The SCGOP Blog

Senate Guarantees Right To Secret Ballot Elections in Union Votes, Makes Spending Caps Top Priority

Columbia, SC – March 10, 2010 – South Carolina’s Republican Senators today moved two key bills being pushed by the state’s business community. The Senate passed the anti-card check bill protecting workers from union intimidation. It also set legislation on special order creating a constitutional cap on state spending.

H.3305, introduced by Rep. Eric Bedingfield, is a constitutional amendment that would guarantee a worker’s right to voting by secret ballot during union organization. The legislation is a reaction to the deceptively named federal “Employee Free Choice Act,” which would strip workers of their right to vote for unionization by secret ballot, opening them up to intimidation and harassment by unions. The legislation is being pushed on the federal level by union bosses and their liberal allies in Congress.

The bill was passed on the heels of an announcement by Boeing executive Jim Albaugh that union work problems were the top reason for their departure from Washington. Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler (R-Cherokee), lead sponsor of the Senate companion bill stated” Boeing’s decision to expand its facility near Charleston serves as a reminder why we must protect our tough right-to-work laws. We are sending a strong message to the world: We want your business, and we’re committed to getting it.”

President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell(R-Charleston) said “I don’t know of anything more basic to the essence of our nation than the right to a secret ballot election.”

Click here for a video statement from Senator Larry Martin (R-Pickens).

While Washington liberals continue growing our nation’s debt with explosive spending, South Carolina’s Republican Senators are working hard to protect taxpayers, limit spending, and grow our economy. S.2 is a bill developed by President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell creating a spending cap and budget stabilization fund. The amount of money state legislators could spend each year would be limited to the average revenue growth of the previous ten years and any additional funds would be placed in a rainy day account for budget shortfalls like we are now facing.

Click here for a video explanation of S2 by Senator Glenn McConnell.

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Columbia, S.C. – March 10, 2010 – It’s getting harder and harder to keep track of 2nd Congressional District Democratic candidate Rob Miller. When he isn’t clinking glasses with New York liberals or kicking television cameras out of public events, Miller has been doing a lot of bobbing and weaving on exactly where he stands on government-run healthcare:

http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/03/09/1166803/joe-wilson-challenger-rob-miller.html

Which leads to the question, “Just where in the world is Rob Miller on nationalized healthcare?”

“The healthcare fight has been the single most covered, most debated, and most talked about piece of public policy in recent memory – so refusing to stake out a position means that Rob Miller is either completely out of it, or he’s making the political calculation to try and ride the fence, both of which are a problem,” SCGOP Executive Director Joel Sawyer said. “The battle lines are pretty clear – you either favor government making your healthcare decisions, or you prefer those decisions to be left in the hands of individuals. Joe Wilson has always been crystal clear that he stands against government intrusion into healthcare decisions, and Rob Miller owes it to everyone to let us know where he stands as well.”

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Republicans Working To Guarantee Right To Secret Ballot Elections

Columbia, SC – March 10, 2010 – South Carolina’s Republican Senators are pushing a bill on the State Senate floor that guarantees a worker’s right to a secret ballot election in the workplace, but liberal Democrats have been working to block that right. Will they continue their fight to deny workers of their rights to secret ballot elections today?

H.3305, introduced by Rep. Eric Bedingfield, is a constitutional amendment that would guarantee a worker’s right to voting by secret ballot during union organization. The legislation is a reaction to the deceptively named federal “Employee Free Choice Act,” which would strip workers of their right to vote for unionization by secret ballot, opening them up to intimidation and harassment by unions. The legislation is being pushed on the federal level by union bosses and their liberal allies in Congress.

In arguing for the constitutional amendment, Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell (R-Charleston) said “I don’t know of anything more basic to the essence of our nation than the right to a secret ballot election.”

Just last week Jim Albaugh, chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told the Seattle Times “The overriding factor was not the business climate. And it was not the wages we are paying today. It was that we can’t afford to have a work stoppage every three years. And we can’t afford to continue the rate of escalation of wages.”

Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler (R-Cherokee) is the lead sponsor of a Senate companion bill. ” Boeing’s decision to expand its facility near Charleston serves as a reminder why we must protect our tough right-to-work laws. We are sending a strong message to the world: We want your business, and we’re committed to getting it. I want to continue sending that message by defending workers’ rights to secret ballots when deciding whether to unionize,” said Senator Peeler.

Peeler continued, “We’ve seen what happens when unions control the economy. It’s called Detroit. And we’ve seen what happens when unions fail. Congress bails them out on the backs of hardworking taxpayers. It’s unfortunate that the Democrats can’t see this clear fact.”

The Democrats argue that the bill is unconstitutional, but Senate President Pro Tempore argues otherwise. “The fourteenth amendment of the United States constitution creates a floor for protections. It does not prevent South Carolina from reaching for the stars in protecting our citizens. In fact, it lets us give our citizens more freedoms than guaranteed by the federal government. We have soldiers fighting overseas to grant others rights that are being filibustered at home.”

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You have to feel for Rob Miller. He loses his race in 2008 against U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson by eight points, and somehow has to spin it into saying it was a close race. He has to accept more than a million dollars in contributions from out-of-state liberals because South Carolinians just aren’t buying what he’s selling. And even after running for Congress once before, he’s still not ready for the big time.

A few weeks ago, he went to speak to a Democratic organization in Irmo. The group, trying to garner some publicity, invited Columbia media to the event. A crew from WIS showed up, cameras ready, to get some shots, talk to a few people and put together a story. If handled properly, it would have been a fairly innocuous event, a forgettable story, and everyone would have moved on.

If only it were so simple. WIS was not allowed to tape Miller speaking to the group, even after being asked to come to the event. Miller says that it must have been the Irmo Democratic group, since his staff wouldn’t have done such a thing. Unfortunately for him, that doesn’t make any sense.

It doesn’t add up that an organization would encourage a television station to show up just to deny it access. You can see the WIS story here:

That’s not the only obfuscation Miller has been up to. A recent story in The (Hilton Head) Island-Packet told of how he was saying he was going around, meeting with, “‘local business leaders’ or ‘community leaders’ or ‘church leaders.’” But he won’t say who any of these people are, specifically.

Earlier in February, the Lexington County Chronicle wanted to talk to Miller, but the campaign staff said there wouldn’t be an interview unless Miller received the questions in advance. Few newspapers in this state would consent to a pre-scripted setup.

What is he hiding?

The fact is, when it really comes down to it, Miller is hiding from the media and hiding from voters. It’s no wonder – a campaign funded by Northeastern and West Coast liberals run against one of the most popular elected officials in our state is not likely to have good odds in a head-to-head competition.

That doesn’t mean we can let up, though. Miller has well over $1 million to spend on the race, and will do everything he can to unseat one of South Carolina’s finest representatives in Congress. Join the grassroots team that will lead Republicans to victory in 2010 by making calls to other voters at  www.voterfetch.com/step2/SCV2010/.

Every person, every effort is needed to work to get our country back to the conservative leadership it deserves.

I couldn’t have been more proud to sit in the back of the room and watch Jim DeMint during his speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee. This was a quiet Congressman I met in 2003 — hired as the fourth staffer on his primary campaign — who has become a national rock star. He’s done good work, but what’s amazing is that he’s become this rock star for a very simple reason: He tells the truth and sticks to his beliefs.

It’s both exciting and sad to see. It’s exciting to see someone like Senator DeMint become so popular, but it’s sad that he’s become popular for something as simple as sticking to our party’s principles. That goes to show how far our party and our nation have gotten off track.

While our party needs people to reach across the aisle to form compromises, it must have a large contingent of people to drive it to the right. If all we have are moderates who compromise, our nation will surely go to the left. By recruiting and standing beside leaders like Marco Rubio and Chuck DeVore, Jim DeMint forces our party to the right, which forces the moderates to compromise far less of our conservative values.

We need to compromise to move our nation forward, but we don’t need to sell the entire farm. Senator DeMint is one of the only people in Washington reminding us of that. Here’s where the rubber meets the road – you need both moderates and conservatives to get proper legislation passed while in the majority and put the breaks on Democrats’ free-spending ways while in the minority.

It doesn’t make sense to have a party that keeps giving up this or that to mollify Congressional liberals, and it doesn’t make sense to not compromise under any circumstances. The U.S. Congress is not a European parliament. There are 535 members, and they all have a say. Members get elected to get things done.

South Carolinians seem to have figured this out. Our state is a tried-and-true conservative bullwork, sending two men to the Senate who represent both wings of the Republican Party. Lindsey Graham is more willing to compromise to get legislation passed. While Jim DeMint and others like him keep up the pressure to make sure those compromises are in the best interest of our state and nation.

Without Jim DeMint, we’d all be in a much worse position than how things are right now, and he’ll be a leader to turn it around when the GOP regains the majority. And that’s why I’m proud to stand with Jim DeMint.

Democrat congressional candidate Rob Miller’s attempts to earn the public trust aren’t going over too well in the Second District of South Carolina.

He’s currently mired in a war of words with his own supporters, trying to blame local Democrat Party activists for his campaign’s decision to hide the MoveOn.org-backed candidate from the media.

On February 18th, Miller spoke to the Greater Irmo Democratic Club. NBC affiliate WIS-TV reported then that Miller’s campaign kicked out the station’s photographer when the event began.

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Last night on WIS-TV’s 11pm newscast (see attached video clip), Club spokesperson Joanne Hafter confirmed the station’s account: “I just want to set the record straight. Neither I nor anyone with GIDC made the decision to exclude the media…It was Rob’s campaign manager who was adamant about not having press coverage.”

But when WIS-TV somehow managed to get Miller to sit down for an interview, his statement about the incident to anchor Ben Hoover contradicted the accounts of both Hafter and WIS-TV.

Hoover: “We were told to leave, though.”

Miller: “Well, I, you know, not, not by my staff.”

“Even local Democrats are sensing that Rob Miller will say anything to get elected, going so far as to dishonestly throw his own supporters under the bus to protect his own image,” said Andy Seré, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “He may be MoveOn.org’s darling, but to South Carolinians he remains a liberal mystery man who just can’t be trusted.”

“I have lived in this house since 1993 and you are the first person to talk to me, in person, about a candidate.”

In late October 2009 I had the opportunity to travel to Virginia to help lead Bob McDonnell and the Republican ticket to victory. On the third day of walking around the neighborhoods of Western Virginia, I encountered a woman who expressed her joy that someone spoke to her in person. To me, her statement addressed one of the main reasons the 72-hour GOTV is important, and why we should embrace this effort throughout the campaign season.

We are the frontline fighters for conservatism. If we ever hope to drive home conservative ideals, we have to begin with our neighbors. Our friends and neighbors will trust us before they trust any politicians or even the GOP as a party. I believe it is part of our civic duty to find which candidates best represent our views; we must then spread the word.

We have to work to improve voter turnout in primary elections. Many people complain about the choices we have in general elections, but often they don’t seem to realize how important every aspect of the primary is. If you are unsatisfied with your current representation, the primary is the chance to fix it. It starts with fielding conservative candidates and doing the hard grassroots work for those candidates, and it culminates with getting people to vote in the primary.

In 2006, primary turnout in South Carolina for Democrats and Republicans combined was roughtly 17.5 percent (this contrasts with the 44.95 percent turnout in the general election). To promote conservative ideals, we have to promote conservative candidates in the primary. How can we be expected to be a leader in putting conservatives into office if we cannot manage to get to the polls to do so?

This country is ready for another conservative revolution, but we have to own the movement. We have taken the first step by letting our Representatives and Senators know we are paying attention. However, revolution does not occur by merely identifying a problem. We must be the solution, as well. We must find conservative alternatives. We must do the ground work to help these conservative candidates get elected. If you can do precinct walks, do them. If you prefer making phone calls, do it. If you can spare the money to donate to a candidate, do it. Find the best way you can contribute and spread the word.

Only then can we take America back.

If you’re of a certain age, you remember Jim Bunning’s days as an all-star pitcher before he hung up his cleats for the suit and tie of a United States Congressman. I was proud to serve with my former colleague Lee Atwater as a consultant to Bunning’s 1986 congressional campaign. He’s retiring after this session, opening up his seat to another Kentuckian motivated to serve their state and country. But, he’s not going quietly.

During the past week, Bunning objected on a voice vote to appropriate another $10 billion for government projects, which if it wasn’t spent, would end up furloughing about 2,000 Federal employees. True to form, Democrats suffered another bout of temporary insanity.

Sen. Dick Durbin was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, “It is simply unfair for one Senator to attempt to hold the Senate hostage.” Maybe he should check with the rhetoric of his fellow Illinoisan, President Obama. Less than a month ago, Obama said that Congress should pay for what it spends, as in, adhere to a pay-as-you-go philosophy. And here’s something funny – the Obama administration said that Bunning was playing political games. Figures.

What’s truly unfortunate here is that he’s only one of a few conservatives, and one alone who has already said he is not running for reelection, that is standing up to say no to yet another spending spree by Washington liberals. Even worse is the Democrats’ reaction. Seriously, Obama’s mention of pay-as-you-go was good a few weeks ago, but apparently it’s not worth anything now, not even to the man who uttered the words.

Because, here’s the thing – liberals are fine with pay-as-you-go requirements as long as they’re limited to one part of government spending. But, what happens when they want to spend more, as they inevitably will? They’ll just push through an “emergency” appropriations bill, which is exactly what happened here.

As you might expect, their definition of what should be a recipient of emergency Federal spending and what yours is are likely to be very different. While most people would think an emergency outlay of taxpayer dollars would be needed only for very important things, like national defense, Congressional liberals seem to believe that payment for a road worker on a pork project rises to that level.

We need more Bunnings in Washington right now. Luckily we have one who hails right here from South Carolina. In coming to Bunning’s aid, Senator Jim DeMint said “When we borrow the money to do it we threaten the futures of our children and grandchildren, diminish their quality of life and likely cause their unemployment in the future.” I’m just glad we have people calling out the Democrats when their rhetoric doesn’t match their actions.

I am The Mob.

I am The Mob because I am angry. I am angry at the elitist politicians voted into office to represent the people but who, instead look down on the people. I am angry at “representatives” who consider the population to be nothing more than unwashed masses who aren’t as smart as they are, aren’t as sophisticated as they are, who aren’t as capable to know what’s best. I am angry because “we the people” are treated as “they the ignorant.”

I am The Mob because I care about the safety of America. I care about what will come of her by those who wish to do her harm – both abroad and domestically. I care about the totality of the American people and not just the few who are connected, who enjoy celebrity or who consider hard earned taxes as their personal bank account.

I am The Mob because I trust the Constitution both as it was written and as it was intended. I trust the principles that founded this country, principles that nurtured it through revolution and the growing pains of a new republic. I trust the courage that survived a civil war, a Great Depression and assassinations. I trust the goodness of this nation that led our men to drop their hammers and leave their plows and sail across vast seas to fight for the liberty of peoples they did not know – not just once, or twice or even three times. And I trust those who are wearing our colors now with that same courage and goodness. I do not trust those who abandon those principles, who question that courage or who assail that goodness.

I am The Mob and I believe government is a servant and not a master. I believe government is my possession and I am not owned by government. I believe the taxes I pay should be levied equally and honestly and dispensed with like integrity. I believe those in whom our government’s finances are entrusted should be accountable for every cent of it and should suffer great consequence for misappropriation. And I believe “we the people” should determine what constitutes misappropriation.

I am The Mob and I treasure life. I treasure the newborn and the unborn; the adolescent and the aged. I treasure life too much to see it raked from the womb as a convenience. I treasure life so much that those who deny it on a whim, in a tirade or during some personally-induced stupor should be denied there own. This is not a contradiction; it’s a declaration that life is precious and those who think so little of it are unworthy of it.

I am The Working Mob and do not want the fruit of my labors to be “redistributed” to those who are not or have not been as diligent. Charity is necessary but should not be mandatory. The government is not in the charity business just as it is not to be in the business of religion.

I am The Mob that wants secure borders and a fair and just immigration policy. “Fair and just” FIRST to the country and THEN to the immigrants. Non-citizens do not have a “right” to come or belong to this country unless and until they do so under the conditions WE set forth, not according to their wishes.

I am The Mob and I stand with those who sail and fly and march beneath and for Old Glory. I stand with them because they stand and fight and some die for what our nation stands for – liberty. I stand with those who can no longer stand or see or hold their loved ones. I stand with those on whom our nation depends for our safety, our prosperity and our existence.

I am The Mob and I can – and will – criticize public officials no matter their race or gender if I disagree with them. Such criticism doesn’t mean I’m a racist or sexist, it means I am critical of that particular person.

I am The Mob and I choose to worship God. I worship not through the benevolence of government, but because it is my choice. I will not sacrifice, deny, dilute or ignore that choice no matter what politicians, judges or social services may try to impose upon me. Should I feel the need or desire to pray in a public place, I will do so. Should I feel the need or desire to read the Bible in a public place, I will do so. This does not make me a redneck, Bible-thumper or an intolerant person.

I am The Mob and consider people more important than party. Political parties divide people and damage public discourse. Loyalty to a political party at the expense of the will of the electorate is contrary to the reason for our nation’s existence.

I am The Mob and will not apologize for America. As a country, we’ve made mistakes and there are regrets, but ours is the most benevolent nation in the history of mankind. We have liberated, rescued, saved, restored, protected, assisted, healed and fed more people of other countries than has ever populated our own. No apologies are necessary.

I am The Mob. Do not belittle me, dismiss me, ignore me or underestimate me.

I am The Mob and I have a vote and I have a voice and I will exercise both.

The Asian recipe for economic recovery is simple: rather than responding to the global economic crisis with bailouts and increased government control, Asian nations responded by investing in real infrastructure projects, cutting taxes, expanding their internal markets and launching their companies on world markets—and these policies are reaping real benefits.

China and other Asian nations are rebounding from the financial crisis while the U.S. and Europe remain deep in recession. Why is Asia up, while Western Europe and the U.S. are flat? Perhaps, it has something to do with Asia’s embrace of pro-growth principles, while the U.S. moves toward increased central planning and government control.

Asia is leaving the U.S. and the EU economies in the dust. — The United States and Europe experienced negative growth in 2009 and have projected growth of 3% or less for 2010. In comparison, China has nearly become the second largest economy in the world—it is forecast to grow at a brisk 10% this year and it achieved 8.7% growth in 2009. Not far behind, India’s economy is projected to grow at 7.3% this year and achieved 5.6% growth in 2009.

The Asian recipe for recovery is simple: rather than responding to the crisis with bailouts and increased government control, Asian nations responded by investing in real infrastructure projects, cutting taxes, expanding their internal markets and launching their companies on world markets—and these policies are reaping real benefits.

Like the U.S., China adopted an expensive stimulus plan to get its economy on its feet. While some were shocked by the cost of the stimulus–which brought China’s 2009 deficit to a historic 3% of its GDP, it is nothing compared to the US’s 2009 deficit of almost 10% of our GDP.

China’s stimulus spending was spent primarily on infrastructure projects. Infrastructure projects not only create jobs but also leave a country with lasting improvements like highways, bridges, rail systems and communication equipment which enhance a nation’s productivity in future years. In comparison, despite much rhetoric about our stimulus spending money on “shovel ready projects”, a huge amount of our stimulus went to filling holes in state budgets and for direct payments to individuals. These direct payments include extension of unemployment benefits, health care, Medicaid, and transfers to people who don’t pay any taxes (cleverly styled as “tax cuts” by the Obama administration). The Chinese seem to have received far more value for their stimulus investment.

At the same time, Asian nations cut taxes and kept rates low. “Communist” China just lowered its corporate tax rate to 25%, matching Vietnam. Thailand and Singapore are even lower at 17%, a rate of which American companies can only dream. Back in the United States, Congress wants to raise individual and corporate taxes in vain hopes of stemming our deficit — despite the harm it would do to our economy as a whole.

In terms of trade, China’s economy has faced serious challenges during these past few years as the consumption of Chinese goods overseas plummeted. But now China has started to look inward to its own domestic market to fuel purchases of Chinese goods. In 2009, the Chinese government encouraged its citizens to purchase more consumer goods, successfully driving up domestic consumption. This initiative is considered partially responsible for China’s healthy growth in 2009. Asian consumers are a driving part of the economic recovery in their countries, with emerging-market consumers outspending U.S. consumers for the first time in 2009. And consumption of consumer goods in these countries is still in its infancy —with lots of potential for growth down the road.

Some Asian nations are also making great strides in privatizing their state-owned enterprises and in opening up their economies. In 2007, as the economic crisis was beginning, Chinese companies accounted for fully 71% of the value of all Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the entire world. Many formerly state-owned Chinese companies, in industries like construction and energy, went public on domestic and world markets. And currently, China is the world’s largest source of companies going public.

In the last five years, Chinese companies have raised over $210 billion in IPOs globally while U.S. companies have raised only $184 billion over the same period. Chinese stock exchanges (Hong Kong and mainland combined) raised twice as much capital in 2009 as U.S. exchanges, perhaps in part because companies listing on these exchanges are not subject to burdensome regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley. These listings have brought billions into the Chinese economy and helped fuel growth.

As Asia privatizes, we are moving in the opposite direction. It is Asia that is looking to small and large private businesses to grow their economies. In contrast, our economy is increasingly managed through central planning and government control—take much of our domestic car industry and largest financial institutions, for a start.

Asian countries like China and India cut short their recession by adopting growth-oriented policies, while we languish in a recession that is long and deep. And capital is flowing from us to them. Investors hear and see the signals: the emerging markets of Asia are moving towards greater economic freedom. We have broadcast the message of economic freedom, and it has been heard—in Asia, but at home no longer.