***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY — About 2,000 politicians and guests from 15 Southern states will descend on Charleston this weekend for a conference on governing, bringing with them an estimated $3.5 million economic impact. The event will include such guest speakers as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who grew up in Dillon; U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — First for their states: Nancy Kassebaum Baker and Elizabeth Dole, and batting left out of Hilton Head: Dan Driessen
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NATIONAL LENS — THIS MORNING — President Barack Obama will deliver an education reform speech Thursday morning at the National Urban League’s 100th Anniversary Convention in the nation’s capital. Obama will discuss how his “Race to the Top” program and other initiatives are driving education reform across the country and focusing the nation on the goal of preparing students for college and careers.
IT HURTS — Republicans decried a federal judge’s decision Wednesday to block key provisions of Arizona’s new immigration law, saying the ruling highlights the Obama administration’s failure to secure the border and will exacerbate Democratic losses in November. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton’s ruling a “sort of timeout” in the immigration debate. “It stops the law from spreading because any state will have to slow down and think about this. It doesn’t solve the problem. It gives us time to re-engage with each other.”
SHELBY STEERS — Since 2008, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby has steered more than $250 million in earmarks to beneficiaries whose lobbyists used to work in his Senate office. The same organizations that have enjoyed Shelby’s earmarks have seen their lobbyists and employees contribute nearly $1 million to Shelby’s campaign and political action committee since 1999. “It is a system that is in direct conflict of interest with our oath of office because it’s parochial,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), an earmark critic who declined to comment on Shelby directly.
NO THANKS DOC — Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) on Wednesday indicated that they are open to filibustering any and all legislation in the Senate until a confirmation hearing is held for Dr. Donald Berwick, who was recently recess-appointed by President Obama to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
WEIGHT GUESS — The Pentagon is reviewing tens of thousands of classified battlefield reports made public this week about the war in Afghanistan to determine whether Afghan informants were identified and could be at risk of reprisals. A search through a sampling of the documents released by the organization WikiLeaks found reports that gave the names of dozens of Afghans credited with providing credible information to U.S. and NATO troops. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday on Fox News that WikiLeaks itself should be prosecuted for its role. “As far as I know, there’s no immunity for a website to be able to pass on documents” that were illegally leaked, he said.
FLYING CHANCE — Congress readied legislation on Wednesday to boost airline safety while prospects faded for passage of a separate bill this year to advance air traffic modernization and set other U.S. aviation priorities. Jim DeMint, the top Republican on the Senate aviation committee and an opponent of a fee increase, said the “process has become so toxic” and it was time to “start the negotiations over.”
UNDER FIRE — A prominent democracy-building group chaired by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is being criticized by a government watchdog for its use of a $50-million grant from the State Department. The International Republican Institute, which received $248 million in total between 2004 and 2009 to support governance, political participation and civil society programs in Iraq, made questionable decisions according to a new audit by the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction (SIGIR). IRI is a nonpartisan group funded by the U.S. government, but the majority of its officials and employees are Republicans and its board includes such prominent members as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), former Sen. Chuck Hagel, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger.
CRACK DOWN — Congress on Wednesday passed legislation that will reduce disparities in federal cocaine sentencing laws. The bill cleared after House Democrats, who had previously criticized the Senate-passed version, agreed to move the upper chamber’s version. It reduces sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1.
BE CAREFUL — Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan picked up more GOP backing Wednesday in her drive toward near-certain confirmation next week, even as a top Republican lashed out at her as “dangerous.” Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, warned senators in unusually dire terms against voting for President Barack Obama’s choice, saying, “Be careful about it, because I’m afraid that we have a dangerous, progressive, political-type nominee.”
PACK A PUNCH — House Democrats used the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Social Security to blast Republicans — given that some GOP candidates this midterm season have called to phase out the government-backed retirement benefit for seniors. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated, “This year, Republicans are charting a course right back to the failed ideas of the past.” The jabs continued with House Majority Whip James Clyburn, House Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin, and a very fired-up Caucus Chairman John Larson, who described Republicans — just as FDR did decades ago — as “frozen in the ice of their own indifference toward the American people.”
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2010 WATCH — RIVAL RIP — Gubernatorial candidates Vincent Sheheen and Nikki Haley will both work donors at scheduled fundraisers today, drawing snipes from rivals. Haley, a Republican, will hold a Columbia fundraiser at the home of former S.C. GOP chairman Katon Dawson, while Sheheen, a Democrat, will be at the Washington, D.C., offices of S.C.-based law firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough with members of the state’s congressional delegation.
GREENE-VILLE — U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene has dropped one adviser and hired another to help with his South Carolina campaign. Donna Warren said she no longer represents Greene. Warren lives in Los Angeles and had been working for free for several weeks. She said Greene hired Greenville attorney Suzanne Coe to manage his campaign.
CHOPPING BLOCK — After years of deep and sometimes difficult cuts, South Carolina lawmakers now face much lower revenue and much deeper cuts in the state budget. In the past several years the S.C. General Fund has gone from $6.7 Billion in 2008 to $5 Billion in 2010. In the current budget the state relied on more than $700 million in federal stimulus money. That will be gone in 2011.
BANK ON IT — More than $800,000 million in benefits like food stamps and health insurance for South Carolina residents went unclaimed in 2009 and was put back into government coffers. All of those benefits went unused not due to the lack of need but because many people didn’t know about the benefits they were eligible for or were not able to apply for them, said Lorin Larason of Anderson Interfaith Ministries. So the Benefit Bank was created.
SAFE TO SWIM — Beaufort County beaches ranked among the cleanest in the U.S. in an annual survey released Wednesday. The “Testing the Waters” report from the Natural Resources Defense Council shows beach water from Hilton Head, Fripp and Hunting islands never exceeded national standards for bacteria in 2009.
DOWN THE ROAD — Federal officials have awarded a $3.1 million grant to improve transportation in northern Beaufort County. The annoucement came Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. The funding will be used to reduce the dependence on auto travel in the area by offering more transportation choices.
HORRY — Horry County announces dental discount card for residents
BEAUFORT — SC coastal town considers conference center
COLUMBIA — Allen president denies sexual harassment
ANDERSON — School District updates policy on background checks
CHAPIN — Chapin High Teen Is Heading To College After One Year Of High School
SPARTANBURG — Carver students team up with US Military Academy
FLORENCE — Former SC mayor sentenced to 3 years in fraud case
BISHOPVILLE — Lee charter school’s enrollment on the rise
COLUMBIA — Columbia’s mayor gets new job
SUMTER — Secret Service closes investigation of Sumter deputy’s finances
CHARLESTON — Parkway would complete I-526
VIEWPOINT — SIDELINED — “Everybody loves a winner. That’s why it has been tradition for Congress to pass resolutions congratulating various champions. But Congress is so filled with partisan ill will these days that even the traditional, feel-good resolutions are stalled. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is miffed that a resolution he introduced June 30 to praise the University of South Carolina’s 2010 College World Series title sits sidetracked in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Richard Burr’s, R-N.C., resolution similarly congratulating Duke’s Blue Devils for their 2010 title is still on the bench. When Congress can’t even come together long enough to honor some home-town winners, then it’s the American people who lose.”
VIEWPOINT II — WHAT SECRET? — “The tens of thousands of classified military documents posted on the Internet Sunday confirm what critics of the war in Afghanistan already knew or suspected: We are wading deeper into a long-running, morally ambiguous conflict that has virtually no chance of ending well. The Obama administration, our NATO allies and the Afghan government responded to the documents — made public by a gadfly organization known as Wikileaks — by saying they tell us nothing new. Which is the problem.”
FINALLY THIS — WRESTLING TAIL — Local animal rustlers trapped a “monster” of an alligator near a busy Hilton Head Island thoroughfare Wednesday as hundreds gathered to watch. Three Critter Management workers removed the 11-foot-long, 500-pound alligator from a tiny lagoon. A crowd had gathered to gawk at the massive animal, which had parked itself underneath a well-traversed foot bridge over a lagoon.
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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Here is IRI’s response to the piece in the Huffington Post: http://ow.ly/2iw8c. Checking our website shows a mistake in the article – it has been almost two years since former Senator Chuck Hagel left IRI’s Board.
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