South Carolina Governor 1, The Arts 0

Nikki Haley (Palin Light)

South Carolina's Tea Party governor Nikki Haley (Sarah Palin Light, or Heavy, depending on your perspective) finally got her way, eliminating two state arts agencies with one stroke of the veto pen that cut $9.5 million for the arts yesterday. She has tried to do this before, but a quirk of the budget allowed her to eliminate the budget without consulting the general assembly. She also vetoed a tiny raise for teachers and another $10 million in industrial recruitment funds.

The State newspaper in Columbia quotes Haley as saying, “I would rather give this money to the taxpayers and let them decide which charities they are going to give money to than to allow the legislature to decide. It’s the responsible thing to do.” That is a basic Tea Party mantra that would, if drawn out, essentially eliminate government and sharing of responsibilities for that which can't be afforded individually.

House Minority Leader Harry Ott is quoted as saying, “It’s been proven over and over that having access to the arts helps attract industry to South Carolina. ... The sea grants is pure research. By saying she doesn’t want it, I guess she wants to not research and not be on the forefront of trying to improve things in South Carolina.”

It has been proven over and over that the arts is a huge element in industrial recruitment and in inexpensive education. Somehow that gets lost constantly in a country that spends more on military bands than all the other arts put together.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/07/07/2344499/haley-issues-budget-vetoes.html#storylink=cpy