Creaton of rape-dealth penalty statute was bad politics

By BOBBY G. FREDERICK
For the Spartanburg Herald-Journal

Published: Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 9:59 a.m.

Our Congressman, Gresham Barrett, is ranked No. 9 on The Hill’s 50 most beautiful people.
Age: 47; Hometown: Westminster, S.C.; Political party: Republican; Dating status: Married

Rep. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.) is proof positive that a high school quarterback can marry his cheerleader girlfriend and live happily ever after.

“I know it’s corny,” he says. But “she was a cute little thing.” He and Natalie dated for a year in high school and all through college before getting married in August 1984. Next year they’ll celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

Barrett learned the importance of first impressions from an early age.

“My daddy always told me you can tell a lot about a man by the way his shoes look,” says the three-term Congressman. “I try to shine my shoes and keep my tie straight.”

He also credits his time at The Citadel and in the Army for his consistently clean, crisp look.

These days you’ll more than likely see Barrett and his aides walking around the Capitol in matching seersucker suits. He and his staff have adopted a “seersucker Wednesdays” tradition during the summer, attracting both compliments and gentle ribbing from his amused colleagues.

The congressman doesn’t play much football now but boasts of his status as starting catcher for the GOP baseball team. What’s puzzling to him, though, is the idea that others might find him good-looking.

“This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me, so it’s all kind of new,” he says. “I’m just kind of an average guy.”

- By Kris Kitto

An important element of the state’s economic development strategy should be fostering homegrown companies that can grow rapidly, create high wage jobs, and build considerable wealth which can be reinvested back into the state. Examples of these companies include Mt. Pleasant’s Automated Trading Desk, started in the late 1980s and recently sold for $800 million, and Greenville’s ScanSource, founded fifteen years ago and worth $700 million today.

I serve on the SC Venture Capital Authority, which invested $50 million in four venture capital funds to be reinvested in SC companies. We set a specific objective of investing in a seed capital fund, because that is the greatest need of emerging companies in the state. We had a great staff person from SC Commerce, Ian Forbes Jones. He and I looked hard but could not find a seed fund with a profitable track record to invest in. All of the venture funds the Authority invested in are later stage funds which will make investments of $5 million up. That’s an important level of capital that was missing from the state, but it won’t help entrepreneurs start high growth companies to begin with.

I am also knowledgeable of SC Launch!, which is a sponsor of InnoVenture, an annual SC venture capital conference I produce. SC Launch! can invest up to $200,000 in a given company. That’s important too, but usually it’s not sufficient alone to launch a high growth company.

We need a professionally managed seed capital fund in SC, which can invest the initial $1 or $2 million to help start more high growth companies like ATD or ScanSource. Beyond merely investing, this seed fund’s experienced venture professional will also help entrepreneurs develop their strategies, recruit the initial management teams, and pull in other critical relationships. This seed capital fund will often be a partner with SC Launch!, and ultimately with the SC Venture Capital Authority venture funds as companies raise later rounds of capital.

A SC-based seed capital fund will leverage hundreds of millions of dollars the legislature has already invested in programs including the endowed research chairs and the Life Sciences Act. The fund can also leverage the successful industrial recruiting done over decades by the SC Department of Commerce, to grow new companies around facilities of global corporations in the state. Having a SC-based seed capital fund is important to creating companies in cities like Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, and Spartanburg, but it is even more critical to creating high growth companies around anchors like Roche Carolina in Florence, the Savannah River National Lab in Aiken, Robert Bosch in Anderson, or Fuji Photo in Greenwood, where out-of-state venture funds rarely visit.

If a SC-based seed capital fund could have formed without incentives, it already would have. The SC Entrepreneurial Success Fund Act provides a 30% tax credit for investment in a SC-based seed fund that raises a minimum of $10 million, which is a high hurdle. Private investors will be at risk for 70% of the fund’s capital, so they will ensure that a strong fund manager is in place before committing their funds to be at risk.

The SC Entrepreneurial Success Fund Act is included in the legislative agenda of the SC and the Greenville Chambers of Commerce. The Greenville News also recently endorsed the Act.

Thank you for your support. Please let me know if you have other questions, or if there is anything I can do to support the committee’s consideration of this legislation.

…Coburn, a medical doctor, is also fairly certain he’ll lose in the end. “I’ll get beat. There’s no question I’ll get beat and I’ll get rolled, but at least we’ll have a debate. At least we’ll show the cowardice of people who want to steal the future from our kids in this country,” he says. “I don’t try to win things in Washington; I try to win them with the American public.”

If he doesn’t get to introduce amendments, Coburn promises, he’ll do what he can to gum up the process. “You can imagine I will use every procedural tactic in the world, especially if they don’t allow any amendments. And we’re going to have a very rough time in July and September,” he says.

“It’ll be fun,” adds Coburn. Read the full article

Mr. Davis, a Beaufort attorney and former chief of staff to Gov. Mark Sanford, is the Republican candidate for Senate District 46.

…As the governor’s senior policy advisor, I was stunned to discover the degree of state control over the allocation of our education dollars. Some dollars are sent to districts, some are sent to schools, some are divided among schools, some are set aside for programs that may or may not be applicable to a school, and so on. There are also pages of line-item education appropriations added into the state budget each year at the behest of lobbyists and special interests.

Adding to the confusion is the huge number of different funding streams for K-12 education that flow from the Education Finance Act, the Education Improvement Act, the Education Accountability Act and the Education Lottery.

A large corps of state bureaucrats manages these expenditures and oversees these complicated funding formulas, and local school districts are forced to employ administrators of their own to comply with all the red tape. Obviously, every dollar spent on these administrative costs is a dollar that isn’t spent educating our children.

It is time to do away with all of the archaic funding streams and the state control of spending and to adopt what is known as “backpack” funding. This type of funding enables public schools to receive a per-student grant for every child they serve, while giving local school leaders control over their budgets in order to fulfill their school’s mission….

Read the full article in The State

We had a productive weekend with this great group of kids. Our volunteers put together this enormous amount of yard signs. We also walked several neighborhoods getting out our message of limited, transparent government and reform.

If you want one of these signs for your yard, click here. If you live in the Anderson city limits, we can’t put out signs until September per city ordinance.

Art Kaldas, an enthusiastic blogger on the Anderson Independent’s Cocklebur blog, sums up this weeks town hall meetings quite well. You may visit Art’s section of the Cocklebur here

On Monday, July 21, 2008, 7:00 pm, Senator Kevin Bryant conducted a town meeting at Hopewell Fire Department. Approximately 70 residents were in attendance. Among the attendees were County officials, County Council members, elected and reelected, and some of Dr. Marshall Meadors supporters. Some of the Senator’s replies to questions were the following:

• All State agencies should respect the fact that English should be our only official language. I do appreciate all our legal immigrants, not the illegal ones. However, it is not practical or wise to use any other language for State business.

• The picture of Osama and Obama, which I have on my blog, is used as satire. I definitely do not believe that Senator Obama is a partner of Osama bin Laden. Furthermore, if too many people are offended by this picture, I will take it off the blog.

• I have fought very hard against dual water rates in Anderson. Residents outside the City do not have any say in these rates. Consequently, a municipality can raise the rate to $8,000 if they wanted to. There has to be an oversight to protect residents outside the City.

• I have succeeded in passing a State law to allow Capital Punishment for Child Rapists. But the Supreme Court, to my astonishment, decided that this law is unconstitutional.

• Parents who have children in a failing public school should have options. I do believe in giving parents tax credits, so they can exercise their options.

• I abstained from the vote to increase cigarette tax because of conflict of interest, since I am a pharmacist who would benefit from an expansion in Medical Aid. However, if I chose to vote, I would have voted to increase the tax, as long as the revenues are used to support a “health saving account”, to assist citizens in purchasing their own health care plans.

• At the beginning, I did not support building the East/West Connector, which is to connect Clemson Boulevard and Highway 81. At the present time, I simply have mixed emotions on the project.

• Pay Day Lenders should be allowed to practice, but only if they have a clear process to explain the terms of their loans to borrowers. The practice simply has to be well regulated.

• Dr. Marshall Meadors, my opponent, is a great “old fashioned” medical doctor. He is loved by all his patients. However, he and I have sharp political differences. I look forward to our political debates.

On Wednesday, July 23, 2008, 7:00 pm, at Anderson City Hall, Senator Kevin Bryant conducted his second town-hall meeting. Over 100 attended the meeting, which included many supporters and some highly charged opposition.

Although Senator Bryant attempted to stay on message, the meeting was full of spectacular fireworks. Obama/ Osama image on the Senator’s blog attracted most of the debate, with some in audience asking him to apologize for his poor taste in implying that Senator Obama is a terrorist. However, Senator Bryant refused to apologize, which drew cheers and applause from his supporters. He explained that although he does not believe that Senator Obama is a terrorist, he strongly opposes his views on foreign policies and his friendly attitude toward nations that support terrorism.

A member in audience suggested that in order to curb the dropout rate in schools, permanent drivers licenses should be given only to high-school graduates, while others should be given drivers licenses with restrictions. Senator Bryant thought that the idea is worth consideration. In addition, he emphasized that school choice also curbs the dropout rate.

Senator Bryant message can be summarized in the following points:

• Smaller government

• Less regulations

• Greater transparency and accountability in local governments

After the meeting, both supporters and critics of Senator Bryant agreed that he is a very experienced public official, who is willing to face his opponents directly, rather than hide in corners

I have been very impressed with the reaction to my blog post on Barack Obama. I originally posted the photo without commentary to stimulate an examination of Sen. Barack Obama’s foreign policy. I remain certain that his foreign policy ideas pose a great threat to American security no less than those of Al Gore or John Kerry might have. I believe that America has avoided another terrorist attack precisely because President Bush has been office for the past 8 years. I’m convinced that an Obama presidency will plunge us back into the failed foreign policies of the Clinton administration and put us in great danger.

For example, General Colin Powell said of the enemy during the first Gulf War that, “First we’re going to cut it off, then we’re going to kill it.”  On September 19, 2001, Sen. Obama said of our enemy that, “We will have to devote far more attention to the monumental task of raising the hopes and prospects of embittered children across the globe.” I am extremely disturbed by Sen. Obama’s solution for the war on terror, and hopefully, you will consider this too.
            The posting, not surprisingly, only drew out the virulent and vulgar members of the liberal left whose immediate reaction to any criticism of their candidate includes charges of ignorance and bigotry. This reminds us of their criticism of those who cling to our guns and religion and strikes me only as par for the course.

           I have no regrets from this picture, however, I’m sure that a further examination of Obama’s foreign (and domestic) policies must occur in order that voters might truly understand the vast, vast differences between him and Sen. John McCain. I refuse to cower to the cultural police who evermore seek to censor our political discussion. You may view the picture with this link if you wish to see what all the hubbub is all about.

ANDERSON COUNTY — South Carolina State Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, is to be the host of two town hall meetings to update Anderson residents on the recently completed legislative session and hear from constituents.

The meetings are scheduled to start at
7 p.m. July 21 at Hopewell Fire Department, 2850 Concord Road
7 p.m. July 23 at Anderson City Council chamber, 401 S. Main St

Got a call from a constituent that was told that Ann and I receive government assistance for home schooling our children. Here’s the answer:

Thank you so much for allowing me to clarify information that you have received. We do not receive any funds for homeschooling our children. Ann and I have three children that have been home schooled in the past. Next year we plan to combine classes at New Covenant School and homeschooling to meet our children’s needs. We do, however, pay our fair share of Federal, State, and local taxes, yet our children do not receive any benefit.

I did cast a related vote in the Senate in 2007 that would give parents with children trapped in failing schools more options. The amendment applied to children this situation: The child must attend a failing school and a neighboring passing school did not have room for the child. In this circumstance, the child would be eligible for a voucher to attend a private school. Unfortunately, this amendment did not pass and our children attending failing schools have no option but to stay in this school.

I would like to give you my general views on education issues. I firmly believe that parents are the primary educators of their children, and government should help, not hinder, parents from fulfilling their role. Unfortunately, most parents do not have the ability to make the most important decision regarding their child’s education—the decision of where their child attends school.

Parents are aware of the educational needs of their children more than anyone else, and I am committed to working in the S.C. Senate to give parents more education options, including the ability to decide whether their child attends a public, public charter, private or home school. Giving parents a full range of school options will not only help their children, it will also create greater competition in the education marketplace, thus improving all the schools in the area.

I am also committed to release teachers from overly burdensome regulations in our education system. Teachers also deserve the freedom to teach in a disciplined classroom. Reducing regulation and administration costs will free up funds and get them where they are needed—the classroom. Late in the session of 2008, we were successful in eliminating the PACT, overly burdensome testing that serve little purpose for our teachers and students.