-Signs No Climate Tax Pledge-

WASHINGTON-The free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) today applauded South Carolina State Senator Kevin Bryant (3rd District) for signing the group’s “No Climate Tax Pledge.” By doing so, Bryant joins over 160 lawmakers on the federal, state and local levels pledging to “oppose legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.”

“The one thing elected officials should be able to agree on is that global warming shouldn’t be used as an excuse to hike taxes on citizens and businesses,” said AFP Policy Director Phil Kerpen.  “We encourage all of South Carolina’s elected officials and candidates for elected office to sign the pledge.”

President Obama has made no secret of his intent to advance the cap-and-trade legislation, which would amount to the largest tax increase in American history.  One version of the scheme, introduced last year by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA), is scored by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office as a net revenue increase of $1.2 trillion within just the first 7 years the bill is in effect.

“Using the guise of climate change to transfer dollars from hard-working citizens to bureaucratic big government is unacceptable,” said Kerpen. “Regardless of their stance on global warming, this should be common ground for all of our elected officials at all levels of government.”

The pledge is available online at www.NoClimateTax.com.  AFP does not endorse candidates.  All elected officials and candidates are encouraged to sign the pledge and go on the record in opposition to using the climate change issue to increase taxes and grow the size of government.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is the nation’s premier grassroots organization committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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Bryant: Spending stimulus money now impulsive, irresponsible

By KEVIN L. BRYANT – Guest Columnist

It is almost laughably predictable these days: Open your State paper, turn to the opinion page, and read someone blasting away at our governor with yet another stimulus-related tirade. Just as predictably, a recent broadside started with an analogy that, in an attempt to discredit the governor’s desire to use a portion of South Carolina’s stimulus dollars to pay down debt, actually does the opposite, indirectly making the case for, well, his case.

The analogy: If one hears he will lose his job in two years, the prudent man would not quit immediately but instead would spend the next two years better preparing for that eventuality. He’d look for a new job, or further his education, or do any number of things to ensure if and when the unfortunate happens he’s in a position to weather the storm.

Can’t say I know of anyone who’d disagree with that. The problem is that the writer (Cindi Ross Scoppe, “The Sanford solution: ‘Just shoot me now,’” April 26) had the actors confused. In the real-world application, it’s actually Mark Sanford who’s looking down the road, fighting to use stimulus dollars to shore up our financial future and protect South Carolina two years out.

The media and a majority of the Legislature want to reap the immediate benefit of the dollars while ignoring the not-so-long-term consequences. That sounds a little like chasing the emotional high of quitting a job before someone might fire you without considering the hole it’ll put in your finances.

Before moving forward, let’s be absolutely clear on this singularly important point: Spending every single stimulus dollar coming to our state now will leave us with a considerable, dangerous budget gap when the federal gravy train runs out two years hence. Proponents of this spending simply do not have an answer for how we cover that $744 million hole, save hoping that the economy is roaring once again. And as we’ve heard more than once during this debate, hope alone is not a plan.

For someone who claims to have had “serious qualms” about the stimulus package, Ms. Scoppe sure buys into its central premise: the idea that massive government spending is needed to, to borrow the cryptic words of the Obama administration, create or save jobs.

That’s just not the case; the apocalyptic budget numbers we’ve seen tossed around and the purported layoffs of teachers and public safety officers that come with them are based on unrealistic budgets, the primary purpose of which is to gin up political pressure on the governor.

Seizing on this leadership vacuum, Sen. Tom Davis and Greg Ryberg put together a common-sense budget that did two things: responsibly fund core services of government, and pay down some government debt. Their budget managed to put $200 more per student into the state’s general fund and fund public safety at almost $63 million more than the Finance Committee budget, while simultaneously setting aside a significant amount of state dollars to pay down debt.

Governing is about making choices. Though it was defeated, the Ryberg-Davis budget showed that even in these tough economic times, our political leaders can make choices that are responsible in regard to both the short and long term. It’s a welcome departure from what we usually get out of the General Assembly, which has long proven to be either unwilling or unable to do just that.

 

Mr. Bryant represents Anderson County in the S.C. Senate.

Today (05.13.09), the General Assembly elected a new Supreme Court Justice. Normally, we have 3 choices for the high court. The Judicial Screen Committed “screens” out 3 candidates as being qualified. There is a date set in which we are allowed to seek and make commitments. This year’s Supreme Court race was different. Three candidates were screened out, yet two dropped out for various reasons. This left us with one choice, Judge Kaye Hearn. Judge Hearn is a very cordial individual and many are happy with her new post on the Supreme Bench. I congratulate her election.

I was concerned with this situation. For the highest court in the state, we should have at least three qualified candidates to choose from. As a matter of fact, I am now a cosponsor of S.777, legislation that calls for the screening committee to screen out all qualified candidates.

This is unfortunate for South Carolina as we now have a justice on the Supreme Court that is in favor of gun control and opposes the right to life. As I said before, we should have had more options.

Today, Sen. Lee Bright made a motion to send the judicial slate back to the screening committee. I supported this motion as I was uncomfortable for the situation the General Assembly found itself in. Even though his amendment was tabled, this action may create an interest in re-examining our judicial selection process. Also, I was compelled to vote “nay” in an uncontested judicial race.

Dear Friends,

Not to burden you with two emails in one day, but this came across the desk and I thought it worth bringing to your attention.

An important first step in keeping up the passion and commitment I saw at Tea Parties across the state last month is indeed figuring out what’s next. On that front, I’d invite you to join me and fellow Governor Rick Perry of Texas for a tele-townhall this Thursday, May 14, at 8:30pm Eastern Time.

We wanted to take a few minutes and have a back-and-forth discussion with like-minded patriots on where we go next in our efforts to push back against a federal government that taxes too much, spends too much and borrows too much.

This across-the-nation conference call will be a good starting point. You can pre-register for the tele-townhall call here.

By pre-registering, you’ll actually receive a call at the number you provide right before the tele-townhall meeting Thursday night, giving you the option to press a button to join the call. That means you don’t have to worry about calling in at all – just pre-register now to ensure you have a seat at the table.

I’d encourage you to join us as we discuss next steps. Take care.

Sincerely,

Mark Sanford

https://www.kevinbryant.com/kbarchive/1542/

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, MARK SANFORD, GOVERNOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: Joel Sawyer, 803-734-2100

Governor: Spending All of Stimulus Money Wastes Chance for Reform

Columbia, S.C. – May 11, 2009 – Governor Mark Sanford today noted a number of wasteful and inefficient proposals contained in the state budget, saying they were evidence that spending every dollar from the so-called “stimulus” package will result in a missed opportunity to make much-needed changes and reforms.

In particular, the governor pointed out a Senate measure that would move the state Division of Aeronautics from the state Department of Commerce to the state Budget and Control Board – an agency unique to South Carolina and one of the least accountable in all of state government. The proposal came about after Commerce suggested a number of cost-savings measures related to the state aircraft that would involve selling state property and cutting the workforce related to plane maintenance. In total, the proposals would have generated over $363,000 in savings – something guaranteed not to happen if the Division is swallowed in the Budget and Control Board bureaucracy.

The budget also creates a so-called “Capital Police Force,” aimed at shifting existing law enforcement officers out from under the governor’s Cabinet and into legislative control, and likely forcing them to man the costly and ineffective “security” system the legislature had installed on its garage several years ago. During the time when the system was previously operational, a total of seven officers were shifted away from their duties guarding the rest of the Statehouse complex, and instead were tasked with guarding a parking garage.

“These and other examples well demonstrate that not only are budget writers refusing to look at much-needed structural reforms, they’re actually moving our state backwards in some cases,” Gov. Sanford said. “As we saw in the case of GM and Chrysler, the dangerous thing about federal money is the fact that it provides an excuse for the people whose decisions got us where we are to continue making those poor decisions. We’d urge South Carolinians who care about responsible budgeting and using a portion of the stimulus money to pay down debt to make their voices heard during the budget debate this week.”

Other examples cited by Gov. Sanford were:

– Despite a 47 percent decrease in gasoline prices, travel reimbursements are still being paid at their record high level.

–  The budget contains $750,000 for hydrogen research, despite complementary federal funding being zeroed out recently after the determination was made that the technology isn’t immediately viable

– The budget contains $75,000 for the “Clemson Spring Day Dairy Exhibit.”

– Longstanding waste remains, such as $500,000 spent to operate state-run golf course parks, and nearly $1 million in costs to taxpayers to provide game day traffic control.