By FITSNEWS || S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley won reelection as governor of the Palmetto State by a huge margin last month … but her latest “mandate” is headed for an early test in the South Carolina Senate.
Specifically, Haley’s choice of Clemson bureaucrat Susan Alford to head up the scandal-ravaged S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) has been poorly received by lawmakers – and could result in a failed confirmation vote in the Senate.
One reason? The lack of faith Haley apparently has in her own nominee – a six-figure bureaucrat who will be supported by a six-figure “assistant” in her new post.
“That says a lot to me,” one State Senator told FITS. “We have to hire one assistant director at $115,000 a year because the director we’re paying $155,000 a year isn’t up for the job.”
In announcing Alford’s hiring, Haley said the new director would be supported by S.C. Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation (SCLLR) director Holly Pisarik.
“Because this is such a big task, I did not want to send Susan in solo,” Haley said. “I have someone who I call my ultimate fix-it person, and that’s Holly. To have her be the right hand will make for a strong team.”
Oh, and the agency’s interim director Amber Gillum – who remains joined at the hip with Haley’s first SCDSS director, Lillian Koller – will stay on the job too. And so will her deputy director Jessica Hanak-Coulter.
Can any of these women govern effectively?
Good question …
Haley was forced to fire Koller – whom she frequently referred to as a “rock star” – back in June amid a flood of scandals, many of which were first reported by FITS. Since Koller’s departure, things have continued to deteriorate at the agency.
Senators – most notably former Haley ally Katrina Shealy – have been studying SCDSS for months. Shealy has even filed legislation that would restructure the agency and reform its child welfare processes.
She wasn’t pleased with Haley’s choice …
“It’s very disappointing she would refuse to consult with those of us who have spent months working to protect the thousands of children who are being systematically failed by SCDSS,” Shealy said. “Make no mistake: We are going to take a very hard look at the governor’s nominee in an effort to determine whether she has the qualifications necessary to receive the consent of the Senate.”
Translation? Alford’s confirmation isn’t going to be a smooth ride …
SCDSS has been an unmitigated disaster under Haley – most notably as it relates to repeated instances in which vulnerable children were placed in abusive homes.
Beyond that, there’s the agency’s ongoing failure with regard to the state’s child support enforcement database – or its total lack of follow-through regarding a food stamp waiver touted by Haley in her so-called “war on fat.” There are also questionable consultant payments and allegations of cooked books at its “welfare to work” program (as well as its food stamp system).
(For a recent report detailing one of these scams, CLICK HERE).
Do we have confidence that Haley’s four-woman “leadership team” can turn things around? No … not even a little bit.
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26 comments
A lot of cabinet nominees are gonna get lit up this January. Gonna be rough sledding for some
It’s called doing the well-known, and popular, Charlie Foxtrot.
lit up by who??
There aren’t enough Republican nads in the G.A. to say no to Haley and the Tea Nuts. Hence, there won’t even be serious debate on this.
O crap! Another Haley non rock star/rock star failure.
4 more screwed up years!
Get over it. Haley whipped your ass.
Best Governor money can BUY…
Sheheen and Ervin spent more money than Haley.
Are you just fucking stupid?
Always fun to see limited gov’t types try to “reform” the gov’t.
four-woman “leadership team”
brilliant, absolutely brilliant
once the Gypsy Queen pushes this one through then she can move on to the rest of the agencies she controls
by this time next year the taxpayers will be on the hook for 60 to 70 additional bureaucrats all making over $125,00
as a plus if the Gypsy Queen comes under fire for any mismanagement, she should be able to stretch out the discussions until her term as Governor ends – will be kinda hard for anyone to pinpoint responsibility when you have 4 people in charge of every agency
brilliant, absolutely brilliant
Great post!
This ‘pogo2’ is a fraud. We love and support Nikki and Mark Sanford.
Relax.You are my favorite RINO on FITS however you got it as bad for Haley as FITS does. :-)
ain’t no fucking RINO
ain’t no fucking Republican
ain’t no fucking Democrat
ain’t no fucking Liberaltarian
as for the Gypsy Queen she is just as much an idiot as Governor as Hodges was
Damn. You are ‘fucking’ Tom Ervin!!! Are you ‘self-identified’ like FITS told us Ervin was? :-)
—-four-woman “leadership team”—-
Four weeks in the month… With proper scheduling, you will always have three sane woman available for maximum efficiency.
Four directors – two bona fide and two deputys? Sounds like bad planning dooming DSS, abused kids are in even more danger.Amber and Jessica lack enough experience between them to add up to one seasoned executive.
Jessica has zero Protective Services casemanager or supervisory experience on the front lines. She and her Regional Directors are a joke. Until you get rid of these idiots, it does not matter who is the State Director.
Nikki should grab the chance to move these two along. They’ll weigh down the new administration.
As long a Jessica has anything to do with this agency, there will be no progress. She gets mad at upper-level employees who try to do the work and refuses to sign off on paperwork, approve requests needed, etc. She is the most immature and juvenile acting person in an upper management position I have ever seen! I hope the legislature takes a stand.
Yikes. Disappointing.
I don’t know about qualifications, but considering the difficulty of the job and that a School district superintendent in South Carolina will typically make over 130,000, the salaries are not a problem.
Four more Whores, suckers…
If Pisarik is an “ultimate fix-it person”, why isn’t she the nominee?
Cornbread Confucious says:
Never trust a politician who speaks with clenched teeth.
Of course it could be “lock jaw”, but we all know that ain’t true.
Haley is just using the taxpayer money to give big kick back salaries to her campaign donors. The first bimbo she put in was just a kick back bribe giver. Who killed our children with her inept stupidity. Now, Haley wants us to give her another assistant, kick back bribery rip off.
SC deserves what it gets for an electorate so #### stupid that they can’t even pick up the paper and read about this Criminal Haley they were going to vote for last November.