South Carolina Senator Sheheen is making jobs a priority

Economic development was on a lot of people’s minds at the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce’s legislative breakfast on Tuesday.

State House Reps. Deborah Long and Jimmy Neal, and state Sens. Mick Mulvaney and Vincent Sheheen participated in a panel discussion at the meeting. Otis Rawl, president of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce, outlined challenges facing the state in economic development.

Rawl said Boeing’s recent announcement to bring jobs to Charleston is great news for the state, but state lawmakers need to focus on being aggressive about bringing more jobs to South Carolina.

“We cannot stand still another year,” Rawl said. “We’re in a crisis in South Carolina from an economic development standpoint.”

Not a lot of significant legislation has been passed recently that would help economic development move forward in the state, he said.

Rawl said it’s important that South Carolina elects a governor who goes to sleep at night dreaming of what he or she can do to bring jobs to the state. Priority needs to be placed on bringing high-paying, lasting jobs, and that means South Carolina must elevate the education status of its residents.

The state also needs to crack down on the Employment Security Commission, to make sure it is paying out benefits to people who have been laid off, not those who have been fired because of absenteeism or other problems, Rawl said.

Priorities for new year

The legislators discussed their highest priorities going into a new session in January.

Mulvaney said he’d like to lower the taxes on industrial property, which are among the highest in the nation. The state needs to create an environment where businesses can succeed, he said.

“If South Carolina is not a productive place to do business, they’re going to locate elsewhere,” Mulvaney said.

Sheheen, who has announced his intentions to run for governor, said state leaders need to understand that while jobs are coming to Lexington, Richland, Greenville or Charleston counties, there are still serious problems in South Carolina. He said the state needs to change the “can’t do” mindset. He also believes that the tax rate on industrial property needs to be lowered.

“I think there’s great potential this year,” Sheheen said.

Long said no one wants to talk about the “200-pound gorilla in the room,” the impeachment of Gov. Mark Sanford. Long was among the lawmakers who asked Sanford to resign after he left the state for Argentina without telling his staff and revealed an extramarital affair, but thinks time and money will be wasted on impeachment proceedings. There are more important issues facing South Carolina than impeaching the governor, she said.

Neal said he hopes state legislators will be able to get to work this year. They had a furlough in 2009, and are facing a three-week furlough in the next year. The Legislature needs to look at several state agencies to make sure they’re held accountable and are operating efficiently, Neal said.

Both Sheheen and Mulvaney said “fixing” the Employment Security Commission is a top priority.

“The ESC is broken and it will get fixed,” Mulvaney said. “It’s our (the Legislature’s) responsibility to get it fixed.”

Mulvaney is running for the U.S. House District 5 seat currently held by John Spratt.

Home rule

Mayor Joe Shaw asked the legislators how they feel about using local governments as a “collecting agent” for the state, and if they support home rule.

Sheheen said rural legislators, like Lancaster County’s delegation, tend to value local governments more than lawmakers from larger cities. He said he sponsored legislation last year to take excess fees off parking tickets.  Using fees as a form of taxation is “a bad way to operate our state government,” Sheheen said.

There are two Democrats and two Republicans in the local delegation, but that’s set aside when it comes to solving problems that affect Lancaster County, Mulvaney said.

“You’re looking at a group that believes in local government,” he said. “When it comes to local issues, your delegation is united and believes that local governments govern better.”

By Jenny Arnold; Courtesy of Vincent Sheheen

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