*********************************************************************************** The Upstate Libertarian Society is an umbrella organization which promotes the formation and supports the activities of county Libertarian parties throughout the South Carolina Upstate region. **********************************************************************************

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~ Our next meeting.....~ ============================================= > Next Anderson County Libertarian Party meeting : > Sunday March 28th -noon to ?. < Signing party for ACLP candidates & a meet the candidates. Everyone is welcome, please attend and show your support for our candidates. > --------------- -------- _________ Read more at: > Address:http://community-2.webtv.net/ACLibertarian/OurNextMeeting/ > ===========================================

~S.C. News~ =========================================== WHY DID NO ONE ADDRESS ESC PROBLEMS? John Rainey > The story of the decade-long dysfunction and final implosion of the South Carolina Employment Security Commission (ESC) also reflects some dysfunction within the General Assembly. That story remains mostly untold. > The January 2010 Legislative Audit Council report on the ESC, while citing some deficiencies in the reporting of the ESC, notes that, “Management has provided annual assessment reports concerning the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust fund since 1999, as required by law,” to the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. The second paragraph of the Executive Summary (page one) of each report from 2001 through 2008 details the demise of the UI Trust Fund. > The 2001 report says that there was an actual decline in the UI Trust fund of $41.5 million from 2000 to 2001. > A similar sentence appeared on page one each year thereafter, albeit with a different number. The annual decline reached a high of $148 million from 2002 to 2003. The reports apparently never reached the right person. Finally, the second paragraph in the Executive Summary of the 2009 report declared that the trust fund became insolvent in December 2008. > Yet a final chance had occurred for the General Assembly to avert disaster. The three commissioners, seeking re-election, appeared in April 2008 before a screening committee charged with evaluating their performance. > The committee consisted of four senators: William O'Dell, Thomas Alexander, Chip Campsen and Vincent Sheheen, and four House members: Michael Thompson, Adam Taylor, John Scott (now a senator) and Nelson Hardwick. J. William McLeod, the longest-serving commissioner, told them the problem precisely. > McLeod said that, "Our trust fund's down to $114 million. It was $800 million back in 2000. We got a trust fund that’s probably being close to bankrupt within 14 to 16 months if the trend continues." One might suppose that eight long-tenured lawmakers would have engaged Mr. McLeod in a serious discussion of the ramifications of insolvency. They did not. > McLeod noted in later testimony: “We will have to borrow money from the federal government… and they will charge us interest, and if you don’t pay it back within two years, the employers of this state are going to lose the write-off that they get from the federal government. ...” > As far as can be determined, none of the eight legislators publicly told his colleagues what he had heard. Not one alerted the media nor, as far as I can tell, anyone else. The written report issued by the committee unanimously declared all three sitting commissioners qualified for re-election but made no mention of any of the testimony or even the fact that these three commissioners had presided over the demise of the fund. Each legislator clearly failed to discharge his obligation as a member of the screening committee. > Read more at :: Why did no one address ESC problems? » Anderson Independent Mail Address:http://m.independentmail.com/news/2010/mar/21/guest-column-why-did-no-one-address-esc-problems/ > > ==============================================

~ Big Government Golf Stays In SC Budget ~ ========================================== > By FITSNews || > By a vote of 69-43, the "Republican" controlled S.C. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to include a controversial $10 million loan for a private golf tournament in the state's $21 billion budget. The money is for the Heritage golf tournament, which is played each year on Hilton Head Island. Currently sponsored by Verizon, the tournament will be looking for a new sponsor in 2011 – although that effort has lost considerable steam now that state lawmakers appear ready to guarantee it (with your money). We polled this issue earlier this month when S.C. > Rep. Brian White (RINO-Anderson) > first inserted the money into the budget.  An overwhelming majority of our readers – 84 percent – believe that taxpayers should not subsidize the tournament. > read more at:Big Government Golf Stays In SC Budget :: FITSNews Address:http://www.fitsnews.com/2010/03/18/big-government-golf-stays-in-sc-budget/ > ------------------------ =============================================

~Inside The (Anonymous) Cigarette Tax Vote ~ =========================================== > For all of S.C. Speaker Bobby Harrell's talk of transparency in government, his S.C. House of Representatives voted to raise the cigarette tax anonymously this week. > That's right … there was no recorded vote by lawmakers on the section of the state budget that included a 30-cent-per-pack hike on cigarettes. Fortunately, lawmakers were forced on the record by Rep. Joey Millwood (R-Spartanburg) – who offered an amendment that would have removed the tax hike from the state's $21.1 billion spending plan.  Unfortunately, Millwood's amendment failed by a lop-sided 106-12 vote. > Now, consider this … dozens of lawmakers have signed a "Taxpayers' Protection Pledge" with the S.C. Association of Taxpayers, a document which states very simply "I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes."  We're not sure what your interpretation of that language is, but we think it means that you're supposed to vote against any new tax hike – including the sort of tax hike an affirmative vote on Millwood's amendment would have prevented. < Accordingly, here are the 23 lawmakers who have violated their "Taxpayers' Protection Pledge" pledge … Representative Bill Sandifer (H-2 Oconee) Representative Brian White (H-6 Anderson) > Representative Don Bowen (H-8 Anderson) (We have a Libertarian Candidate who will take on Bowen) < Representative Bruce Bannister (H-24 Greenville) Representative Rex Rice (H-26 Pickens) > Representative Garry Smith (H-27 Greenville) (We have a Libertarian Candidate who will take on Smith) > Representative Larry Littlejohn (H-33 Spartanburg) Representative Rita Allison (H-36 Spartanburg) Representative Steve Parker (H-37 Spartanburg) Representative Marion Frye (H-39 Saluda) Representative Gary Simrill (H-46 York) Representative James Lucas (H-65 Darlington) Representative Murrell Smith (H-67 Sumter) Representative James Harrison (H-75 Richland) Representative Joan Brady (H-78 Richland) Representative Jimmy Bales (H-80 Richland) Representative Roland Smith (H-84 Aiken) Representative Chip Huggins (H-85 Lexington) Representative Annette Young (H-98 Charleston and Dorchester) Representative James Merrill (H-99 Berkley) Representative Tracey Edge (H-104 Horry) Representative Mike Sottile (H-112 Charleston) Representative William Bowers (H-120 Hampton) Incidentally, Reps. Michael Thompson and Dwight Loftis are both signers of the tax pledge who did not vote. > Also, several lawmakers who have supported a cigarette tax hike in the past – Reps. Danny Cooper and Kenny Bingham, for example – were among the handful of lawmakers who broke ranks and supported the Millwood amendment. They are proponents of a cigarette tax hike, don't get us wrong, but they are hoping to pass the tax as a stand-alone bill, not as an amendment to the state budget. > read more at:Inside The (Anonymous) Cigarette Tax Vote :: FITSNews --------------- Address:http://www.fitsnews.com/2010/03/19/inside-the-anonymous-cigarette-tax-vote/ > ==============================================