Rep. Nathan Ballentine Continues the fight for people, not politics
March 15, 2010 | 1 Comment
2010 Session Begins
January 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Merry Christmas
December 17, 2009 | 2 Comments
From my family to yours, Merry Christmas!
Get Involved
November 5, 2009 | 1 Comment
My new video update from the First Tuesday Republican Luncheon
Video: Irmo Community Prayer Breakfast
October 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Always great to see so many community members come together for prayer, worship, and inspiration!
The music of Henry Flowers, IV and Cherie Murray (Irmo High Senior) and the message from Principal Eddie Walker (Irmo High School) were an inspiration to us all.
Thanks again to our sponsors and to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church for hosting this year’s event!
Next year…. First Baptist of Irmo .
Great time! This year’s Community Cookout
August 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Thanks again to all those who made this year’s cookout another great event for our community!
From the sponsors/hosts/contributors to those that showed up for their first-ever “political event”, thank you!
We had several elected officials attend and give our neighbors a chance to speak with them one-on-one in a casual setting. I was also very pleased that my efforts to personally stuff over 1,000 newspaper boxes with an invitation resulted in folks showing-up for the first-time to meet neighbors and other officials.
Thanks again to the following elected officials who attended:
US Congressman Joe Wilson
State Comptroller Richard Eckstrom
State Senator John Courson
State Representatives Chip Huggins, Ted Pitts, Nikki Haley
Richland County Councilman Bill Malinowski
Chapin Mayor Stan Shealy
Irmo Town Councilmembers Hardy King, Barry Walker
Lexington/Richland District 5 Board Members Robert Gantt, Jan Hammond, Carol Sloop, Ellen Baumgardner, Roberta Ferrell
Also attending were the Presidents/CEO of the Irmo Chamber of Commerce (Meredith Allyn) and Chapin Chamber of Commerce (Laura Howell).
Special thanks again to Bert Pooser for his hospitality at The Rusty Anchor and The Quarterdeck . Also to Sticky Fingers for their food and beverage service, and to Jim LeBlanc for his acoustic music.
Also, thanks to Elizabeth Donehue for coordinating the event with her first-class attention to detail!
Community Cookout coming August 18th!
July 16, 2009 | 1 Comment
Two years ago, I hosted a Community Cookout to give everyone tthe opportunity to meet/speak with several local elected officials all in one place….right in our community!
This year, I’m doing it again!
I hope you’ll make plans to attend…more information will be posted in the next two weeks!
The following local elected officials have confirmed* their attendance for the event:
Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer
State Attorney General Henry McMaster
State Comptroller Richard Eckstrom
Senator John Courson
Senator Ronnie Cromer
Representative Nikki Haley
Representative Chip Huggins
Representative Ted Pitts
Chapin Mayor Stan Shealy
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lot
Richland County Coroner Gary Watts
Richland County Councilman Bill Malinowski
Lexington County Councilman Johnny Jeffcoat
Irmo Town Councilmembers: Hardy King, Kathy Condom, Barry Walker
Lexington/Richland School District Five Board Members: Carol Sloop, Jan Hammond, Ellen Baumgardner, Roberta Ferrell
*confirmed as of July 20, 2009
WIS Newswatch (Part Two): June 14, 2009
June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
…more from our interview with Ben Hoover….
WIS Newswatch (Part One) – June 14, 2009
June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Even thought he’s not on Twitter (like most of WIS folks: Judi Gatson , Jackie Faye , Stewart Moore, Drew Stewart , Mandy Mitchell ) I still agreed to sit down with Ben Hoover to talk about this past legislative session (which will end tomorrow when the House/Senate return for a few vetoes and hopefully some conference reports on pending legislation).
While Representative Anton Gunn and I are on opposite sides of the aisle (he’s a Democrat), we are continuing to work on ways to find some common ground on issues and hopefully continue to improve the tone of SC politics.
As I share during the interview, most politicians view compromise as “lose, lose”. Instead, we have to view it as a chance to work together in hopes of improving our state.
And with some this past year (and recent events), that would be some welcome change around our state!
(For more of this inteview, click here )
My floor remarks on the SC budget (ETV)
May 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
When I ran for office years ago, folks often said they never knew “what went on in Columbia”. They either said they didn’t pay attention or didn’t know how to find the information about their representative.
Nathan’s News readers already know where to go to (here or of course the State House website ).
If you’re so inclined you can even watch live-stream video of House and Senate via ETV and…. thanks to the new transparency rule changes adopted this year , the House and Senate Journals now show more recorded votes than ever!
For those that don’t have the time (or care, really) to watch live, here’s a clip from a few weeks back when I spoke on an “alternative budget” amendment presented by some of us in the House and the Senate.
Not only did the amendment fail, the House wouldn’t even agree to take a measley 24 hours to review it and just CONSIDER the idea of an alternative to what we received earlier that day at lunch. Nathan’s News readers already know that the amendment before this one (which was basically “the budget” put together by a few folks from House/Senate) was handed to us at lunch and we had to vote on that just hours afterwards . Again, with no time to review/consider/discuss with constituents and others.
Sometimes legislation takes years (cigarette tax, restructuring, etc); but other times the train gets on a fast track and…well….not sure which way is better now that I think of it.