Citizens for Efficient Government meet Tuesday 6/25

Citizens for Efficient Government

Will meet to eat at 6:00 P.M.
Meeting begins at 7:00 P.M.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013 At FATZ

Located behind Fuddruckers on Hwy. 295

Our speaker will be

Sheriff Chuck Wright

June 19, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

After your CWP, what next? CERT training!

The next level of being prepared could be CERT training.

Here is the time and location information for the summer Spartanburg County CERT class. This is your last chance to register.

When: Six consecutive Monday nights from July 1, 2013 to August 5, 2013.

Time: 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm

Where: Spartanburg County Office of Emergency Management located at 9039 Fairforest Rd, Spartanburg, 29301

Cost: There is no cost for the classes, however it is requested that you commit to attending a minimum of 5 of the 6 classes.

What: information at http://www.spartanburgcert.org/syllabus.htm

Please let me know by emailing info@spartanburgteaparty.org or calling me at 864.384.7558 if you want to sign up. Today. Going once …

June 19, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

FreedomWorks On Tap will discuss “Common Core Fails”

This weeks episode of FreedomWorks On Tap will discuss “Common Core Fails” and will feature FreedomWorks Grassroots Director Whitney Neal & FreedomWorks Campaigns Manager Henry Greabe.

Join them in an online meeting Wednesday at 7 PM, CLICK HERE for the video broadcast.

June 18, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

RINOcrat Majority Takes a Mortgage in Your Kids’ Names

Senators Shane Martin and Kevin Bryant would like you to share this with your peers please.

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The SC Senate, led by the RINOcrat majority, just hours ago took out a $500m mortgage under the guise that it’s the only way that South Carolina can address its infrastructure needs. Now “mortgage” isn’t the term that we used when we argued against this borrowing of Chinese Yuan. “Mortgage” is the term that one of our colleagues used to justify the beeping dump truck that just backed up to your kids’ future. That term, actually, succinctly illustrates the very problem that we identified.

A mortgage, as we always have understood it, is when an individual applies their credit and their future earnings to a purchase for themselves, or for someone for whom they’ve decided to use their credit. The RINOcrat majority, to the contrary, used your credit and your money—and your kids’ money—for that purchase. A mortgage, furthermore, is a vehicle that people use when they don’t have the cash on hand to make the purchase. An individual rarely if ever takes on debt when they have an equivalent amount of cash to make the purchase. They certainly don’t spend their money first on cars and trips and other luxuries and then go into debt, or, if they do, none of us would call that fiscally responsible. And yet that is exactly what the RINOcrat majority did today in the Senate.

RINOcrats got up today and huzzahed the fact that we now have put recurring general fund dollars to infrastructure. Just six years ago (remember when we had all those surpluses?), we tried that very thing with an amendment to put $100m per year into the SCDOT for road maintenance and repair. We were decried as radical and irresponsible, but if that amendment had passed, then we now would have more US dollars in SCDOT than we put there today in Chinese Yuan. Those hundreds of millions of dollars in cash instead went to festivals and museums and other pet projects, including matches for the federal stimulus. We find it strange that the loudest yelps for borrowing come from some of the same individuals who refused to spend cash on hand when we had it.

Another element of this farce was revealed when two of the strongest proponents of financing yet another Chinese factory to compete for American jobs could not even agree on what the Yuan would be spent on. We were told at one point, very loudly and pointedly, that the Yuan would be used only for road construction. We then were told only minutes later that the Yuan would be used for road repair. The two senators in disagreement could not straighten out their stories, and so I guess like Nancy Pelosi said, “we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.” Columbia is becoming every day more a little Washington on the Congaree.

The bottom line to this tragedy is that when it came time to slap around the taxpayers—and their children—RINOcrats invoked the word “crisis” and cranked up the printing presses. This $500m boondoggle adds to the earlier $120m in corporate welfare that RINOcrats borrowed to give away. The South Carolina Senate loves to spend other people’s money. That we have always known. Now, the Senate has found the path to spend the money of other people’s children, and it will become a well-worn path until the taxpayers say “NO”! The taxpayers can take their first stand by contacting Governor Haley whom we already have strongly encouraged to veto this legislation and keep more Yuan out of South Carolina. Her veto pen is our only hope. She can push “stop” on the printing press by vetoing H.3360.

Senators Shane Martin (R-Pauline) and Kevin Bryant (R-Powdersville).

We also want to thank these courageous Senators: Gerald Malloy (D-Hartsville), Lee Bright (R-Roebuck) and Tom Corbin (R-Tigerville).

June 18, 2013  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

SCGOP event reminder with Rand Paul

CLICK HERE for sign up.

Please join Chairman Matt Moore and the South Carolina Republican Party

for a Barbecue Dinner with Special Guest

Senator Rand Paul

Friday, June 28, 2013
6:00 P.M.

South Carolina State Farmer’s Market
3483 Charleston Hwy
West Columbia, SC 29172

June 18, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Spartanburg County budget passes after turbulent debate

As reported by Felicia Kitzmiller at SHJ:

Following a turbulent and emotionally charged debate Monday night, Spartanburg County Council passed third and final reading of a budget with no tax increases but with a change to employee health insurance.

The final budget will make Spartanburg County part of the state health insurance plan, a move Councilman David Britt said will save more than $1 million next year, more than eradicating the steep premium increases employees were facing. It also eliminates the proposed half mill tax increase for county parks, and adds an employee and the necessary equipment and renovations to the probate court budget.

The audience cheered and applauded when Britt’s amendments to the budget passed by a vote of 4-3 with councilmen Roger Nutt and Dale Culbreth along with Chairman Jeff Horton joining Britt in the majority.

Britt castigated Mintz, Horton, Brown and Hall for the 5 percent cut proposal, but his criticism focused on Mintz.

“What you did last Wednesday was reckless, it was ill-thought out and poor policy,” Britt said.

Britt questioned the timing of the proposal and suggested it was done to punish Sheriff Chuck Wright and others who have spoken out against the parks tax increase and the hike to employee health insurance costs. A video of Wright speaking to a Republican Women’s group was posted to YouTube on May 20. In the video, Wright criticizes some actions taken by Mintz. In a video posted June 3, Wright points out Horton, Hall and Brown also supported the measures. The 5 percent cut would’ve cost the Sheriff’s Office more than $1 million and nearly that much would’ve come from the jail as well.

And then there’s this. Seriously. Should Jane Hall apologize to the citizens of Enoree for comparing their children to animals?

Hall spoke passionately about the need for the parks tax increase to serve the county’s two most vulnerable populations, children and seniors.

In Enoree, Hall said she received calls about “children running free like animals.” The crowd erupted in boos and Wright stood and shouted to quiet the disorderly crowd.

June 18, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

This happened at County Council tonight.

Budget passed 3rd reading WITHOUT tax increase (or “adjustment” as O’Neal Mintz insists) for parks.

5% across the board cuts — OUT!

Probate court position included.

County employees will move to state insurance plan, instead of self funding by county. Immediate savings.

Effective, efficient government, adequately funded for the win!

The votes: for effective, efficient government, adequately funded: Roger Nutt, Dale Culbreth, David Britt, Jeff Horton

Against effective, efficient government, adequately funded: Jane Hall, O’Neal Mintz, and Michael Brown.

Now … this also happened at County Council tonight. Oh yes it did! Video to come …

Jane Hall compared the children of Enoree to animals.

and …

O’Neal Mintz called David Britt a liar. Oh and also “Miracle Boy.”

Aren’t you so proud of them?

June 17, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

Fight against Common Core flares in South Carolina

Jamie Self at TheState.com reports on Common Core. My pals Johnnelle Raines and Linda Ensor and now Michelle Wiles are very involved in these efforts. If you want to learn more about what YOU can do to fight Common Core, holler and I’ll hook you up.

South Carolina Tea Party groups — warning of an overreaching federal government and massive privacy invasions — are joining calls nationwide to derail education standards called Common Core.

“It doesn’t matter if I like them. It doesn’t matter if you like them or if they like them. We can’t do anything about it,” said Linda Ensor of Summerville, who organized several Tea Party groups to travel to Columbia Wednesday to urge the state Board of Education to rethink its 2010 adoption of Common Core.

South Carolina voluntarily adopted Common Core — K-12 education standards in math, reading and language arts. The standards outline what students should know and know how to do at every grade level.

Critics of Common Core, including state schools Superintendent Mick Zais, say the standards were adopted hastily by a select few and are a “one-size-fits-all solution that won’t serve students well.”

In South Carolina, some object to the fact that two appointed, not elected, education boards adopted the standards.

The state Board of Education and the Education Oversight Committee, the state’s education accountability and policy research arm, adopted the standards. Both boards are appointed by lawmakers and the governor.

Other critics, including state Board of Education member Michael Brenan, say states adopted the standards under the gun of the federal government. President Barack Obama and his Education Department “made no secret that national standards are a priority of their education agenda,” Brenan said in 2010, before voting against the standards.

SO…

#1 Mick Zais is against Common Core

#2 Obama is for Common Core

no brainer, eh?

June 17, 2013  Tags:   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Doug Cobb writes a Letter to the Editor

In today’s SHJ:

Oldest Trick in the Book

After Friday’s Spartanburg County Council meeting, I guess we are to believe that council members O’Neal Mintz, Jane Hall and Jeff Horton are finally recognizing that, as Republicans, they should be looking for ways to cut spending.

Problem is, rather than look for a true solution that would reduce spending, like cutting nonessential services and not giving money to charitable groups that are perfectly capable of raising their own money without taxpayers’ money, they want to use the oldest trick in the book. They threaten everyone with reduced services such as police and fire services because of necessary budget cuts and then, when the people scream, they come back with the tired old line: If we are to keep police and fire protection from being cut, we have to raise taxes. In the end, they get what they wanted all along — a tax increase.

Do they really think we are that stupid? People, please don’t fall for this. There are plenty of places to cut spending without cutting the essential services.

Doug Cobb

June 16, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Bill Conley writes a Letter to the Editor

From today’s SHJ:

Actions have repercussions

Spartanburg County Council’s recent budget action is like a person who wants to lose weight, and instead of hard work and making wise choices he cuts off an arm and says, “There, I weigh less.”

A businessperson who is losing money due to a bad economy stops spending on donations and excessive nonessentials, and doesn’t fire his employees, who give him the competitive edge of service. Of course, the government doesn’t have competition, so it goes on as it has in the past while decreasing its service to the citizens (customers), who have no alternative.

But council members must remember that there is competition — the voting booth. It is not wise to create an atmosphere where there is disservice to citizens if someone wants to be re-elected. I am not threatening anyone, just observing and giving friendly advice. If someone is not wanting to run for office again, well then, he/she may feel it’s OK to adversely affect constituents.

“Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.” “A rebuke impresses a man of discernment.”

Bill Conley

First vice-chairman, Spartanburg County Republican Party

June 16, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment