Gov. Nikki Haley Endorses One of My Platform Items

My #1 priority will be to fix our roads. Yesterday at the First Monday Club in Anderson I had the opportunity to ask Governor Haley about the roads issue, and particularly my goal to have the DOT placed under the Governor’s office and eliminate two duplicate, unelected boards.

Gov. Haley wholeheartedly endorsed the idea and then went on to add:

“We don’t have to raise taxes to do it. The money is there.”

Click to hear her full answer

Governor Haley is right: we can do this without raising taxes. I am happy that she supports my solution to fixing our roads and I look forward to working with her in Columbia!

How to pay for roads in 2014... without raising taxes

The SC Policy Council published this budget analysis last week.

One would think that if transportation funding were actually a priority, lawmakers would prioritize the taxes already collected for the purpose of repairing roads and bridges. Yet as much as lawmakers have taken the House and Senate floor to plead for more money for transportation, the budgets passed in both chambers don’t reflect this supposed concern.... The money is already there; only it’s being spent on corporate welfare and pork-laden earmarks.

We found at a bare minimum $644 million not currently in the Department of Transportation budget that could be transferred to the department.

• Department of Commerce: $65,277,555. Even when not including federal funds, over $65 million budgeted for the Department of Commerce could be transferred to DoT with no harmful effects. State government does more harm than good by redistributing wealth from taxpayers to state-selected companies, as much of the money allocated is budgeted to do.
• Rural Infrastructure Authority: $27,550,000. Essentially another arm of the Department of Commerce, this new agency doles out money for local projects that bureaucrats then appropriate.
• Capital Reserve Fund: $127,791,525. Often used as a slush fund for lawmakers to fund pet projects, this money could be spent on actual capital projects – like fixing roads and bridges. Instead, they decided to fund things like:
  • The Deal Closing Fund (plain ol’ corporate welfare): $24.9 million
  • Locate SC Site Inventory: $6 million
  • “Office of Innovation”: $1 million
  • Department of Commerce “Research Initiatives”: $4 million
  • Sesquicentennial State Park Splash Pad: $500,000
• Infrastructure Bank Board: $150,453,276. Although this money would be spent on “transportation,” it would be spent based on the skewed priorities of the board that has a history of funding very few counties, and road expansions, not repairs. Money is also put in this agency so it can be bonded at a much higher rate than it can in the DoT budget.
• Non-recurring Provisos (From FY14 Surplus): $187,275,934. Although it’s not prudent to rely on “one-time” money to fund major state functions, if lawmakers were serious about their concerns for transportation spending, they’d use these funds in conjunction with others to fund transportation needs. These are just a few examples-mostly from the Senate budget they decided to fund instead:
  • Partnerships for Innovation-TransformSC: $200,000
  • Deal Closing Fund (corporate welfare): $12.4 million
  • SC Council of Competitiveness: $750,000
  • Sports Development Fund: $2 million
  • Congressional Medal of Honor Bowl: $100,000
  • Historic Columbia-Woodrow Wilson Family Home: $600,000
  • Southeastern Wildlife Expo: $200,000
  • Marion County Workforce Development Training Facility: $500,000
  • U. of Charleston-Purchase of Surplus State Property: $2 million
  • Multi-Purpose Business/Entertainment/Sports Complex-City-County of Spartanburg: $380,000
• “The Money Tree”: $86,000,000. The Board of Economic Advisors recently added roughly $86 million to the state’s next fiscal year, thus giving lawmakers more money to “work with.” Although Governor Haley argued in the widely ignored executive budget that the money that falls from this “money tree” should be used for transportation, it’s unclear what lawmakers will use it for. However, it could be assumed that the House will use this extra money to help conform to the budget that the Senate desires (to avoid a conference committee).
• Legislator Pay Raises: $2,000,000. Although the additional $1,000/month for in-district expenses would be optional, the budget will need to cover the full amount since lawmakers can be counted on to take the full amount. (Remember, in-district expenses at the present level are “optional,” too.)

If lawmakers really valued funding transportation, they could easily use these items to accomplish that end. The money is there if they want to use it. They would just have to give up their raises, pork projects, the power to hand out corporate welfare. Don’t hold your breath.

Statement on Judge Manning's Ruling on the Harrell Investigation

Yesterday I participated in a press conference calling on my opponent to take a stand regarding the current Speaker of the House who is under investigation for some very serious charges of corruption. A state judge recently decided that the Attorney General does not have the authority to prosecute Harrell (here's the scoop), or even to investigate using a State Grand Jury. A transcript of my comments is below. Folks, it’s a great day to be a legislator in South Carolina!

According to Judge Casey Manning, they now have bulletproof armor that protects them from criminal prosecution!

As unprecedented as it is, Manning’s decision is just a symptom of a larger problem: the Speaker of the House has too much power.

This power extends over all areas of our state government, including who gets to be a judge, thanks to South Carolina’s Jim Crow-era 1895 Constitution and over an hundred years of lawmakers who prefer to keep this good-old-boy system intact.

We've seen Speaker Harrell abuse his power in four ways:

• We saw how the Speaker uses his power when he retaliated against then-Representative Nikki Haley by stripping her of committee assignments because she believed that lawmakers should vote on-the-record.
• We saw how the Speaker uses his power when he made state history by passing budgets with unprecedented levels of spending in a down economy.
• We saw how the Speaker used his “Drive for 75” to elect a veto-proof majority of House members who would be loyal to him and enable him to foil any line-item-veto Governor Haley makes at will.
• Finally, we saw how the Speaker uses his power when he led the campaign to re-elect Jean Toal as the Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court - the very court who will now rule on who may investigate the Speaker for corruption.

We’ve needed a new Speaker for a long time. At an October 2010 forum hosted by the Anderson TEA Party, Rep. Don Bowen (who I am running against today) was asked if he would vote for a change in House leadership. His response was, and I quote:

Let me tell you how it works down there. I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. The commitments for Speaker of the House were taken probably in March. Everybody in there committed to him... Ralph [Norman] was not even running when that took place, and at that time I committed to Bobby.

Why would Rep. Bowen commit to the Speaker of the House months before the election, long before any potential challengers would enter the race? Was it because he stood to gain something from this Speaker, like his appointment to the House Judiciary committee?

There is significant evidence that Speaker Harrell is guilty of corruption. This evidence has been reviewed by Attorney General Wilson, the Chief of SLED, and a judge, and all three agreed that it should be sent to a Grand Jury.

Make no mistake: Judge Manning’s decision on Monday to send the case to the House Ethics Committee is a decision to let Speaker Harrell pick his own jury.

It’s past time for new leadership in Columbia. I will vote for a new Speaker of the House, I will vote to change the way we elect judges in South Carolina, and I call on my opponent, Rep. Don Bowen, to call for Speaker Harrell’s resignation immediately and to take a public stand in support of Attorney General Wilson’s Grand Jury investigation.

Failure to disavow this corrupt Speaker will reveal where Rep. Don Bowen's true loyalties lie.

Jonathon Hill

Rick Green Posts About Our Campaign

We are thrilled and grateful that Rick Green of Wallbuilders and founder of Patriot Academy has just posted about our campaign! Rick is a highly-respected and loved mentor, and through Patriot Academy has been a tremendous influence on who Jonathon is today. We are so grateful to have his help and support in this race! Here's an excerpt of the article:

Jonathon Hill, 29, announced this week that he will be running for State Representative in the June 10, 2014 South Carolina Republican Primary.

I could not be more excited, or more proud.

I say “proud” because Jonathon is a graduate of Patriot Academy and has been a volunteer staffer for the last few years. When Jonathon first attended Patriot Academy years ago, his grasp of the issues and depth of understanding in conservative principles was impressive.

Read the full article »

Note: if you look at the above picture closely, you'll notice a golf ball tied to Jonathon's collar. Golf balls were distributed to all the Patriot Academy students and represented their character and integrity. He had to hold on to that ball and carry it with him wherever he wanted to maintain his character. It was a powerful and never-to-be-forgotten object lesson!

Jonathon Hill signs The Liberty Compact

Today Jonathon Hill signed The Liberty Compact, a pledge committing to restoring liberty, lowering taxes, reducing the size of government, and observing the enumerated powers of the Constitution. The Liberty Compact is from The Republican Liberty Caucus, a Republican group that describes itself as "the conscience of the Republican Party."