Vincent Sheheen's Book Tour a Pre-Campaign on Issues

It’s too soon to say if the proposals in Vincent Sheheen lays out in his book will be effective. But as a public relations device it’s already yielded great results. For the last few weeks the Kershaw County senator has travelled the state talking about his book “The Right Way” and his ideas to improve South Carolina.

Given that Sheheen seems all but certain to again challenge Nikki Haley for governor, the tour is a pre-campaign of sorts.

But without the trappings of an election, the book gives Sheheen a way to give voters an idea of the priorities he would have as governor.

“Too many politicians talk in sound bites and not about substantive issues, so I wanted to write about policies I’ve talked about in the Senate as well as some new ideas that can move South Carolina forward on job growth, public schools and transportation,” Sheheen said.

Sheheen believes that Democrats in South Carolina need to lay claim to a few key issues and make them their own. For him, such signature issues are small business growth and public education, which are directly related.

The third-term senator is in favor of creating a division of small business and entrepreneurship.

“There aren’t many incentives for companies that have been here,” Sheheen said. “Having a policy based solely on recruiting businesses from other states is a race to mediocrity. All states are doing that. You have to grow from within.”

One of the best ways to grow from within according to Sheheen is with a robust public education system. But public education has been a chronic problem in South Carolina. “Republican leadership in South Carolina is hostile to public education. You see it in the statehouse every day,” Sheheen said. “They’re hostile to teachers and hostile to public schools.”

Ultimately, he says the state’s struggles with public schools hurt the economy. “You can’t shortchange higher education,” Sheheen said.

A poor public education system leads to a dearth of qualified workers. The lack of a skilled workforce inhibits growth. Sheheen pins that on the last two governors.

“We’ve had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country under the approach of (Mark) Sanford and (Nikki) Haley,” he said.

Sheheen said that there are numerous examples of how Republicans have not shown common sense with tax dollars. One he cited was that, since 1990, the population has grown by approximately 20 percent while the number of highway patrolman has decreased.

He blames that on a leadership based on ideology rather than results.

“The Republican leadership has gone far to the right of even most Republicans and ideology is driving legislative priorities,” Sheheen said. “One party control is unhealthy and that was the case even when the state was majority Democratic.”

Needless to say, when informed of Sheheen’s criticisms, the office of Gov. Haley was not very receptive to his insights.

Haley’s chief political strategist, Tim Pearson, told Patch, “Vincent Sheheen has had a decade and a half in the General Assembly to lead on all of these issues, but that's the problem with career politicians - nothing is a priority except for winning their next election. Now, Vincent wants to be governor and once there he wants the state to suck every possible dollar that could be used to strengthen education, infrastructure, workforce training or to cut taxes and spend it on the ObamaCare healthcare disaster. South Carolina deserves better.”

On that last point, Sheheen would certainly agree. He believes that one of the ways South Carolina can get better is to borrow what’s worked in other places. ”Too often state leadership has been unwilling to look at what other states are doing that works,” he said. “The role of government is to find practical solutions to the problems that face all of our citizens, not just a few.”

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