Port fracas may impact Haley over long term

NOV. 18, 2011 — South Carolina’s governor-cheerleader Nikki Haley has a political problem that is uniting Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, against her. And it may have legs.

Ship leaving the Port of Charleston

Haley’s appointees to the board that oversees the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, which she describes as business people who are “rock stars that get it,” last week overrode a staff recommendation to deny a dredging permit for the Savannah River.

Talk of more spending cuts trickles down

SEPT. 2, 2011 — With talk of spending cuts being all the rage of Washington, it’s no surprise the infatuation with them has trickled down to state government in South Carolina.

Powerful state Senate leader Glenn McConnell, the Charleston Republican who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has bundled five anti-spending measures into a package to try to spark some legislative momentum.

This year’s general election endorsements

OCT. 22, 2010 — In announcing our general election endorsements today, we are mindful of an aphorism by philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

As we considered the merits of candidates in the seven contested statewide constitutional offices up for grabs, we thought about each candidate’s background and tried to use to predict whether the candidate would make a positive impact on South Carolina and improve the state. Many would. A few, such as GOP gubernatorial hopeful Nikki Haley, seem to have pasts that raise enough questions that steer us away from them.

Sheheen answers 10 questions

Questions, I’ve learned in more than 20 years of writing, never hurt anyone. It’s the pesky answers that cause problems for politicians.

Last week, we asked 10 questions of GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley, whose campaign did not answer. This week, we asked 10 questions of her Democratic challenger, Sen. Vincent Sheheen. His campaign responded within 24 hours. You be the judge whether he answered questions fully.

Electorate is impatient, malleable … or not

That something odd is going on with the South Carolina electorate isn’t a controversial statement. But trying to peg what actually is happening is more difficult.