By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley offers a craven mush of platitudes in a new policy book that is little more than a painful cry for political relevance.
As former President Donald Trump’s enabler in the United Nations where she served as U.S. ambassador, Haley brings together 16 essays on domestic and foreign policy in “American Strength: Conservative Solutions Worth Fighting For.”
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | South Carolina’s new governor, Henry McMaster, has boatloads of political and governmental experience. But that doesn’t mean he can’t learn a little, especially from people who have occupied the same seat that he took over this week.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Over the last 14 years, two South Carolina governors pounded a philosophy on the stump and at the Statehouse that there was little government could do to be good or worthwhile.
This drumbeat against government, a child of Washington think tanks from the 1990s, seeped into South Carolina under Gov. Mark Sanford, who was obsessed against government borrowing to finance long-term needs. Then it found an erstwhile acolyte in his successor, Gov. Nikki Haley, now headed to the national stage. Using the bully pulpit of the governor’s office, they railed against big government, preached a gospel against taxes and proselytized for treating government like a business.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Gov. Nikki Haley took a victory lap around a legislature Wednesday with which she didn’t always get along.
“When I was first elected, I heard over and again from governors around the country that this would be the best job I would ever have,” she said in her final State of the State address prior to expected confirmation soon as the new ambassador to the United Nations. “I didn’t understand what they meant back then – and if I’m honest, some days, especially during the legislative session, I didn’t agree with them.”
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | In pictures and words in Western society, we understand justice to be blind, meted without favor to rich or poor, powerful or powerless, famous or average Joe.
“Justice for all,” we recite in the Pledge of Allegiance. The concept of equal justice is a foundation of American jurisprudence. Everyone is supposed to be treated the same in the eyes of the law if they run afoul of it.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The Palmetto State is still rocking from last week’s earthquake announcement that S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley will leave office to be the country’s ambassador to the United Nations in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | News that President-elect Donald Trump is considering S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley and Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster for prominent roles in his administration highlights how we need to start thinking now about who we want to lead South Carolina in the future.
With the 2016 elections over, Haley is considered a lame duck as her second term as governor ends in two years. As a rising minority star in the Republican party, it’s natural that Trump’s team would look for a big role for Haley, who met Thursday with Trump for what was called “a good discussion,” by a spokesman.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | An estimated 350,000 people along our coast evacuated for Hurricane Matthew in a withdrawal that didn’t turn out to be a disaster in and of itself.
Even if you plodded in traffic on Interstate 26, the Matthew evacuation was nothing like the one years ago with Hurricane Floyd. Even if you were without power for days or suffered in the flooding aftermath in North Charleston or in the Pee Dee, it’s pretty clear that the state’s disaster plan passed the test of working effectively and efficiently to restore normalcy as quickly as possible.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Political positioning has already started for next year’s state budget, not that you should be surprised.
The culprits are two big numbers causing some confusion before the debate even begins.
Last month, the state Board of Economic Advisors projected South Carolina lawmakers would have about $440 million in new revenues for the 2017-18 budget. It’s not the $1.2 billion they had to craft the current budget, but it’s not small potatoes either. The lower number — which would have been a dream come true during the Great Recession a few years ago — reflects a slowing economy, perhaps. But it’s important to note this: The economy is still growing.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The amount of money spent in politics these days is obscene.
But even we were flabbergasted — and kind of sickened — when one New Jersey man gave $250,000 on March 31 to Gov. Nikki Haley’s new political advocacy organization known as A Great Day SC. But he wasn’t alone. The new group collected only six donations, five from out of state, for a grand total of $515,000.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina! (2019) by editor and publisher Andy Brack offers incisive commentaries on the American South, politics, the common good and interesting South Carolina leaders. Available exclusively for Kindle for $7.99. A paperback version will be ready soon. Learn more.
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