Beating Mark Sanford

You may remember state representative Jenny Horne from the passionate speech she gave after the Charleston shooting in which she pressed her fellow House members to vote to remove the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds.



I am happy to say that she plans to announce that she will run for the US House of Representatives, challenging good ole boy and dirtbag Mark Sanford.  Sanford, despite being a mediocre and not well liked governor, even after abandoning his post as governor for an illicit dalliance without informing staff -- or family -- of his whereabouts, was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2013.

Sanford is entertaining, true, but that he should be the only option on the republican side has even made South Carolina republicans turn up their noses.  Jenny Horne's primary challenge should be a welcome relief.

Here on the other side of the aisle, I read a few days ago that Elizabeth Colbert-Busch might step up to run as the "Democrat" against Sanford.  You may recall that she ran as a "Democrat" in 2013 against Sanford.  The quotation marks are because, although she had many good plans for education and business, she performed the SC two-step to avoid entirely issues that might get the other side riled up, like women's rights.  She actually had a 9-point lead in the polls soon before the election, despite a push poll alluding that she had had an abortion.  Some of us wonder about where that lead went, and assume that there well might have been some voting booth irregularities going on.

Mark Sanford, a stupid man who nonetheless is astute in advertising, chose to ignore Colbert Busch, at one point "debating" a poster of the evil Nancy Pelosi on the sidewalk outside MUSC.  In the actual debate there is a moment that I think sums up the contest. Colbert Busch finally got around to mentioning Sanford's going AWOL, which he pretended not to hear and then proceeded to talk past.  And when I think of Colbert Busch at the debate, all that comes to mind is, who on earth convinced her to wear that dowdy dress?

Which brings me to her stand on women's issues, which is basically, let's not talk about it.  She might have been a strong, intelligent woman who fought for issues that have been neglected too long in South Carolina; instead, she did the dance of the southern Democrats, the one where you try not to upset the other side and hope they might not notice.

Such a disappointment.

If this time around Colbert Busch decided, what the hell, let me run as a Democrat, she might prove a real challenge to Horne.  Because, while Horne has been on the right side of important issues like taking down the Confederate flag and even updating sex education in the schools, she has voted for the pending bill that would ban abortion at 20 weeks, as well as the bill that became law allowing guns in bars and restaurants.

I doubt that there will be that kind of contest.  If Colbert Busch decides to run, it is unlikely that she would say anything controversial.  She would bring little new to the race, and the same people who stayed away in 2013 will stay away in 2016:  young women, African Americans, Latinos, members of the LGBT community.  She would not be a new voice, merely an opponent echoing those same safe issues:  I'm good for business, I will improve the schools.  Not even a choice here in SC.  If you are running as a women who won't pose a threat to the status quo, they will eat you alive.

I hope I am wrong.  I would love to see a strong Colbert Busch, a woman who would really represent all the people who have been ignored here in SC for too long.  I would love to see her speak out for the rights of those many who are underserved, low income workers, people without health care, students who go to school in impoverished areas, women whose bodies continue to be on the auction block at every vote and every election.

So I guess we'll see.  To say Horne is an improvement over Sanford, well, that's an understatement.  But wouldn't it be swell if a Democrat got up and argued for all of us, and maybe didn't win, but gave Jenny some food for thought on some of those issues.  Of course, she has to beat Sanford first, and in that endeavor I am fully behind her.

Just Say Yes

Tuesday is election day.  No, this is not deja vu, Tuesday is the day for the Special Election for District 1 in the US House of Representatives.

We have for some time now been caught up in Congress's downward spiral of negativity, where work has not been getting done for the American people, and for us here in South Carolina.

Mark Sanford will continue that voice of "no" in a do-nothing Congress.  He neither cares whether you are long-term unemployed, or unable to afford college, or without health care.  He will vote "no" to any program that would bring us out of the downward spiral we have been in for far too long.  And he has said that proudly, as part of his campaign promise to you.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch will fight to make our Congress work.  She will work to bring not just business, but forward moving businesses, to the Lowcountry.  She will work to bring new technology and jobs that will move us into the 21st century.  And she will work with any member of Congress that has the goal of breaking the negative spiral and moving our country forward.

We have not seen this kind of energy, or integrity, here in a very long time.

So do not miss the opportunity to vote for Elizabeth on Tuesday, May 7.

You may not be sure if you are in District 1, after some creative district lines were drawn a couple of years ago.  If you're not sure, go to SC Votes to find out.

If you don't know where your polling place is, SC Votes will have that information for you as well.

Time to stop letting politicians like Mark Sanford use and abuse the privilege.

Time to say yes to a candidate that will be a true leader in Congress, that we can all be proud of.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch

for 

US House of Representatives

Tuesday, May 7

Sanford Debates Real Person

As much as I have enjoyed the comedic stylings of Mark Sanford, I am looking forward to tonight's debate with Elizabeth Colbert Busch.  It was fun watching that poor anonymous woman trying to hold that poster of Nancy Pelosi steady while Mark rambled on about weird stuff like who is funding Elizabeth's campaign.  And good old Mad Man Mark twisted reality around real good while he stood out there on the sidewalk, waving and saying "hey" to people who walked by wondering what on earth was going on.

But today is the day that the first of those debates that Sanford has been whining were not going to happen, happens.

If you tried to get tickets to the debate, as I did, you will know that it is the hottest event in Charleston.  But fear not; you can live stream this event at 7:00 tonight from ETV.

I also heard that if he does real good, Sam the Eagle has agreed to appear with him.

It goes without saying, Sanford will still lose.

He Said She Said They Said

I took the plunge and went to Mark Sanford's campaign website today.

Apparently, he can't find anything negative to say about anything Elizabeth Colbert Busch said.  So his strategy is to attack her through anyone she may have sat in the same room with, or who may have been mentioned in the same newspaper she may have read pretty much since the Clinton administration.

I know.  This is bizarre, but it really speaks of Sanford's desperation.  And his really weird reasoning processes.  Not to mention the lack of respect he has for the intelligence of his voting public.

For example, one of the two items on page one of the Sanford for Congress website claims that Colbert Busch is refusing to debate with Sanford despite the fact that a debate is scheduled for April 29th.  Apparently, the Sanford campaign made up a story that his opponent had agreed to a debate on the 17th and then claimed that she backed out. And then claims that she has "no time for debates."  And then, in case you hadn't yet got the point he adds:  "Since Colbert Busch won't debate...."  Even though she in fact, will.

The real point of this no-debate nonsense, though, is to highlight all those commie pinko left-wing liberals that she would rather be meeting with in DC on the day of that fictitious debate.  The point being that she is actually fund raising among people of her own party, while claiming that she will bring an independent mind to the issues facing Congress.  Which I guess means that Sanford will not.

I don't know.  I think when it comes to infamous people supporting your campaign, I would have to go with a few of Mark's big dollar donors.  You've probably heard of David Koch, of Americans for Prosperity fame, who while helping fund Mitt Romney's run for the White House, also released a letter to members of Congress warning them not to support aid to Hurricane Sandy victims.  Then there is perennial Rick Santorum fan Foster Friess, whose real claim to fame may not be so much his great wealth or bad judgment in backing candidates, but his cute comment about how back in his day, women used to put Bayer aspirin between their knees for cheap birth control.

Other donors to Sanford's campaign are billionaire and hedge fund manager extraordinaire, Richard Chilton, Jr., and the ever hilarious Fred Malek whose scandals just have to be enumerated, as did Elspeth Reeve in The Atlantic Wire last year:

Every year or so, poor old Fred Malek, the GOP fundraiser, has to suffer through a callback to his youthful indiscretions, like that one crazy time in his twenties that he and his friends were caught drunkenly barbecuing a dog on a spit, or the wacky moment in his thirties when he counted the Jews in the Bureau of Labor Statistics so President Nixon could demote them, or the hilarious time in his sixties when the Securities and Exchange Commissioned ordered him to personally pay a $100,000 fine for allegedly using taxpayer funds to reward a political supporter. *(Youth!)

Finally, let's not accuse Mark of just having out-of-town big name friends.  Thomas Ravenel, who Sanford was forced to suspend from his position as Treasurer in 2007 after indictment on federal charges of cocaine distribution, has no hard feelings.  He donated $500 to the campaign.

I think I'll take a liberal's support over that cast of characters any day.

The other item on the home page of the website features all that fear-mongering the-union-is-coming-to-take-your-jobs nonsense with regard to Boeing's move to North Charleston.  There is a strident cartoon that features how stupid we are here in South Carolina.  There are two notable things about this article:  first of all, it doesn't mention how many gazillion dollars our current governor and friend of Sanford gave out in tax breaks to the Boeing corporation, and secondly, it has absolutely nothing to do with Colbert Busch.

So Mark Sanford, whose lies put South Carolina in the national headlines more than once during his gubernatorial career, wants us to just trust him one more time.

But the best he can do on the front page of his website is spin more lies about his opponent.

Who will you trust?

Vote

Elizabeth Colbert Busch

May 7

No More Gimmicks

Mark Sanford is no stranger to gimmickry.  When he ran for the US House of Representatives in 1994 he went door to door handing out fake billion dollar bills to point out the dreaded government deficit.  He is at it again, with his reputed hand-made plywood signs that tout that he will save tax dollars.

Sanford truly is single-mindedly focused on saving money, but that doesn't mean he is going to save us money.  As governor, he paid $74,000 in fines on 37 ethics violations, agreeing to pay the fine in order to avoid a hearing.  His claims of innocence were based on his contention that the charges were unfair because others had done the same thing.

You should know that the ethics violations included spending tax dollars on personal travel expenses.

When Mark Sanford says he wants to save money, he is first and foremost talking about saving his own.

Not that he doesn't stand up for his principles.  For example, in 2009 he fought the state legislature over whether to take federal stimulus money.  Sanford of course refused the stimulus dollars.  When the legislature overrode his veto he filed a lawsuit against the state.  That's right, during the economic crisis, not only was Sanford refusing money that would help keep teachers, police and firefighters employed, he was using South Carolina's resources to fight the state legislature's legally won right to accept the funds.

So we know that Sanford is obsessive over money, but we also know, from his record as governor, that his judgment is poor, and he will cost us more money than he would ever save.

We also know that he is so convinced of the rightness of his own beliefs that he will never compromise.

For some, that attitude may be desirable in a member of Congress.  But for those of us who are feeling the effects of a do-nothing Congress, of "representatives" whose purpose is to prevent government from doing its job while continuing to take its salaries and perks, we know we don't want Mark Sanford adding to the dysfunction.

We have a better alternative.  Elizabeth Colbert Busch is businesswoman who has successfully coordinated university research and corporate interests toward creating a burgeoning wind turbine industry in South Carolina.

Isn't it time we elected someone to the House of Representatives that will work for us rather than do nothing and pocket the difference?

Elizabeth Colbert Busch

House of Representatives

Vote on May 7

Reel Me In

So yesterday I talked about how cheapskate Mark Sanford got "friends" to paint signs on their old plywood.  I based this on a quick Google search where there were a number of articles interviewing Sanford on how he came up with this "frugal" scheme, and how he claims it proves he will save you tax dollars.

Well imagine my surprise when I read Andy Brack's commentary in the April 5  issue of Statehouse Reports:

Following Sanford’s much-publicized fall from grace while governor, he has been talking squarely to the camera this year with a message of conservatism mixed with old-fashioned religious redemption. His campaign erects big plywood signs that say “Sanford saves tax $,” making it look like his professional campaign is so tapped out that it has to make its own signs. Hogwash. The wooden signs are more expensive (and heavier) than the slick cardboard ones, but Sanford knows the homemade signs look better for his image.

Which had been my first impression, but that slick SOB managed to get journalists to give him some great free publicity, as in the Island Packet:

"Leftover plywood out of a dumpster combined with a three dollar can of spray paint works just fine," Sanford wrote in an email blast this week, encouraging supporters to find their own scraps and fashion signs. "I even saw an old door being thrown into a dumpster yesterday that would work perfectly as a sign."

Meanwhile, his campaign is also shelling out money to make more of the plywood signs at $7 a pop. They're using leftover materials from previous campaigns.

The campaign calls it a great way to save money.

S.C. polticos are calling it smart messaging that reinforces Sanford's spendthrift reputation.

Think of Mark Sanford's plywood as Scott Brown's pickup.  It's a really clever marketing gimmick.

Not only does Mark Sanford have contributors with very deep pockets (and no old plywood doors lying around), but, like Brown, he happily throws his votes in with those wealthy supporters.  And, like Mitt Romney's comments about the 47 percent who mooch off people like him, Sanford has absolutely no clue, and certainly no empathy, for those of us who have had to struggle to make ends meet, for the working poor, for seniors who have held jobs through their lives and are now in fear of losing their safety net.

But I do have a solution and, to misquote Stephen Colbert, I would like to thank Mark Sanford for his inspiration.

I can't afford plywood and a can of paint, but I do have a pad of paper and a magic marker.  So I created a little hometown message of my own:

You can do it too, folks.  This can be a real grass roots campaign, and not a marketing gimmick.  Put that handmade sign in your windows at home and in your car.

Let's literally take this campaign on the road.

And don't forget:

Vote May 7

Elizabeth Colbert Busch

US House of Representatives

Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/03/06/2407356/rudimentary-signs-make-for-sophisticated.html#storylink=cpy

Frugal or Just Cheap?

Somewhere along Route 21 in Beaufort, there is a sign:

Sanford is indeed frugal, but with his own $$.  His former wife documents this in her autobiography, but there is plenty of evidence of how tight the man will squeeze a penny in his governorship of South Carolina.  We all know the stories about making staff use both sides of Post-It notes.

But is he frugal with OUR money?  Not so much.  It seems he used our tax dollars to fund his trysts in Argentina, for one thing.  I can imagine that, since he had to stop using his campaign funds for noncampaign expenses, all that money must have been burning quite a hole in his pocket.  Maybe this was why he decided to run for the vacant House seat.

So now he's still got friends with deep pockets, and quite a campaign treasury.

But why spend the money?  Single-minded maybe, but if he wanted to prove he's cheap, his plywood and paint street sign campaign sure does the trick.  All you folks out there that can't cough up $1,000 for the campaign can still do your part.  Just grab some old plywood and a bucket of paint and stick that sign in your front yard.

Well, back to the sign up on Highway 21.

It happens to sit next to a very small business that is no longer in business:

And this picture really does say more than a thousand words.  Support Mark Sanford and this is the future of your small business.  Or your children's education.  Or your mom and dad's senior years.

This is what Sanford's tight fist and bad judgment did to South Carolina when he was governor -- put us well on the way to "Out of Business."

So I decided that, since I don't have that $1,000 to donate to a campaign, I'd take a hint from Mark Sanford and do my part:

Elizabeth Colbert Busch

U.S. House of Representatives

Vote May 7!

This Woman's Place Is In the House -- Part II

It's time to take a stand.  Elizabeth Colbert Busch is running for US House of Representatives for District 1.

The primary election is Tuesday, March 19.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m.

Here's the website for all kinds of voter information:

http://www.charlestoncounty.org/News/3576.htm

If you're not sure if you're registered, or you want to be sure you are in District 1, or you want to know where to vote, this is the place to find out:

https://info.scvotes.sc.gov/Eng/VoterInquiry/VoterInformationRequest.aspx?PageMode=VoterInfo

Voter ID:

If you have a photo ID, you must show it in order to vote.

If you do not have a photo ID, you may show your voter registration card, but you must state the reason you do not have a photo ID, for example, that there has not been time since the law went into effect in January.  You will complete a provisional (paper) ballot.

The most important thing about all this voter ID hoopla is this:

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE -- EXERCISE THAT RIGHT.

Don't let what you may have heard about the changes in the law keep you from exercising your right to vote.

Now, here is why you should vote in the Democratic Primary tomorrow.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch is the candidate who will represent us in the US House of Representatives.  If you want someone who will vote to:

* raise the minimum wage;

* make health care affordable and available to all;

* improve education for all Americans, from pre-school through college;

* cut out tax loopholes for the biggest corporations and wealthiest individuals;

* improve the quality of our water and air;

* improve our roads and bridges;

* support scientific and technological research that will create jobs and improve our way of life;

* take assault weapons off the streets...

Elizabeth is the candidate for you.

I could go on forever, but if you want to learn more, go to Elizabeth's web site.

And when you vote on Tuesday, bring a friend, neighbor, family member, coworker.

If you have been frustrated with Congress lately, this is your chance to change it!

Elizabeth Colbert Busch

US House of Representatives

District 1

Democratic Primary

Tuesday, March 19

This Woman's Place Is In the House

If you live here in Charleston, you probably have seen the commercials.  There are approximately a thousand people who are running to get elected to the US House of Representatives for District 1.  All but two are running on the republican side, and all I have to say about that is, let them have at it.

What's really important is that there are two people running on the Democratic side, and a primary coming up on Tuesday -- that's right, next Tuesday, March 19.

The two candidates come from extremely different backgrounds and offer very different points of view on all the important issues.  So I would like to offer a bit of a pastiche of what each of our candidates have to offer:

Elizabeth Colbert Busch has lived in the Lowcountry since 1969.  She is a College of Charleston graduate, and has a resume that frankly is too amazing to be summed up here, so I will refer you to her website bio.

Ben Frasier lives in Maryland, although he hails from Wadmalaw Island.  His origins and experience have been difficult to verify, and as far as I can tell, he currently either owns or instructs at a driving school in Maryland.  Aware of the controversy his many diverse runs for office have caused, he has made appearances over these past few weeks to assure us all that he is "not a plant."

Colbert Busch believes that if we do not invest in educating our children, they will not be ready for the jobs of the 21st century.

Frasier believes that the solution to the jobs crisis is to "keep looking," and that you may need "two or three jobs to survive."

Colbert Busch knows how to develop partnerships with business and education, as she has in her professional life.  She believes that government is a necessary partner that fuels progress.

Frasier believes in less taxes, smaller government, and giving more control to businesses, for example, through naming rights.

Colbert Busch knows that rampant gun violence requires legislation that protects the rights of individuals who carry guns responsibly, while restricting the use of assault weapons and requiring background checks.

Frasier's gun policy is that "you should be able to buy any weapon and use your common sense."

I could go on, but if you google Ben Frasier, you will find plenty of articles about who he is (or isn't) and where he stands on the important issues we face today.

Colbert Busch has gotten the endorsement of civil rights leader and Georgia Congressman John Lewis as well as our own Representative Jim Clyburn and Mayor Joe Riley.  She has been endorsed by the South Carolina Democratic Women's Council and the AFL-CIO.

On Tuesday, March 19, we need to get ourselves, our friends, family, neighbors and coworkers out to the polls to vote in this incredibly important primary election.  Elizabeth Colbert Busch is the person who can make a difference in our dysfunctional House of Representatives.  Like Elizabeth Warren in the Senate, she will speak out and speak often for the people of this country.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch

U.S. House of Representatives

District 1

Vote Tuesday, March 19

Democratic Primary