“… AND I PLAN TO STICK AROUND”
By Amy Lazenby || After a several month hiatus, I’m returning to FITSNews as Associate Opinion Editor.
Last summer, my family moved to Athens, Georgia when my husband decided to expand his law practice, which remains headquartered in Spartanburg, S.C. I choose to live in Athens because of the opportunities the city affords my children, but as a native South Carolinian who loves the state I was born in and called home for my entire life, I continue to be deeply involved in Palmetto politics. I also own a home, a business, and have family in South Carolina, so for me, politics in this state will always be personal.
Over the past several months, I have been consulting with Palmetto State lawmakers from both parties, as well as some non-profit entities, on a variety of political issues that are important to me. I travel to Columbia on a weekly basis to meet with legislators and advocacy groups in an effort to advance bills that I believe to be in the public interest, and I will continue to do so.
I also closely follow the national political winds as they blow through the southeast.
My real passion, however, and the way I hope to be the most effective in helping to advance the legislation that I believe in, is writing. Most recently, I published a column in The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper encouraging the passage of a bill introduced by Rep. Bakari Sellers (D-Bamberg) that would give prosecutors in South Carolina better tools to combat criminal domestic violence.
It is that passion – and a desire to make a real difference in the state and nation that I love – that has brought me back to FITSNews.
While FITS editor Will Folks and I retain fundamental differences in thought on how government can best serve the people, we are able to find common ground on many issues. More often than not, however, we disagree. It is that counter-balance that I wish to bring back to FITSNews – for it is only in viewing an issue from multiple vantage points that we can truly understand it and chart the best course forward.
Will has graciously offered me this platform to share my opinions – and spar with him – on current political events in South Carolina and the nation, and I gratefully accept. I’m back, and I plan to stick around.
Someone has to keep an eye on “Sic Willie,” after all.
Amy Lazenby is the Associate Opinion Editor for FITSNews. Contact her at amy@fitsnews.com and follow her on Twitter @Mrs_Laz.
71 comments
Let me understand this. SC legislators waste their time listening to a Georgia resident tell them how to run SC when she is not even a SC voter. Interesting.
She said he has a house and a business in SC, so why shouldn’t she be active in SC politics?
So you should be able to vote in both states? Unless you are a voter, and even more importantly represent a large number of voters, a politician will not waste their time on you. UNLESS you bring a significant campaign contribution with you.
Didn’t she say she was writing, not voting?
My question was about her statement that she travels to Columbia on a weekly basis to “consult” with legislators. My statement about her voting is that she says she is a GA resident, so why would a SC legislator care about her?
They probably don’t. They rarely even care about their actual constituents, so I would imagine that unless she has (in the old State House tradition) bags of $20 dollar bills with her, the clowns are merely pretending to listen to yet another out-of-state know-it-all.
I think so, I just wish she’d do neither (here, anyway). Actually, I don’t care if she votes, everyone should. Just stop writing… ;-)
You don’t think there’s some part of this story we don’t have do you? (Picture look of feigned shock wash across my face)
Maybe our legislators (who are admittedly not that bright in most cases) were looking for a stay at home mommy who lives out of state to help them out. I think I saw that ad posted in Politico.
She’s an artist Mike. Specializing in cow dung art.
Perhaps the legislators are stupified and in awe of someone who is more intelligent (and makes more sense) than they are.
Whoa, my friend. That’s a very low bar you just hoisted on Gervais Street: “…more intelligent (and makes more sense)…” than the SC legislature? Low bar, indeed. Like many of the commentators here (present company excluded), Lazenby strikes me as a self-appointed expert in residence on all things. I try to refrain from pontificating on every single topic in the universe, and stick to the matters falling (at least peripherally) within my bailiwick. Maybe I’m selling her short, but I’m not aware that she’s ever run some large organization, performed high level academic research on her topics, actually functioned in a major executive capacity with wide-scope responsibilities, or even made her bones as a policy wonk somewhere and actually implemented a policy or two of any type, etc. I’ll just pass on her articles; y’all have at her. Hopefully she’ll follow hubby a little further away next time. I keed! I keed!
“self-appointed expert in residence on all things”
Sort of like Aunt Rose Comfort in the film “Baby Doll” (Tennessee Williams)..?
Ha! Very much so (more than she knows, no doubt). Nice reference…
Exactly. Why not have everyone who owns a vacation home in SC but lives out of state come down and lobby the legislature to do what they think is best? Seems reasonable to have people who don’t live here year round telling our legislature what’s in the best interest of the full time residents.
She’s a complete moron. I’m surprised Will let’s her write her whiny drivel on here.
Primarily because she’s annoying.
Hmmm — I think that her previous articles/opinion pieces received about a 12.725% agreement rating from me. Amy is really too far off the beam for me, but I read every article she submitted.
I was doing really well with my 100% boycott of her stuff before her glorious departure. I don’t mind debate when it’s a debate, but her shtick is usually shallow and relies on a flimsy lefty / libertarian mashup of assumptions. Will’s in the business of web hits, I get that. I’m just not going to contribute to hers.
I do symphathize with your statement, but every now and again I could get a nugget from one of her writings.
So–? The Georgia GOVERNOR listens to NIKKI..!!
I’d rather have someone who has lived and worked in SC trying to influence politics rather than have Howie Rich buying influence.
Well of course you’d rather be shot in the face than burned alive. Doesn’t mean either is a good idea.
Thank you for your continued efforts at the SC state house. I value the fact that you live in GA but are vested and invested in SC politics and the state and it’s well being as a whole.
Uh, why don’t you provide the leaders of Georgia with your opinions if they’re so great? After all, Athens, Georgia, is where you choose to live. You’d think you’d be more interested in ensuring that the area you live in continues to provide the opportunities for your children. Guess you’re more interested in ensuring your second home has plenty of opportunities.
residential property taxes?
In fairness to Lazenby, politicians and their ass sniffers are the biggest busy bodies in the world.
Politics gives a whole sub set of sociopaths a reason to exist. If they couldn’t pass or lobby for laws cause “they know best” for everyone, most of their lives would have little meaning. Most of them don’t do anything interesting outside of running other people lives.
Wow: a pro-abortion, radical race-baiter, feminist who will shill for Obamacare, more welfare, higher taxes and the rights of terrorists…w/ extra rights for homosexuals…
We don’t have enough of those…Hahahaha…Just kidding…welcome back. Hope you have a better game this time. You made it too easy for me before…
PS: I doubt you spar much w/ FITS. You ultimately end up at the same place…not a lot of difference between the two you, other than lip service.
I would welcome you back, but I prefer to wait and see if you roll over for Howie Rich the way you did on giving taxpayer money to people with kids in private school.
I’m not clear on this “consulting” thing. Are you a paid lobbyist?
Good question.
She just said she is not a paid lobbyist. She was pretty clear about that. Amy is concerned about the world that her kids will grow up in and she is not shy about trying to make things better for her children. I have known Amy quite a while now. Don’t sell her intelligence short. She is very smart. And because of the child she has with medical issues she has seen the full health care issue up close and personal. Nothing like navigating through the maze of paperwork, approvals and pre-existing illness clauses to see clearly that something needed to be done. It will need a lot of tweaking as time goes by – much like Social Security and Medicare did – but something had to be done. So before you dismiss what Amy has to say just because she is a smart woman maybe you have some ideas of your own?
“Don’t sell her intelligence short.”
Is someone actually willing to buy her intelligence?
So no ideas of your own, huh?
So is sex out of the question?
Welcome back
Stop by BOB’s off of Highway 6 around 4:30 on any Friday and have a ying ling or two on the old white bastards’ tab
Wow Jim: Why are treating her so nice???….and you threatened me w/ violence if I showed up…
Hold on there just a minute
Do believe when this started you promised me a bitch slap if you ever got within an arm’s length
However, I am not one to harbor negative feelings. If you decide to show up at BOB’s, we will not have a problem with you buying all of us a round or two or three
Thanks. I would come in peace. When I get my drink on, I DO NOT talk politics. Too much can go wrong w/ alcohol and what not….
That may be the most intelligent thing you ever posted.
Kudos, Sir.
He’s reserving the empty post for his Pièce de résistance
Just be careful that nobody in the bar gets a piece of his ass. Those little pustules have popped up around his anus again and on my penis. Tango likes to drink when that happens to kill the pain but the bad thing is that drinking makes him horny.
It really is.
Don’t encourage the monkeys.
He doesn’t talk politics when he gets drunk, but it sure as hell makes him horny. Ask Lindsey.
I would come in peace.
——
Yet another masturbatory metaphor?
Please enlighten us on the “what not”……….
“If you decide to show up at BOB’s, we will not have a problem with you buying all of us a round or two or three”
After he buys can we kick his ass?
Try not being a crazed douchebag who can’t shut his yap about how he can supposedly kick peoples’ asses? Sounds crazy, I know…
what happened to your habitual homoerotic prose? Did the appearance of a nationally known persona dampen your creative journalistic energies?
Also missing from your posts in this topic are the shifted numeric keys across the top, to mask the “bad words” so that little taters in the audience won’t get be scarred for life.
Is this an indication that you’re going to clean up your act, and behave like the Christian soldier you’ve been pretending to be?
Max, that could be partially true, but perhaps GT has discovered that receiving a hug every now and then is nice. Then again, perhaps Mrs. Lazenby has scolded him.
I was thinking the drunks in your state are polite to attractive ladies that aren’t lesbians, or avowed liberals. They actually turn their heads so as not to puke on their shoes.
Jim, if I’m late buy Amy a half-dozen or so adult beverages and put it on my tab. REMEMBER !! —- she is a married lady.
“I’m back.”
I didn’t know you left.
As a new Georgia citizen, how does it feel to finally have governor Haley actually working for your state?
Thank you all for reading and commenting. I’d like to clear up a few misconceptions and answer some of your questions. Yes, I am a GA resident and vote in that state. My husband, however, remains a SC resident and voter. My “second home” is not a vacation home. It is the home where my husband lives when he is working in Spartanburg. It is also the place where my daughter (who has chronic medical issues) and I stay when we see a particular specialist in Spartanburg. We pay income, property, and business owner taxes in SC, and thus have a vested interest in this state. I was born in Sumter, SC, grew up outside of Columbia, went to Wofford College, and lived in Spartanburg for 19 years before moving to GA, so the interest is personal as well.
I am not a paid lobbyist. I volunteer my time on behalf of non-profits and legislators who are trying to pass bills that I believe in. I am a citizen activist. I did this before moving to GA and will continue to do so, at my own expense. I have always written about local and national issues for FITS and will continue to do so. Again, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy my contributions.
So you love South Carolina so much, you chose to live in Athens, GA while your husband stays in South Carolina? Something’s not adding up.
Try reading the “when he is working in Spartanburg” and it will become clearer.
So he’s not even here that often either? This isn’t helping.
Sic is looking for a new homestead. Perhaps he could move to Athens – next door to Amy.
Many thanks for your new photo which I shall use for my desktop. I shall share it with my Yankee and Western friends/acquaintances/hangers-on as an example of true Southern Womanhood……
If Ms
Lanzeby is trying to sway the SC Legislature to her way of thinking, may God
have mercy on the state of South Carolina.
When you have your epiphany regarding your country, your state, your county is only as good as the prisons and jails taxpayers blindly fund, let me know. Your approach to domestic violence is amateur at best. We have had three murders here recently involving stabbings and strangulation. Gun violence is not pervasive demanding instant retributions for fist fights. If you want wholesale changes in domestic violence, champion a national registry for violent offenders. Prisons assign points towards violent behaviors so must society. The habitual violent offenders must register every three months and pay for their ankle GPS monitors for starters. Other than that, is FITS paying you to be an Associate Opinion Editor or is this a free service from a citizen activist as well?
If you jack off that high horse before you mount it next time, you’ll have a much smoother ride.
Dear Amy……..
What kind of Kleenex article is this..? Well, at least you are wearing RED in your photo.
“……While FITS editor Will Folks and I retain fundamental differences in thought on how government can best serve the people, we are able to find common ground on many issues. More often than not, however, we disagree. It is that counter-balance that I wish to bring back to FITSNews….”
Amy, you need to feast your blue eyes on the WHITE space on this web page. We hope you understand advertising space..!! From the blatant barren SPONSORSHIP and endorsements that you have….it is a clear signal to anyone here on FITSNEWS that you need to have a heart to heart with a lawyer that is the love of your life. Your husband obviously understands how to lock in “advertising” funds from clients…!!!
“…..It is that passion – and a desire to make a real difference in the state and nation that I love – that has brought me back to FITSNews…..”
Really Amy….really? YOU really have passion? Well, we wonder just how fast you can get the dirt on the conversation Nikki Haley had at SPAWAR Atlantic the other week that was “well” advertised..!! Your readers would love to understand the BRAC dominos that are not being reported.
Amy, can you find out where the Circus train is parked….dare to see if WIl FOlks can guess..? Dare to ask what Engines are pulling the “elephants”…!?!
Amy……….get BUSY and stop reporting like a sorority sister…!!
NOW……..( fist poundzzzz….!!! ) (spit)
Btw, how much do you get paid per column inch?
I do not get paid to write for FITSNews. I appreciate you reading and commenting on my work.
What’s your opinion on engine braking by semis?
In towns, bad. On freeways not close to residential areas, good.
Legislate accordingly.
She’s a goddamned spy, I tell you. Sent directly from that hell known as the GA legislature to influence SC lawmakers with Deal’s doings. (not that it’s that hard to do) Ha, you thought you had me fooled with all that SC blather.
Welcome back. (insert evil laugh here)
I look forward to enjoying everything you write. HAPPY SIC WILLIE HAS A COUNTERPOINT>
I look forward to reading your works!! You have the most beautiful way of putting a positive spin on the most negative things. It actually doesn’t offend because you mention the other side of the argument.