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Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Working around the governor
At first glance, when I saw this story this morning, and my eye fell on the word "governor," I thought, "Hey, that's new -- Sanford working with others to grow the knowledge economy in South Carolina."
Then I actually read the story. An excerpt:
Legislative, business and education leaders Tuesday announced a new partnership designed to draw high-paying technology and research jobs to South Carolina — the types of jobs, lawmakers said, Gov. Mark Sanford and the Department of Commerce have failed to bring to the state.
The new effort was the brainchild of House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston; Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Anderson; Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston; and Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence — arguably the state’s four most influential lawmakers. The idea was also endorsed by new University of South Carolina president Harris Pastides and others in the business community....
So it was, of course, the work of every state leader except the governor. The governor, of course, maintains through those who work for him that he and his Commerce Dept. are getting the job done. But they are the only ones in state government, or apparently in academia, who think so.
It's really unfortunate for Gov. Sanford that the state is run by Republicans. He would be much more at home with a Democratic Legislature, so that his dismissals of criticism as "political" would be more readily accepted. For instance, I might be able to dismiss the complaints of my friend Samuel. Samuel, as you probably know, was the guy who came up with the idea of the endowed chairs. He served on the governing board of that until the gov replaced him. But he's a Democrat who's been dumped on by the gov, so you take his complaints about the gov not caring about economic development with a grain of salt, right?
But as things are, the governor doesn't work well with others, period, regardless of party.
And that's why others work around him.
Posted by Brad Warthen at 09:59 AM in Business, Ecodevo, Leadership, Legislature, Mark Sanford, Republicans, South Carolina
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Comments
Why did Mark Sanford cross the road?
He was holding the chicken.
Why did Brad Warthen cross the road?
To criticize Mark Sanford.
Why do I keep coming here?
To make sure nothing's changed.
Posted by: p.m. | Jul 30, 2008 11:39:05 AM
Brad is so consumed by blind hatred that he doesn't read his own reporters telling him that Mark Sanford's office worked with the legislators on this reorganization. He had to, because some of the changes are only under his control.
This change is window dressing, anyway. It was done in a dark room by people who are not even on the ground in the sort of businesses SC allegedly wants to recruit. Everyone at the capitol is in CYA mode after Volkswagen selected Tennessee. They don't even understand the reasons, so how can they correct the problems?
A big part is denial of the reality that our taxes are too high. An executive can locate to Michigan or Illinois where he and his workers will pay half the income taxes. The Chamber of Commerce cannot even tell you what businesses are in the state or where to source manufactured items.
If I hear any more smoke about the "knowledge economy" I will get sick. Such buzzword slinging is a sure sign the bureaucrats don't have a clue.
Posted by: Lee Muller | Jul 30, 2008 12:03:07 PM
I would literally slit my own throat if my job description required me to accomplish ANYTHING with, through, around, or in spite of that pack of mongrel beasts.
Posted by: Reader | Jul 30, 2008 6:24:25 PM
All,
One of the easiest and best – and most cost effective – ideas is to take down the Confederate flag with H-3588.
I’ll tell you from personal experience, the people who like high tech and who have good ideas for high tech businesses are not going to be attracted to a state that appreciates neither diversity nor modernity. And that message -- that SC does not appreciate diversity or modernity -- is what such people hear when they see our state legislature flying the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds.
With H-3588, we can change the definition of our state from "South Carolina, where the Confederate flag still flies," to South Carolina, the state devoted to history, heritage, and hospitality.
Please support H-3588. Thank you.
Regards,
Michael Rodgers
Columbia, SC
Posted by: Michael Rodgers | Jul 30, 2008 7:49:46 PM
I want to tell you a little something to think about before you make your next bet on an online gambling related games that will save your some money over the course of the season.
Posted by: Online Casino | Jul 31, 2008 5:43:37 AM
Sanford's inability to "change" governnment is is lasting record. Not the fights with the general assembly and others...I mean he never came to grips with the nickles and dimes of the 7 billion dollar budget.
State government is as he found it...even the bits he controls. Bloated, wasteful...and off point. He had his chance, but he decided to make headlines instead of a difference.
Posted by: Harry | Jul 31, 2008 6:07:36 AM
Brad Warthen dislikes Mark Sanford because Sanford is honest and does not go along with the crooks running the Senate and House.
No governor is going to be able to overcome those arrogant grafters. At least Sanford sets an example for the people which might encourage some more honest people to run against the Leathermans, Lands, and Harrels, so that a future honest governor can have some allies in the captitol.
Posted by: Lee Muller | Jul 31, 2008 10:39:39 AM
What state are you people living in? Sanford is an extreme right-wing nutjob who chased away Volkswagen and has fought tooth-and-nail to keep out massive retail developments that could bring thousands of jobs to each end of the state. That's your idea of what a governor should be?
Posted by: Draven | Aug 1, 2008 7:35:41 AM
What do you know about Volkswagen?
What Brad Warthen told you?
Having worked for Volkswagen and Porsche on the retooling of their Westmoreland, PA plant, I can tell you there are a lot more considerations in play than our port facilities in Charleston, which are not even set up for vehicle shipping like Jacksonville and Baltimore are.
I am not happy with the way the Dept of Commerce operates. I don't like the whore mentality of recruiting by giving tax breaks away. I know how previous administrations lost the Ford and Toyota factories in Florence. But let's stick to the facts and stop with ignorant, baseless attacks on Mark Sanford, the most business-savvy governor this state has had in the last 100 years.
Posted by: Lee Muller | Aug 1, 2008 10:05:43 AM
Lee,
Sanford, the most business-savvy governor this state has had in the last 100 years? Man, that one had me rolling in the aisle. Ask all the people standing in the unemployment lines if they think Gov. Nutjob is Mr. Business-savvy.
So you don't like giving tax breaks to companies that would put thousands of people to work. I guess that shows your business-savvy. Do you think companies are going to come here just because of all the smiling faces and beautiful places? Show me one that has.
FYI, I know plenty about Volkswagen. As for the port, I haven't heard any complaints from that other German car company -- you know, the one that a real business-savvy governor gave the tax breaks to get them to come here.
Posted by: Draven | Aug 1, 2008 2:41:21 PM
Just like another MBA in a high office, it's easy to get a reputation for business savvy when you are either from a prominent family or marry an heiress. At least Sanford didn't blow a lot of investors' money in the process.
Posted by: Steve Gordy | Aug 1, 2008 3:26:41 PM
Anything with Rep Dan Cooper involved is a joke.
He has the "I am lying when my lips are moving" disease.
and yes- a fellow house Republican told me that.
Posted by: barry | Aug 1, 2008 10:28:29 PM
Lee, when you noted the most business savvy govenor this state has had in "100 years" you murdered the spelling of Fritz Hollings name.
A business savvy governor words withh the legislature. Sanford is an inflexible idealogue who has enough personal wealth that he is obliged to be divorced from the economic reality that most people have to deal with, and frankly I think there was nothing funnier (or alternatively more pitiful) than is lack of business savviness when he had his impromtu pint shot that he took at Starbucks in his "welcoming" speech by noting effectively S.C. is glad to have you, but why some one would pay $5.00 for a cup of coffee is beyond me.
P.S. You note that plants will head coporations will flee to Ill. where they will pay half the tax rate, but you are alternatively against tax give aways? Also on a side note, the corp. tax rete in S.C. is 5% and we have one of the lowest overall individual tax burdens in the country. Corp. tax rate in Ill. is 7.3% and it is 4.95% in Michigan. Lastly, a little tip about Michigan...businessess are not currently flocking there.
Posted by: Silence Dogood | Aug 2, 2008 6:56:23 PM
Of course I oppose tax breaks targeted to businesses.
1. The only reason you special tax breaks is because overall taxation is too high.
2. It is unfair, and unConstitutional to give unequal treatment under the law. Everyone should pay the same tax rates and get the same breaks.
I see why you hide behind a silly false name. Michigan has over 200 businesses supplying BMW. Michigan does a super job of promoting local business growth. But I am not selling Michigan. I have specific complaints about the anti-business political climate in South Carolina. There are lots of things we could learn and apply from other states.
One thing we do wrong is promote cheap labor and try to depress wages and salaries of employees. Charlotte pays skilled workers and engineers 50% more than Columbia. Atlanta pays top talent twice as much as Columbia. The result is a talent drain out of Columbia, and most of the rest of the state.
Posted by: Lee Muller | Aug 3, 2008 10:15:19 AM
Draven,
Do you know anything about why Volkswagen is returning to manufacturing cars in America?
If they don't intend to export them overseas, VW doesn't need a seaport at all. If they intend to source most parts from within the USA, Canada and Mexico, they don't need a seaport nearby.
Tennessee has no income tax. That will attract a lot of people expect to earn high incomes.
Posted by: Lee Muller | Aug 3, 2008 10:18:50 AM
Lee Muller,
Re: "...the crooks running the Senate and House...the Leathermans, Lands, and Harrels..."
| Jul 31, 2008 10:39:39 AM
..............
You left out the Knotts, and the Numero Uno Crooked B**tard, Donny Myers, who knows nothing of fiscal matters but likes to squander the whole pot -- from his sordid hole, somewhere here in the bowels of Lexington County.
Posted by: HP | Aug 3, 2008 10:40:01 AM
i.e., those you listed are just the Junior Crooked B**tards. The Senior/Motherlode Crooked B**tards must be included to get a grip on the whole problem. And see the bigger picture.
See?
Posted by: HP | Aug 3, 2008 11:09:27 AM
I don't think we need to lard up the thread with ALL the jerks in the legislature.
A much shorter list would be those trying to work for the state, instead of their egos and wallets.
Posted by: Lee Muller | Aug 3, 2008 11:56:07 AM
Hear, Hear. I agree, Lee Muller.
Governor Sanford is trying to do just that -- and these blokes should be ashamed of themselves.
Posted by: HP | Aug 3, 2008 12:41:24 PM
Um, Lee, you were the one who brought up the port. Even said it wasn't set up for vehicle shipping. Perhaps you can explain that to BMW.
Posted by: Draven | Aug 3, 2008 3:06:29 PM
I read the Greenville-Spartanburg area is one of three areas that FedEx Ground is considering for a hub that would employ 470 people. Let's hope there's not some mom and pop shipping company nearby that employs six people, or Gov. Business-savvy will screw it up the way he screwed up Bass Pro and Cabella's.
Posted by: Draven | Aug 3, 2008 3:12:45 PM
Draven,
A letter to the editor of The State brought up the port of Charleston in blaming Sanford for VW not locating in SC.
They didn't know anything about VW.
They just hated Sanford. It may have been Brad, or one of his cohorts here, writing under a nom de plume.
BMW exports some unique models which are made in SC. Volvo also imports some heavy machinery. So what? The facts remain that Jacksonville and Baltimore are more set up for vehicles, and VW is probably not planning to export from the USA.
Do you have any evidence that Sanford "screwed up Bass Pro and Cabela's", or that he is messing up FedEx recruitment?
Of course you don't.
Bass Pro and Cabelas are retail stores. FedEx is a warehouse operation. VW is real manufacturing, with much higher wage scales. I thought USC was going to get us all those "knowledge economy" jobs.
Posted by: Lee Muller | Aug 3, 2008 3:31:40 PM
Lee,
Do I have any evidence that Gov. Business-savvy screwed up Bass Pro and Cabella's? Of course I do. How about the dog and pony show he did at some little bait store in Greer. Said it wouldn't be fair to give tax breaks to a Bass Pro development that was expected to bring a couple thousand jobs -- nevermind that the breaks were contingent upon Bass Pro drawing two hotels and some other businesses to the area -- when they would force the bait shop that employed three out of business.
Do I have any evidence that he's screwing up FedEx? Nope. Do you have any evidence that he isn't?
And of course VW will export some of its vehicles. It's a function of the weak dollar vs. the euro.
Posted by: Draven | Aug 3, 2008 7:55:34 PM
let me see..
Daimler Chrysler...lost
Rolls royce.... lost
Volkswagon.... lost
The Port Royal project..screwed up
The ICAR project...messed up and in litigation
Regional destination retail outlets..dead
The Jasper Port.... screwed up
Its funny that guys like Lee Muller never have a single piece of proof to back up their claims about how good the guv is...yet there are so many facts about how he has helped keep south carolina back of the pack...
what HAS he accomplished that is positive for us economically the last 6 years?
oh...and btw..check out the REST of Tennessee's tax structure before you isolate a single aspect of it and disengenously claim it to be a model for us.
Posted by: Joseph reynolds | Aug 4, 2008 9:06:49 AM
You misuse the word "lost".
I don't think you know much about any of these projects.
Sanford did the right thing on the Port Royal project. He inserted himself into it and fired Campbell.
Daimler rejected SC before Sanford took office. They wanted more tax breaks than the state was willing to give.
Rolls Royce never seriously considered SC.
They already had investment in Indiana.
Volkswagen may not have found SC the best location for a lot of reasons, some which I listed.
ICAR was not well-thought out to begin with. Some of the things they talked of doing impressed legislators, but automobile companies had already been doing all of it for 15 years. I wrote Sanford and the legislature at the time with specific reasons it would not work.
Innovista is a bust, too, so far. Sanford's only fault is in not demanding detailed plans before committing any state money. He should not have gone along with the legislature.
Posted by: Lee Muller | Aug 4, 2008 9:30:38 AM
