Issues

South Carolina maintains one of the nation’s largest road networks; yet, we fund and run SCDOT in such a way that no one is ever held accountable. I saw this first hand on County Council where we use Pennies for Progress to try to solve the state’s problems through sales tax paid by our local citizens. This has helped some of our roads in York County, but we cannot solve a statewide problem county by county. As a result, we all pay more in taxes, in car insurance, and in repairs due to the wear and tear on our cars.

Through my service on the Pennies for Progress V Commission, I realize we will have to adjust our expectations on future versions of the program. Road Construction prices have skyrocketed since Pennies began in 1997. We will have to choose between completing fewer projects or paying more for version VI and beyond.

Instead let’s reform SCDOT to ensure the state’s road systems are safe and hold our DOT leaders accountable.

The pandemic was a stark reminder that many everyday staples sold in the United States are made elsewhere. As a small business owner, I know what support a business needs to grow and thrive here. As a member of the York County Council as well as the Rock Hill Economic Development Board, I helped champion growth, but now the mix of white-collar and blue-collar jobs is out of balance. A bowl full of lettuce isn’t appetizing; however, when you add the right mix of chicken, cheese, dressing and croutons, you get a balanced meal. Let’s apply that analogy to how we incentivize businesses to do business in South Carolina.

We have three institutions of higher learning in York County that have developed fantastic partnerships with large employers to train the next generation. Let’s build on that and support it from a state perspective.

I learned a lot during my time on the York Technical College Commission in this area. First and foremost, our Schools need to be places where students can be safe, where they can learn, where they can become the man or woman they want to be, and where they can pick up life skills along the way. We need to fund them properly and ensure that the kid in the state’s poorest county gets a quality education like they do here in York County. Your ZIP code should not determine the quality of your education. Charter schools and vouchers siphon money away from public schools and steal resources from professional educators. Investing properly in public schools is, hands down, the best investment we can make in our state. Investing in schools will pay dividends for generations to come.

Healthy communities need business, industry, education, and residents. Part of the planning process is to figure out not only how these areas can coexist, but how they can thrive together. From the outside looking in—having not been privy to all of the information available at the time—it appears that something went wrong in the process here. This is a great example of how important it is to have the right people in place to gather and consider all relevant information at the time a decision is made.

Every day cities and counties across the state are selling off tracts of land and approving datacenters that use more water and power than most mid-sized cities. Data Centers are necessary, and we’ve had small ones in York County for decades; however, they need to be self-sustaining and should not be gobbling up our natural resources. The Senate is working on a bill to address data centers now, and it is debatable whether it protects local communities or big business more. My experience on County Council, Planning Commission, and Zoning Board of Appeals will be very beneficial in making sure bills like this protect York County.

I support reopening the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant. Our population is growing. Even without data centers, there is no end in sight for safe, reliable power. I support my friend and fellow community member Rick Lee’s efforts with the Governor’s Nuclear Commission to finish the plant. Let’s get it online, shore up our power grid, properly power our homes. If there’s extra power to sell to other power companies, let’s sell it!

Our legislature rewards seniority. A legislator from Allendale County who’s been re-elected for the last 20+ years has far more influence than a freshman legislator from York County. Why should a legislator from a tiny county in the state have more influence than one from a county of 300,000 people? Seniority is good, but it should not determine the balance of power in the state.

Taxes fund public services. Right now, we have a $1 billion budget surplus. Do I support tax relief? Yes. However, there are some areas of the state budget that need to be shored up. These include the following: education, public safety and roads.