Showing posts with label Columbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Columbia. Show all posts
South Carolina: Facing the Flag Flap, Again
We wrote a post not too long ago about how the issue that just won't go away in our state -- the Confederate flag -- continues to command attention from both sides ten years after the flag was removed from the dome of the South Carolina Statehouse. Though the flag was taken down from the Capitol and placed on a 30-foot pole on the Statehouse lawn, the NAACP and others continue to protest the flag's presence on state property. The issue that just won't die in South Carolina has positioned our state on a perilous ledge until it is fully resolved. The ongoing ferocity potentially jeopardizes not only our own internal political and social relations, but has the opportunity to also directly impact the state's economy by causing businesses to shy away from bringing industry to such a cutthroat political climate.On Monday, Benjamin Jealous, President of the NAACP, announced the organization will make a stronger push to remove the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds. His announcement was skim on further details but indicated by summer 2010, more publicity will surround the NAACP's economic boycott of the state. As South Carolina moves forward with the Boeing deal, 2010 elections and other upcoming statewide events, the full impact of the enduring flag flap remains to be determined.
What the Confederate Flag is Doing to South Carolina and Our Politics
If you've lived in South Carolina for any significant period of time, you undoubtedly know that the Confederate flag flies in front of the Capitol in Columbia next to a monument honoring fallen Confederate soldiers. Our state has a storied and tense history with the flag, which perched atop the Capitol building from 1962 until the state senate passed a bill in 2000 to have it moved to its current location. And there it has flown ever since...albeit a more traditional square-shaped version of the flag.Yet many remain vehement that the flag is a symbol of racism and want its removal entirely, including the NAACP, who has maintained a long-standing boycott of South Carolina as a result.
When gubernatorial candidate Mullins McLeod announced this week that he believes the Confederate flag should be permanently removed altogether from the Capitol grounds, angry hornets from both sides started buzzing again. While the Confederate flag issue is a tense one, it for the most part has remained dormant for the last nine years. McLeod maintains that flying the flag is a detriment to state economy and will ultimately hurt jobs and economic growth.
With our ear to the ground when it comes to South Carolina politics, we have noticed in the last day or two just how fervid the argument over the flag is. While certainly a legitimate argument with many people's feelings deserving to be taken into consideration, it also made us think about what this persistent issue is doing to South Carolina politics.
With our ear to the ground when it comes to South Carolina politics, we have noticed in the last day or two just how fervid the argument over the flag is. While certainly a legitimate argument with many people's feelings deserving to be taken into consideration, it also made us think about what this persistent issue is doing to South Carolina politics.
Regardless of whether or not you think the flag should go or stay, regardless of whether or not you agree with McLeod that the flag hurts our economy, we would be remiss not to point out the zealous and angry discord the issue is allowing to continue...and drag on...and on.... The issue has created a serious crack in our politics, our political parties and our people, and each time it resurfaces we open those old wounds. Our point? Sure, it's a heated issue and a very personal one for many people. But we need to work together to heal this fissure. It's bad for our state, it pollutes our political climate and it pits our people against one another.
As a state that is already perceived by much of the nation as floundering in a fishbowl of political quandaries, we need to band together, not allow issues to sever our political parties.
More insights and info into the Confederate flag issue:
FITSNEWS
The Rock Hill Herald
The Greenville News
Why the Midlands Region of South Carolina Needs PR Help
Get out of that box, Midlands.Columbia, South Carolina and the surrounding Midlands areas are embarking on a quest to become a tourist magnet, according to an article last week by The State newspaper.
Tourism Development International, an Irish consulting firm, has finished conducting a 15-month study on behalf of the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism to figure out just what kind of dynamic lure will bring in the big fish... ie., tourists, to South Carolina. Peter MacNulty with TDI says that to gain popularity and grow as a tourist destination, the Midlands area of South Carolina needs a "wow" factor.
Capitalizing on Columbia's capital city status as well as the opportunities for outdoor activities and the rivers and lakes in the region are key, as the article notes. Also key will be how the group behind this campaign markets the wow factor through paid ads, but also in the media and by word of mouth...free publicity and public relations.
So what were some of TDI's recommendations and ideas to bring publicity and tourists to the state? Read the article to find out.
Tim Brett and Jim Morton: Make a cigarette tax increase happen
In case you don't receive the Greenville News, we are publishing below a Brett Op-Ed piece that ran on Friday, August 28, regarding the cigarette tax issue in South Carolina. Read the article at the Greenville News web site here.
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Make a cigarette tax increase happen
For the past nine years, legislation to increase the state cigarette tax has come before the South Carolina General Assembly that would financially boost Medicaid by providing health-care coverage for many of our state's poorest residents and also pay for smoking prevention programs. And for the past nine years, that legislation has failed to become law.
Make a cigarette tax increase happen
For the past nine years, legislation to increase the state cigarette tax has come before the South Carolina General Assembly that would financially boost Medicaid by providing health-care coverage for many of our state's poorest residents and also pay for smoking prevention programs. And for the past nine years, that legislation has failed to become law.
It would seem reasonable to assume that a bill which would be so valuable to our state's health should be a legislative no-brainer. Not only would disadvantaged South Carolinians get health-care coverage, but smokers would hopefully be encouraged to give up the habit, and others would be dissuaded from ever starting. But year after year, a number of bumps in the road continue to prevent our state's neediest citizens from getting the Medicaid assistance many of them literally cannot live without.
In 2008 it appeared South Carolina would join the legion of other states, as well as the District of Columbia, that have increased cigarette taxes. The House and Senate passed legislation to increase the then 7-cent tax to a reasonable 50-cent tax, which would still be the lowest rate of taxation on cigarettes in the nation, only to have the bill vetoed by Gov. Mark Sanford, who held tight to his no-new-taxes stance.
During this year's legislative session, cigarette tax bills once again came to the floor of both chambers and once again were not passed, this time due to a battle over different versions. The House version would have offered maximum tax credits of $3,000 to people making up to $21,000 annually.
The Senate version of the legislation argued that the House plan would only create unnecessary bureaucratic and overhead costs by distributing the money on an individual basis. The Senate's alternative lobbied instead for the tax money to go straight into expansion of Medicaid programs, which would additionally have procured the state $3 in matching federal funds for every Medicaid dollar spent. At the close of the 2009 South Carolina legislative session, the battle over the expenditure of the proceeds was still undecided, shutting the door once again on a new state cigarette tax.
According to a recent Families USA research study, 670 people a week lose their health-care coverage in South Carolina. Yet we still have the lowest cigarette tax of any state in the nation and rank last among states in funding smoking prevention programs.
Our House and Senate seem to have reached a general consensus that it's time to raise the cigarette tax, because the issue continues to come up year after year. Now it's just a matter of untangling the web of disagreement between members of the General Assembly and the governor so we can get the job done in 2010.
Call or write your legislator and let them know your thoughts on the cigarette tax bill. To find your legislator, visit http://www.scstatehouse.gov/ and click “Find Your Legislator” in the left-hand column.
In 2008 it appeared South Carolina would join the legion of other states, as well as the District of Columbia, that have increased cigarette taxes. The House and Senate passed legislation to increase the then 7-cent tax to a reasonable 50-cent tax, which would still be the lowest rate of taxation on cigarettes in the nation, only to have the bill vetoed by Gov. Mark Sanford, who held tight to his no-new-taxes stance.
During this year's legislative session, cigarette tax bills once again came to the floor of both chambers and once again were not passed, this time due to a battle over different versions. The House version would have offered maximum tax credits of $3,000 to people making up to $21,000 annually.
The Senate version of the legislation argued that the House plan would only create unnecessary bureaucratic and overhead costs by distributing the money on an individual basis. The Senate's alternative lobbied instead for the tax money to go straight into expansion of Medicaid programs, which would additionally have procured the state $3 in matching federal funds for every Medicaid dollar spent. At the close of the 2009 South Carolina legislative session, the battle over the expenditure of the proceeds was still undecided, shutting the door once again on a new state cigarette tax.
According to a recent Families USA research study, 670 people a week lose their health-care coverage in South Carolina. Yet we still have the lowest cigarette tax of any state in the nation and rank last among states in funding smoking prevention programs.
Our House and Senate seem to have reached a general consensus that it's time to raise the cigarette tax, because the issue continues to come up year after year. Now it's just a matter of untangling the web of disagreement between members of the General Assembly and the governor so we can get the job done in 2010.
Call or write your legislator and let them know your thoughts on the cigarette tax bill. To find your legislator, visit http://www.scstatehouse.gov/ and click “Find Your Legislator” in the left-hand column.
Hot Campaigns; Scorching Conflict...
As surely as the sun rises and sets each day, it's a definite that people will disagree. At Brett we blog about the inevitability of conflict, because we see it happening all the time in our community and within our government.Just last month in Columbia, the South Carolina Hospitality Association bought 29 billboard ads at a cost of $500,000 as part of a year-long campaign designed to bring more customers and revenue to Richland County businesses. A 2% surtax on hotel rooms and meals will provide the funds for this billboard marketing effort, part of the associa
tion’s Stay in Columbia campaign, also referred to as the "Famously Hot" campaign.Many folks are also vehemently opposed to this billboard campaign and the money being spent on it, foreseeing major government budget cuts in years ahead. Hospitality association and campaign backers assert that the only way to funnel new money and new lifeblood into South Carolina's tourism industry is to spend money advertising what the state has to offer... in other words, putting a little out to get even more back in.
Either way, it will be interesting to see how this controversy plays out in the coming year and the overall effectiveness of the Hospitality Association's campaign.
Thanks to the South Carolina Policy Council for their original blog post and stance on this issue. You can also read more on the South Carolina Hospitality Association's Stay in Columbia web site.
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