SCDP: The State Of Nikki Haley’s State

Tonight, Nikki Haley will deliver her state of the state address, and just like previous years it’ll be a lot of lip service with few details and no results under her failed leadership. Everything Nikki Haley does shows she cares more about how things look than how businesses, families, and people are faring in South Carolina. The past three years have proven Nikki Haley’s just not good at being governor.

So while the Governor spins a rosy tale during tonight’s speech, remember the real state of the state under Nikki Haley: gross incompetence, general dysfunction, and absolutely no accountability under her failed leadership.

COVER-UPS GALORE:  Massive failures of government followed by repeated cover-ups continue to hurt SC’s people and businesses.

Nikki Haley’s administration has put children at risk in order to bring down their foster care numbers.“Sens. Katrina Shealy and Joel Lourie are part of a subcommittee that heard Wednesday about an alarming number of child deaths where the Department of Social Service was already involved. The lawmakers also heard about a system of goals that encourages social workers to keep children out of or remove them from foster care even if it isn’t the best thing to do…. The goals deeply bothered both Lourie and Shealy. ‘They are talking about wildly important goals. Let’s get the numbers down?’ Shealy said. ‘These aren’t numbers. These are people.’” [AP, 1/15/14], [WLTX, 10/3/13]

Nikki Haley’s administration kept parents in the dark for two months while children were exposed to TB at a public school. “Parents in the town are incensed that they weren’t told about the disease threat until May 28and that their children weren’t tested for the disease until May 31. DHEC staffers learned that a school janitor had tuberculosis March 8. He is believed to have spread the disease. Templeton freely acknowledged this week that her agency responded poorly to the tuberculosis threat, telling The State newspaper that ‘DHEC screwed this up.’” [The State, 7/19/13]

Governor Haley waited more than two weeks to inform 6.4 million consumers and businesses in South Carolina that their tax information had been hacked under her watch. A computer chief at the S.C. Department of Revenue did not heed warnings about cyber-security shortcomings at that state agency before hackers stole personal financial data belonging to 6.4 million consumers and business, a former agency employee told lawmakers Thursday. [The State, 1/4/13]

SLUGGISH ECONOMY: Harsh reality for families & businesses in South Carolina, despite Haley’s constant ribbon cuttings.

Nikki Haley’s Announced Jobs Fail to Materialize. “South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley touts that more than 40,000 jobs have been announced during her tenure, but no one can say how many of those planned jobs have become reality. Many employers won’t fill those jobs for years. Some plans will simply fall through – and already have in at least three cases… A quarter of the announcements commit to bring 25 or fewer jobs. An additional 18 projects show no jobs at all – six of which are receiving upfront infrastructure grants from the state.” [AP, 1/5/14]

Focus on jobs numbers only doesn’t tell real story of SC economy. “A focus only on jobs, creating what the governor calls ‘a strong business environment,’ leads to ignoring the need to improve, for every citizen, personal wealth, health and access to a high-quality public education. And while she’s at it, the governor should call for a strong home environment too. After all, it’s a balancing act.” [The State, 1/19/14]

Wages stagnant as households make less money than before recession. “South Carolina has seen a greater drop in real income than most states during the past dozen years, according to a Census Bureau report releasedThursday morning…In the Palmetto State, median household income plunged by 10.9 percent from 2000 through 2012. Only eight states saw a larger decline in household incomes, according to the Census Bureau, mostly in the deep South and upper Midwest.” [Post & Courier, 9/19/13]

South Carolina has one of the worst economic mobility rates in the country, is one of hardest places to Achieve the American Dream. South Carolina is one of the hardest places to achieve the American Dream, with the third worst economic mobility rate in the country. “Southern states, led by Louisiana and South Carolina, have the worst economic mobility in the country, according to a new study.” [Pew Center on the States, 5/10/12]

FAILING EDUCATION: Students & teachers struggling after three years of Haley neglect

Nikki Haley’s veto pen has hit education hardest. “Of the nearly 200 budget vetoes Gov. Nikki Haley has issued during her three years as governor, no government service has been struck more than public education. A review of the governor’s budget vetoes shows the first-term Republican has vetoed $110 million worth of public education programs and services since 2011, vetoes that account for more than a quarter of the $419 million she has vetoed in state spending since 2011.” [The State, 6/27/13]

SC 6th worst in the country on slashing school spending & harming public education. “Even in 2008, before the dramatic budget cuts the state has enacted in the past few years, South Carolina spent the fourth-lowest amount on education. As fiscal year 2014, South Carolina primary and secondary students will each be educated with about $500 less than before the recession. The lack of education funding is, in part, due to the political ideals of Governor Nikki Haley. In 2011, she vetoed the state’s budget and included $56 million in cuts to education. In addition, Haley refused to accept money from the Education Jobs Fund — a federal program intended to mitigate budget constraints in schools across the country. South Carolina was the only state that did not seek money from this program.” [24/7 Wall Street, 9/24/13]

CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE: Roads and bridges won’t be fixed while waiting on funding from Nikki Haley’s “money tree.”

Nikki Haley depending on a ‘Money Tree’ to pay to fill potholes. “Gov. Nikki Haley wants to fund road and bridge construction in South Carolina through tax collections that aren’t yet projected….Haley says that ‘money tree’ could provide more than $1.3 billion over the next decade through taxes and bonds.” [AP,1/13/14]

Governor Haley said improving roads and bridges was not a priority, instead she was focused on inserting politics into the debate on ethics reform: “Gov. Nikki Haley says a Senate road-funding plan isn’t one of her legislative priorities with three weeks to go to the end of this year’s legislative session….Asked by GreenvilleOnline.com for her feelings about the road-funding bill pending in the Senate, she said, “DOT is not something I’ve even looked at. My focus has been on ethics, it’s been on (the Department of Administration), it’s been on getting the budget passed. It’s on all those things sitting at the finish line that we need to push over.” [Greenville News, 5/21/13]

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