West Metro Republican Women host gubernatorial candidates

LEXINGTON, SC - Last night the West Metro Republican Women's Club held its monthly meeting. What set this apart, was the appearance of not one but two candidates for SC Governor and a candidate's wife.

Congressman Gresham Barrett, Rep. Nikki Haley and Attorney General Henry McMaster's wife Peggy stood before the group and spoke of the need for strong leadership, better governing and a healthy education system in order for South Carolina to not only grew but become a leader. About 40 to 50 people were in attendance at the Lizards thicket restaurant, 4616 Augusta Highway in Lexington, SC.

After the Invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance and the Republican's creed (which ended with "Thank God I'm a free American"), the first to speak was Peggy McMaster, Attorney General Henry McMaster's wife. She told of not only his dedication to South Carolina, his battles with Washington over health care and the Yucca Mountain issue, his determination to make South Carolina safe and his "other side" that most people don't know about. Mrs. McMaster spoke of how Henry helped a women fighting with an insurance company to follow the law and pay off her deceased mother's policy. In closing, the AG's wife said of him, "he doesn't give up."

After Mrs. McMaster spoke, a drawing of sorts choose the order the remaining speakers would come up. "There's always a complaint that if we go by alphabetical order, the same person always gets to speak first," explained the Kim Wellman, the 1st VP of the association. Between Rep. Haley and Congressman Barrett, Rep. Haley won the drawing and was the first up to speak.

Looking a little harried from an obvious hectic schedule, Rep. Nikki Haley, of the 87th District, got right down to business. She spoke of her experience with the SC Legislature, the battle she had been fighting to get more accountability among the elected representative of the citizens of South Carolina (which led to her ouster on several committees because she wouldn't drop the bills) and her ideas to get all state budget items online for better transparency. And she spoke of term limits. "When I first arrived in the House I was against term limits. Now I am very much for them."

Kim Wellman then introduced Congressman Barrett, representing the 3rd District. He was polished and congenial, having spent time talking to most everyone at the meeting at one point or another before it began. He started out by joking that Nikki had been doing such a fine job in the Legislature that "we need you to stay right where you are." Barrett then went into a long string of needs for the State, including "innovation, not taxation," the need spend wisely and not raising taxes. He outlined the need to bring business to the state which went hand in hand with education in the state. Of education he spoke of how only 44 cents of every education dollar went to the schools versus the national average of 65 cents on the dollar.

The floor was then opened to questions from the membership. The first was on how the candidates stood for local term limits, which are currently not allowed by state law. Both replied they supported the rights of municipalities to implement term limits. The second was on Sanford's vetoing of two bills that would have allowed counties to oversee their school budgets. Both Candidates again agreed that they should have that right.

The third question was on the cigarette tax and an insurance commissioner. Here the candidates differed for the first time during the evening. Barrett supported a cigarette tax as "long as the lion's share went toward healthcare." Haley didn't think the tax was necessary, per se. She believes that the need would be addressed by an overall reform of the tax law (something Barrett earlier had also agreed needed to be done). Both candidates were fairly neutral on the issue of an Insurance Commissioner.

The final question was about school funding. Rep. Haley outlined an aggressive format for improving the education system, saying what was needed was a reform of the educational funding formula, more money going to the classes, more incentive for teachers to excel and a strengthening of our technical school system. Congressman Barrett spoke of streamlining funding sources and increasing effectiveness over adequacy.

Currently South Carolina is leading in the unemployment rate, national embarrassment and political humor. All three spoke of the future of the state and how it could best be served with them at the helm. Rep. Haley even spoke in terms of the Governor as in "she needs to be strong" and "she must be held accountable" as though she (Haley) had already won. A business mentor once told me that if you want to succeed, you must first see yourself succeeding.

For more information on the West Metro Republican Women organization, go to www.wmrw.net. Or contact Katrina Shealy, President at P.O. Box 662, Lexington, SC 29071.