Columbia, SC – The South Carolina Democratic Party today mailed its 2013 Report Card to Governor Nikki Haley, citing continued failures of her administration after originally covering up the hacking that put millions at risk, keeping parents in the dark for two months while their children were exposed to tuberculosis at a public school in Greenwood, and nine other rankings by independent organizations that show South Carolina falling further behind in education, economic mobility and the safety of women during Nikki Haley’s tenure.
“Nikki Haley is failing at leading South Carolina for the third year in a row, and continues to prove that she’s just not good at doing her job as Governor,” said SCDP Chairman Jaime Harrison. “Whether it’s the hacking and TB scandal cover ups, or the failure to meet our state’s great potential on most other measures, there is simply no accountability and no leadership under Nikki Haley and it’s time for a change.”
For students, teachers, businesses and so many others, it’s a time for accountability to measure progress and prepare to improve in the future. Harrison urged South Carolinians to similarly use this time of reflection to evaluate their chief executive as well, which is why SCDP chose to release the 2013 report card this week.
The 2013 Report Card also looks to independent ratings and news reports on key issues where South Carolina continues to be at the top of all the bad lists and the bottom of the good lists because of Nikki Haley’s failures.
After the state government was hacked, Governor Haley covered up the fact that millions of South Carolina’s businesses and families were exposed to identity theft. Earlier this year, her administration was caught flat footed as the company she hand-picked for the state contract on credit monitoring abused victims further by soliciting them for fees and additional business.
Similarly, Haley’s administration failed to inform people about the need to change services to maintain their free credit monitoring services. And when South Carolinians went to sign up, they struggled through website glitches and technical problems that made it impossible to get the monitoring they were promised. For the continued failures in dealing with the aftermath of the Department of Revenue Hacking, Haley earned an F-.
Another major event this year put children at risk: Nikki Haley’s administration kept quiet for two months when they found out about a tuberculosis outbreak in a public school in Greenwood. They kept parents in the dark for months while their children continued to be exposed to TB and now dozens are sick. Grade: F-.
“In every major area, Nikki Haley and her administration is failing the people of this great state,” Harrison continued. “South Carolinians deserve better from their leaders and results on things they care about. When things go wrong, people deserve a governor who gets to work to make sure we change for the better instead of excuses. It’s time for new leadership and real accountability for South Carolina.”
(Click to enlarge)
[1] http://www.stateintegrity.
[2] http://www.pewstates.org/
[3] http://www.money-rates.
[4] http://www.thestate.com/
[5] http://www.thestate.com/
[6] http://www.governing.com/
[7] http://247wallst.com/
[8] http://www.thestate.com/
[9] http://www.governing.com/
(Editor’s Note: The above communication does not necessarily reflect the editorial position of FITSNews.com. To submit your letter, news release, email blast, media advisory or issues statement for publication, click here).
20 comments
All of this is true to the bone, but will the voters of this state see the truth of her utter complete failure as Governor? Well the put Sanfraud back in office after he lied and stole from the tax payers.
Will FITS endorse her for 2014 after outlining all her failures over the years? You Betcha!
Columbia, SC — IT’S NOT AT all
surprising that the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would rule that
Gov. Nikki Haley and other state officials can be sued for having Occupy
Columbia protesters arrested for violating a law that didn’t exist.
What
should be surprising, and certainly is disturbing, is that our governor
stands behind her decision — which suggests that she would do the same
thing again if given the opportunity.
The issue here isn’t whether
it ought to be illegal to camp out on the State House grounds. I think
it’s perfectly reasonable to require protesters to go home for a few
hours every night rather than becoming squatters. And in fact that is
the law today.
The issue is whether it was illegal at the time
that Gov. Haley called in the Bureau of Protective Services (which
doesn’t work for her, but complied with her orders nonetheless) to
arrest and forcibly remove the protesters. It very clearly was not. And
even if the state had been able to put up a razzle-dazzle defense to
convince a judge that a vague Budget and Control Board regulation
prohibited round-the-clock protests, the governor did not have the
authority to enforce that regulation, since she has but one of five
votes on that board.
As a federal district judge explained at the
time, in issuing a restraining order to protect the protesters, the
governor was “making up” the rules as she went along.
What occupy
protestors want is to be compensated financially for their 2011 arrests,
which they argue violated their constitutional rights in addition to
violating state law. The question of whether they deserve compensation
and if so how much and from whom — the governor personally or all of us
as taxpayers — eventually will be determined by a federal court.
What all of us should want is an apology from our governor, and a pledge to obey the rule of law.
Because
this isn’t a first offense. Gov. Haley has demonstrated a disturbing
pattern of assuming for herself powers that she very clearly does not
have.
In 2012, the Legislature passed a budget that fully covered
the increased cost of health-insurance premiums for state employees and
retirees. The governor could have vetoed the funding but chose not to.
Later that month, when the perfunctory matter of approving insurance
rates came before the Budget and Control Board, she persuaded Treasurer
Curtis Loftis and Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom to join her in
brushing aside the protestations of the two legislators on the board and
requiring state employees and retirees to pay part of the increase
themselves. Earlier this year, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously
that the governor and her co-conspirators had violated the constitution
by usurping the Legislature’s power to write the law.
Earlier in
2012, she persuaded the state Republican Party executive committee to
ignore a Supreme Court order and put her favorite candidate back on the
ballot after that spring’s ballot purge. The State Election Commission
refused to acknowledge the resulting lawlessness, saving the governor
and the party the ignominy of being found in contempt of court.
The
previous year, Gov. Haley unconstitutionally ordered the Legislature
back into “extraordinary” session because it refused to pass a bill that
she supported. The Supreme Court overturned her order.
In all of
these cases, the governor had the right policy position: We shouldn’t
allow protesters, or tourists, or anyone else, to camp out on the State
House grounds. It made perfectly good sense to have state employees pick
up part of the increased cost for their health insurance. Candidates
shouldn’t have been kicked off the ballot for doing what state officials
told them to do. The Legislature should have come back to town to pass
the bill abolishing the Budget and Control Board — something it still
hasn’t managed to do more than two years later.
But in every single case, she was doing things she had absolutely no legal authority to do.
Four
times in less than two years, our governor ignored the rule of law.
Pretended that the limits of the constitution or the statutes do not
apply to her. Had people arrested for doing things no law prohibited.
Persuaded her political minions to take action in direct defiance of an
unambiguous Supreme Court order. Assumed the power to rewrite the duly
enacted state budget.
This is lawless behavior. It’s the stuff of
tyrants and dictators. And not once has our governor shown any remorse.
Not once has she acknowledged that she is required to obey the law. Not
once has she said, you know, I got bad legal advice. Or, I really should
have done things differently.
Her spokesman responded to the
court’s order this week by saying that “We continue to stand behind the
decision made two years ago — and which is still the rule today — that
the State House grounds are not meant to be used as a public toilet or
campground.”
Notice the middle part of that statement: “and which is still the rule today.”
It’s not a rule; it’s a law. And it doesn’t still exist. It now
exists, because state officials who care about the rule of law decided
they needed to actually adopt a rule, and later pass a law, if they
wanted to arrest people for violating it.
It’s not a radical concept, or a particularly difficult one. But it’s one our governor still can’t seem to grasp.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/12/19/3166254/scoppe-gov-nikki-haley-and-the.html#storylink=cpy
There are far too few Republican voters in South Carolina with enough self respect to not re-elect her.
Nikki will try harder to make us 50th place in all of the above categories.
This state is rife with crooked politicians. Most of them in the GOP if in name only. The issue for the Dems should be fraud waste and abuse. There is loads of it and many people know about it. Throw the crooks out is a powerful reason to vote against the GOP
And, the abject incompetence of the Sanford-Haley administration…including in the lawyers they hire.
It will only happen from the outside. You cannot expect corrupt politicians to police other corrupt politicians.
State Democrats chastise Gov Haley, yet stand up to cheer D.C. Democrats? Hoo boy, what a morally bankrupt crowd of low information sheeple.
You boys of the Ass Party just don’t seem to get the message. Nobody gives a rat’s ass about report cards, surveys, polls, tea parties, drunk drivers and cuckold husbands
Hit the cockroach bitch where it hurts. Spend a few bucks and obtain names, addresses, emails, etc. of everyone who contributes or receives benefits from the State Pension Fund Make copies of Edward Siedle’s article in Forbes and mail it to everyone with a short note:
Dear Member of the State Pension Fund
Within a few short months you will not receive any payments/future benefits from the State Pension Fund. Oh, Retirees, your insurance coverage will be cancelled as well
I know this may be a bitter pill to swallow but the Governor, Senator Leatherpecker, former Senator Ryberg and I, have lost all your money playing on the stock market- silly isn’t it
But don’t worry about us. We’ve stashed away enough of your money upfront to let us continue to live in the style that we are entitled
chow – your friend and buddy for life Reynolds
WTF is an “F-“? What schools did SCDP members go to where that’s a grade?
She’s still got the best ass of any governor in the USA. The rest of these complaints could be said about any governor. Dems are sore they don’t have anyone to compete.
Didn’t you ,mean to say she’s the biggest ass of any governor in the USA?
Are these categories that are done for every governor?
Who cares about crap like this? Tell us about what really matters, like our ass0kicking governor getting a honorary black belt! Seems like we sent the wrong Haley over to kick Afghan butt!
She ain’t gonna fight her own.
As a moderate Democrat, I trully love the TEA Party!
YOU BETCHA!
YOU BETCHA!
And we expected the Democratic party to approve of the Governor? What are you drinking? Why would you even print this garbage. Unless they can find a better candidate than Vinney to run they better get use to it!
If you have no qualms about failing you spouse and kids, why would you care about failing SC?
Hey, on the positive side she didn’t get all “F”s