One year ago, thousands of South Carolina businesses were handed the largest tax increase in the state’s history. Thousands of businesses were hit with such exorbitant increases that hiring was halted, capital investment delayed, and expansions trashed. Understandably, they were mad as hell. As a result, the South Carolina Legislature quickly responded by providing them [...]
After working with legislators for over 10 years for many different clients, including corporations, small mom-and-pops shops, chambers, inside the halls of the South Carolina Senate and associations, I’ve come to one undeniable truth: The voters back home trump all other special interests and lobbyists that walk the halls of the State Capital. I see [...]
Increased productivity and job creation is made possible through teamwork, camaraderie and innovation, not through collective bargaining and arbitration. That message has been clearly delivered to union bosses throughout the nation by South Carolina’s new governor, Nikki Haley, its new director of Labor License and Regulation (LLR), Catherine Templeton, and by South Carolina Speaker of [...]
Weeks before the South Carolina gubernatorial election, my friends, most of whom are ardent pro-business folks, came to me with concerns that though they usually vote Republican, they were considering voting for Senator Vincent Sheheen, a Democrat, because, as they put it, they didn’t want another four years of the governor fighting with the South [...]
This year, the Legislature is poised to take major steps to prevent TV’s personal injury lawyers from gaming the state’s tort and workers’ compensation system. Legislative leadership believe that there is an opportunity to cap punitive damages and non-economic damages, curb frivolous lawsuits and complete the reformation of the workers’ compensation system. To be fair, [...]
Each issue I promise you an insider’s perspective of what is occurring at your South Carolina Statehouse, and this month is no different. I will bring you—as Jim McKay so famously opened each ABC Wide World of Sports’ episode with—“The Thrill of Victory and Agony of Defeat” at the S.C. State House. There was no greater thrill than the news [...]
If you haven’t followed the story of Alvin Greene, you should. In essence, the story goes like this: Greene filed as a Democratic candidate for DeMint’s seat in the U.S. Senate. He bought no yard signs, he showed up on no TV commercials. He didn’t campaign, stump or otherwise even appear in public. (Although he [...]
May 5, 2010 From the Statehouse this week… bbpc_051010
April 26, 2010 From the Statehouse this week… bbpc_042610
In his new book, “What Americans Really Want…Really,” national pollster Frank Luntz says, “For the first time ever, a majority of the country now fears the next generation will inherit a world worse than this one. Our national confidence is in pieces, our personal expectations shattered. From the moment we wake up until the moment we go to sleep, we’re desperately looking for proof to suggest an improvement—any improvement—in our condition.”
