Gov. Nikki Haley: 'My Heart is With Rural Areas'

Anyone who has spent time in South Carolina realizes very quickly that there are two South Carolinas—the rural one and the urban one. In almost every quality of life measurement, the rural areas lag behind the major metro areas of Greenville, Columbia, Charleston and Rock Hill.

Born in Bamberg, Gov. Nikki Haley understands the concept of “two South Carolinas” personally.

“We didn’t know what we didn’t have,” she said of growing up in a town of 2,500. told Patch during a recent interview from the Governor’s office at the Statehouse. “My heart is with the rural areas.”

During a recent interview from the Governor’s office at the Statehouse, Haley said that when she moved to the Columbia suburbs as a young professional, the disparity became impossible to ignore. “When you look at life in Lexington compared to life in Bamberg, you can’t help but think there is something very wrong,” she said.

If there has been a signature issue—aside from job growth—in the first two years of Haley’s administration, it is bridging the opportunity gap between cities like Greenville and towns like Hartsville.

“I am still a small-town girl at heart,” Haley said. “In my entire administration I’ve governed as a rural governor.”

Original Six

Haley is not the first South Carolina governor to come from a rural area. Democrat Jim Hodges, who preceded Mark Sanford, was from Lancaster. But Haley is the first governor from a rural area to be in the national spotlight. That spotlight, while occasionally unfriendly, allowed her to write a book about her life. Many of the proceeds from the sale of “Can’t Is Not an Option” go to Haley’s Original Six Foundation, a non-profit created for the expressed purpose of lifting up rural areas in South Carolina.

As Haley traveled across the state while running for and serving as governor she noticed that in many communities, very few of the people who live in the rural areas actually work in rural areas, a circumstance that weakens those towns’ social fabric. That was the situation in Allendale Co., where Haley’s foundation helped create an electronic bulletin board that keeps citizens abreast of job announcements, GED classes and so forth.

In Allendale, Haley said there has been a problem of substance abuse, so her foundation partnered with Christ Central Ministries to create a residential treatment center.

“We want to give rural counties the ability to function on their own. They care about themselves. They go to work, come home to their families and go to church on the Sunday and have family dinner. They’re the best kind of people.”

Affecting Change as Governor

While the Original Six Foundation can make some impact, Haley knew that the best way to lift rural areas up would be from the governor’s office.

So, she provided incentives to the staff in the Commerce Department to bring industry to the state’s rural counties, where unemployment rates were much higher than in more populated areas. Slightly more than two years into her first term, 45 out of South Carolina’s 46 counties have added jobs.

Bringing jobs to such areas can have obstacles, the most notable of which is a dearth of qualified workers. But Haley said her administration helped streamline processes with readysc.org, a job training resource that operates through the state’s technical colleges. When a company is considering moving to an area, readysc.org can pre-qualify candidates with skills specific to the arriving company’s needs. Haley believes a job in a small town means a little more than it does in a big city.

“In the rural areas, when people get the job they keep the job,” she said. “Companies don’t have issues with turnover there like they do in big cities.”

Jobs alone won’t be enough to turn the fortunes of rural counties. They trail in education and health care as well. In her State of the State Address, Haley asked the legislature to divert more funds to rural school districts.

And earlier this month, Haley and Department of Health and Human Services Director Tony Keck unveiled a plan that would help rural hospitals cover the expenses of uninsured patients. Previously, those hospitals were funded at 57 cents on the dollar for the uninsured. Under the new plan, the funding would cover all costs. “We’re doing things with this program that ObamaCare can’t,” Haley said. “The heads of rural hospitals were practically jumping up and down with gratitude when we told them.”

The hospital announcement was not met with universal aprreciation however, as some officials haven’t forgotten Haley’s rejection of the Medicaid expansion that comes with ObamaCare.

“If we don’t get Medicaid, our patients who don’t have coverage now, still won’t have coverage,” said Debbie Locklair, Administrator of McLeod Hospital in Dillon County.

Roz Goodwin of the South Carolina Hospital Association agreed with Locklair on the need for Medicaid. ”We commend Gov. Haley for acknowledging the problems of rural hospitals,” Goodwin said. “But, Medicaid expansion would provide the primary care our patients so desperately need. (The plan by Haley and Keck) will not change the fact that too many patients are using the emergency room as their main source of health care.”

Criticisms

Haley recognizes that by being explicit in her efforts to the rural areas she leaves herself open to criticism.

“Of course the cities have problems that need to be dealt with, but they are in a much better position to deal with things like substance abuse and mental health than someplace like Allendale County,” she said.

If Haley says her outreach to rural communities is a result of who she is, Democrats say her efforts are political, plain and simple. They note she lost most of the rural counties in 2010, and with an eye toward re-election in 2014, she’s trying to attract those voters.

“Pitting urban versus rural is not the way to serve the state,” said James E. Smith (D-Richland) after the hospital announcement.

Smith sharpened his words, adding, ”The fact is, in every area, she’s leaving the rural areas behind, which is surprising considering she comes from a rural area. It’s almost like she’s forgotten how poor and working families live.”

After it was announced that 17 Department of Employment and Workforce offices in rural counties would no longer offer face-to-face unemployment insurance counseling, Rep. Todd Rutherford (D-Richland), said Haley has “declared war on the rural areas and the poor.”

”I don’t know how Democrats can say I’m not a rural governor,” Haley said of the criticism. “Between the jobs announcements, the health and job fairs and actually going to places other governors haven’t gone to in ages.”

In her first two years on the job Haley has had her share of naysayers, but they have little effect on her priorities, which are often informed by life experience.

“When you see me take on an issue like improving mental health services, it’s because I’ve experienced it with people I know. The same is true for identity theft. Michael (Haley's husband) and I went through that, so I understand why people are so concerned. I govern from what I’ve lived.”

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