SC Gov. McMaster calls for unity hours after Trump impeached for role in Capitol riot
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster called for unity Wednesday night between political parties, a week after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol and hours after the Columbia Republican’s ally, President Donald Trump, was impeached for his alleged role in the breach.
“We are not competitors,” the governor said in his fourth State of the State address before most of the state Legislature Wednesday night, a nod to his inaugural remarks two years ago after he won his first term in office.
“We are all on the same team.”
McMaster called the year — only 13 days in — “tumultuous, with shocking and disturbing displays of violence, lawlessness, anger and rage all across the country.”
“We recently witnessed the shocking and sad desecration in our beloved Capitol in Washington,” he said. “The voices and volume have become so loud that many Americans are not listening to each other. But this too shall pass. It will.”
President Trump spoke at a rally of his supporters a week ago, repeating false claims of widespread voter fraud and insisting the Nov. 3 election was stolen from him without offering evidence. From the rally, a crowd headed to the Capitol where they clashed with police, broke into the building and ransacked offices and the chambers.
Five people have died in the riots wake, including a Capitol Police officer. A second police officer who responded to the riot died by suicide while off duty, according to media reports.
A second police officer who responded to the riot died by suicide while off duty, according to media reports.
Last week, when asked whether he would invite Trump back to South Carolina to help with his 2022 reelection, McMaster did not say. He also defended the president then, asking that people not judge Trump, or any former president, and let one event “overwhelm” the good things he had accomplished in his one term.
In his more than 5,000-word speech Wednesday, McMaster did not mention Trump’s name once.
Setting goals for SC’s new year
As tradition goes, the governor used his speech to outline spending and policy priorities he will hope the General Assembly agrees to in the new year. But unlike previous years, the House chamber was not entirely full after many lawmakers — mostly Democrats — stayed home unwilling to put themselves at risk of contracting the virus.
One notable face was in attendance, former Gov. David Beasley, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work overseeing the World Food Program.
The governor called again for the expansion of 4-year-old kindergarten and asked the Legislature to unfreeze the yearly pay bump South Carolina teachers get, as outlined in his executive budget. He did not ask lawmakers to spend more money on another teacher pay raise but said, while COVID-19 has “delayed that raise,” it has not delayed “my commitment.”
The governor’s vision is for “moving South Carolina forward,” House budget chief Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, told The State.
“Bringing us out of this pandemic (and) trying to do it as quickly as possible as safely as possible, and then make sure that we have an economy that continues to grow and continues to outperform the rest of the southeast,” Smith said.
McMaster also called for setting aside $500 million in reserves in case of another economic downturn and $123 million more to help the state’s small businesses hit hard by COVID-19.
“I’m very pleased to see that he didn’t fall into that temptation to go out and spend all the money we have and then if we had an economic downturn … we would have problems and so he’s recognized that,” Smith said. “It’s a conservative and optimistic budget.”
McMaster also called on lawmakers to resolve the future of Santee Cooper, the state’s public utility, and criticized laws on the books making it difficult to remove Santee Cooper’s board members.
The House will decide soon whether to reopen the bidding process for a potential sale after frustration with NextEra, a Florida-based energy giant that has pitched an aggressive bid to buy, while also pushing for reforms. Meanwhile, the Senate is more split with opposing groups against a sale and against keeping the utility’s management as is.
“This rogue agency and its leadership have displayed arrogance and contempt for state law and the truth,” McMaster said in his address Wednesday night. “Their incompetence helped create the largest nuclear power fiasco in modern times. They have saddled their customers with billions of dollars in debt and have ignored the authority of our constitutional officers and this General Assembly, creating a toxic environment inside this State House.”
State Rep. Sylleste Davis, a Republican whose Berkeley County district includes Santee Cooper and who worked for the utility for 31 years, did not applaud during the governor’s discussion of the state-owned utility.
“I was glad that he didn’t just say, ‘Oh, we have to sell it,’ ” Davis said. “So to me, that tells me that we are starting to seriously look at reform as an end goal, and I think that’s where we should be. I think that reform of any agency is a great thing.”
The governor also reupped his message to lawmakers over the so-called fetal “heartbeat bill,” which would effectively ban abortion at six weeks into pregnancy, when many women may not know they are pregnant. Republican leaders have said abortion will be a priority this session. A Senate panel has its first hearing on the bill — S. 1 — Thursday morning.
“It’s time to vote,” McMaster said to a standing applause. “Send me the heartbeat bill, and I will immediately sign it into law.”
Not all were impressed with the governor’s speech.
“I heard no bold ideas, I heard no progress being made, and it seemed like a regurgitation of all the other things that we’ve talked about in the past,” said House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland. “There was some things in there, but they weren’t things to move South Carolina forward.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 7:06 PM with the headline "SC Gov. McMaster calls for unity hours after Trump impeached for role in Capitol riot."
