Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : THE WHITE HOUSE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (25292)	12/11/2008 4:57:29 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 25737

Who?

To: longnshort who wrote (25292)	12/31/2008 4:29:44 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25737

South Carolina Governor Backs Down on Jobless Funds January 1, 2009 By ADAM NOSSITER nytimes.com COLUMBIA, S.C. — Just hours before the unemployment benefits fund was to run out in South Carolina, the state with the nation’s third-highest jobless rate, Gov. Mark Sanford relented Wednesday and agreed to apply for $146 million in federal funds to top it up, after weeks of refusing to do so. The governor’s position had drawn rebukes even from fellow Republicans in the legislature, one of whom denounced him as “heartless.” Newspaper editorial pages in South Carolina questioned why he was adding to the anxiety of the state’s 77,000 unemployed residents. Legislators here said they could recall no governor ever refusing to ask for unemployment funds. For weeks Mr. Sanford, known for a philosophy in favor of a free market and against government aid, stuck to his stand, questioning the probity of the South Carolina Employment Security Commission and demanding an audit of the agency. He has repeatedly said he did not trust the agency’s calculation of the state’s unemployment rate. Its executive director warned that the agency would have to stop issuing benefit checks to the jobless after today if the governor did not back down and ask the federal government for the money. Finally, on Wednesday morning, Mr. Sanford said at a news conference in his office at the state house that he would request the money. “We will not punish the unemployed for this agency’s incompetence,” he said. But the governor continued to insist that he would demand an audit of the unemployment office _ though one prominent legislator, senate president pro tem Glenn McConnell, also a Republican, questioned the need for one, in an interview.