The Anderson County Republican Party (ACRP) will hold Precinct Reorganization March 16, 6:30 pm at seven regional locations. Precinct Reorganization is performed by political parties once every two years, as specified in state law. This is an opportunity to become involved in theACRP and gain a voting voice on the county party level.Precinct officers will be elected for each precinct, including an Executive Committeeman that has the precinct’s vote on issues at ACRP monthly meetings.  Additionally this is the process to become a delegate to the ACRP county convention and be placed on the convention ballot to seek election as delegate to the SC Republican Party state convention. The fee to attend the Anderson County Convention on April 16 is $5. Each precinct is allowed a specific number of delegates to the county convention, voted on during the reorganization meeting. Also, if you wish to place your name on the county convention ballot for election as delegate to the May 2, 2015 SCGOP convention, the fee is 5 dollars.  THESE FEES MUST BE TURNED IN AT THE REORGANIZATION MEETING.  Receipts will be provided by the Regional Captains. More information:   Dan Harvell, ACRP chairman, 221-1221, rileson@msn.com Precinct Reorganization Location List: ANDERSON REGION – TL HANNA HIGH SCHOOL W1/P1, W1/P2, W2/P1, W2/P2, W3/P1, W3/P2, W3/P3, W4/P1, W4/P2, 5/A, 5/B , W6/P1, W6/P2, Appleton-Equinox, Bowling Green, Broadway, Centerville A, Centerville B, Cox Creek, Edgewood A, Edgewood B, Glenview, Green Pond, Hammond, Hammond Annex, Hopewell, Lakeside, North Pointe, Town Creek BELTON HONEA PATH REGION – BHP HIGH SCHOOL Barkers Creek, Belton, Belton Annex, Broadway, Chiquola, Craytonville, Friendship, High Point, Honea Path, Neals Creek, Rock Springs, Shirley Store Toney Creek,Wright School PENDLETON REGION – SANDY SPRING WATER COMPANY Bishops Branch, Denver-Sandy Springs, Five Forks, LaFrance,Melton, Mt. Tabor, Pendleton POWDERSVILLE REGION – WREN HIGH SCHOOL Brushy Creek, Concrete, Hunt Meadows, Piedmont, Piercetown, Powdersville Mt. Airy, Simpsonville, Three & Twenty, White Plains STARR-IVA REGION – STARR FIRE DEPARTMENT Center Rock, Flat Rock, Gluck, Grove, Hall, Homeland Park, Iva, Jackson Mill Mountain Creek, Rock Mill, Starr, Varennes, West Savannah TOWNVILLE REGION – TOWNVILLE FIRE DEPT Fork 1, Fork 2, Townville WILLIAMSTON REGION – CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH, WILLIAMSTON Cedar Grove, Pelzer, West Pelzer, Williamston

February 25, 2015; For immediate release; Contact: Brian Symmes, 803-673-9437

Gov. Nikki Haley: “They just ran up the credit card debt and reversed everything we’ve been doing”

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Governor Nikki Haley today discussed a budget proposal that would burden South Carolina taxpayers with a half a billion dollars of new debt. She asked budget writers to instead consider a low-tax and low-debt budget that respects the taxpayers of the state.

“Look at what we’ve done with our credit card debt every single year. It was very important to drop the credit card debt for the hard working taxpayers of South Carolina so that they realized that not only were we trying to bring jobs and put money in their pocket, we were trying to reduce our credit card debt. So if you look, you see we’ve made some really great progress. I was proud of what we had done, and I was proud of what we were going to do going forward,” said Gov. Nikki Haley. “In our budget this year we wanted to reduce our credit card debt $40 million more. That’s not what happened in Ways & Means when it came out. Not only did they not reduce the $40 million that we wanted, they raised it $40 million more. They just ran up the credit card debt and reversed everything we’ve been doing.”

http://goo.gl/d3MbYj-###-

To: President Pro Tempore Hugh K. Leatherman and Members of the South Carolina Senate; Speaker Jay K. Lucas and Members of the South Carolina House of Representatives

Subject: “Projected Economic and Fiscal Impact of Exempting Military Pension Income from South Carolina Income Tax” dated February 12, 2015

On behalf of the South Carolina Military Base Task Force, we respectfully submit for your consideration the findings of a just-completed study which is relevant to a subject that is the focus of four bills currently pending in Senate or House committees.

This study was prepared by Dr. Robert T. Carey, Director, Regional Economic Analysis Laboratory, Strom Thurmond Institute, Clemson University, in conjunction with Dr. G. Michael Mikota, Executive Director of the Santee Lynches Regional Council of Governments. Dr. Carey and Dr. Mikota used a state of the art dynamic scoring model referred to as the REMI PI+ model to account for the impact from the economic changes predicted to result from the proposed change in tax policy feeding back through tax revenue. We are extremely grateful to these respected economists and their staffs for their expertise in addressing this important subject.

The Executive Summary of the study is attached for your ease of reference. The full report is available on the Task Force website at www.scmilitarybases.com. We will be happy to provide copies to you upon request.

We believe it is fair to say that a relatively small short term investment in the elimination of state tax on military pension income will produce a return on investment to the State in at least three ways: (a) it is military friendly; (b) it will be workforce enhancing, and (c) in the long term it will be economically beneficial. We respectfully submit that this study supports those beliefs. Moreover, based on our interaction with numerous military members serving in South Carolina, we believe that the elimination of such tax will be a positive inducement to attract well qualified military retirees and their families to make South Carolina their permanent home and workplace.

Dr. Mikota and Dr. Carey have also expressed their willingness to make a PowerPoint presentation of the report’s findings and conclusions. We would welcome the opportunity to make that presentation available to whatever group or committee you deem appropriate.

Thank you for allowing us to share this information for your consideration.

Respectfully submitted, William L. Bethea, Jr. Chairman

The tax-increase flavor of the month, is the gas tax. Some legislators, including some Republicans, for years have called for a gas tax increase as a means of funding road and bridge repair. These same Republicans, and their Democrat allies, of course always have voted against proposals, like the half a dozen that I have authored or cosponsored in the last few years, to use the money that we actually have on hand to fund our roads. Now they, including Governor Haley, have a new scheme; raise the gas tax now and in return the promise of future decreases in the income tax. Many of you remember Wimpy in the old Popeye cartoons who would “gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Well, Wimpy never paid up, and you likely never will get your income tax reduction. read on

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