With great fanfare and pride, Gov. Nikki Haley has been peppering speeches and interviews with her dedication to job creation. Her latest talking point — 10,000 new jobs in South Carolina since she took office in January — prompted a closer look.
After repeated questions from the Associated Press, not just about the numbers but about the governor’s part in creating jobs, the governor’s office revised the total downward.
It was not hard to find additional examples to those cited by AP to discount Haley’s claims. Many of the jobs included in the report were in the works long before she took office (and announced early in the year). Others were a direct result of the previous administration’s efforts, and several hundred will come to the state despite her continued efforts to block the deal that would bring them here.
In several of the cases we looked at, it appears that Haley’s sole contribution was to show up for a grand opening or ribbon cutting. The Tanger Outlet expansion in Beaufort that will result in 350 new jobs has reportedly been in the works since 2005. The company has been in the state since 2003.
In the case of Atlantic Beverage in Spartanburg and its additional 300 jobs (announced Jan. 26), it seems more credit should go to a Spartanburg economic development group and the state’s technical school system for that success. The area’s technical school will provide training for new employees, cited by the business as a plus in its decision. (It’s worth noting that one of Haley’s vetoes cut funding for technical schools to provide just such training — including at Boeing, another success story of the previous administration. Haley didn’t include Boeing on her list, but we’ll bet she wanted to. She did, after all, attend a ceremony.)
For months, Haley opposed the Amazon.com deal worked out by her predecessor and the previous head of the state Department of Commerce. She spoke out against the state’s agreement — with a distribution center already underway in Lexington — to allow the online retailer not to collect sales taxes.
Her consistent and constant opposition almost worked. A few days after the General Assembly voted down the deal, Haley and Wal-Mart officials announced the expansion of that company’s facilities in South Carolina. (Wal-Mart was leading the charge to fight the Amazon.com deal after organizing other big-box stores and some smaller merchants into a strong PR campaign of opposition. The state had no part in securing the Wal-Mart jobs, but its announcement of 4,000 jobs over five years accounted for almost half of the final tally released by Haley’s office.)
The General Assembly subsequently reversed its position (and managed to sweeten the deal for the state with more than 700 additional jobs and a five-year limit on the sales-tax exemption).
Haley finally acknowledged to AP that she counted “jobs that did not involve the state” in the much-publicized list, and that “some of the deals were handled before she took office.” But she attributed their inclusion to her enthusiasm.
“Naturally, anything coming in, there were some started by the previous administration,” Haley said.
“I don’t know exactly which ones are before or after. Either way, we’re quite excited to have each and every one of those jobs,” Haley said.
Haley does have one thing right: Jobs are jobs, whether the number is 10 or 100 or even 1,000. We’ve always believed that even four or five jobs represents four or five South Carolina families who will be more productive citizens and, with their expanded spending power through employment, help other South Carolina families and businesses get back on their feet.
Any number of new jobs in our state represents positive change, any way you look at it.
But here’s what she has wrong: Haley took up part of a recent cabinet meeting to rant against “the media” as being negative about our state. South Carolina journalists aren’t negative about our state. If anything, we’re cheerleaders as much as we are critics, whether we are born and bred or here by choice. Most of us just believe in celebrating real victories, not dressed-up-in-doubletalk PR.
Reporters and editors in South Carolina aren’t negative about our state, just about Haley’s murky math.
It doesn’t appear our governor is putting her Clemson accounting degree to much use these days.
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2011/jul/24/math-not-haleys-strong-suit/