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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Earl Capps</title>
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		<title>South Carolina Primary: Mark Sanford vs. Teddy Turner?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/earl-capps/south-carolina-primary-mark-sanford-vs-teddy-turner/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=south-carolina-primary-mark-sanford-vs-teddy-turner</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Feb 2013 04:35:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Earl Capps]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jim demint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mark Sanford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[primary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republican]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Carolina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teddy Turner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tim Scott]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=176286</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The race to fill Republican Tim Scott's vacant congressional seat takes unexpected turns. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/earl-capps/south-carolina-primary-mark-sanford-vs-teddy-turner/picture-13-12/" rel="attachment wp-att-176306"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-176306" title="Picture 13" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Picture-13.png" alt="" width="275" height="189" /></a>The recent appointment of South Carolina Congressman Tim Scott to replace former Senator Jim DeMint last month opened up a feeding frenzy to fill South Carolina’s First Congressional District. Sixteen Republicans are seeking the now-open seat, including novices, legislative veterans, defeated politicos seeking a comeback and two candidates with national connections and name recognition, all jockeying for the special election contest for the seat.</p>
<p>The sixteen candidates will likely aim for the intermediate goal of making it into a run-off, which would feature the top two primary finishers should no candidate earn fifty percent of the vote. With so many candidates in the race and the seat’s history, it’s hard to see how anyone will even come close. In every open-seat contest for the seat since 1994, no fewer than six Republicans have sought the seat and no candidate ever drew a bigger first-round primary vote share than the low-forties, with many candidates ending up in the teens and single digits.</p>
<p>The First District has been based in the Charleston metropolitan area for much of the last century and runs south down the South Carolina coast, including much of Beaufort County, to the Georgia state line. Residents live in a collection of coastal retirement and resort communities and Charleston-area suburban bedroom communities, and the district’s economics are largely driven by international shipping, travel, tourism, and military spending. Manufacturing is making a growing presence in the region, especially with Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner production facilities in North Charleston. The district also boasts a strong military presence with the Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, an Air Force Base in North Charleston, Naval facilities in Goose Creek and North Charleston, and a Marine air base in Beaufort, and is home to a large contingent of military retirees, especially Navy and Marine veterans.</p>
<p>The two candidates in the race with the highest visibility are a veteran politico and a newcomer: former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who once held the First District seat for three terms in the 1990s and Teddy Turner, a political newcomer who is the son of CNN media mogul Ted Turner.</p>
<p>Sanford held the First District seat for six years, served as governor for eight years and has over a million dollars in his gubernatorial campaign fund. But he will face several challenges: getting past donors to allow him to transfer campaign funds into his congressional campaign account, antagonistic relations from his tenure as governor, a district which was redrawn considerably since his congressional tenure, and lingering fallout from a highly publicized foreign affair and divorce.</p>
<p>While Sanford is believed by many to be the best-known candidate starting out, that perception and his past negatives have made him a target for some of the other candidates. His high name recognition failed to deter candidates from running for the seat and many past Sanford supporters are backing other candidates for the seat, suggesting he isn’t generating the enthusiasm of years past.</p>
<p>Turner, who graduated from The Citadel, the Charleston-based public military college, and has been a teacher in a local private school after working as a photojournalist, was a surprise early candidate in the race. In spite of being a relative newcomer to politics in the region, his candidacy has drawn strong early attention thanks to strong fundraising, which has allowed him to launch an early television advertising campaign ahead of other candidates, as well as a willingness to contrast his political views with that of his father in stump speeches.</p>
<p>Of the fourteen other Republicans running, three others have made strong starts in their campaigns for the seat:</p>
<p><strong>State Senator Larry Grooms:</strong> Having served in the State Senate since 1997, where he is Chair of the Transportation Committee, Grooms represents a chunk of Charleston’s suburbs in Berkeley and Charleston Counties and is seen as one of the more conservative members of the Senate. He’s no stranger to tough fights in his senatorial district and has strong allegiances from many social conservative activists in the region, who are rallying to back his campaign. He was recently endorsed by Fifth District Congressman Mick Mulvaney, who ousted former House Budget Chair John Spratt in 2010.</p>
<p><strong>Former State Senator John Kuhn:</strong> Kuhn represented a district in Charleston County, only to be defeated in a re-election primary in a race where Sanford and his ex-wife, Jenny, actively supported his opponent. Kuhn’s comeback campaign brought on Starboard Communication, the formidable strategic consulting firm that managed several high-profile races in the state, including the 2010 campaigns of Governor Nikki Haley and Congressman Mick Mulvaney and 2012 GOP pick-up of the state’s new Seventh Congressional District.</p>
<p><strong>State Representative Chip Limehouse:</strong> Limehouse won his Charleston-based state House seat in 1994, the same year Sanford started his political career by winning the First District congressional seat. Well connected in Charleston business circles, Limehouse has easily fended off a number of challengers over the years and risen to the first vice-chair post in the powerful Ways and Means Committee in the State House. He was also well-known for sponsoring many of the state’s laws regarding violent sexual predators.</p>
<p>Other notable candidates for the seat include:</p>
<p><strong>Keith Blandford:</strong>  Blandford was the Libertarian candidate for the seat in 2010 and was gearing up for a 2014 Senate bid when the First District seat came open. Blandford will also seek the Libertarian nomination for the seat.</p>
<p><strong>Curtis Bostic:</strong> A former member of Charleston County Council, he was ousted in 2008 by Democrat Vic Rawl (who later lost the 2010 Democratic U.S. Senate primary to Alvin Greene).</p>
<p><strong>Peter McCoy:</strong> A state Representative from Charleston who ousted a Democratic incumbent two years ago. An attorney and former prosecutor, he’s starting his second term in the House.</p>
<p><strong>Elizabeth Moffly:</strong> Having lost two bids for State Education Superintendent (and endorsed the Democratic nominee following her failed 2006 GOP primary bid), Moffly is in her first term on the Charleston County School Board.</p>
<p><strong>Ray Nash:</strong> Nash served as Sheriff of Dorchester County, a suburb of Charleston, for twelve years from 1996 to 2008 and presently works as a security consultant.</p>
<p><strong>Andy Patrick:</strong> A former Secret Service agent, Patrick represents a State House seat in Hilton Head, which he took in 2010 by ousting the prior Republican incumbent.</p>
<p>The other GOP candidates &#8211; Bryant, Hoffman, King, Larkin and Pinkston &#8211; are newcomers to politics. While many of them share many of the same political messages as the other candidates – opposing Obama administration policies, cutting spending, addressing the national debt and highlighting homeland and national security &#8211; they’ll be hard-pressed to learn the ropes in this compressed special election calendar, forced to learn which issues matter to voters, craft targeted appeals which will persuade and motivate those voters, recruit supporters to do the needed grunt work, find willing campaign donors in a tough economy – and if they can master all these, figure out how to organize all these inputs in time enough to wage a winning campaign. In these kinds of races, most newcomers at more of a disadvantage than in regular elections when there’s up to a year to campaign, instead of just a matter of weeks, and usually have more advanced notice that a seat is coming open, so they’ll face long odds at rising above this crowded field.</p>
<p>It’s also likely the sixteen Republicans will split up the expected fifty to seventy thousand GOP primary voters into relatively small vote shares, possibly repeating the 1994 primary, where several candidates were within several thousand votes of each other. In such a field, many candidates may find it challenging to rise above the clutter of campaign messaging from all the competing campaigns, so some voters, unable to pick out a candidate from the blur, or seeing many of the candidates as similar, may engage in “spin the wheel” voting. This effect was blamed for the 2010 Democratic U.S. Senate primary win in South Carolina by Alvin Greene, an unknown candidate who upset a former judge and state legislator.</p>
<p>Democrats also have three candidates in a primary that is expected to draw far less attention and heat as the GOP primary. In a seat which has been in GOP hands since 1980 (with only one close call for Republicans – in 2008), the GOP nominee will be an early favorite to carry the seat &#8211; even if such a wide and hotly contested field will make it hard to spot a potential primary winner. While the primary outcome may be uncertain, what is certain is that this race &#8211; and its unprecedented field of candidates &#8211; will be worth watching.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>Reining In Obama&#8217;s Big Labor Activists</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/earl-capps/reining-in-obamas-big-labor-activists/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=reining-in-obamas-big-labor-activists</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jan 2013 04:50:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Earl Capps]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Labor Relations Board]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Noel Canning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recess appointment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regulations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supreme Court]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tim Scott]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Unions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=175302</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Private companies rejoice at high court's ruling on the president's unconstitutional recess appointments. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/earl-capps/reining-in-obamas-big-labor-activists/00_labor_usc1008872_nlrb_sign_800px-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-175321"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-175321" title="00_LABOR_USC1008872_NLRB_sign_800px" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/00_LABOR_USC1008872_NLRB_sign_800px1.jpg" alt="" width="237" height="158" /></a>Efforts by the Obama administration to pursue an aggressive pro-union agenda via the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) suffered a major setback on Friday. A three-judge federal appeals court <a href="http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/D13E4C2A7B33B57A85257AFE00556B29/$file/12-1115-1417096.pdf" target="_blank">in the Noel Canning case unanimously found that recent recess appointments of NLRB board members violated the Constitution</a>, ruling that &#8220;[b]ecause none of the three appointments were valid, the Board lacked a quorum and its decision must be vacated.&#8221;</p>
<div>
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<p>If the ruling is upheld by the Supreme Court, to which the Obama administration is expected to appeal the case, it would be a long-awaited victory for Republicans and business organizations who have long objected to the Board&#8217;s growing reach into non-union workplaces and increasingly pro-union rulings. It would also be vindication for Senate Republicans who have sought to check the administration&#8217;s political agenda via the confirmation process, which the recess appointments bypassed.</p>
<p>In this case, attorneys for <a href="http://www.noelcorp.com/" target="_blank">Noel Canning, a Washington State canning and bottling company</a>, sought to appeal a ruling in which the <a href="http://mynlrb.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d4580811c29" target="_blank">Board ruled against the company and imposed a collective bargaining agreement</a> after the company had refused to execute the agreement, claiming that wage-benefit packages for union members had not been agreed upon. In the appeal, the company’s attorneys argued that as the Senate was still meeting in pro forma session, three recess appointments made to the Board by the Obama administration were invalid. These appointments included:</p>
<ul>
<li>Sharon Block, who filled a seat that became vacant on January 3,  2012,  when Board member Craig Becker’s recess appointment expired. Block was a former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor, Senior Labor and Employment Counsel for the Senate HELP Committee, where she worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy and received the John F. Kennedy Labor Law Award.</li>
<li>Terence F. Flynn, who filled a seat that became vacant on August 27, 2010, when Peter Schaumber’s term expired. Flynn, who has since left the Board, was previously Chief Counsel to former Board Members Brian Hayes and Schaumber, as well as an attorney in private practice, specializing in employment and labor law.</li>
<li>Richard F. Griffin, who filled a seat that became vacant on August 27, 2011, when Wilma B. Liebman’s term expired. Previously, Griffin was General Counsel for International Union of Operating Engineers and served on the board of directors for the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee.</li>
</ul>
<p>In the ruling, the Appellate Court agreed with the attorneys for Noel Canning:</p>
<blockquote><p>It is undisputed that the Board must have a quorum of three in order to take action. It is further undisputed that a quorum of three did not exist on the date of the order under review unless the three disputed members (or at least one of them) were validly appointed.  It is further agreed that the members of the Board are “Officers of the United States” within the meaning of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, which provides that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law.” (p. 15)</p></blockquote>
<p>The board presently has three members, two of whom are Block and Griffin (Flynn left the board in July of last year). Their removal from the board would reduce it to one member, leaving it unable to issue further rulings until new appointments could be made, as well as invalidate a number of recent Board rulings, such as the Noel Canning ruling. This could impact a number of controversial NLRB initiatives, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Poster Rule, which would require workplaces to post notices about employees&#8217; right to organize a union, <a href="http://www.nam.org/Communications/Articles/2012/09/Manufacturers-Renew-Court-Battle-Against-the-NLRB.aspx" target="_blank">remains on hold while the case is being appealed </a>following split rulings where a South Carolina federal court struck the rule down and a Washington D.C. court upheld the Rule.</li>
<li>Several rulings in which the Board ruled the language of employee handbooks in non-union workplaces placed restrictions upon employee communication, which the Board argued could inhibit the ability of employees to organize a union if they chose to do so (<a href="http://www.bakerlaw.com/alerts/nlrb-to-non-union-employers-we-just-may-be-the-boss-of-you-5-4-2012/" target="_blank">Hyundai America Shipping Agency Inc. </a>and <a href="http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/nlrb-finds-that-employer-lawfully-fired-24031/" target="_blank">Karl Knauz Motors</a>).</li>
<li>A ruling (<a href="http://mynlrb.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d4580e80f3d" target="_blank">WKYC-TV, Gannet Co., Inc.</a>) that overturned a five-decade precedent by directing employers to continue to withhold union dues after the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement.</li>
</ul>
<p>Republicans were quick to seize upon the ruling as a chance to go after the NLRB. Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, the ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, demanded <a href="http://www.humanevents.com/2013/01/25/sen-alexander-demands-nlrb-resignations/" target="_blank">the resignations of those board members whose appointments were challenged in the ruling</a>, calling the ruling &#8220;proof that the administration defied the Constitution’s separation of powers and its concept of checks and balances, which are the guard against an imperial presidency.&#8221;</p>
<p>Allen Gray, a lobbyist with Carolinas AGC, a construction industry association based in North and South Carolina, and head of the industry association&#8217;s human resources committee, said the court &#8220;followed the letter of the law&#8221; and predicted the ruling would &#8220;force the President to choose between picking nominees with more moderate positions who could win a confirmation vote or not appointing anyone at all.&#8221; Likewise, Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) expected that future NLRB nominees sent to the Senate for confirmation should be willing to take less pro-union stances. Scott warned &#8220;the agency&#8217;s pattern of punishing states like South Carolina for their successful right-to-work policies has to end. Any future nominees must demonstrate a commitment to treat the families and businesses of pro-worker states just the same as anyone else.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition to allowing many of the Board’s recent rulings to be vacated, the appellate court&#8217;s ruling &#8211; if upheld &#8211; could affect other recess appointments made by the Obama administration, most notably that of <a href="http://www.consumerfinance.gov/the-bureau/about-rich-cordray/" target="_blank">Rich Cordray, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau</a>, who has come under fire from the banking industry for advocating excessive regulations and oversight.</p>
<p>The Obama administration is expected to appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court instead of conceding defeat to Republicans, who are eager to force President Obama to moderate the political tone of his nominees. With the GOP getting more aggressive about using the confirmation process to check Obama&#8217;s agenda, it&#8217;s clear that a high-stakes game between congressional Republicans and the White House is underway. Should the Supreme Court uphold the appellate court’s ruling, it would be a major setback for the administration and a major victory for those who&#8217;ve sought to rein in the NLRB&#8217;s radical pro-union agenda.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>Tim Scott Rises Above Left-Wing Haters</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/earl-capps/tim-scott-rises-above-left-wing-haters/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=tim-scott-rises-above-left-wing-haters</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Jan 2013 04:30:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Earl Capps]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=172198</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The race-hustlers recognize an existential threat in South Carolina's newest senator. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/nicholeh/tim-scott-rises-above-left-wing-haters/1355012297307-cached/" rel="attachment wp-att-172203"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-172203" title="1355012297307.cached" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/1355012297307.cached.jpg" alt="" width="268" height="196" /></a>The appointment of Tim Scott, a Congressman from Charleston, South Carolina, to replace South Carolina’s outgoing Senator Jim DeMint, made history. The first black Senator from the South since Reconstruction (during Reconstruction, Mississippi sent two black Republican Senators – <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000968"><strong>Blanche Bruce</strong></a> and <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000166"><strong>Hiram Revels</strong></a> &#8211; to Washington), he ascended to the Senate after nearly twenty years in politics from South Carolina’s coastal region.</p>
<p>While Scott’s appointment has generated considerable praise from his home state, as well as national political observers, it’s safe to say that NAACP leader Benjamin Jealous isn’t among Scott’s admirers. In criticizing Scott, who received an “F” score on the political scorecard for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Jealous accused Scott of not supporting civil rights, saying:</p>
<blockquote><p>We have Republicans who believe in civil rights — unfortunately he is not one of them – and unfortunately his party as you know, has really gone after so-called RINOs as they call them, these Republicans who believe in civil rights, again and again.</p></blockquote>
<p>Jealous’s sentiments weren’t shared by Rep Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri House member who serves as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, <a href="http://thecongressionalblackcaucus.com/2012/12/21/op-ed-tim-scott-pick-is-first-step-for-gop/"><strong>who praised Scott’s appointment to the Senate</strong></a><strong>:</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>As the only African American from the South to serve in the Senate since Reconstruction, Scott’s appointment this week is monumental for South Carolina, and for the Republican Party. Make no mistake: he is a first-rate statesman who rightfully deserved maximum consideration from Gov. Nikki Haley. Scott is an honorable man, whose conservative political ideology and voting history seem to be in complete harmony with those of the majority of South Carolinians. At a time of partisan acrimony ad nauseum, Scott is by no means a “Hill raiser.” And while he made the decision not to join the Congressional Black Caucus, Scott is respected by all of its members, not withstanding his conservatism, which is leap years beyond our members and our constituents.</p></blockquote>
<p>The contrasting views held by these prominent black national political figures reflect the greater reality of Scott’s political career, one in which he has sought to be judged by his views and his record while avoiding racial politics. Indeed the story of Scott, who grew up a poor inner-city youth and became one of the most-watched figures in national Republican politics, is as much a tale of his own success as one of the beginnings of the end of the racial divide which dominated Deep South politics since Reconstruction.</p>
<p>Scott’s start in politics came in 1995, when he won nearly eighty percent of the vote as the Republican candidate for a county-wide seat on Charleston County Council, a county whose population was roughly seventy percent white. Much of the time on Council, he served as Chair and was noted for a number of economic development efforts, including introducing Boeing to Charleston.  He went on to win races for the State House in 2008 and the state’s First Congressional District seat, both districts with lopsided majorities of white voters, by solid margins.</p>
<p>His 2010 race for Congress included a Republican run-off against Paul Thurmond, son of former United States Senator Thurmond ,who was once an ardent segregationist and who abandoned those views later in his political career. In spite of national media narratives which attempted to define the contest as having strong racial undercurrents, which both Scott and Thurmond sought to downplay, the race between the two was cordial and free of discussion of racial issues. Scott won the run-off against Thurmond handily and earned Thurmond’s support for the general election, where he won in a landslide, becoming the first congressman of African-American heritage to represent the state’s coastal region since <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M001106"><strong>Republican George Washington Murray</strong></a>, who served in the late 1800s.</p>
<p>Once elected to the House, <a href="http://www.theroot.com/buzz/tim-scott-snubs-black-caucus"><strong>Scott declined to join the Congressional Black Caucus</strong></a>, telling news media that:</p>
<blockquote><p>My campaign has been about themes that unite all Americans &#8212; restoring the American dream by reducing the tax burden, decreasing government interference in the private sector and restoring fiscal responsibility, and I don&#8217;t think those ideals are advanced by focusing on one group of people.</p></blockquote>
<p>Scott wasn’t the only modern-day Republican House member of African-American heritage not to join the Black Caucus. J.C. Watts, who represented an Oklahoma House district in the 1990s, refused to join, calling the group “race-hustling poverty pimps.”</p>
<p>One of those familiar with Scott is Lin Bennett, who serves as the current chair of the Charleston County Republican Party, the heart of Scott’s coastal political base, as well as the First Vice-Chair of the S.C. Republican Party. Bennett described Scott as a “true post-racial” politician, believing that:</p>
<blockquote><p>He sees the world that Dr. Martin Luther King saw, one where the world judges you by your abilities rather than seeing just your skin color. Most people along the coast have always seen Tim Scott as just Tim Scott, a good man, and judge him by his abilities and his work ethic. The “normal people” who get up and work every day, raise their families and try to see people for who they are have always supported Tim because they like his message.</p></blockquote>
<p>While Scott’s career has been along the coast, which has the best record for electing non-white politicos both during Reconstruction as well as after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, he has also begun winning over support from voters in the state’s Upstate region, which has historically been much tougher ground for black politicians.</p>
<p>One of those Upstate politicos who expressed support for Scott was David Carter, an Upstate South Carolina GOP strategist. Carter called Scott a “rock star” in the Upstate region, reporting that he was “as popular with GOP voters as Trey Gowdy (an Upstate House member). Carter saw Scott’s ability to reach across racial and partisan lines as a threat to groups like the NAACP:</p>
<blockquote><p>When the party comes up with messaging which attracts minorities, you’ll get people like Tim Scott. He can articulate Republican messages to both mainstream Republicans as well as to minority audiences, so of course groups like the NAACP, which are generally aligned with the Democratic Party, will go after him.</p></blockquote>
<p>Scott’s public record and ability to attract support from across racial lines paints a picture of Scott as one whose political career was built upon steering clear of, and rejecting, racial stereotypes or identification. His election, as well as the success of other Republican politicos such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, reflects a Republican Party which is beginning to move back towards the multi-racial identity it held after the Civil War, leaving the post-Civil Rights “Southern Strategy” Nixon era behind.</p>
<p>Scott will face South Carolina voters in 2014 to serve the remaining two years of DeMint’s term, followed by an election in 2016 for the next full term for the seat. As Scott is already attracting the support of many Republican politicos across the state for his 2014 campaign, including Governor Nikki Haley, who appointed him, and most of the state’s congressional delegation, he’s considered a strong favorite to win the contest.</p>
<p>In a Deep South state like South Carolina, with a large minority electorate, a victory by Scott, a veteran politico well-experienced at winning by large margins by uniting black and white voters, would be yet another sign that voters in the South, a region once known for racial politics, are moving beyond race as an important political factor. While Scott’s appointment to the Senate represents progress towards a more inclusive Senate and his successful post-racial political career reflects the kind of color-blind world that many civil rights leaders worked so hard for, it’s disappointing that Jealous has chosen to mark the occasion to engage in the same kind of attacks once wielded by harsh pre-Civil Rights racists and segregationists.</p>
<p>If Jealous and those like him want to be relevant to this changing electorate, they would be wise to emulate Scott’s formula for success in the emerging post-racial South instead of criticizing it. Whether they choose to move forward or continue to look backward, it’s unlikely their attacks on Scott will hold him back in the Senate – or wherever he chooses to go next.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>A Bad Year for Big Labor</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/earl-capps/a-bad-year-for-big-labor/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-bad-year-for-big-labor</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jan 2013 04:30:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Earl Capps]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Card Check]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[labor]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=171704</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[But the storm troopers of the Left haven't given up yet. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/earl-capps/a-bad-year-for-big-labor/obama-union-seiu-protest-los-angeles-may-day-2011-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-171732"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-171732" title="Obama - Union SEIU Protest - Los Angeles,  May Day 2011" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Obama-Union-SEIU-Protest-Los-Angeles-May-Day-20111-450x336.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="202" /></a>Early in 2012, labor unions began a major political offensive aimed at regaining political initiative after a number of high-profile setbacks in 2010 and 2011. Focusing their efforts in Michigan and Wisconsin, two Midwestern states with strong union bases, their costly efforts to roll back efforts to challenge their power ended up costing them, leaving them worse off than when the year started.</p>
<p>In Wisconsin, labor unions poured thousands of people and millions of dollars into recall efforts to keep the GOP-held legislature and Governor from challenging their lock on state government. When the smoke cleared, Governor Scott Walker, along with most of the targeted legislators, survived recall campaigns. Efforts by labor unions to end Republican control of the Wisconsin legislature were short-lived as Republicans made good their recall losses by <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Wisconsin_State_Senate_elections,_2012">adding to their majority in the Wisconsin House<strong> </strong></a>and <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Wisconsin_State_Senate_elections,_2012">regaining control of the Senate in the November elections</a>.</p>
<p>In Michigan, efforts by labor unions to lock in their power and blast their opponents out of power fell short. Their main effort, campaigning for a <a href="http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/11/post_88.html">constitutional amendment</a> that was aimed at keeping the state from enacting right-to-work legislation, failed by nearly twenty points on Election Day. Expensive efforts to target state legislators also fell short, including <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/11/house_speaker_jase_bolger_clai.html">spending nearly a million dollars</a> to topple the Republican House Speaker.</p>
<p>Emboldened by these victories, Michigan Republicans responded by pushing through right-to-work legislation, which ends the ability of labor unions to <a href="http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/12/michigan_right_to_work_democra_2.html">compel employees to pay union dues</a> as a condition of employment in both private and public sector workplaces, following a move by <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72304.html">Indiana</a>, which became the first &#8220;Rust Belt&#8221; state to adopt right-to-work legislation earlier this year.</p>
<p>These political upsets were just the latest in a string of recent setbacks for organized labor which signify a growing erosion of the once-formidable power of labor unions:</p>
<p>• Republicans <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/press-room/republicans-exceed-expectations-in-2010.aspx">scored major gains</a> in the 2010 elections at the state level, gaining control of eighteen additional legislative chambers, including several in heavily-unionized Midwestern states. Democrats were left holding just 38 percent of legislative seats in the Midwest, the lowest share since the 1950s. With the exception of Minnesota, Republicans were kept in control of their Rust Belt state legislative majorities in the 2012 elections.</p>
<p>• In 2010, voters in four states &#8212; Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah &#8212; adopted <a href="http://www.laborrelationscounsel.com/efca/four-states-approve-constitutional-amendments-guaranteeing-right-to-secret-ballot-union-elections/">amendments to their state constitutions</a><strong><a href="http://www.laborrelationscounsel.com/efca/four-states-approve-constitutional-amendments-guaranteeing-right-to-secret-ballot-union-elections/"> </a></strong>that protect the right of workers to decide union representation issues. These referendums were responses to failed federal &#8220;Card Check&#8221; legislation, which would make it much easier for unions to bypass the secret ballot process for organizing a workplace.</p>
<p>• A high-profile battle erupted with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over the decision by Boeing to open up a 787 manufacturing plant in North Charleston, South Carolina. Following a House hearing, the <a href="http://www.wltx.com/news/article/162754/2/NLRB-Officially-Withdraws-Complaint-Against-Boeing-">NLRB dropped its case against Boeing<strong> </strong></a>and the new plant began operations.</p>
<p>• Leaders in other Democratic, union-friendly areas stood up to large public-sector unions, including <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/education/in-chicago-teachers-strike-signs-of-unions-under-siege.html?pagewanted=all">Chicago<strong> </strong></a>and <a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/public-workers-union-accepts-concessions-and-averts-layoffs/">New York state</a>, forcing concessions. In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie built a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/nyregion/nj-legislature-moves-to-cut-benefits-for-public-workers.html">bi-partisan coalition</a> to push through legislation aimed at reining in benefits packages for state workers against strong union opposition.</p>
<p>Michigan Governor Rick Snyder blamed labor unions for their defeats, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/michigan-right-to-work-rick-snyder-84918.html">telling MSNBC&#8217;s Andrea Mitchell</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>I asked them not to go forward. And the reason I said is, &#8220;You’re going to start a very divisive discussion. It’ll be about collective bargaining first, but it’ll create a big stir about right-to-work in addition to collective bargaining.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Snyder&#8217;s sentiments were shared by Michael Lotito, a California labor attorney, who <a href="http://www.shrm.org/LegalIssues/StateandLocalResources/Pages/Michigan-right-to-work.aspx">warned</a> the Michigan defeat could be costly for unions in terms of money and political power:</p>
<blockquote><p>The new law has “tremendous symbolism,”  he emphasized, and will drain union coffers because unions can no longer require employees other than police and firefighters at unionized Michigan worksites to pay union dues.</p></blockquote>
<p>The appointment of South Carolina Congressman Tim Scott to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Jim DeMint will likely be another setback for labor unions. Given his record of going after unions and the NLRB in the House, Scott is expected to be a strong anti-union activist in a Senate where the White House has already had considerable difficulty moving pro-union appointees.</p>
<p>This chain of political setbacks, many in union-friendly states, combined with statistics about union membership from a report by the U.S. Department of Labor which shows <a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">labor union membership continuing to decline </a>both in percentages of workers and total number of union members in the workforce, make it clear that unions are on the defense.</p>
<p>While labor unions remain on defense and are struggling to remain relevant in workplaces and the national political landscape, efforts to curb their power still have a long way to go. A majority of states have not adopted right-to-work legislation, labor unions continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on elections and the President and an activist NLRB are still working on their behalf. In light of this, Lotito&#8217;s warning that &#8220;Organized labor is sick, not dead&#8221;<em> </em>seems wise advice for those working to shift the balance of power in American workplaces and political landscape away from labor unions.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>Tim Scott: A Warrior for Worker Rights in the Senate</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/earl-capps/tim-scott-a-warrior-for-worker-rights-in-the-senate/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=tim-scott-a-warrior-for-worker-rights-in-the-senate</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Dec 2012 04:05:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Earl Capps]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=171124</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why Big Labor fears South Carolina's newest senator. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/earl-capps/tim-scott-a-warrior-for-worker-rights-in-the-senate/senator-scott-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-171139"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-171139" title="senator-scott" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/senator-scott1-450x332.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="199" /></a>As the battle between business interests and organized labor heats up in the wake of two major political defeats for Big Labor over the last six months &#8212; the failed Wisconsin recall efforts and Michigan’s adoption of right-to-work legislation &#8212; it’s not likely that labor union interests will find the appointment of South Carolina Congressman Tim Scott to replace outgoing Senator Jim DeMint to be good news. Scott’s record on issues related to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and organized labor suggests that he won’t be any friendlier to those interests than DeMint once he crosses over from the House to the Senate in January.</p>
<p>As in Michigan and Wisconsin, labor issues have been the stuff of headline news in South Carolina since the 2010 elections. While the failed attempt by the NLRB to keep Boeing from opening a 787 production facility in the Charleston area was the most visible action by the Board in the state, the Board also threatened to take the state to court to keep it from enacting legislation to codify the 2010 referendum in which over eighty percent of state voters voted for an amendment to the state’s constitution which would protect the right of workers to decide workplace issues via secret ballot.</p>
<p>While in the House, Scott was very active on right-to-work issues. During the last session of Congress, he sponsored three bills which were intended to curtail the reach of the NLRB and union activity in workplaces:</p>
<p><strong> • </strong><a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd%3fbill=h112-1976"><strong>H.R. 1976 </strong></a>and <a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd%3fbill=h112-2587"><strong>2587</strong></a> were intended to block the NLRB from directing companies to close or move plants or jobs.</p>
<p><strong> • </strong><a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd%3fbill=h112-2810"><strong>H.R. 2810 &#8211; The “Employee Rights Act,”</strong></a><strong> </strong>had it been passed, would have required the use of secret balloting to unionize a workplace and a renewal vote every three years. It would also set guidelines on how these elections are to be conducted.</p>
<p>Scott was also active in efforts by House Republicans who met in <em>pro forma</em> session during the last Congress in an effort to prevent potential presidential recess appointments to the NLRB. As part of these efforts, Scott regularly traveled to Washington to hold sessions to keep the House from adjourning in an effort to keep President Obama from bypassing the confirmation process by seating board members via recess appointments. He also took part in a special House hearing held near the site of the Boeing facility in which House members grilled the agency’s chief legal counsel about the Board’s efforts against the South Carolina facility.</p>
<p>Given Scott’s level of involvement on these issues, it’s likely that few would be surprised to see that Scott received very low scores on the labor union legislative scorecards for his legislative record for the last session of Congress:</p>
<p><strong>• </strong><a href="http://www.aflcio.org/Legislation-and-Politics/Legislative-Voting-Records?termyear=2011&amp;act=6&amp;location=both&amp;statecode=SC&amp;zip=&amp;newzip=false"><strong>AFL-CIO</strong></a><strong>: </strong>Voted with them on just one out of 20 votes in 2012 and received a zero score in 2011.</p>
<p><strong> • </strong><a href="http://www.afscme.org/issues/congressional-scorecards/doc1/AFSCME-2011-Full-House-scorecard.pdf"><strong>AFSCME</strong></a><strong>: </strong>Zero score.</p>
<p><strong> • </strong><a href="http://seiuorg.capwiz.com/bio/id/23067&amp;submit.x=9&amp;submit.y=14&amp;submit=go"><strong>SEIU</strong></a><strong>: </strong>Voted against their position on 8 out of 9 bills, no score assigned.</p>
<p>In a Heritage Foundation interview earlier this year, Scott said union leaders saw him as “THE anti-union legislator in America, especially in the South,” to which he responded, “I’m not anti-union, I’m just pro-workers.” He went on to point out that the views held by leadership differed from rank-and-file union workers he’d spoken with, saying that “the longer you have a talk about the legislation [his three bills in the last session], you find that they’re saying ‘that’s not so bad after all’.”</p>
<p>As the Senate is responsible for confirming the appointment of NLRB board members, Scott would have even more influence over the appointment process than in the House. As a Senator, he could go from simply working to curtail the agency’s powers to having a direct role in deciding who would sit on the agency’s Board. There are those who are involved with these issues who expect him to continue watching the NLRB and organized labor closely once he crosses over to the Senate.</p>
<p>A Washington, D.C. labor attorney active in right-to-work issues believed Scott’s appointment could put a strong anti-Big Labor voice in the Senate, saying that “if Scott chooses to remain active on these issues, he very well could be a lot more aggressive as a Senator.” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson praised Scott as “a firebrand and a stalwart,&#8221; especially during NLRB hearings in Charleston, and added that Scott “asked the right questions, said the right things and has the right views.”</p>
<p>While it remains to be seen what direction he’ll take in the Senate, given South Carolina’s right-to-work status, low union membership and strong Republican political lean, Scott will likely have plenty of incentive to continue in the same direction on this issues, while facing very little risk. Should South Carolina’s newest Senator take the same approach with these issues in the Senate as he did in the House, organized labor interests won’t likely find Tim Scott to be a welcome addition to the Senate.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>Battleground South Carolina</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/earl-capps/battleground-south-carolina/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=battleground-south-carolina</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Earl Capps]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Prepare for a wild ride until the last votes are counted. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/south_carolina_candidates_120111_620x350.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-119163" title="south_carolina_candidates_120111_620x350" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/south_carolina_candidates_120111_620x350.gif" alt="" width="375" height="248" /></a></p>
<p>Slated for Saturday, January 21, the South Carolina “First in the South&#8221; Republican Presidential Primary is the third major stop in the road to the GOP nomination. In a contest known for mobilizing a half-million or more voters, the South Carolina primary has become known as a freewheeling contest where anything goes. Given this history, the fluid nature of its elections, and recent polling trends, South Carolina&#8217;s is a race that has been watched closely.</p>
<p>Since its inception in 1980, the South Carolina primary has been a key milestone on the path to the Republican nomination. While some candidates who won the earlier Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary have gone on to lose their nomination bids, each nominee since 1980 has won South Carolina. The state’s Republicans are proud of this “gatekeeper” role, as demonstrated by the “We Pick Presidents” bumper sticker the state GOP has distributed by the thousands, as well as the hundreds – and sometimes thousands – who turn out at events, even for lesser-known candidates.</p>
<p>Every election year, the race takes a major turn in South Carolina. Struggling candidates end up making the state’s primary their final stand and quit shortly thereafter while others tout successful showings as evidence their campaigns are gathering momentum.  Those whose campaigns ended after South Carolina have included some political heavyweights, including Texas Governor John Connally (1980), 1996 GOP VP candidate Jack Kemp (1988), former Education Secretary and Senator Lamar Alexander (1996) and Senator Fred Thompson (2008). Both Bushes used strong showings in the state to recover after surprises in earlier contests.</p>
<p>But it’s not just the candidates who take the state seriously – the locals play hardball as well. Campaigns here are short, due to the short amount of time between other contests, and sometimes turn nasty. The all-out battle between George W. Bush and John McCain in 2000 is still talked about as the most negative ever seen in the state, with negative ads and dirty tricks being waged by both campaigns and their supporters by the truckload. These races are often characterized as battles between the state’s powerful GOP circles for whom the outcomes of these primaries give them leverage for in-state political battles, as well as helping them gain friends at the national level (assuming the nominees go on to win the White House).</p>
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		<title>South Carolina Fight Against the NLRB Continues</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/earl-capps/south-carolina-fight-against-the-nlrb-continues/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=south-carolina-fight-against-the-nlrb-continues</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:07:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Earl Capps]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=115954</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The state’s war with the agency is far from over.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/NLRB-picketing.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-116006" title="NLRB-picketing" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/NLRB-picketing.gif" alt="" width="375" height="260" /></a></p>
<p>While the recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to drop its lawsuit against Boeing’s new South Carolina plant may have signaled the end of its battle with Boeing, there are numerous signs that South Carolina’s battles with the agency will continue.  Instead of resting on their laurels, many in South Carolina are continuing to battle the agency on a number of fronts, as well as continuing to work to protect workers’ rights from labor union interference.</p>
<p>The first sign of trouble came in January just after South Carolina voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment protecting the right of workers to decide union issues by secret ballot. In a letter to state Attorney General Alan Wilson, the NLRB threatened to file suit if the state sought to implement the amendment, seeking assurances that such implementation would not take place. Wilson rebuffed the demands and pledged to stand by state voters, saying, “I don&#8217;t know how you don&#8217;t defend a sweeping decision made by eighty-six percent of your state&#8217;s voters.” According to Wilson, the NLRB has yet to follow up on their threat, instead focusing their current efforts upon overturning similar laws in Utah and Arizona. While he couldn’t predict future NLRB action, his office is “keeping its powder dry” and is ready to act should action be taken against South Carolina.</p>
<p>The NLRB also took aim at one of South Carolina’s largest industrial development successes to date- Boeing’s 787 “Dreamliner” plant in North Charleston &#8211; filing suit to keep the plant from opening. Following years of failed negotiations with labor unions in Washington state, Boeing chose to open its new 787 plant in South Carolina at the location of a small Boeing plant whose workers had just voted overwhelmingly to de-certify (kick out) the union in their plant. In a highly-publicized battle led by House Republicans, including a tense House subcommittee hearing held near the site of the new plant, the NLRB was taken to task for what was believed to be government retaliation on behalf of labor unions. Last week, after Boeing completed negotiations with labor unions at their Seattle production plants, the NLRB dropped their case against Boeing just in time for the first Dreamliners to roll off production lines.</p>
<p>While the Boeing case may be closed, South Carolina hasn’t stopped fighting back. South Carolina State Senator Paul Campbell (R-Goose Creek), a retired Alcoa executive who was one of South Carolina’s negotiators for the 787 plant, predicted that the state’s fight with the NLRB and the labor unions will continue, calling the NLRB a “pawn for labor unions.” South Carolina Congressman Tim Scott (R-North Charleston), a former Charleston County Council Chair who played a key role in efforts to bring both Boeing, as well as the Vought Aerolina plant which was the precursor of the Boeing plant, to the Charleston area, shared Campbell’s view, saying, “Their (the NLRB) side is not the state, their side is not fairness &#8211; their side is the labor unions.”</p>
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		<title>Newt Rising</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/earl-capps/newt-rising/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=newt-rising</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:00:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Earl Capps]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2012 election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newt Gingrich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Carolina primary]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=114175</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A South Carolina pivot. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/image.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-114272" title="image" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/image-300x198.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="198" /></a></p>
<p>The field of candidates seeking the GOP presidential nomination has been in a constant flux, and the role played by South Carolina’s “First in the South” primary has allowed it to ride the many waves of change. The latest candidate to be presented with an opportunity to win the early-voting Palmetto State is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose long-stagnant campaign has seen a recent surge of support.</p>
<p>South Carolina has played a key role in Republican Presidential politics since the primary was first held in 1980. Today, the state&#8217;s role in the Republican primary process is proclaimed by &#8220;We Pick Presidents” bumper stickers distributed by the state’s GOP. While the state’s GOP voters have sometimes backed established front-runners, like Ronald Reagan in 1980 and George W. Bush in 2000, they’ve also gone for those struggling to win elsewhere or making a late surge. Examples of the latter include John McCain, whose 2008 primary win helped his struggling campaign regain traction, and George H.W. Bush in 1988, who was trying to establish a firm lead in the primary field after finishing third in the Iowa caucuses and a tough fight in New Hampshire.</p>
<p>The 2012 primary has featured a large pack of candidates with lots of wild swings in support among them. South Carolina has not been left out of these rapidly-changing currents. Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Mike Huckabee and Rick Perry all generated considerable waves of early enthusiasm with state GOP activists, only to lose ground later on. The newest candidate to surge in the Palmetto State is Gingrich.</p>
<p>Bolstering polls that show growing voter support for Gingrich, GOP activists in the Palmetto State have begun taking increased interest in his candidacy. Growing turnout at campaign events is one promising for the former House speaker&#8217;s prospects in South Carolina. A case in point is a recent question-and-answer session hosted by Charleston Congressman Tim Scott and the College of Charleston, which attracted national news media and filled the venue’s seven hundred seats a full half hour before the event, forcing college officials to turn away many more. This was one of the largest turnouts for any Presidential campaign event in South Carolina so far in this cycle.</p>
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