Glenn McConnell Responds to Supreme Court Ruling

June 5, 2009 by senatormcconnell

Columbia, SC – June 4, 2009 – South Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore
Glenn McConnell released the following statement today in response to the
State Supreme Court’s stimulus lawsuit ruling:

I want to first applaud the South Carolina Supreme Court for understanding
the time constraints faced by our citizens regarding the potential loss of
the stimulus money and quickly and thoroughly dealing with the two lawsuits
that were pending before it. It was very important that our Supreme Court
hear and decide the constitutional arguments and not a federal judge.

Unfortunately, that is where this process began in an attempt to have a
federal judge interpret our state constitution. This attempt to circumvent
our judiciary needlessly delayed a ruling and cost taxpayers money.
Thankfully, Judge Anderson understood that important state decisions need to
be made in the state courts and returned them to our Supreme Court.

I believe that this ruling against the Governor allows the people¹s elected
representatives to make policy and ensure that our Governor must execute
that policy. Otherwise, we would have had a situation where one person
could make policy and execute it. That is too much power to consolidate
under one individual and I am glad that the Supreme Court reinforced the
separation of powers and the duties of each of the branches of government.

I hope that today’s decision will end the lawsuits. We need to move forward
now that this decision is behind us. I hope that the Governor will comply
with the Court’s order and that third parties will not file actions to
prevent or delay these monies from being used for the benefit of our
citizens.

Many South Carolinians will be celebrating today but I urge caution in their
optimism. This influx of money is temporary and I fear it will drastically
damage our nation. While our federal government becomes majority owner in
private companies like General Motors, foreign nations like China become
majority owners of our debts. You and I know what debt means. It means
someone else owns you. It means you are not truly free.

It’s becoming more evident every time President Obama reads from his
teleprompter that our nation’s freedom is as risk. This federal bailout will
only cause more economic strife. Big government will not grow our economy.
It will only grow inflation while energy costs skyrocket, businesses
struggle to keep their doors open, workers lose their jobs, and more
Americans become dependent on government handouts.

Make no mistake about it. I wholeheartedly oppose President Obama’s spending
spree. However, I also realize that the only thing more fiscally
irresponsible than spending money we don¹t have is allowing our taxpayers to
pay back money spent in other states. South Carolina taxpayers will be
footing the bill so we should take the money to help fund the basic core
functions of state government.

Today’s decision is bittersweet. I am happy to see the courts protect our
constitution from this unprecedented power grab. I am happy that our state
will meet its obligations during this tough economic crisis. I am happy that
the dollars of South Carolina’s hardworking taxpayers won¹t be sent to other
states. Still, I’m deeply troubled by the staunch reminder of the direction
in which our nation is heading on the federal level.

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