight percent of the sample said they were ‘very concerned’ about the growing national debt and seven in ten voters said they preferred ‘smaller government.’”
SPRATT THIKING IT THROUGH? The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder is reporting “the White House worries that Rep. John Spratt, the chairman of the budget committee in the House, a long-serving Democrat from South Carolina, is thinking through the consequences of stepping down.” However, a Spratt spokesperson “waved off retirement ‘rumors’ to the Wall Street Journal.
HERE GOES NUTHIN’ — Senator Lindsey Graham is “expected to introduce an immigration bill in their chamber early next year,” according to Politico.
EAR TO THE GROUND — “Controversial legislation that would give judges new power to rewrite home mortgages is on life support,” reports The Hill. “There were roughly 40 House Democrats who dropped their support between the March vote and the vote last Friday. They included committee chairmen, fiscally conservative Blue Dogs and freshman and sophomore members in competitive races. Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, was one of the lawmakers who switched his vote between March and last week. Chuck Fant, his spokesman, said Spratt heard from community banks and credit unions opposed to the measure and felt that it was not necessary. Spratt was also concerned that bankruptcy courts would be flooded with cases, Fant said.”
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VIEWPOINT — GREEN MAYOR — Charleston Mayor Joe Riley writes in the Post & Courier, “Two years ago, when I and Charleston City Council established the Charleston Green Committee, no one could have predicted that the committee would complete its climate action plan at precisely the same moment that global climate talks got under way in Copenhagen. … Our Green Plan is by citizens and for citizens. The plan is about aspirations for a clean economy and environment and improving our quality of life. In the future, it will be about results, specifically those that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With this plan, we know what it will take to meet the challenge of climate change — if we work together to achieve our goals. … What we do in our cities — whether it’s constructing green buildings, weatherizing homes, installing solar panels, planting green roofs or creating legions of good-paying green jobs — will serve as a model for state governments and for Washington, D.C. We know what works and our plan will show the way toward saving our planet. Our Charleston Green Plan will become the blueprint for our city, our state and other communities as we tackle the issue of global climate change and simultaneously improve our region’s wonderful quality of life.”
CRACKING THE DEBT CEILING — Rep. Joe Wilson explains his new “Control America’s Purse-strings to Deliver a Better Tomorrow (CAP the DEBT)” bill in The Hill. “In the past two years, the debt ceiling has been raised four times. This week, Congress debated raising the debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion. Congress continues spend, spend, and spend – ultimately passing our debts onto our grandchildren.” Among other things, he notes that the bill will “provide a 5 percent across the board income tax cut, increase the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $5,000 and repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax on individuals.”
EOE — “‘I’ve personally paid for poinsettias for the female members of the staff in the district,’ said Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who added that he doesn’t get anything for the men in his office.”
A PEEK — Wilson opens up about his family, pet peeves and even his favorite joke.
NO LOVE FROM H.W. — In a wide-ranging PARADE interview, former President George H. W. Bush said “he was deeply offended by Wilson’s outcry during President Barack Obama’s September speech to Congress. ‘There has to be a certain decorum and civility. And that was just smashed. I thought, “How low have we gotten here?”’ While he said he does not agree with some of Obama’s policies, Bush insists that all Americans should want the President to succeed.”
TOP TEN LISTS — they abound
SANFORD FOR ??? “After spending years as a key player on her husband’s political team, South Carolina’s soon-to-be ex-First Lady Jenny Sanford now finds her own prospective political career the subject of considerable speculation,” reports Politico. “With an list of extensive connections, an impressive resume of her own, access to the state’s top fundraisers and a widespread belief that she played a central role in her husband’s political successes, Jenny Sanford has South Carolina political insiders wondering privately and in local political blogs whether a run for Congress—or even governor—is on the horizon.”
SO, YOU’RE SAYIN’ THERE’S A CHANCE — MSNBC’s Mike Stuckey describes Governor Sanford’s presidential aspirations as merely “damaged by revelations of his affair.”
PROCEEDINGS — Charleston County Family Court records show that a final divorce hearing for the couple has been scheduled for Feb. 26.
END-GAME — The Southern Political Report’s Hastings Wyman wants to know what Senator DeMint is up to. He writes that the Senator “has begun to make a name for himself in national politics. Not content to pursue his own hard-line conservative course in the Senate, he has begun to encourage the election of Republicans of similar outlook across the nation. All of this has led to speculation about DeMint’s intentions. If his bets pay off, he will be owed some substantial political debts. Will his reward be, as some home-staters believe, a more conservative US Senate more in line with DeMint’s conservative views? Or will he, like so many senators, make a run for the White House?”
EXPANSION FUNDS — “The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval to a $21 million project to expand and modernize the USAFCENT/9th U.S. Air Force headquarters at Shaw Air Force Base. The funding was secured by U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) and included in H.R. 3288, Consolidated Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2010, which passed the House on December 10,” reports WCIV-TV. “‘The plan is to consolidate these multiple operations and command facilities within a common secure facility,’ said Spratt, a senior member on the Armed Services Committee. ‘This project will be a big plus for Shaw. I was pleased to move the funding through the House.’”
VIEWPOINT II — LOST ITS WAY — Spartanburg radiologist Dr. Stephen Gordin writes in The State, “The health care debate has lost its way. Our media and public officials have framed it in terms of individual stories and a plot line instead of discussing the hard choices and details that make good public policy. … Such issues, and so many more like them, need to be talked about. Pundits and demagogues on both sides would rather use emotional appeal to rally their minions, but such strategies should be rebuffed and denied extensive coverage. … It is much easier to recite talking points, and to preach on about the universal saga of good versus evil. Very few health care professionals deny that changes need to be made, but if they are the wrong ones, the story will have a most unhappy ending, with everyone losing.”
DREAM-TWEETS — @thetopstory_ Boeing is taking the 787 dreamliner on its first full test flight today, in Washington & @thetopstory_ The soon to be made in SC “787 Dreamliner” already has 840 orders.
STILL GOING — “The city of Orangeburg has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it violated a resident’s constitutional free speech rights when it removed a political sign from her Custer Court yard.”
FURMAN — Nationally known lawyer will be new Furman president
AIKEN — City launches 175th birthday website
STATEWIDE — Record number of SC students earn AP credit
CHARLESTON — SC Maritime Foundation Continues ‘Donate a Boat’ Program
GAFFNEY — EX-Officer gets 90 days
GREENVILLE — Housing market looking up
ANDERSON — Solicitor: Officer faces no charges in man’s death
CLEMSON — Three women file for vacant council seat
HORRY — S.C. employers set rules on social networking on the job
COLUMBIA — New state farmers market opening delayed
RULES BE DAMNED — “Florence City Council voted not to reimburse Councilman Billy D. Williams $1,186 in travel expenses for a recent conference in Washington, D.C. Williams was in the nation’s capital for the National League of Cities annual conference, during which he met with U.S. Reps. James Clyburn and John Spratt as well as U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham about grant funding for local projects.” However, the Florence Morning News reports the council recently adopted a new policy limiting reimbursements and Williams had already hit the limit. “Williams said he should be reimbursed regardless, because his meetings with representatives likely will result in as much as $40 million in grant funding for city projects. ‘If I can go on these trips and find the city of Florence that kind of money and you’re going to say I don’t need to get reimbursed … C’mon, now,’ Williams said. ‘Do you want everything for nothing?’”
THE RETURN OF CIVILITY — NPR will report this morning on SC’s Marvin Rogers, “an energetic African-American leader, a charismatic speaker [who] talks about returning civility to politics. … ‘I am a Spanish-speaking African-American conservative who is trying to grow the party,’ he said. But his community service dovetails with his political aspirations, as well. He’s been a liaison to a Republican congressman, and now, as Rogers works to get elected to public office himself, he’s trying to come over as a new kind of conservative. … In Rogers’ only run for public office — a state legislative race last year — he lost overwhelmingly to an African-American Democrat. His opponent, State Rep. John King, calls Rogers pretentious, and more interested in getting his name in the paper than serving the people of Rock Hill. ‘The perception that people in District 49 and York County have is that he is out for self-gain,’ King said. ‘The difference between Mr. Rogers and me is that I don’t brag about the things that I do.’ At a luncheon last week, Rogers faced a different audience from what he typically encounters in the inner city. He talked to a mostly white crowd of Republicans in one of South Carolina’s wealthiest areas: the resort town of Hilton Head. ‘A lot of African-Americans and Hispanics, they turn on conservative talk radio and conservative TV and say y’all sound mad,’ Rogers told the crowd. ‘We must be civil in the way we communicate, because at the end of the day, the American people won’t follow fussers.’”
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES — “A new law to get tougher with drivers who illegally use handicapped parking spaces could actually make it harder to catch the scofflaws,” reports The Greenville News. “City Attorney Ron McKinney said that’s because the effect of the new law is to change a vehicular offense into a personal offense that requires the offending person to be present. Police Chief Terri Wilfong said her officers don’t have time to wait for the driver to return to write a blue uniform ticket. … The new fines of between $500 and $1,000 — plus the possibility of 30 days in jail — are too large for the city’s municipal judges to handle. They are limited by law to cases where the maximum fine doesn’t exceed $500. The switch elevates handicapped parking offenses to Circuit Court and prosecution by Solicitor Bob Ariail’s office, according to McKinney and Ariail.”
FINALLY THIS — MAYBE THEY NEED A TOM TOM? From this morning’s Post & Courier: Two men, one of them armed with a handgun, tried to rob a Burger King in West Ashley at Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and Orange Grove Road. Police originally were dispatched to a Burger King at Sam Rittenberg and Ashley River Road. Police are reviewing phone and radio tapes to determine how officers were sent to the wrong restaurant.
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!
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