Winning the Taxpayer Champion Award
I’m extremely grateful to the S.C. Club for Growth for naming me one of its Taxpayer Champions for 2009. I was one of 11 senators to win the award. In announcing the winners, the Club’s executive director, Matt Moore, explained the organization’s intentions in creating and releasing the scorecards on which the awards are based.
“S.C. Club for Growth has again created an incredible guide for taxpayers,” Moore said in a statement about the scorecards. “It’s too easy for legislators to say they are a fiscal conservative during election years and then act completely different once in Columbia – that’s why we diligently track how legislators are really voting. South Carolina taxpayers continue to watch their wallets and deserve to know who is really fighting for them. We are happy to help.”
During my campaigns, I explained where I stood. During my time in the General Assembly, I’ve taken actions to prove it. Since I arrived to shake up Columbia, I’ve pushed for on-the-record voting and important earmark reform. Last year, I voted to make sure the S.C. Ports Authority is accountable, that the Taxation Realignment Commission wouldn’t stick us with tax increases and voted for the alternative budget proposed by fellow award winners Sens. Tom Davis and Greg Ryberg.
I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish so far as the first Republican to represent Senate District 25. A lot of people said there would be no way a conservative could win the seat that had been held by liberals for so many years. But it didn’t have to be so. In District 25, like the rest of our great state, taxpayers have had enough of business-as-usual politics, where they find out their money is being spent without accountability on bad policy.
That’s why I ran in the first place. You deserve to know how your money is being spent, by whom and for what. That way we can stop runaway spending, and bring pressure to bear on elected officials who act like they aren’t listening to your wishes. These days, that sort of thinking is desperately needed in Washington.
Liberals in DC are out of control. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. They’ve gone all out for the so-called “cap-and-trade,” which will do nothing except hurt business and raise energy prices. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is important, as is finding alternative fuel sources. But, this isn’t the way to do it.
Recently, the legislation grabbing the headlines is Democrats trying to jam a European socialist-style health care policy down the throats of the American public. They know there’s so little broad-based support, they’ve had to cut backroom deals, and are reconciling the House and Senate bills in the same fashion. That can’t continue to happen.
This is why I’m running for Congress. We’ve shaken up Columbia. Now we need to shake up Washington.
