The SCGOP Blog

Where do you stand, Vince? Democratic nominee won’t answer questions on immigration

Columbia, SC – July 30, 2010 – It seems like liberal Democratic gubernatorial nominee Vince Sheheen is making a habit these days of ducking questions on important issues.

Yesterday, he was asked by the news media where he stands on the tough new Arizona immigration law, a measure aimed at securing our nation’s borders since the federal government has failed to do so.

Sheheen owes South Carolina an answer as to where he stands on the new law. But according to news reports, he’s ducking questions on the issue. You can see for yourself by clicking here.

By contrast, Republican gubernatorial nominee Nikki Haley fully supports the Arizona law, and in fact has sponsored legislation seeking to implement it in our state. Conservative Republican leaders in the South Carolina Senate have vowed to do the same.

If Sheheen were to support the bill, it would be a stunning reversal from the previous leftist positions he’s taken on immigration during his career as a Columbia insider.

Sheheen cast the lone “no” vote on a Senate subcommittee bill that would have made sure South Carolina’s government business was conducted only in English (Associated Press, 1/10/08). And, Sheheen sought to create loopholes in South Carolina’s anti-illegal immigration law. Sheheen “argued for some exceptions” in the law
requiring employers to verify the citizenship status of those they employee (Greenville News, 10/26/06).

Vince’s latest dodge on illegal immigration is the second time he’s ducked a hot-button issue in as many days.

Yesterday, Sheheen was challenged to stake out a position on Obamacare as he appeared at a fundraiser with two of its chief liberal DC-insider advocates – John Spratt and Jim Clyburn.

“Vince Sheheen can run, but he cannot hide from the voters of South Carolina,” said SCGOP Chairman Karen Floyd. “It is understandable that a dyed-in-the-wool liberal like Vince Sheheen knows he is out of step with South Carolina values. It is clear from his Senate record and this latest dodge that Vince knows it is only a matter of time before people realize he is more interested in appeasing far-left special interest groups than he is in protecting our borders from illegal immigrants.

“So the question remains: where do you stand, Vince?” Floyd said.

Where do you stand, Vince? Where is the Democratic nominee on Obamacare?

DOES SHEHEEN’S APPEARANCE TONIGHT WITH OBAMACARE PROPONENTS SIGNAL HIS SUPPORT?

Columbia, SC – July 29, 2010 – During the biggest public policy debate in recent memory – whether the federal government should go to a European-style socialized medicine model – there have been no shortage of opinions offered.

On the other hand, Vince Sheheen’s silence on the issue has been deafening, as he’s refused to tell the public where he stands on “Obamacare,” and what he would or wouldn’t do as governor when it comes to implementing the new law’s mandates at a state level.

Sheheen will appear tonight at a fundraiser in Washington, DC with establishment liberals Jim Clyburn and John Spratt, two of the nation’s biggest Obamacare proponents. Spratt was Nancy Pelosi’s point man on passage of the bill. Clyburn once criticized Attorney General Henry McMaster’s attempt to block unconstitutional provisions of the bill, calling it a “civil rights issue.”

Estimates put the 10-year cost of Obamacare at $2.5 trillion, and beyond the big- picture question of whether Sheheen believes it’s a good idea to mortgage the futures of generations of South Carolinians for a risky healthcare scheme, there are real and practical questions he would have to answer as governor:

- Will he try to stop the eligibility expansion of Medicaid in South Carolina, which will put our state’s taxpayers on the hook for an additional $523 million tied to new Medicaid requirements? Or will he simply raise taxes to cover the costs?

- Will he abide by existing state policy of refusing to administer expensive and dangerous federally mandated “high risk” pools – a decision also adopted by 18 other states – or will he bow to the wishes of Nancy Pelosi and President Obama in adopting the plan?

- Will he roll over in adopting federal mandates on rate regulations and coverage rules that experts say will lead to less affordable and less accessible healthcare, caused when insurers cease doing business in the state and large employers
determine it is cheaper to pay fines than provide insurance?

SCGOP Chairman said tonight’s appearance with Spratt and Clyburn provides Sheheen with the perfect opportunity to let South Carolinians know where he stands on Obamacare.

“While dodging questions on Obamacare might be the politically wise course of action for Senator Sheheen, individuals and businesses across the state deserve to know whether he’ll stand for them, or for his liberal colleagues in Washington, D.C.,” Floyd said.

“Not only will Obamacare bury future generations under an insurmountable mountain of debt, it will also do irreparable harm to hardworking South Carolinians who need affordable healthcare coverage for themselves and their families. Vince Sheheen needs to stand up and be counted on Obamacare, and owes us some answers on who he’d represent as governor – South Carolina taxpayers, or the Obama Whitehouse.”

Click here for sourcing, and for more about the dangerous impact of Obamacare on South Carolina and other states.

WATCH OUT FOR YOUR WALLET! HEFTY TAX HIKE

COMING ON 1/1/11

Will liberal Democrats Miller, Clyburn and Spratt side with Pelosi to let it happen?

(Columbia, SC – July 28, 2010) Here is a riddle: When is a tax hike not a tax hike? Answer: when liberal Democrats like Rob Miller, Jim Clyburn and John Spratt allow tax cuts to expire at the end of this year, thus making your taxes go up.

Don’t be fooled by the Democrats’ election year rhetoric about “increasing taxes on the rich.” Yes, the wealthiest citizens will pay more. And so will you, too. In fact, you’ll be surprised to find that under the Democrats’ definition, you are now “rich,” because starting next January 1, every American who pays income taxes will feel the pinch. And it won’t be pleasant.

Just look at these numbers:

• A family of four earning $50,000 per year could pay $2,100+ in higher taxes.

• A single mom earning $36,000 per year could pay $1,100+ more in taxes.

• Married senior citizens earning $40,000 per year could pay $1,400+ in higher taxes.

                                                              Source: Committee on Ways and Means Republicans

And it doesn’t stop there. Taxes will also go up on capital gains (the investments needed to grow our economy), small businesses and more. Even the Death Tax will be resurrected from the grave to haunt us once again. The final tab for this cash grab on American citizens is expected to total $3.8 Trillion annually. That’s Trillion, with a “T”! There’s no escaping it: one way or another, the coming tax hike will take a big bite out of your bottom line.

Why do the Democrats want to take all that additional money from us? To help pay for the biggest expansion of the Federal Government since LBJ’s “Great Society” sent Washington on a runaway spending spree nearly 50 years ago. Now history is repeating itself with the “Obamacare” hijacking of our national health industry and a bloated federal stimulus program that has grown way too big for it’s britches.

 Which brings us to Rob Miller, Jim Clyburn and John Spratt. These pro-Obamacare, pro-Big Government liberals enjoy talking like fiscal conservatives in their districts. But when they’re talking in Washington, they’re all in favor of Obamcare and the bloated stimulus bill. Yet ask how how they would pay for them, and you get a lot of political hemming and hawing. It’s so bad, in fact, the House Budget Committee (which Spratt chairs) didn’t even bother writing a Federal budget this year!

 Will Miller cheer while Clyburn and Spratt stand with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat House leadership and do nothing as they silently allow higher taxes to go into effect? The people of the South Carolina deserve an answer.

So come December 31^st, the clock will tick down to more than just the end of 2010. Unless bold legislative action is taken immediately, when the hands reach midnight we’ll all be glumly shouting “Happy New Year! Higher taxes are here!” Will Miller, Clyburn and Spratt lift champagne flutes to toast their arrival, while gleefully scheming ways to fund even bigger government expansion?

Columbia, S.C. – July 28, 2010 – There’s an old saying about birds of a feather, which makes it no wonder that two of the country’s premier liberal political insiders – John Spratt and Jim Clyburn – are hosting a DC fundraising event tomorrow for one of their own, Vincent Sheheen.

Clyburn and Spratt have been two of Nancy Pelosi’s top lieutenants in leading our nation down a path of fiscal destruction.

Spratt was Nancy Pelosi’s strongman during the passage of Obamacare, a program that will cost our country $2.5 trillion while at the same time leading to less affordable and less accessible healthcare.

Clyburn and Spratt both championed President Obama’s job-killing “stimulus” plan, a bill that has further hampered our economic recovery while putting the country even further into debt. Sheheen shares the views of his free-spending colleagues on the stimulus, last year calling it “what the people out there need right now.” (AP, 4/30/09)

“If John Spratt and Jim Clyburn are looking to export Pelosi-style DC liberalism to South Carolina, they have found their man in Vincent Sheheen,” said SCGOP Chairman Karen Floyd. “The people of our state will quickly learn that Sheheen’s idea of governing is eerily similar to that of the Obama Administration’s, and Senator Sheheen’s voting record bears that out. He has consistently voted in favor of more spending and higher taxes, and South Carolinians simply cannot afford his approach to spending if we want to move our state forward. We need a Governor who will stand up to Washington’s intrusion into our lives and wallets, not one who will embrace its liberal elitism.”

You can view the fundraiser invitation by clicking here.

Just minutes ago the federal government blocked Arizona’s immigration plan from becoming law. This comes after years of failed promises to secure the border while illegal immigrants pour into our nation and take advantage of services provided by hardworking taxpayers like you.

Folks, the arrogance of the Democratic controlled Washington has gotten out of hand.  This is just another example of why we need to send strong leaders like Senator Jim DeMint and Congressman Joe Wilson back to Washington. And why we need to take elitists like Congressman John Spratt out of power.

The federal government is delegated its power by the states…NOT the other way around. They intruded on states’ rights when they pushed socialized medicine on our nation and now they’re doing it again with immigration.

It’s time to renew the conservative ideals on which our nation was founded.

Helps us send Jim DeMint, Joe Wilson, Mick Mulvaney, Tim Scott, Trey Gowdy, Jim Pratt and Jeff Duncan to Washington.  Donate now.  Your donations will help build the grassroots army that will lead us to victory.

We must take back Washington! Click here to make it happen!

Sincerely,

Karen Floyd

A LIBERAL VISIT: Just days after claiming that the stimulus package should have included much MORE SPENDING, Vice President Joe Biden is in South Carolina raising money for fellow liberal John Spratt.

BIG MONEY CONCERN: The DCCC is freaking out now.  You’ve sent a strong message that you’re sick of John Spratt’s big spending and that message has been received loud and clear in Washington. Knowing they can’t lose their CHIEF BUDGET WRITER, the Democrats have purchased $750,000 in TV ads to help John Spratt.

BUILD OUR ARMY: We are 100% dedicated to taking John Spratt out in November. His big spending budgets are killing jobs across the nation and his home state continues to have one of the worst unemployment rates in America. Help us stop the spending NOW by donating to the South Carolina Republican Party.

Click on the video below to play a special video message from SC Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Floyd!