the genius of Nikki Haley

cross post from General Discussion:

How should South Carolina cope with the fact that our decrepit schools are falling apart, teachers are being laid off, there are fewer cops and EMT workers in the field than there were 5 years ago, and the Department of Commerce, which is supposed to attract new investment into the state, has lost 70% of their funding in the last 4 years? If you are a Sanford–in-a-skirt kneejerk libertarian running for Governor, you propose that the State eliminate its third largest source of income and somehow that will magically fix things.
And, if you were to rank the top 10 factors that companies consider when deciding where to make an investment in a new facility, Corporate Income Tax would not make the Top 10. Here's a story from the candidate on the campaign trail today:

SC gubernatorial candidate Haley unveils job plan

The Associated Press
South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley says she wants to eliminate corporate income taxes to boost jobs.
The GOP candidate began a tour of businesses Wednesday with a visit to a marketing and printing firm in Columbia.
Haley insists the way to help businesses hire employees and bring down the jobless rate is to cut red tape and business taxes. In June, the state's unemployment rate was 10.7 percent.
Earlier this year, the state House passed a bill to eliminate corporate income taxes over 10 years. But the Senate removed that provision, saying the economy was too uncertain to further reduce state tax collections.
The state's 5 percent corporate tax rate is the third largest source of state revenue behind sales and individual income taxes.
© 2010 TheState.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thestate.com

Now, after running on a campaign on "reform" and "transparency," Haley has named a union-busting attorney, Catherine Templeton, to head up her Department of Labor. So she's transparently doing what Republicans always do, grinding down working people.

We couldn't have gotten a more unqualified Governor if we pulled some kid out of the local grade school.

USC's business school? That act alone seems like pure republican genius to me.

As did a lot of old line, non-fundie Republicans who are very nervous about the tea party. Nicki was pissed, and thought it added to her mavericky image to remove everyone on the board whose term had expired. Darla was replaced by someone who had given $5,000 to her campaign. Days later several hundred students showed up to protest and Darla spoke to them and promised a $5 million gift to establish an endowed chair in aerospace engineering at USC (Boeing is building their only assembly plant, other than the one in Seattle, in Charleston) which Nicki had taken out of the state budget. The only question is whether Darla will run against Nicki next time or work behind the scenes to get her defeated.
Another good one for her is her application to Lexington Hospital to be a fundraiser at a salary of $120,000. On her application she said she made $125,000 the previous year; her tax return says she earned $22,000. Her feeble excuse is that she 'doesn't recall' filling out the application. Strong rumors that the FBI is investigating- they don't care about the application, but they do want to know more about the possible tax fraud.

Any thoughts/insight into Rob Miller's current status and his efforts within the state? From what I read and knew (friends closely involved in his campaign) they felt like he put together a pretty good effort - is there any momentum to capitalize upon?

Regarding the point above about Lexington Co. hospital (where my brother was born!) are you referring to Moore's application to be a fundraiser, or one from Ms. Hailey - it was a little unclear to me.

About two years before Nicki ran she was hired at $125,000 to be a fundraiser. It is blatantly obvious that her only qualification was that she was a sitting legislator. The application was a one page form that she had to sign; the rest of it was filled out on-line and password protected, and said at the bottom of each page something along the lines of "my printed name here constitutes a signature attesting to this information." So, she can hint that maybe someone gained access for some reason to her form and listed the wrong information. Nothing criminal there, although it would of course be grounds for immediate dismissal.
At least Sanford waited until his second term to piss off everybody; she already has pissed of just about everyone in the legislature except those who are terrified of retribution by the teabaggers.

Yes, an attestation or any other form of certification seems to mean nothing to some folks (especially, the "rules dont apply to me" republicans). While I doubt it will gain much traction (unless the local press really is willing to stay focused, rather than worrying about USC's spring football and baseball, etc.), it would be nice to see something come of this disclosure.

Ms. Haley made her bed and I hope she enjoys the fleas that come with it.

Any insight into Rob Miller's campaign and whether there's momentum to capitalize upon?

My best to you and thanks for being a shining Democratic light SC's republican wilderness!

Rob caught Wilson by surprise when he ran in 2008 and came pretty close. This time, Wilson's "you lie" outburst helped him raise a ton of cash. The next race all depends on the redistricting, and no one seems to know how that will turn out. There is an outside chance the Justice Dept could require the state to establish a second majority-minority district, but most likley there will be a new district somewhere along the coast. Wilson does have Hilton Head now, so that could affect him.