Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Nikkie Haley, Spending, and The GOP Hypocrisy

Renee Dudley wrote the following for The Post and Courier:
Gov. Nikki Haley's weeklong trip to Europe in June in search of "jobs, jobs, jobs" cost South Carolinians more than $127,000. But the governor and her entourage of more than two dozen returned without any finished deals to bring new employers to the Palmetto State.

Haley, who captured the governor's office preaching fiscal restraint, spent the cash so she, her husband and the rest of the state's contingent could stay in five-star hotels; sip cocktails at the Paris Ritz; dine on what an invitation touted as "delicious French cuisine" at a swanky rooftop restaurant; and rub elbows with the U.S. Ambassador to France at his official residence near the French presidential palace.

The South Carolina group also threw a soiree at the Hotel de Talleyrand, a historic Parisian townhouse where they feted foreign employers in hopes they'd set up shop in South Carolina.

The Department of Commerce billed the $25,000 event as a "networking opportunity for members of the South Carolina delegation."

"It was a great party," Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt said in an interview last week.

Expenses from the trip still are being submitted, Hitt said. The $127,000 figure represents spending only by the Commerce Department, which covered many but not all of Haley's expenses, he said.

It's unclear exactly what Haley accomplished during the taxpayer-funded excursion. Many documents released Monday to The Post and Courier in response to a July 7 Freedom of Information Act request were heavily redacted.

During a press conference -- unrelated to the trip -- Friday afternoon in Charleston, Haley told the newspaper the state "closed two deals" while abroad. She referred further questions to the Commerce Department.

In a follow-up interview Friday, Hitt said the state, in fact, closed no deals. Two agreements involving foreign employers are in the works, he said. He provided no details.
What is the national significance and how this relates the current GOP field - particularly the tea party favorites?

Michele Bachmann recently spent the night at the South Carolina governor's mansion for the second time this year.

Rick Perry teamed up with the governor to promote the "Cut, Cap, And Balance Pledge."

Ron Paul even speaks at the same events as the tea party favorite.

All these candidates attack the government over spending and claim to be fiscally conservative.  The tea party loves to attack the president over every vacation or overseas trip.  Remember the lies surrounding his India visit?

So here you have these candidate's "fiscally conservative" pal vacationing in France on the taxpayer's dime throwing lavish soirees with nothing to show.

By the way, where are all the bobble heads on Fox News to cry about this waste of money?  They loved that whole Obama-spends-$200-million-per-day-India-trip lie so you would think they would jump on this.

2 comments:

  1. IOKIYAR, and it's really really OK is your are an attractive woman in the GOP. Two deals, no deals? Who cares? Nikki got to got to Paris on someone else's dime. She now has foreign affairs experience when the GOP nominee comes calling.

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  2. If they really had 27 people in their group and were in Paris, dining in upscale restaurants, staying in a beautiful hotel, not to mention airfare, transportation, etc. $127k while not a drop in the bucket, would be a reasonable amount to spend. However, I'm sure the total cost will be much, much higher when every expense is tallied after all are submitted.

    Haley is a joke and proved from day one that she'll say and do anything to get elected but once there, she's going to do whatever she wants to do. Remember the raises her staff received? Many of them were exorbitant but she brushed it off as if it is nobody's business including the citizens of SC.

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