Bauer wins re-election

Despite the best efforts of the media, Andre Bauer has been re-elected Lt. Gov. in SC.  Well, actually, I think there is going to be a sacrificial lamb put up by the democrats in November, but Bauer will beat him (her?) as well.

All of this is to say, the media doesn’t really drive elections, except when they cross the line on candidates.  The media has relentlessly hounded Bauer like they were Lynn McGill and his first name was Jack.  Maybe I should break some news for the media: This makes people feel sorry for candidates and then they go vote for them!  I know people who have voted for or not voted for candidates to be opposed to the newspaper.

And right now, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me.

The State v Mark Sanford

Well, as you may know by now, The State newspaper smells blood and has started an assault on Mark Sanford and his fiscal policies. To paraphrase, The State doesn't like Mark Sanford because he doesn't like to spend outrageous amounts of taxpayer dollars. He believes that the government shouldn't grow faster than the ability of people to pay for it. He believes that there is no place for pork in the budget. He wants private schools to start educating kids until the public schools show that they can do it adequately. Now, reasonable people can disagree on these issues. I don't really likePPIC, for instance. I'm not against it, I just don't think it will solve our public school problems.

I couldn't agree with Sanford more on fiscal policies, though. Our legislature wins popularity contests every few years because they bring home the pork for thier districts. They bring "state" money back home and the locals are happy because someone else is footing the bill for thier pet projects. Of course, they don't consider that they are paying for it through higher state taxes due to the pet projects of every other district. And this is the problem with state (and federal) government, they spend without abandon, raise people's taxes, and are never held accountable for the damage that they do.

But that is where the media comes in, right? Aren't they supposed to hold people accountable? Only if that person happens to be fiscally conservative, it seems. Tommy Moore will be reported as walking old peopleaccross the street and saving babies for the next few months, and Mark Sanford will be portrayed as some crazy radical who is hurting school children and the mentally ill. In the end, The State will endorse Moore, saying it was an easy decision.

And Mark Sanford will coast to re-election.

Mark Sanford

Since "fables" tend to be all the rage in the SC blogosphere these days, let me tell one of my own.

Imagine that you are a board member for Bank of America. You are trying to review the performance of the CEO and decide if you should renew his contract.

This CEO came in after years of working for Wachovia. There, he often voted alone in the lending committee against what he viewed as bad loans, a bad use of the bank's capital. He was often proved right.

Now he is fighting for higher standards for lending by Bank of America. He only wants to lend for projects that seem likely to give BofA the type of return that they desire. The loan officers don't like his idea because they are friends with many of the borrowers, and realize that the CEO can't fire them if they make bad loans over and over. So, they refuse to work with the CEO. They make bad loans anyway.

Later, many of these loans are proven to be bad. The training department informs the board that many of the tellers can't count and the CSR's can't read. Since the training department is in a shambles, the CEO comes up with a plan to have some tellers and CSRs go to a private seminar. The seminar has a good record for training, and hopefully will provide a stop-gap till the training department can improve.

The loan officers won't put up with that though. The training department helps them out a lot, and they believe that all training should be done in-house.

In the end, you realize that the CEO hasn't accomplished much. You know he has tried, but you realize that the loan officers won't let him do anything. So, do you fire the CEO and bring in someone who will get along with the loan officers, but not change the lending habits, or do you find new loan officers?

I think you find more loan officers.

Election Day

Today is election day in SC.  In case you are wondering, and I know you are, this is how the important part of my ticket will shake out this morning:

Mark Sanford 

Bob Staton

Greg Ryberg

Mike Campbell 

I would like to tell you that I care about the other races, but I don't.  Sanford is an easy choice over Lovelace.  Staton seems to really care about education reform in South Carolina.  He isn't just the political pick of the state GOP to take a high profile job.  Ryberg seems like the only serious candidate who has proven himself to be a fiscal conservative.  And Mike Campbell is not Andre Bauer.  I don't think that Bauer has been treated fairly by the media, but I'm also not sure that I want him being a heartbeat away from the Governors Mansion.  I'm not sure that I want Mike Campbell in the role either, but maybe he should get a chance to try to be better.  Well, time to go vote.

Democrats, please crossover, sayeth The State

Brad Warthen, The State newspaper's editor and leading blogger, has been saying for a while that SC Democrats should cast thier votes in tomorrow's GOP primary.  He is an opinion writer, and he has that right.  Of course, he only wants that because he wants Bob Staton to win the Superintendent of Education, and assumes that anti-PPIC Democrats will vote for Staton.  (I happen to plan to vote for Staton, though my vote has nothing to do with PPIC.)  Now, the hard news coverage appears to be trying to remind voters that they can crossover.  I'd like to say that I am surprised, but this is the kind of thing that has lead to sites like this.

Spoke too soon

I said at one point that I would never vote for Greg Ryberg.  Of course, I said this because of his large donation to his own campaign.  I questioned his motives.  I didn't like that some rich guy was spending so much for a job that would pay him so little.  So, this coming Tuesday, I will cast my vote for…Greg Ryberg.

Of course, I spoke too soon before.  I didn't look at the other candidates first.  Now that I have, he is clearly the best.  We'll start by assuming that there are only three candidates worth considering:  Thomas Ravenel, Rick Quinn, and Greg Ryberg.  I'm not sure why Ravenel is running.  I think that it has something to do with 2008.  Quinn has talked a pretty good game.  However, a closer examination of his record shows that he regularly votes to override Sanford's budget vetoes.  So, I will cast my vote for Ryberg.  And I hope that you do too.