A slew of national media attention shone on Governor Scott Walker for taking on the unions in Wisconsin. It was the first big national splash made by a new Governor this year and his actions garnered him the adoration of the conservative movement – and it made some of the other new governors, who styled themselves as reformers, stompin’ mad they were beaten to the punch.
You could almost see it coming. Which state’s Governor would try to catch the spotlight by piggy-backing on the labor issue? California, Michigan, Illinois – or some other troubled state where public unions have had a huge impact on state spending?
Instead, the next Governor to chase the spotlight was none other than our own Gov. Nikki Haley. Even though South Carolina employees have no collective bargaining, and no real union to speak of, and even though they pay significantly more for their benefits than state employees in those places up north, Governor Haley just couldn’t help herself – there was a spotlight out there, and she wasn’t in it.
Though state employees have endured significant layoffs, furloughs, and pay stagnation to help balance the state’s falling budgets – all reasonable responses when there isn’t money in the state’s coffers – the Governor tried to make the argument that our state employees weren’t sharing the burden in our failing economy.
See the article in The State HERE.
The Comet (as Gov. Haley was dubbed by the NY Times) quickly backtracked to state employees and retirees when confronted this week and said that the issue needed to be studied – a simple way of saying she spoke before she was informed. But, she got the headline and can write another chapter in her memoir about her conservative bona fides, and when you’re chasing the spotlight, that’s more important than being right.
2 comments:
1. She was actually sued by a union long before Wisconsin blew up.
2. On her first week on the job, the NLRB gave South Carolina a two week notice that they would file a lawsuit if the card check amendment was certified. They backed down, and I honestly think the fact that Nikki(and Brewer in AZ) were the govs being sued is why they backed down.
BTW, Sheheen skipped the votes for card check even when it was filibustered... and he refused to reveal his "opinion" on it during the campaign until the very end... he was a squish... probably your kind of "moderate" who would have folded under NLRB pressure.
She's not piggy backing on anything...
How the hell was she chasing the spotlight on the state workers question? She was asked that off the cuff at a townhall... did she rig it somehow or what? Please explain.
And she's 100% about the fact that state workers need to pay more into their pensions. Do you deny that?
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