Archive for the ‘Nikki Haley’ Category

My AJC colleague Dan Chapman sends word that Georgia surmounted a huge environmental hurdle today when a South Carolina agency voted to let the deepening of the Savannah River move forward.

We’ll add a link when his article is up.

Last month, the staff of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control denied a permit needed to dredge 32 miles of the Savannah River. Thursday, the staff reversed itself and said all environmental issues had been satisfactorily addressed. The DHEC board, appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley, then voted unanimously to approve the permit.

Last month, in a prelude to a meeting with Gov. Nathan Deal, Haley was already softening her tone. “Every port is different and every port has its challenges, ” Haley said to a South Carolina business group. “We have to say, ‘What do we need to do that is right for the region? What do we need to do so that all are successful?’ There’s ways to do that.”

Haley is taking hometown flak. One local blog has accused …

Continue reading Horse-trading and the Port of Savannah »

The 2012 Project, a non-partisan campaign to lure more women into politics, will pay a visit to the state Capitol on Friday.

Georgia is one of 20 states that have no women in their congressional delegations, organizers point out. (Although the race for the “new” 9th Congressional District has Republican Martha Zoller, the Gainesville radio talk show host.)

Yet the South has no copyright when it comes to glass ceilings. From today’s Washington Post:

Friction about the roles of women in the Obama White House grew so intense during the first two years of the president’s tenure that he was forced to take steps to reassure senior women on his staff that he valued their presence and their input.

At a dinner in November 2009, several senior female aides complained directly to the president that men enjoyed greater access to him and often muscled them out of key policy discussions.

Those tensions prompted Obama, urged on by senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, to elevate more women …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: The White House’s glass ceiling and the Richards Effect »

In the aftermath of Monday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash to block, at least temporarily, key provisions of Georgia’s new immigration law, Attorney General Sam Olens tried to look on the bright side.

“[E]ven after this ruling, 21 of the 23 sections of HB 87 will go into effect as planned. My office plans to appeal the court’s finding that Sections 7 and 8 of the law are preempted,” Olens said in a quickly issued news release.

Last night, former DeKalb County judge Keegan Federal, one of the attorneys seeking to block HB 87, used his blog to dismiss any attempt by Olens or other state officials to claim victory. From Federal’s Law:

We only challenged two of provisions. The other 21 weren’t argued, and Judge Thrash certainly didn’t “uphold” them. We won total victory on those sections of the statute we sought to invalidate at this phase…..

It is true that a “substantive” provision dealing with E-Verify was not overturned by the judge — and …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Parsing claims of victory in illegal immigration decision »

Important Republicans continue to wonder whether Newt Gingrich may have snapped a foreleg as he left the gate on Sunday.

The same Wall Street Journal editorial page that last week pilloried former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as fatally compromised — because of his efforts at health care reform while governor of Massachusetts – today takes aim at the former Georgia congressman:

Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday about Paul Ryan’s reform plan, Mr. Gingrich chose to throw his former allies in the GOP House not so much under the bus as off the Grand Canyon rim….

Our guess is that a politician as experienced as Mr. Gingrich knew exactly what he was doing and that as he runs for President, he wants to appear to be more moderate than he has sounded over the last, oh, 20 years, by suddenly triangulating against the GOP House he once led.

Nikki Haley, governor of South Carolina, has expressed skepticism of Newt Gingrich’s presidential run before. But has given her …

Continue reading Nikki Haley, others stew over Newt Gingrich’s health care remarks »

Shirley Franklin’s Blogging While Blue this morning is all about talk of a 2012 Democratic challenge to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson:

Political insiders have told Blogging While Blue, that Johnson is making the rounds trying to measure support for his run. The biggest obstacle to challenging an incumbent congressman is name recognition and money. Johnson, a judge, should be able to leverage his contacts to raise a substantial amount of money.

In addition, Johnson is married to the daughter of Hamilton Holmes, Allison Holmes Johnson. Hamilton Homes integrated the University of Georgia in 1961 and was a pillar in Black Atlanta. What’s even more significant is that Allison grew up in Southwest Atlanta, which is seen as one of the political power centers of African American politics in Atlanta, and Johnson should be able to tap into her network of friends and associates.

The office of Gov. Nathan Deal this morning confirmed …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Fulton judge to run against John Lewis? »

Newt Gingrich will have to prove that he’s still relevant and Donald Trump may want to check his potty mouth at the door, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Wednesday, on the eve of the first debate in the 2012 race for the GOP presidential nomination.

The Greenville, S.C., event — to be broadcast at 9 p.m. tonight by Fox News — will be somewhat diminished by the fact that several major players will be missing.

Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina. Associated Press

Five candidates will be featured: Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty; Herman Cain, the former Atlanta radio talk-show host; former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania; U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas; and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.

Neither Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker, nor Trump, the celebrity real estate magnate, will be in the state for tonight’s opening bell. Neither will former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

But they’ll all come sooner or later. Since 1980, no Republican nominee has …

Continue reading Nikki Haley: Newt Gingrich will have to prove he’s ’still relevant’ in S.C. »

It’s still morning, and over at Politico, Jonathan Martin already has the quote of the day.

From his look at Alvin Greene and South Carolina politics:

State Rep. Anton Gunn, an up-and-coming Democrat, said there is now a national perception about the state along the lines of, “If you want to hear something crazy, if you want to see something stupid, come to South Carolina.”

“I don’t agree with it,” he added, “but there’s this imagery of us being the whoopee cushion of the nation, and we continue to exacerbate that.”

Updated at 12:17 p.m.: A few minutes ago, a loyal reader called to say that he’d heard the “whoopee cushion” line before – from Jon Stewart with “The Daily Show:”

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

Continue reading South Carolina as ‘the whoopee cushion of the nation’ »

On the day that Nikki Haley is likely to nab the GOP nomination to become his all-but-certain replacement, the man who made the Appalachian Trail a code word for philandering has disappeared.

Again.

This time, we’re headed straight to baggage claim at Hartsfield-Jackson. From The State newspaper in Columbia:

Nearly one year to the day that Gov. Mark Sanford embarked on a secret trip to Argentina and turned S.C. politics on its ear, Sanford’s whereabouts are unknown to the press and the public.

Monday, Sanford’s spokesman Ben Fox told The State Sanford is on “personal time” but declined to say where the governor is.

Sanford is due back in the office this morning, Fox said. He spent most of the Father’s Day weekend with his four sons, and the governor has been in communication with his staff over the weekend and Monday, Fox added.

State Law Enforcement Division Director Reggie Lloyd said Sanford has security with him but would not elaborate.

“We’ve left it up to …

Continue reading A year later, Gov. Mark Sanford disappears — again »

In the midst of a runoff, South Carolina evangelicals are beginning to discuss the Sikh heritage of Republican candidate for governor Nikki Haley. From CNN’s Political Ticker blog:

Nikki Haley, who narrowly missed winning GOP nomination for governor without a runoff/Associated Press

Haley was raised Sikh but converted to Christianity at the age of 24 and now attends a Methodist church in Lexington County, her campaign says.

CNN surveyed nearly two dozen faith leaders and conservative activists across the state on Monday to see what their communities are saying about Haley’s religion as she stands on the verge of capturing the GOP nomination.

Few predicted that questions about Haley’s background will hurt her in the runoff against Barrett or in a general election match-up against Democrat Vincent Sheheen. But most said that in the wake of Haley’s swift rise, her religious journey has become an increasingly common topic of discussion in churches, at community gatherings and …

Continue reading S.C. evangelicals begin to take measure of Nikki Haley’s Sikh heritage »