Charleston Currents – Andy Brack

Articles by: Andy Brack

FOCUS: “On the Table” events to offer new way for community input

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Your voice matters.

That’s the simple message of an effort coming soon by the new Library Foundation of the Lowcountry to bring people together for a meal so they can talk about what’s important. It’s a practical way to elevate civic conversations, build new relationships and inspire collaborative action across the region.

It’s called “On the Table Lowcountry.” It is modeled after a successful similar event in Chicago that has brought together tens of thousands of people on a single day to focus on community needs.

by Andy Brack · 04/02/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

BRACK: How the divisive issue of climate change can be a unifier

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | South Carolinians can learn something from an Alabama Christian leader who is trying to unite people through what may seem an unlikely issue – the environment.

Dr. Randy Brinson, a Montgomery gastroenterologist who is president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, is on a mission. He wants to make climate change become a nonpartisan issue that brings people together for solutions, not allow it to continue to be a political ping pong ball manipulated by cynics for their own purposes.

by Andy Brack · 04/02/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: House lawmakers need to be bolder on tax reform

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The ghosts of tax reform are rising and slithering through the halls of the Statehouse as lawmakers have been seeking to change how sales, services and income are taxed.

Unfortunately, the backsliding already has begun. Two weeks ago, members of a special House tax policy committee announced with great fanfare that they were taking the bold steps of putting a lot of reform on the table, including a move to get rid of costly special sales tax exemptions that suck billions of dollars from state coffers.

But by late last week, the boldness was gone, a victim of institutional timidity. It’s not surprising because if the past is any reflection of the future, anything changing the tax status quo will be a long, tough slog. Two efforts since 2010 have failed. And even if reform does come, it’s could be two or three years off as proponents will have to spend months to flesh out details and educate recalcitrant lawmakers on what reforms mean.

by Andy Brack · 03/05/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Make our schools safer with real gun reform

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | This time, it feels like something about guns is going to happen. After the Parkland slaughter of 17 students and teachers, inaction doesn’t seem to be a viable automatic political reflex for mass gun violence.

Maybe the nation has reached a tipping point, thanks to thousands of Florida students who marched on the state’s capital to pressure lawmakers to make common-sense reforms to curb the gun violence.

“The times have clearly changed,” University of South Florida political science professor Susan MacManus told a Tallahassee newspaper. “And the activism of the students and their parents and grandparents and everyone else has made this a bigger issue and a much more politically impactful issue. I think it has ramifications for any partisan race from the top of the ticket down to local races.”

by Andy Brack · 02/26/2018 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Election systems are safe, but hearts and minds may not be

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The Russians will only be successful in meddling with the 2018 elections if we let them do it to us.

The nation’s spy chiefs last week said they expected foreign governments to try to fiddle with election outcomes in 2018, just like the Russians did in 2016. But that doesn’t mean foreign governments will necessarily try to hack into voting systems, change names on voting rolls or disrupt the internal mechanics of voting.

“What they are trying to do is inject themselves [into our election process] and cause confusion in another way – using social media and other means,” said state Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg. “They are creating fake news.”

by Andy Brack · 02/19/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

FEEDBACK: No more talk on guns. We need action now.

Kristen French, North Charleston: “The total number of children and teens killed or injured by gun violence nationwide since January 1 is at least 402. In South Carolina, during the same period, 47 people have died and 102 have suffered injuries from gun violence. (More: Gun Violence Archive.)

“I call on the S.C. Legislature to make South Carolina safer from gun violence. Evidence shows that laws strengthening background checks and permit-to-purchase are associated with decreased firearm homicide rates. (See this study).

“The Senate Judiciary Committee should vote NO on bill S. 449, which would gut the concealed carry permit system in our state and allow anyone to open carry without a background check or safety training. In Arizona and Missouri, gun violence has increased dramatically after implementing similar permit-less carry laws.”

by Andy Brack · 02/19/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Feedback

BRACK: Put an end to gerrymandering

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Perhaps it was naivete, youth or idealism. Maybe all three. But I never felt trapped by gerrymandering during a run for Congress in 2000. I believed people from Seabrook Island to Little River in the First Congressional District were ready for someone different.

Today, of course, I know different. I could have been George Washington himself and not won a seat in Congress that year because of the way the district lines favored Republicans thanks to gerrymandering. After two years of work and more than $500,000 raised, I got 36 percent of the vote – the percentage a Democrat typically got in that seat.

by Andy Brack · 02/12/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: It’s the Year of the Panda in S.C. politics

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | If the 2018 gubernatorial race in South Carolina were a sound, it probably would be the chilling screech of fingernails dragged across a blackboard.

Folks, it’s the Year of the Panda, a season already with some of the worst political pandering in recent memory. The nonsense coming out of gubernatorial campaigns is more painful than bamboo shoots being stuck under those screeching fingernails – shoots that should nourish pandas, not irritate voters.

Winner of the week’s pandering award is Gov. Henry McMaster for the blatant ploy to suck up to voters by proclaiming Feb. 4 to be “Stand For The Flag Super Bowl Sunday.”

by Andy Brack · 02/05/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

A rendering of what the museum will look like. Source: IAAM.

FOCUS: New museum slated to start construction in summer

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Construction is expected to begin this summer for the $100 million International African American Museum on the Charleston site where an estimated 100,000 West Africans disembarked into slavery.

“This is an unusual opportunity for the city … to create something of enormous value to our country,” former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley told members of the Rotary Club of Charleston last week “We American’s don’t understand African American history. It’s important for the nation to be well-grounded in itself, its people, their contributions and their history.”

Charleston was an epicenter of the international slave trade at its peak …

by Andy Brack · 01/29/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news