Your SC politics briefing
Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State’s politics and government team.
Everyone’s favorite, or least favorite, budget proviso had its day in the state Supreme Court as it heard two cases related to the one-year provision the budget aimed at preventing school districts from having mask mandates.
On Thursday, the court struck down the city of Columbia’s mask mandate for elementary and middle schools and day cares.
Still pending is a decision on Richland 2’s case calling the provision unconstitutional, but the court may have telegraphed how it’s going to rule in that case.
So what was the reaction to the decision on the City of Columbia case?
▪ Mayor Steve Benjamin called the court’s decision “a sad day for children.”
▪ Attorney General Alan Wilson said, the court has confirmed that a city ordinance cannot conflict with state law.
▪ Gov. Henry McMaster on Twitter said, “The S.C. Supreme Court has come to a sound conclusion based on the rule of law - a parent’s right to decide what’s best for their child is now definitively protected by state law. I would again encourage anyone eligible to receive the vaccine to get vaccinated.”
▪ At some point the General Assembly will return the State House and may be faced on with making a decision on whether to revisit the proviso.
“I suspect what’s going to happen is if the second opinion is like the first one, what this does is it puts this issue squarely before the Legislature, which is where it should be anyway. The Legislature adopted this proviso, it’s up to the Legislature to stick with it or reconsider it,” said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield.
MUSC working with a former competitor in Upstate
What plans does the Medical University of South Carolina have for the Upstate region, including the growing Greenville? Well Charleston-based state agency says that is proprietary, but it’s using a former Prisma Health official to help as a consultant.
Dr. Spence Taylor, who resigned as president of Prisma-Health Upstate in the fall of 2019 entered into a confidentiality agreement with MUSC less than a month later. Now his consulting firm Upstate Medical Partners is being paid $1.5 million a year to help with MUSC’s “proprietary plans” in the region.
The agreement between Taylor and MUSC takes place amid the debate over whether MUSC should try to compete with private hospital systems and whether the hospital is going beyond its mission of optimizing human life through education and patient care.
Former Westinghouse official goes to court
Jeffrey Benjamin, a former executive vice president for Westinghouse, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to numerous federal fraud charges related to the $10 billion V.C. Summer nuclear debacle.
Benjamin, who was responsible for Westinghouse’s construction of nuclear reactors worldwide, was indicted last month for his alleged failure to truthfully report information about the construction of two nuclear units SCANA hired Westinghouse to build in Fairfield County.
The indictment alleges Benjamin’s cover-up of billions of dollars in losses at Westinghouse’s troubled nuclear plants in South Carolina and Georgia led to the company’s bankruptcy.
He’s the fourth person to face criminal charges in connection with the V.C. Summer scandal.
This week in COVID
Coronavirus cases continued to climb this week, with South Carolina briefly assuming the ignominious title of nation’s foremost COVID-19 hotspot. As of Thursday, the state had been surpassed by Tennessee and Alabama, but still ranked third in the U.S. in weekly coronavirus cases per capita.
In addition to spiking case counts, COVID-19 hospitalizations are nearing record highs and the state reported its highest single-day death total since February.
Many new cases are being diagnosed in young children, who account for more than three times as many cases as they did this time last year. The explosion of childhood cases is tied to the recent start of in-person classes for K-12 school districts across the state, where masks are now optional and social distancing is made difficult by larger class sizes.
Dozens of schools and 11 entire school districts already have had to revert to virtual learning within weeks of opening due to COVID-19 outbreaks on campus.
“This is not what we wanted,” State Superintendent Molly Spearman said Tuesday, while discussing the sharp COVID-related decline in standardized test scores over the past year. “We wanted and needed a normal school year. We need children back in school with their teachers, we need people to get vaccinated and we need people to wear their masks.”
Meanwhile, the leader of North Charleston, one of South Carolina’s largest cities, this week ordered its government workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, calling the threat of this pandemic “unprecedented in our time.”
Buzz Bites
▪ Ken Farnaso, who previously worked as Sen. Tim Scott’s press secretary, is now working as media relations director for Nikki Haley’s Stand For America PAC, according to Politico. Last year, Farnaso worked on President Trump’s re-election campaign.
▪ The SC Chamber of Commerce announced that House Speaker Jay Lucas and South Carolina Senate Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee Chairman Thomas Alexander have been named the chamber’s 2021 Legislators of the Year.
▪ McMaster is recommending the state use $360 million of federal COVID-19 relief money to widen parts of I-26 between Charleston and Columbia.
▪ Congressman Joe Wilson says President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris should both resign over the administration’s handling of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
▪ During a visit to Rock Hill, Senator Lindsey Graham brushed off a censure vote by the York County Republican Party over his ‘yes’ vote on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
Mark your calendar
Sept. 7
House SRS and ARPA Appropriations Ad Hoc Committee, 12 p.m.
Sept. 8
S.C. House kicks off its public listening sessions on redistricting, from 6-8 p.m. in Myrtle Beach
Sept. 9
House continues redistricting hearings in Florence, 6 p.m.
Sept. 13
House Redistricting Ad Hoc Committee in York County, 6 p.m.
Sept. 14
House Redistricting Ad Hoc Committee in Greenville, 6 p.m.
Sept. 15
House Ethics Committee 10:30 a.m.
House Redistricting Ad Hoc Committee in North Charleston, 6 p.m.
Sept. 16
House Redistricting Ad Hoc Committee in Bluffton, 6 p.m.
Before we adjourn
Bill Sharpe, the legendary local television anchor who worked at Charleston’s WCSC for nearly half a century, announced this week that he will retire this fall.
Sharpe, 70, documented some of the Holy City’s most tragic events including Hurricane Hugo, the Sofa Super Store fire and the mass shooting at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church.
Born and raised in Charleston, Sharpe spoke with our colleague Caitlin Byrd about his retirement, his nearly 50 years in news and the stories he will never forget.
“You know, to be able to deliver the news to your hometown was one of the great pleasures of my life,” Sharpe said.
We wish Sharpe a long and healthy retirement.
Who pulled together this week’s newsletter?
This week it was Joseph Bustos, a reporter on The State’s government team. You can keep up with him and send him tips on Twitter at @JoeBReporter or by email jbustos@thestate.com.
He received help from his colleague Zak Koeske.
Make sure to sign up for our weekly politics newsletter that will come straight to your inbox every Friday morning. Tell your friends to do the same. For even more South Carolina-focused political news, you can chat with us on Facebook at the Buzz on South Carolina Politics, email us tips at thebuzz [at] thestate [dot] com and follow our stories at scpolitics.com.
