Jim Lee to Announce Candidacy in 4th Congressional District

Bob Inglis will get his 3rd confirmed challenger in the Republican primary on June 10, 2010.

Jim Lee, an Air Force Veteran and reservist, will announce his candidacy for the 4th Congressional District Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 3:30pm.  The event will be held at the Mauldin Cultural Center Community Room.

Christina Jeffrey and Andrew Smart have already announced their candidacy as Republicans to challenge Congressman Bob Inglis.  Rick Mahler has decided to run as an Independent.

Be looking for the next installment of the Race for the Fightin’ Fourth in the next few weeks.

Updating The Conservativist

Over the next several hours, you will see some changes to our site.  Please bear with us as we perform the update.

Let us know what you think about the changes.

Roll Call Voting Needs Your Help!

The leader in the roll call voting battle, Nikki Haley, needs your help.  Her bill, H. 3047 (Spending Accountability Act of 2009) made it out of subcommittee today and was supposed to be read to the full Ways and Means Committee, but continues to be delayed.

The rumors mills are afloat that this is a tactic to keep the bill from coming to a vote.  Some say the House is scared of the transparency and there is even a rumor that an amendment has been proposed that Haley is being blocked from seeing.

So what’s the big deal with another transparency bill?

The resolution passed in January was a simple rules change that got roll call voting on the books for the session ending in 2010.  In 2011, new rules could be introduced and roll call voting could disappear.

H. 3047 actually makes roll call voting the law.

Read the Spending Accountability Act of 2009 (H. 3047) and contact the Ways and Means Committee and demand a yes vote for roll call voting!

By the way, do you realize that 14 of 25 ways and means members signed the No New Tax Pledge and 12 of them have already violated their no new tax pledge!  Thanks to roll call voting, we know who they are.  Coincidence?

Dan Cooper (Chairman)	Annette Young (1st V.C.)	Rex Rice (2nd V.C.)
Lanny Littlejohn (3rd V.C.)	Herb Kirsh (Secy./Treas.)	Liston Barfield
Jim Battle	Kenny Bingham	Bill Clyburn
Gilda Cobb-Hunter	Tracy Edge	Bill Herbkersman
Ken Kennedy	Chip Limehouse III	Dwight Loftis
Jay Lucas	James Merrill	Joe Neal
Denny Neilson	Harry Ott Jr.	Michael Pitts
Gary Simrill	Murrell Smith Jr.	J. Roland Smith
Brian White

Who Violated the No-New Tax Pledge

Today I was sitting at lunch with a friend of mine discussing taxes and I was reminded of the no new tax pledges signed by our Legislatures in the 2008 campaign.  Here is the text of the no new tax pledge:

“I, _______________, pledge to the taxpayers of the ______ District of the State of South Carolina, and to all the people of the State of South Carolina, that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

Read that last section of this pledge again:

“I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

I bring this up because there was a bill passed by the House earlier this month that has been somewhat controversial.  That would be H. 3584, which passed 97-22, otherwise known as the Cigarette Tax Increase bill.

H. 3584 imposes a 2.5 cents surtax on each cigarette.  Last time I checked, there are 20 packs in a box resulting in a 50 cent tax increase on a box of cigarettes.  The overall intent of the bill is to really reduce smoking and the legislatures claim that they are going to help small businesses by providing an insurance plan.  Go read H. 3584 for more details.

If that is truly the case and they reduce the amount of smoking, then they will eventually increase the tax on all citizens when the consumption of cigarettes no longer funds the programs.  What’s next, tax the people who drink regular coke? the obese?

So looking at that line in the no new tax pledge, let us see who violated their pledges.  Below is a list of all no new tax pledge signers, the bill, and an asterick (*) to indicate that they voted for the tax increase.

Also, look for a “Tax Pledge” page coming soon to keep you up to date on all tax pledge violators.

Pledge Signer	House District	H. 3584
Bill Sandifer	2	*
Bryan White	6	*
Don Bowen	8	*
Michael Thompson	9
Dan Cooper	10	*
Harry Cato	17
Dwight Loftis	19	*
Glenn “Dan” Hamilton	20
Wendy Nanney	22
Bruce Bannister	24	*
Rex Rice	26	*
Garry Smith	27
Eric Bedingfield	28
Lanny Littlejohn	33	*
Rita Allison	35
Steve Parker	37
Marion Frye	39	*
Gary Simrill	46
Herb Kirsh	47	Leave
James Lucas	65	*
Murrell Smith	67	*
Thad Viers	68
James Harrison	75	*
Joan Brady	78	*
Jimmy Bales	80	*
Roland Smith	84	*
Chip Huggins	85	*
Kenneth Bingham	89	*
Annette Young	98	*
James Merrill	99	*
Tracey Edge	104	*
Mike Sottile	112	*
Tim Scott	117
William Bowers	120	*

New Yankee Stadium = New Launch Pad

If you have not heard, the New Yankee Stadium has set a new record for the number of home runs hit in an opening series  at a new stadium.

There are many theories right now concerning the design of the building, a “wind tunnel” effect, and it has even gotten the attention of AccuWeather.  We have only seen a few reports of the Yankees possible pitching problems.

Of the 13 games they have played this season, 4 of which have been at home, they are currently 12th in the AL with a combined 6.53 ERA, 10th in the AL giving up 19 home runs, 11 of which they gave up over the weekend against the Cleveland Indians.  The Yanks only hit 9 in that same series.

Ok, I think I just convinced myself there is something wrong with Yankee Stadium after that last stat.

That sucks though, I visited the shrine last year to see the Yanks and Red Sox play and didn’t see one home run.  That was the most I had ever paid for a ticket to see a baseball game, but well worth it.  Yanks fans are the best though.  It was funny listening to their taunts.  From the harassing of Coco Crisp, calling him “Manny’s Girlfriend” referring to Manny Ramirez.  And then the Sox fan who chanted “A-Rod’s girlfriend” when Derek Jeter came to bat.  Bad decision.  Insert your random string of expletives here.  My favorite rebutal, “you wish you were A-Rod’s girlfriend.”

So for you meteorological and physics minded people, the theory is the new gradual slope of the stands in the new stadium is providing for a wind current to actually come across the stadium and rise across the right field stands, therefore causing the ball to lift more.

Either way, this is bad for the Yanks pitching staff and CC Sabathia’s $161 million dollar contract.

What do you think, poor pitching or a meteorological phenomenon?

See AccuWeather’s story below:

Next Page »