The Opinion Blog

DNA database expansion threatened civil liberties

Today's editorial argues that Gov. Mark Sanford did well last week to veto this year's DNA legislation:

Given the mounting pressure on the state to free wrongly convicted prison inmates, it took guts last week for Gov. Mark Sanford to veto the DNA bill passed last month by the General Assembly. Even though the veto denies S.C. prison inmates the right to use DNA evidence to prove their innocence, Sanford was right to exercise it.

Another section of the bill would have allowed the state to collect DNA samples - genetic markers unique to individuals - from all persons whom the police arrest for felonies. But as Sanford pointed out in his veto message, only about 40 percent of those arrested for felonies are ultimately convicted and sent to prison - with the rest going free.

An empathetic governor would have OK'd health plan

Today's editorial expresses regret that Gov. Sanford's desire for perfection resulted in the death of a good cigarette-tax-increase-based plan to insure 80,000 S.C. residents:

One of the most useful sayings in American lawmaking is: "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Would that Gov. Mark Sanford understood it - and lived it. If he did, 80,000 uninsured South Carolinians would soon gain access to affordable health care.

The expression stems from a central fact of American politics: compromise. Most useful legislation passed in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals such as Columbia is laced with concessions to political factions.

The cigarette-tax financed health plan that Sanford vetoed this week illustrates this point. In both the S.C. Senate, which originated the legislation, and the S.C. House, which approved it by a narrow margin last week, Republicans and Democrats helped shape the final product.

Cheap S.C. smokes locked down -- for now

From the Tuesday afternoon e-mail ... The S.C. House drives the final stake through the heart of the cigarette tax/health-care expansion plan. But wait! Read House Speaker Bobby Harell's statement through to the end. You'll see that he plans to work on an alternative cigarette tax hike/health plan for legislative consideration next year:

House Votes to Sustain Cigarette Tax Veto

Expanding Government Entitlement Program is Not the Answer

(Columbia, SC) - Today the S.C. House of Representatives voted to sustain the Governor's veto on the cigarette tax increase/Government entitlement expansion bill.  House Speaker Bobby Harrell took the floor to speak in favor of sustaining the veto.

Speaker Harrell said, "Today, over half of all births in South Carolina are paid for by Medicaid. This tax increase will greatly expand that number and also entitle children living in households with an income of $54,000 to have their health care coverage paid for by taxpayers through this Medicaid expansion. Medicaid was created to be a safety net for the poor -- $54,000 a year is not poor.

Democrats boo Sanford health-care veto

From the afternoon e-mail ... S.C. Senate Democrats decry the governor's veto of the General Assembly's cigarette tax/health-care plan:

May 27, 2008

Senate Democrats React to Sanford's Health Care Veto

Columbia, SC  -- South Carolina Senate Democrats today called on members of the SC House to override Governor Mark Sanford's veto of increasing the state's cigarette tax for affordable health care.  Democratic Senators issued the following statements:

Senator John C. Land, III, Senate Democratic Leader said: "Once again Governor Sanford was given an opportunity to show leadership on an issue that affects all South Carolinians and once again he has failed.  Signing this bill into law should have been a no-brainer for the governor. But I guess counting on Sanford doing something logical would be giving him too much credit."

Sanford opts for continued cheap S.C. smokes

For Richard ...

From the afternoon e-mail ... Gov. Mark Sanford says no to a 50-cents-per-pack increase in the S.C. cigarette tax and the health plan it would have financed:

Governor Vetoes Cigarette Tax

BILL UPS TOTAL TAX BURDEN, VIRTUALLY ENSURES FUTURE TAX INCREASES

Columbia, S.C. - May 27, 2008 - Governor Mark Sanford today vetoed H.3567, a bill that would have increased the state's cigarette tax by 50 cents - but dedicates the money to expanding Medicaid and other healthcare programs in such a way as to guarantee future tax increases.

Needed: An S.C. immigration bill that actually works

Friends: Here's an advance look at the newspaper's editorial for Friday. I'd be interested in reading your thoughts, if you have any. Thanks, dc.

A slim majority of S.C. senators are taking a drubbing this week because -- horrors! -- they wish to pass an immigration-reform law that regulators and prosecutors can actually enforce. The S.C. House and Gov. Mark Sanford seem more interested in passing a bill that "gets tough'' on employers who use foreign labor, with insufficient regard for whether the measure stands up in court.

The pressure on senators to "do something, fast," is intense. Some residents apparently want the heads of employers who hire illegals to be mounted on spikes along public roads. Sanford and the House leadership, meanwhile, are conducting an intense public-relations campaign that ridicules the Senate for refusing to pass an employer-crackdown bill that the House adopted last week.

REAL ID an affront to America's core principles

From Gov. Mark Sanford today comes this missive on the weaknesses of the federal REAL ID program.

By Mark Sanford

If I was a betting man, I'd wager that most people haven't followed the debate on REAL ID. If you indeed missed it, I would ask that you take the time to learn about what I consider the most troubling piece of legislation I've seen come from Washington since I've been governor.

REAL ID would surreptitiously require all fifty states to change their driver's licenses to act as de-facto national ID cards. It's outrageous, and not just because it was a backdoor way of doing something proponents in Washington have never been able to pull off in the past. I say outrageous because Real ID was never really debated in Congress; because the cost of its implementation is handed down to states and individuals; and because it is an affront to Americans' privacy concerns.

Rid the Highway Patrol of the taint of racism

Today's editorial recommends independent monitoring to restore the credibility of the S.C. Highway Patrol:

"Does the S.C. Highway Patrol warrant a federal takeover to stamp out institutional racism? Maybe. Too many S.C. troopers seem unable to do their jobs in impartial fashion, based on the skin color of the folks with whom they come into contact professionally. And too many folks in a position to do something about patrol excesses at the S.C. Department of Public Safety, its parent agency, seem to think that's just fine.

"It's not. Six patrol videos obtained by The (Columbia) State newspaper under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act create the perhaps-inaccurate impression that S.C. troopers are racist goons. In recent weeks, South Carolinians have seen images of troopers kicking, punching and screaming racist epithets at African-American motorists during traffic stops. One recent Highway Patrol video posted on MyrtleBeach Online.com even shows a trooper jabbing an already subdued suspect with the business end of his shotgun.

Can Homeland Security not understand plain English?

Today's editorial takes note of the strange -- and worrisome -- disconnect between Gov. Mark Sanford and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff over the federal Real ID mandate:

"What is up with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the agency congressionally charged with converting driver's licenses into de facto national identity cards and foisting the cost onto the states? On Monday, the Homeland Security deadline for states to indicate willingness to knuckle under to the so-called Real ID mandate, Gov. Mark Sanford offered the agency a lengthy explanation why South Carolina could not - and would not - comply.

"Yet six hours after receiving Sanford's letter, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff responded as though Sanford had caved in to the federal will. The agency, he said, would regard Sanford's letter as intent to comply with its Real ID regime by the May 11, 2011, deadline.

REAL ID compliance/noncompliance chart for S.C.

As several of you have noted, Gov. Sanford today told Homeland Security that South Carolina is 90 percent compliant with REAL ID already, on its own. What about the other 10 percent? The following link, which his office provided, should answer this question:

Download real_id_requirements.pdf

dc