Sheheen hits Haley on absenteeism, education funding

Here’s a release that came in from the Vincent Sheheen gubernatorial campaign:

Dear Brad,

When the going gets tough, Nikki Haley gets going…right out of state. 

This week a published report showed South Carolina topping the list of states slashing school spending and hurting public education, specifically citing Governor Haley’s political ideology as a main reason for the dramatic cuts. 

That’s just after the release of a report showing that South Carolina’s middle-class families are struggling even more with falling incomes since Nikki Haley took office. 

The going is getting tough for the people of South Carolina. And where’s Nikki Haley? Out-of-state raising money for the past three days at events she hid from her public schedule

Tell Nikki Haley that the challenges facing middle-class families and small businesses in our state won’t be solved by her jetting off to New York and Philadelphia to raise money for her campaign. 

Please donate $250, $100 or $50 today to make her a one-term governor so she can spend as much time as she wants outside of South Carolina. 

Thanks, 

Andrew

Of course, before you click on that link and give Vincent money, you’re going to click on this link and give to our Walk for Life team, right?

Here, by the way, is the report to which the release referred about education funding:

Even in 2008, before the dramatic budget cuts the state has enacted in the past few years, South Carolina spent the fourth-lowest amount on education. As fiscal year 2014, South Carolina primary and secondary students will each be educated with about $500 less than before the recession. The lack of education funding is, in part, due to the political ideals of Governor Nikki Haley. In 2011, she vetoed the state’s budget and included $56 million in cuts to education. In addition, Haley refused to accept money from the Education Jobs Fund — a federal program intended to mitigate budget constraints in schools across the country. South Carolina was the only state that did not seek money from this program.

12 thoughts on “Sheheen hits Haley on absenteeism, education funding

  1. Doug Ross

    And Haley’s team hit Sheheen for a fundraiser held at the home of a pro choice group board member. Sheheen’s campaign wouldn’t comment on that issue (a familiar pattern).

    So let’s see: Sheheen is a pro-life, anti-gay, gun toting hunter/lawyer. Why doesn’t he just run in the Republican primary and let a real Democrat be the nominee?

    The Haley strategy should be to keep telling Democrats about Sheheen’s abortion, gays, and gun positions. Just like Sheheen wants to pull over some Republicans, Haley can drive down voter turnout on the Democrat side.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Yeah, I saw that a couple of days ago. Seemed pretty silly. Big gotcha: It turns out that some of Sheheen’s supporters are — gasp! — Democrats, with all that implies.

      Oh, and I’m not aware of him being “anti-gay.” He doesn’t support same-sex marriage. That’s not the same thing at all…

          1. Doug Ross

            Does he support same sex partner benefits for state employees regardless of whether they are legally married? Adoption by gays?

  2. Juan Caruso

    Sheheen’s best swipes at Haley are her alleged absenteeism and education funding? The absenteeism certainly draws attention to the number of Mr. Obama’s vacations and his incessant campaign stops around the country. Guess the presiden is not needed in D.C.

    The president’s galavanting make Haley’s seem like she’s more of a homebody than an (East) Indian princess.

    And hasn’t Sheheen been in the SC Senate longer than Haley has been Governor? What body actually decides education funding in SC? Does Sheheen have a problem working with his senate colleagues?

    Must we wait for Sheheen’s attack on Haley’s responsibility for taxpayer ID hacking? My credit card was fraudulently used 4 times last week. WARNING to AT&T Uverse customers: When your back-up battery box starts beeping, don’t follow the directions on the Belkin box. Your call goes to hackers in the Phillipines who offer to ship you a new unit.

    I think the hacking issue stays off the table to avoid embarrassing some former SC Dem party folk who probably have no (pick as many as you wish) exposure or possible or alleged involvement in the (yet unsolved) crime by foreign hackers who had not been contacted by SC co-conspiritors. We’ll just have to see, won’t we.

    That means FITS News needs another, salacious tale. Perhaps about Nikki’s affair with an underage pimp.

    And Mr. Sheheen knows nothing about any of this foul garbage? Sure.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Juan, the president works for the whole country, not just for Washington. Just as Nikki works for all of SC — no one expects her to stay in Columbia all the time.

      But here’s a big difference between being governor and being president — since the president is responsible for diplomacy, defense, and other such things, he’s also on the job when he leaves the country. I suppose, since he’s over NASA, you could even say he’s still on his turf if he leaves the planet.

      Not so with a governor. Her job is here, in SC. There are relatively few legitimate reasons for a governor to leave the state. Usually, when they do so, they’re running for some other job on the national stage…

    2. Scout

      “The absenteeism certainly draws attention to the number of Mr. Obama’s vacations and his incessant campaign stops around the country.” -Juan

      Really? Not in most people’s minds, I don’t think.

  3. FParker

    So what is elected official Sen. Sheheen doing about this, I mean other than acting like a grade school tattle-tail and then asking for money?

    1. Scout

      1) fighting for education funding in the senate for-like-ever, every time it comes up.
      2) seeking to do the job that Haley is doing badly, better.
      3) being present and tuned in to issues that affect the people of South Carolina’s daily lives

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