SC: We Need More Eric Bedingfields

By FITSNews || Eric Bedingfield doesn’t look (or sound) the part of a principled reformer.  He’s a good ole boy … and in South Carolina that invariably means he’s all about corruption, hypocrisy and wasting your tax dollars. But while Bedingfield walks and talks like a typical “Columbia joker,” he sure doesn’t vote that way.  In fact, last year Bedingfield was one of only fifteen lawmakers (out of 176) in the entire S.C. General Assembly to earn an “A” grade from the S.C. Club for Growth for his votes to limit government spending.  That’s consistent with his voting record in the past, and is a performance he is reprising this session.

Yet what makes Bedingfield’s brand of fiscal conservatism noteworthy is not only how he votes, but how willingly (and publicly) he speaks out against the “tax and spend” RINOs (DICs) who make up the legislative leadership of both the S.C. House and the State Senate.  The most recent example of this occurred during the debate over the cigarette tax, where “Republican” leaders like Speaker Bobby Harrell and Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman pushed through the state’s largest tax hike in more than a quarter century – and did so without a corresponding tax decrease or long-overdue reforms to our state’s broken tax code and health care delivery system.

More on that here.

Anyway, in standing up against the tax hike, Bedingfield once again hit the nail on the head when it comes to diagnosing the fundamental problem with the SCGOP.

Here, in its entirety, is Bedingfield’s statement from last week’s debate:

When I first ran for the House of Representatives, I was overwhelmed with the constant urging of those in my community who asked me not to turn my back on them the way Washington Republicans did. I gave my promise that I would not let Columbia and its tax and spend constituency consume me.

My friends, our single most unifying message—a message that has attracted millions to elect a Republican majority in South Carolina– is that we stand against the tax and spend agenda.

Today, I am standing up as I promised those who elected me I would, to say enough is enough. We are a party with core values, and those values require us to say no to raising any tax that funds a Medicaid program that is spiraling out of control with waste, fraud and abuse. I know the cigarette tax is popular among some, but it is just plain bad public policy to use it as a program funding source. As a legislative body we can cobble together support to tax just about anything… but just because we can do it doesn’t mean it’s right. Yes, we are in tough budget times right now. We will be for some time to come. After we pass this tax, what comes next? We have infrastructure needs. Are we going to increase the gas tax next?

As Republicans, and as South Carolina’s leaders, I am urging my colleagues to do what is right. Stop this tax increase to fund Obama’s Medicaid mess and get back to our core values.

Amen, people.  Amen.

Sources tell FITS that Bedingfield’s words were even more pointed during a closed-door GOP Caucus meeting that took place prior to the House voting 90-29 to override Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a fifty-cent-per-pack cigarette tax increase.  We’ve also been told that the Upstate lawmaker has been threatened with retribution by Speaker Harrell for his aggressive pro-taxpayer advocacy.

That’s a shame, but it’s not surprising from Harrell – who has demonstrated he’s more than willing to be vindictive in his efforts to preserve South Carolina’s “tax and spend” status quo.

The bottom line, though, is that South Carolina’s “Republican-controlled” General Assembly is simply not listening to leaders like Bedingfield – whether on the cigarette tax hike or on a host of other tax and spending increases that are currently part of next year’s $21.1 billion budget, which is the state’s largest ever.

Until they start listening (and start fulfilling the “less government” portion of their campaign rhetoric), our state will continue to be an anti-competitive economic wasteland …