BRACK: We’ve all got the “Pothole Blues”

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  Sometimes the only way to make a point and make sure it gets through is through humor.

As the state Senate stumbles drunkenly to find a way to figure out a way to fix state roads and bridges, former gubernatorial candidate Tom Ervin of Greenville turned to song to make his point.

He wrote – and had recorded – an aptly-named song, “Pothole Blues,” as first reported Sunday by our sister publication, Statehouse Report.

He says he’s gotten so frustrated by the continued “lack of vision and failed leadership” by state senators and Gov. Henry McMaster in funding the billions of dollars of needs for state road and bridge repairs” that he had to do something.

“We should demand that our state politicians ‘fix the damn roads’ and stop kicking the can down the pothole filled road,” Ervin told us.    Give it a listen here:

An excerpt from the song’s lyrics:

Our asphalt is torn
Where potholes adorn
Big 18 wheelers keep on rumblin’ on.
Got so much to lose, you can’t refuse,
We got the pothole blues

We got the pothole blues.
We got no sand in our shoes.
Governor, please give us a fix.
Please do it quick.
We got the pothole blues.

Ervin

Ervin, a former state circuit judge and Greenville businessman who ran for governor in 2014, is urging voters to contact their legislators.  On the YouTube page for the song, Ervin wrote:

“The legislative process is being slowed by partisan attacks, grandstanding and an insistence on backroom deals. It’s a legislative traffic jam and it has to end. Now.

“Will 2017 be another year of failed leadership?  The cost of failure is real! According to the recently released TRIP report, crumbling roads are costing drivers about $3 billion annually due to extra operation costs, lost time, and wasted fuel from traffic congestion and crashes.

“Every day that goes by that our elected officials are not taking action, it is costing you money and putting lives at risk.”

Keep up the good work, Tom.  We need more people to hold the feet of those in Columbia to the fire.

• To find and contact your state senator, click here.

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