On Saturday February 8^th I took part in the John M. Spratt Issues Conference sponsored by the South Carolina Democratic Party. I heard from two legendary lawmakers in South Carolina. Former Congressman John Spratt and Congressman Jim Clyburn. Three hundred party activists from across South Carolina gathered in Greenville to strategize about electing Democrats in one of the reddest states in America. I’ve been involved in Democratic politics for more than 20 years in South Carolina and I can honestly say I’ve never seen our party as organized, well funded and energized as we are at this moment in time.

In 2010 South Carolina Senator Vincent Sheheen lost the gubernatorial race to Nikki Haley by less than 60,000 votes, capturing 47% of the vote. Nikki Haley’s term as governor as been a disaster and for some of our residents it’s been a fatal tenure. Haley has blocked expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The expansion could have provided health care to 350,000 people. Haley has adamantly opposed not only the expansion of Medicaid, she’s also refused to set up a health marketplace to facilitate enrollment in Obama Care. Her reasoning for rejecting full funding of Medicaid by the feds for the first three years, a move that would create an estimated 40,000 jobs for our state are purely political. Haley opposes the ACA because it was created and sponsored by the Obama administration. An estimated 1,300 low income South Carolinian’s will die this year for lack of affordable health care. Working families in South Carolina are literally dying for health care and Governor Haley doesn’t care she’s got a political career to think about and that trumps the health and well being of her constituents.

If you are thinking that Haley’s policies might be objectionable but don’t really affect your life or your family. Think again. Haley has systematically dismantled the top tier of South Carolina’s government bureaucracy, removing experienced directors and executives and replacing them with big donors and political cronies. This move has been devastating to our state. One example of many is the hacking scandal at the SC Department of Revenue.

In testimony before a legislative committee it was revealed that there were concerns about the security of the personal data stored by the Department of Revenue. Encryption of the data could have taken place at a cost of $20,000 but for no discernible reason data encryption was never approved and as a result 4.5 million individuals and businesses tax information including social security numbers, birth dates and credit card numbers were exposed. It took more than two weeks for Governor Haley to inform the public about the breach in security.

Over at the Department of Health and Environmental Control, an attorney Catherine Templeton with no previous experience in environmental policy or public health is currently in charge and it’s been a bumpy ride. In March 2013 a school janitor at 97 Elementary School tested positive for tuberculosis. Parents at the school weren’t told about this until May 28^th. Their children weren’t tested for TB until May 31^st. In response Templeton fired the nurses blaming them for the slow response. The nurses claim they informed their superiors about the positive TB test in a timely fashion and their requests for testing and quarantine were refused. Stay tuned for further details.

We can win this race and we can change our state for the better. But…it’s going to take a lot of work.

Click on www.greenvilledemocrats.com or www.scdp.org to find out how you can get involved. Do it today.