JOURNAL NEWS
Gubernatorial candidates head for the finish line PHOTO PROVIDED BY FURMAN UNIVERSITY
With Haley in the lead, Sheheen and Ervin look to close the distance before Nov. 4 GOVERNOR continued from COVER
THE ECONOMY
“Voters make decisions on pocketbook issues,” Woodard said. Although many factors besides the governor influence the economy, Haley has done well shaping people’s view that she has made the state a job-friendly environment, he said. Along the campaign trail, Haley touts 57,000 new job announcements during her term. She travels the state to attend ribbon-cuttings for new businesses. “Perceptions of facts are the only things that matter in politics,” Woodard said. Sheheen and Ervin are seeking to change that perception. Sheheen has pounced on reports from The State newspaper that only about 56 percent of the announced jobs Haley promotes have been filled. On the stump and in campaign ads, Sheheen repeatedly accuses Haley of dishonestly leading people to believe South Carolina is better off than reality. Meanwhile, Ervin released a 78-page report accusing Haley of unethically using incentives to lure businesses that in turn pumped money into her campaign. To improve the economy, Ervin advocates abolishing personal income tax and raising the minimum wage. He and Sheheen also claim Haley has left about 45,000 jobs on the table by not accepting the federal money to expand Medicaid in the state. Vinson said Ervin and Sheheen are correct that Medicaid expansion would bring jobs to the state. In a recent debate, Haley defended her decision by saying Medicaid expansion is just a way to expand Obamacare, which she has consistently opposed.
TRANSPORTATION
None of the gubernatorial candidates have presented a bold plan to fix South Carolina’s crumbling roads and bridges, Vinson said. Transportation officials estimate the state will need $70 billion over the next 25 years for infrastructure, compared to projected revenues of $27 billion. “Nobody’s been completely clear about where we’re going to find the money,” Vinson said.
8 THE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 24, 2014
From left to right: SC gubernatorial candidates Morgan Reeves, Steve French, Tom Ervin, Vincent Sheheen, and incumbent Nikki Haley
Haley insists transportation has been a top priority for her, pointing to the fact that she signed a $1 billion transportation bill to fix state roads. “You can’t continue to bring jobs if you don’t continue to improve infrastructure,” she told the Journal. Sheheen said he wants to solve the roads problem by merging the SCDOT with the State Infrastructure Bank, use 85 percent of the designated roads money for improvements and maintenance, and issue bonds. “I would like to jump start $1 billion in bonds [to pay for roads],” he said, adding that Haley “has a secretive plan that she is going to reveal in January.” Asked about the January reveal, Haley told the Journal she is approaching infrastructure the same way she chose to address funding for education earlier this year: consulting with groups on the best way to approach the issue. She said addressing the transportation issue is a process, and there is no final plan she is hiding until after the election. Vinson said Haley “probably should have started sooner” with her plan to let voters know what it involved. Ervin suggests the state must increase the gas tax to raise the needed money. But Woodard said any plan that calls for raising taxes is nearly impossible to win voter support in South Carolina.
EDUCATION
This spring, Haley pushed for more than $180 million in education spending, a large portion going toward technology in classrooms, elementary reading coaches and poor school districts. Calling the funding “gimmicky,” She-
heen accused Haley of ignoring education until an election year. “I think the problem with the way that the money was spent…is that a big chunk of it went toward technology,” he said. Sheheen said he would rather spend the money on raising teacher salaries, reducing class size and expanding 4-K programs statewide. He and Ervin both emphasized supporting technical collages to increase the state’s workforce. Haley said Sheheen’s charge that she ignored education “simply isn’t true.” She said she vetoed $110 million in education spending during her first three years in office because the funding was simply a one-time fix for recurring issues like teachers’ pay. “We are not going to get into the same budgetary problems that they do in [Washington] D.C.,” she said.
ETHICS
Sheheen said he would bring back “honest leadership” as governor, blaming problems such as Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell’s alleged misuse of campaign donations and criticisms of the Department of Social Services (DSS) on unethical leadership by Haley. “If you don’t elect honest people, you’re going to have a corrupt government,” he told the Journal. Haley said she has long pushed for ethics reform, telling the Journal the “gold standard” for reform would be full income disclosure for elected officials, term limits and an independent investigatory oversight committee. While an ethics reform bill she supported failed in the Legislature this spring, Haley said she feels confident a
bill will pass next year. “We’re going to keep pushing,” she said. Sheheen, who supported an earlier version of the bill, said he opposed the final version because it didn’t include an independent investigatory committee. He called the final bill “a fake” and an effort by Haley to cover over personal ethics violations like misusing the state plane and not disclosing $40,000 of income. Sheheen said he is the only senator to voluntarily disclose all of his income. Ervin said the final bill was a step in the right direction and he “was very disappointed” Sheheen voted against it.
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
Regarding charges of neglect and mismanagement at DSS, Sheheen said Haley maintained “such a secretive and vindictive culture in that environment.” He said if elected, he would appoint competent leaders, create an open environment where employees could voice complaints, begin investigations within 24 hours of a report and rehire retired workers part time to ease some of the training of new workers. Haley cites the hiring of more caseworkers, strengthening relationships with law enforcement, partnering with organizations to help drug and abuse victims and transitioning 25,000 from welfare to work as ways the agency has improved under her watch. Ervin said if elected, he would make DSS reform his top priority. Because of his work handling child cases as an attorney and former judge, “I know how to fix the problems of the DSS.” Positive changes at the DSS have occurred, Vinson said, noting, “it’s easy