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The 2014 Vetoes – Drumroll, please . . .

Gov. Haley has issued her vetoes on the upcoming budget. For a full list please check here.

As I study the full impact of each – and I like a lot of what I see – a couple deserve immediate comment.

The $12,000/year raise for legislators – A 54% raise? Really? Can you actually form the words and say it out loud? The next time you hit that pothole, ask yourself if the legislature deserves to be paid more. To add insult to injury, this raise also increases retirement pay for us. This idea originated in the Senate. When it came over to the House, I voted against it.

The $150,000 of non-recurring tax revenue to Greenville Children’s Museum – This veto was included in a batch of vetoes that included money for the Woodrow Wilson Family Home, the SC Hall of Fame, the Walhalla Civic Auditorium Historic Preservation, and historic preservation in the town of Eastover.

I am confused as to why the Children’s Museum was included on this list other than the word “museum.” The other vetoes are directed at historic preservation. The Children’s Museum currently is a hand’s on activity center for children. The “exhibits” focus on engineering, music, science, medicine, construction, etc. – not exactly the same type of facility as a civic auditorium.

Finally, much is being made of the Governor not vetoing the Arts Commission. This brings to mind the following quote by William Faulkner from The Paris Review about funding the arts:

No. The writer doesn’t need economic freedom. All he needs is a pencil and some paper. I’ve never known anything good in writing to come from having accepted any free gift of money. The good writer never applies to a foundation. He’s too busy writing something. If he isn’t first rate he fools himself by saying he hasn’t got time or economic freedom. Good art can come out of thieves, bootleggers, or horse swipes. People really are afraid to find out just how much hardship and poverty they can stand. They are afraid to find out how tough they are. Nothing can destroy the good writer. The only thing that can alter the good writer is death. Good ones don’t have time to bother with success or getting rich.