Wednesday, April 30, 2008

National ACLU Takes Control of S.C. Chapter

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 1:49 PM

After what sounds like years of discord, the national American Civil Liberties Union has taken over the South Carolina chapter, which the New York Times calls a first in the organization's history.

“South Carolina as a state has a tremendous amount of civil liberties challenges, and our goal is to make sure there is a strong and viable affiliate to deal with those issues,” said Robert B. Remar, vice president of the A.C.L.U. and a lawyer in Atlanta.

The South Carolina affiliate has been troubled for the last decade, struggling financially, unable to find and retain an executive director, and overseen by a fractious board. Its last executive director embezzled from it. It has relied heavily on financial support from the national organization and has had little to show for its efforts until recently.

Those problems are not unique to the South Carolina affiliate, however, and Mr. Caesar and others contended that it was singled out for its criticism of the national organization. Its representative on the national board, David F. Kennison, had tangled with Anthony D. Romero, the national organization’s executive director, and the South Carolina affiliate was the only A.C.L.U. affiliate to sign onto a Web site, created in September 2006, that criticized the national group’s leadership.

The paper reported a few weeks back that things were heading this way.

Hat tip to Will Moredock for the links.

Charleston Student on College Jeopardy!

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 12:29 PM

We don't know what day, but we recently got word that USC student Vera Swain, will be appearing on the 2008 College Championship Jeopardy! challenge that begins Monday, May 5 (though it's unclear which episode she'll be in). The episodes were filmed earlier this month in Wisconsin. Here's hoping Swain brings home the $100,000 cash prize (or, that she can at least explain why so many people can't find America on a map).

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Failed Logic of Gas Tax Break

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 4:21 PM

John McCain, now with Hillary Clinton's support, is calling for a break on the around 18 cent federal gas tax over the summer to help us all out. But would the federal government reducing its taxes only encourage the market to raise the price to make up the difference? I know that sounds very conspiracy theory, but that's my concern."This isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer," Barack Obama said. "It's designed to get them through an election."

He says that the efforts by McCain and Clinton would save you and me about $28 over all. Every dollar helps, but that sounds like a lot of pandering for a little bit of money.

The real problem is that, without a tangible solution to gas prices, these candidates are coming up with flimsy solutions. Kudos to Obama for calling a spade a spade, but he doesn't really offer up any suggestions that are going to save me at the pump tomorrow or next week, either.

Reducing the taxes isn't it, but millage standards and alternative energy studies and new drills off the Carolina coasts are long-term solutions that aren't going to mean a thing to me after gas hits $4 a gallon. Somebody has got to start thinking outside the box.

Possible Early Recess For S.C. Legislature

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 3:57 PM

And you thought you were bored at work…

With some legislators anxious to get home early to defend their seats in primary challenges, House leader Bobby Harrell (who has no such worries, himself) says he'd be happy to start the last spring to early winter vacation early … if it weren't for all that actual work the legislature still has on the table.

Lawmakers would need to complete work on a couple of key pieces of legislation, including the budget, tightening immigration laws and raising the cigarette tax.

"I'd love to do that," Harrell said of adjourning early. "I don't know if we can or not."

Some folks are actually talking about getting out weeks early, but something like that could back fire. No, we don't want bored legislators playing hangman on their iPhones on the taxpayer dime. But we don't have a lot of sympathy for legislators anxious to get home and glad hand about their accomplishments when they were, in fact, looking at their watch for the last six weeks of the session.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Zucker Gets School Name, Community Request Ignored

Posted by Greg Hambrick on Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 6:06 PM

Community members begged the Charleston County School Board to preserve their request to name the new North Charleston middle school after Daniel Jenkins, but the recent death of local philanthropist Jerry Zucker led the board to toss aside the recommendation of a community naming committee to recognize Zucker with the schools name. Jenkins will instead be recognized in the naming of a wing of the school.

The choice pitted two notable supporters of public education. While Zucker's donations over the past few decades are easily recognized (he and his wife have won Best Philanthropists in the City Paper's Best of Charleston for years), Jenkins is most recognized for donating the land where the Murray Hill Academy now sits.

In the end, first-hand experience with Zucker seemed to win out over the century old contributions of Jenkins, with five of seven board members supporting the name. Ruth Jordan and Hillary Douglas voted against the naming. Toya Hampton-Green and Brian Moody were not present.

Topics: Schools

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