REPORT UPDATES 2012 FINDINGS …
The S.C. Legislative Audit Council (SCLAC) has released an updated “management review” of one of Gov. Nikki Haley’s worst-managed cabinet agencies – the Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW).
According to the review, the agency has made progress in improving the financial condition of its unemployment insurance trust fund – which now owes the federal government “only” $457 million. Two years ago the agency was $752 million in the hole – and at the peak of the recent recession it was more than $1 billion in debt.
So “yay, state government?” Right?
No … not really.
Despite Haley’s best efforts to spin this things in a different direction, this debt has been narrowed thanks to a massive tax increase on South Carolina businesses – one that’s had deleterious effects on the state’s economy.
Anyway …
Assuming the economy doesn’t slip into another recession, South Carolina should pay off its remaining debt to the federal government by 2015 and have $400 million in reserve funding in this account by 2017. Of course that’s only half of the $800 million it is statutorily required to maintain in the account in order to weather a “mild recession.”
In other words a massive tax hike has only succeeded in getting the state half-way toward a half-assed solution … assuming everything remains rainbows and unicorns with the national economy.
19 comments
Obama is Haley’s sugar daddy. That’s some delicious irony right there.
Obama was Sandford’s sugar daddy and Haley’s SC economy takes the hit.
In this case, yes, you are correct. However, Haley has relied on the feds for more than just this.
SCDEW owed $1billion because of Grover Norquist, GOP pledge signing idiots in the SC legislature and Mark Sanford. They cut those business unemployment insurance taxes for years (I guess they got campaign contributions for doing that), being too stupid to understand that the purpose of insurance is to put something away that will be there when you need it.
So, if all these good Christians like Sanford and those GOP legislators had only remembered their Bible stories about Joseph and the dreams, they would not have let the SCDEW funds run so dry that the evil feds had to bail them out with a loan – they and the business owners would have shown some personal responsibility and paid what they knew they needed to pay to be covered in the worst case scenario.
In the world of politics, the Bible isn’t a guidebook, it is a tool. Most politicians use religion when they want to, and they use it to benefit themselves.
For Sanford to use the “God of Second Chances” schtick, I’d say the Bible is nothing more than toilet paper to him. He wipes his ass with it.
What I like about Mark is that he conveniently missed that part about: ” go and sin no more”; very apropos since Jesus was talking to an adulteress at the time.
But, Mark goes home to his mistress in Washington and re-sins every single night.
The only ones more hypocritical than Sanford are the degenerates who vote for him.
And more layoffs this week…
Employees will soon be paying umemployment insurance premiums. That is the next likely step. A few other states have gone this route to help pay down the debt. Get ready for more paycheck withholdings…bet there is already a bill that hasn’t made it out of comittee yet.
People have forgotten the value of an honest day’s work. Me, I work the streets and glory holes of the midlands day and night. I make good money helping men take a load off with their junk.
1.Of course, fits fails to mention that this problem was created in a prior administration.
2. The only way they are allowed to raise money for repayment is by payroll employer and employee withholding.
3. Dropping the unemployment rate by half and 1% below national rate also helped.
4. A large reduction of over payments and increased recovery. (Beating the national requirements )
5. HR people have told me that SCDEW or more willing to investigate and deny benefits to people fired for cause.
They are just taking the business’ word about cause. I know of an incident that the employer initially fired someone for one thing but after the DEW called to evaluate the claim the cause was changed to improper conduct, which allowed that “misconduct” rule to be dragged out, which kicked off a pain in the ass load of hearings and appeals. This is in probably the fifth month now and on it goes, if a job doesn’t come along I suppose we can feel good that money is being saved while a good employee is starving because of a few words. DEW didn’t give him a heads up on how to win the game, if he had missed a deadline it would have been over, but if the employer is late with something they get reminder e-mails and phone calls. Totally like the legislature turds to kick a guy when he’s down…
The article only talks about the unemployment insurance side of SCDEW. Director Stantaon has robbed the Workforce investment side to accomplish her purely fiscal goals. Workforce investment has been raped by her. Rural training offices have closed, local bills have gone unpaid for over a year, employers can’t get employment paperwork done, and the agency now refuses to enter employment application information. For South Carolina to attract high-tech manufacturing (Boeing, Toray, BMW), we need a trained workforce. Cheryl Stanton has abandoned this side of the SCDEW mission.
I work at the SCDEW office. Ms. Stanton is abusive, rude, controlling and even dishonest. The staff is routinely told to do things that are contrary to regulations, to change field audit findings, and to withhold payments to regional WIAs. We are asked to force these related agencies to do work we are tasked and paid to do. Stanton fires those who won’t fo her bidding. She has a pending lawsuit against her from an HR worker who had finally had enough. We are all rooting for her. We have started secretly tapeing meetings where she is present. If the governor or the Workforce Board won’t control her, we’ll expose her.
I work in human resources for a Columbia company. We have used SCDEW to find qualified workers. Their staff is supposed to enter information for our job orders. We now learn they will no longer so this. The reason given, “Our boss fears the liability of job work orders information being hacked.” So we’re now supposed to enter the information ourselves. So this is how our governor deals with the threat of information hacking? Just don’t use computers? What a joke. SCDEW is not interested in helping businesses find workers. Stanton and Haley want to appear business friendly but their actions say otherwise. SCDEW has become a joke.
I used to put in work orders and remember when we were told to have the employers do it. The reason was because you had unqualified ignorant staff working the phones who didn’t know how to enter a job order. The whole idea of the employers having to put the orders in is ridiculous. Why put more on the employers when this is a tax payer entity? Sorry for the businesses of this state. I always put the job orders in for the employers, no matter what.
If SCDEW is no longer taking job orders,…why do we even need them? That’s the core of their work. Cut them all. Wait,…Oh yeah,…I forgot,…someone needs to answer the phone to say,”It’s a great day in SOuth Carolina.”
Good for you all. I have recorded things myself that would put several Assistant executive directors (or whatever they are called now) in a position where they would never work again in this state. I knew after Turner left that certain “leaders” wanted me out. Well, they got me out, but I am not gone. I know too much. When will someone finally expose what really goes on there? I think an election year is the very best time. Hmmm
The entire agency is bullshit. Out of everything that I have personally seen first-hand, the bottom line is the entire agency is a f¡**ked up mess. Getting rid of Kerry Paul is about the only thing the agency has done right under Stanton. Now get rid of the.people like Ms. Paczynski who lets her married employees sleep together in state funded hotel rooms.
Hey diddle diddle….the cat and the fiddle