Nikki Haley in Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley
On Abortion:
I'm pro-life because someone saved my husband's life
When [my future husband Michael] was three, he and his our siblings were removed from their home by the state. His biological mother got in a car accident and suffered a brain injury.
She was no longer able to care for the kids, so Michel and his two sisters were put in foster care in one home, and two others went to different homes nearby.
When he was four, he and his younger sister were adopted by an amazing couple, Bill and Carole Haley, who couldn't have children of their own.In politics people assume that if you're a
Republican you're prolife because the party tells you to be. I'm prolife because I got a chance to spend every day with the love of my life knowing that I am blessed that someone saved his life. I would be lost without him.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 26-28
Apr 3, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
Trained as bookkeeper for family business at age 12
My mom opened a gift shop of treasures imported from all over the world that took off. One day my mother's bookkeeper, Miss Joyce McMillian, announced that she had taken another job. My mom grabbed my arm. She stood me in front of the bookkeeper and
said, "I want you to train her."Miss Joyce laughed. "Her? Raj, you can't be serious. She's 12!"
"If you teach her, she can do it," my mom replied.
So Miss Joyce trained me. Mom would do the bankbooks, and I did the taxes and everything else.
Mom paid me, of course, but she kept every other paycheck because I was earning my "keep". I was writing checks for the business and keeping the general ledger when I was 13 years old. I told my friends
I worked in the store after school, but we never discussed exactly what I did. It wasn't until I went to Clemson and studied accounting that I realized that all 12 & 13 year olds aren't versed in the business tax code.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 22-23
Apr 3, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
2009: Reject stimulus funds because it creates new costs
I fought against President Obama's stimulus bill, Washington's desperate attempt to boost the stagnant economy. The money promised to the states in the bill came with strings attached--long, strong strings. In the area of unemployment insurance, for
example, the stimulus mandated that states change their programs to broaden eligibility--and create new costs--as a condition of receiving the money. But what would happen when the money ran out? I supported Governor Sanford in his fight for South
Carolina to reject the stimulus funds because I believed the bill took our state--and our country--in exactly the wrong direction. It mandated more spending instead of less and encouraged us to avoid the difficult but necessary tasks of prioritizing the
way we used tax-payers' money and reigning in government. I supported Governor Sanford in his fight for South Carolina to reject the stimulus funds because I believed the bill took our state--and our country--in exactly the wrong direction.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 72-73
Apr 3, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
S.C. budget was perfect example of unaccountable government
I'm an accountant. Numbers tell me stories. So I would reel off what the history of the numbers in the South Carolina budget told me. It was the perfect example of unaccountable government. In 2005, the S.C. budget was $4 billion. The next year it was
$5 billion. By 2007, it was $6 billion. We had grown government by a billion dollars a year, but no one could really say where it had gone. The people couldn't feel it, and because votes weren't on the record, no one knew who was responsible. And these
were our fellow Republicans running up this spending! The reason, I told everyone who would listen, was simple but fundamental: Our politicians had lost sight of what the role of government should be. Government was intended to secure the rights and
freedoms of the people--period. It was never intended to be all things to all people. If the people whose money is being spent--the taxpayers--controlled government rather that the other way around, government would live within its means.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.111
Apr 3, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
Stimulus funds come with too many strings attached
In the debate, I came back to the theme that Washington DC wasn't the answer to South Carolina's problems.Everyone on stage claimed to be against the stimulus, but they had all agreed that, once it passed,
South Carolina should go ahead and take the money. I was the only one who had argued, along with Governor Sanford, that we shouldn't accept it. There were too many strings attached, I had said.
South Carolina needed a different approach from bailouts that were hurting private-sector job growth, weakening the dollar, and increasing the debt for our children.
I knew that the politically correct answer was to take the money and run. one politician's pork is another politician's desperately needed "investment," right?
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.124-125
Apr 3, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
It's the people's money; government has no prior claim
In my inaugural address I quoted former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher: "Once we concede that public spending and taxation are [more] than a necessary evil, we have lost sight of the core values of freedom."
It wasn't Mrs. Thatcher's most poetic quote, but I liked it because it expressed so well what I wanted for South Carolina. I wanted the people to be awakened to a new role for their government.
I wanted them to understand that their money is theirs--government has no prior claim to it. I wanted them to understand that their freedom is theirs, that it's not the gift of their government but of their creator.
I spoke of vision for South Carolina that draws its energy and inspiration not from the statehouse that stood behind me but from the people who stood before me.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.201-202
Apr 3, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
No debt-ceiling increase without spending cuts & caps
Holding government accountable and breaking the spend-and-borrow cycle is why I worked with Texas governor Rick Perry to recruit other governors to support the "cut, cap and balance" plan in the debt-ceiling negotiations last summer. Governor Perry and
I wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post in which we opposed an increase in the debt ceiling unless 3 commonsense things happened: First, we needed to have substantial cuts in spending. Otherwise, what was the point? Second, we needed to have enforceable
spending caps to prevent Congress from spending extra revenues instead of using them to pay down the debt or returning them to the taxpayers. And third, we wanted to see congressional passage of a balanced-budget amendment to the US Constitution.
The federal government should be forced to do what most of the 50 states already have to do.We didn't get "cut, cap and balance." So what DID we get? A whole lot of talk, some good intentions, but no resolution to our debt crisis.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.231
Apr 3, 2012
On Civil Rights:
Accused of lack of diversity in gubernatorial cabinet
No sooner had I finished naming my cabinet than some members of the Legislative Black Caucus complained of a lack of diversity in my administration. The identity-politics bean counters had done the math. I had appointed 9 white men, 3 white women,
and one African American woman. I guess the governor herself doesn't count!I had recently replaced the receptionist in the governor's office, who was a minority, with my longtime and trusted aide, Eileen Fogle, who is white.
I listened as the Legislative Black Caucus members lectured me about how I was obligated to have a cabinet that "looked like South Carolina."
I didn't think about race or gender when I read resumes or made my appointments, I told them.
I thought about their qualifications. Period. To me, appointing someone because of their race or gender was the same as appointing them as political payback. In both cases, you were putting politics ahead of performance.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.189-190
Apr 3, 2012
On Civil Rights:
Minority & women groups are just special interest groups
During the general-elections campaign, a group of South Carolina women came to me with a pledge they asked me to sign. It committed me to appointing women to high-level positions in my administration if I were elected governor.
My white male opponent immediately signed it. I didn't. I told the group that I wouldn't sign a quota pledge, but I would promise to appoint the best people for the job, regardless of sex. No one is a bigger booster of women in public service than me.
But I didn't want to appoint a woman because she was a woman. I got some heat for this stand.I realized these groups--the groups claiming to represent women and minorities--are just like any other establishment special-interest groups.
They're looking for politicians who will work for them, not for the taxpayers. But I hadn't spent 7 years fighting the old establishment to be bought and paid for by a new establishment.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.191
Apr 3, 2012
On Corporations:
Government makes it harder for struggling small business
[My mom's gift shop was] a small business trying to compete with giant departments stores. But I also noticed how hard it was to make a dollar and how easy it was for government to take it away. Government had its hands in literally every aspect of our
business. Even as a teenager, that really bothered me. Government charged sales tax to our customers, it charged property tax on the building we were in, it taxed the equipment inside the building, and it charged us income tax on what we took in.
We were struggling just to survive, and government was making it harder, not easier.In that store, poring over those books, I learned lessons that shaped me for life. By virtue of hard work and sheer will, my mother built the gift shop in our living
room into a multimillion-dollar high end clothing store. And I learned that small businesses like ours are the engines that create jobs and grow the economy. Government is the deadweight we all drag behind us.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 24-25
Apr 3, 2012
On Corporations:
OpEd: Business-friendliness starts with competitive taxes
I hammered other issues as well, first and foremost jobs. South Carolina had 12% unemployment at the time. My mantra was "We can no longer pass government-friendly legislation: we need to pass business-friendly legislation."
We needed to take better care of the 95% of our economy that was small businesses. I asked voters to put themselves in the shoes of a small-business owner: What would you look for before starting a business in South Carolina?
We needed to create a more business-friendly environment, and that started with a good, competitive tax structure.As an accountant, I could see that we had one of the most complicated, cobbled-together tax systems in the county.
The Department of Revenue administered 32 taxes, but only 3 of them were responsible for over 90% of the state's revenue. The rest were just adding layers of bureaucracy and killing jobs.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.126
Apr 3, 2012
On Corporations:
Government creates conditions; entrepreneurs create jobs
In my first 9 months as governor, we announced over 15,000 new jobs in South Carolina. I say "announced" because government doesn't create jobs. Government can only create the conditions that allow entrepreneurs to create jobs. South Carolina is a
right-to-work state for precisely that purpose--we've seen the job-killing effects of forced-unions laws. I support keeping taxes low on individuals and small businesses because when businesses have extra cash they create jobs.
I've fought Washington regulations, not out of ideology of politics but because they kill jobs.If Congress and the president were serious about putting Americans back to work, they would declare a moratorium on new federal regulations immediately.
The government doesn't create jobs. The private sector creates jobs. The only thing government can do is influence the environment in which jobs will either be created or be destroyed.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.219
Apr 3, 2012
On Environment:
Re-open Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste
I asked the president about South Carolina's Savannah River site, a department of Energy facility that has created thousands of jobs in our state. Nuclear material temporarily stored at the site had been scheduled to be permanently disposed of in
Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The taxpayers had already paid $20 billion to develop Yucca Mountain, including $1.2 billion from South Carolina taxpayers.
But the previous year, the Obama administration had cancelled further work on the project. "Will you keep the promise you made to the people of my state and reopen Yucca Mountain?"
I asked. The president said no. "Then give us our money back." I said. When I go to Best Buy and pay for something that hasn't come in yet, I get my money back if it doesn't come in. What's the difference here?
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.207
Apr 3, 2012
On Government Reform:
Legislative mission: get "voice votes" on the record
One of the worst parts of the political culture in the legislature was the practice of not voting on the record when important pieces of legislation came up. Instead of calling the roll and recording each member's vote, the vast majority of the time the
House and Senate would pass bills by voice vote. That meant legislators would simply shout their votes, and he louder voices prevailed. The taxpayers had no way of knowing who voted for what. Most of the voters weren't even aware this was happening, but
it was a fundamental violation of what we were supposed to be doing, which was representing the people. How could the voters judge us without knowing how we voted? How could we spend the taxpayers' money without being accountable for our choices?
Unlike most states, S.C. had no constitutional or statutory requirement that legislation be passed with a roll-call vote. It was at that point that I discovered my mission: making it possible for the voters to know how their legislators voted.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 63-64
Apr 3, 2012
On Government Reform:
Real-time online check registers for government spending
Another accountability gospel I preached until I was blue in the face was the need for state and local government to show the taxpayers how their money is being spent through online check registers.
These are online databases--Web sites--that provide real-time government spending information to citizens. I knew most of
South Carolinians were too busy with work and family to go online and check on their government's spending habits, but just knowing the check register was there would keep elected officials on their toes. I compared it to having a teacher in a classroom.
If the teacher is around, students behave. If the teacher leaves, the kids cut up, not because they're bad but because they can. Online check registers keep the teacher in the classroom and make legislators more responsible for how they spend.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.112
Apr 3, 2012
On Government Reform:
Term limits force real change in leadership
I learned in the legislature was that I am for term limits. I didn't think I was when I came in, but by the time I left, I knew there needed to be a limit on the time politicians can spend in government.I believe that public officials go to Columbia
or Washington with the best of intentions. But along the way people with energy & good ideas got broken. They were told not to step out of line. From business I was used to the idea that you put your most qualified, best people in positions of authority.
Government didn't work that way. The people who got the plum assignments in the legislature were the people who had gone along with what the leadership told them to do. I didn't think that was right, and term limits would fix that. With only a certain
amount of time to spend in government, legislators wouldn't have time to play the leadership's games. They would work harder at leaving a legacy of accomplishment and real change for the people rather than at satisfying the leadership.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.112-113
Apr 3, 2012
On Government Reform:
Fought S.C. House leadership for roll-call voting
Lt. Gov. Bauer attacked me for missing the vote when the bill to require voting on the record had been passed in the house a few months earlier. "With all due respect," he said, directing his remarks to me, "if you're going to push for roll call voting,
you ought to be there to vote on it."I almost laughed. Then I explained how the leadership had deliberately forced through the vote on an afternoon when they knew I wouldn't be there. Still, I said, "I applaud the general assembly for moving forward
to make all its votes on the record."
I had fought for two-and-a-half years to get to that point. "I lost every position I held in the House in this fight to get legislators to vote on the record--long before there was a gubernatorial campaign," I said
I felt my emotions begin to rise. I'm not going to get caught up in the fact that you're picking on the day that I wasn't there. The two-and-a-half year fight was the reason that the House overwhelmingly voted to have every single vote on the record."
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.146
Apr 3, 2012
On Government Reform:
Weakened governorship today set up in Reconstruction
I had promised to return government to the people of South Carolina. That meant wholesale reform of a system that was still very much stuck in the 1800s. The structure of South Carolina's government had been created during Reconstruction following the
Civil War. Back then, the (needless to say, white) powers that be had weakened the governorship out of fear that a black man might be elected governor. The result was a system of waste, duplication and lack of accountability that has survived to this day
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.183
Apr 3, 2012
On Government Reform:
Good old work replaces pork-barrel politics
The one thing I wasn't willing to do to keep our legislators happy was play pork-barrel politics. This meant I had to find other ways to build support for my agenda.
Mostly this effort just meant my staff and I had to do a lot of good old, time-consuming work. one legislator desperately wanted a Walmart in his district, but the company didn't seem interested at all.
So we called Walmart and asked the company to take a look and see if it was interested. It sent out a site unit and talked to the legislator.
We didn't spend anybody's money or promise anybody anything. We just put in a little extra effort, and we built a good relationship with that legislator.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.204-205
Apr 3, 2012
On Government Reform:
Voter ID is a no-brainer to protect election integrity
We passed a voter ID law this year. My thinking on this was pretty straightforward. If you need to show your ID to buy Sudafed or get on an airplane, it's a no-brainer that you should show your ID to protect the integrity of our elections.
The critics said requiring ID would disenfranchise thousands of voters who would have trouble getting identification.
The doomsayers confidently predicted that thousands of people would lose their right to vote because they couldn't get an ID.
So I told the people, "If you are having trouble, give me a call; we'll help you out." I even said I would drive them down to the DMV myself--and I meant it! We ended up driving 25 people to the DMV, all of whom we helped get their ID.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.219-220
Apr 3, 2012
On Health Care:
Dead set against ObamaCare: We can't split the cow
The last 3 weeks of the campaign featured a series of knock-down, drag-out debates. I tried to focus on the issues and get Senator Sheneen to explain his support for the Obama health-care plan.I had pledged, as governor, to lead a coalition of
governors to fight Obamacare and allow the states to offer real solutions to our health-care crisis. I was dead set against Obamacare, but Sheheen wanted to have it both ways. Pressed on the issue in the debate, he claimed to support some parts of the
Obama plan but not others. There were "good and bad" parts of the bill, he insisted.
"Senator, you can't split the cow," I replied. "You can't say you like certain parts of it and not other parts. We're stuck with the whole cow."
Sheheen's answer was
petty and insulting, even for him. "We need a governor with the intelligence and the ability to say when things are good and things are bad," he said. He was calling me unintelligent! The crowd got it and booed the cheap shot.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.179
Apr 3, 2012
On Health Care:
ObamaCare is wrongheaded and unconstitutional
We have a president and a Washington crowd that think they know better than we do. Not only that, but they think there's a one-size-fits-all answer to all our problems, as if South Carolina were the same as California or Michigan.I have been
consistent as a candidate and as governor in my position to Obamacare. The president's approach is wrongheaded and unconstitutional. He's pouring more costs into the system through federal mandates instead of taking costs out of the system through
transparency and individual responsibility.
But there is one bright side to the president's plan: It has sparked a conversation about health care that is badly needed. Our healthcare problem is real. In South Carolina we have a large Medicaid
population, and health care is the main driver of our budget deficit. But our health-care problem is also unique to our state--it's not the same as the health-care challenges in states like MA or NE. Our challenges are mainly poverty and education.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.205-206
Apr 3, 2012
On Health Care:
ObamaCare opt-out rules disallow state opt-out
In South Carolina we have a large Medicaid population, and health care is the main driver of our budget deficit. But our health-care problem is also unique to our state--it's not the same as the health-care challenges in states like Massachusetts or
Nebraska. Our challenges are mainly poverty and education.We have good services, but we need to educate people on how to better utilize them and on how to pay more attention to their health.
I told Obama that his health-care plan imposed mandates that South Carolina just couldn't afford. Our annual budget is $5 billion, and we had calculated that his plan would cost us $5 billion over the next 10 years. We expected to see 30% to
40% of our private companies drop their employees' coverage and force their workers into the public system. My question had 2 parts, I told the president. Would he repeal Obamacare? And if not, would he allow South Carolina to opt out of the system?
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.206-207
Apr 3, 2012
On Immigration:
Audit businesses to see if using E-Verify
We already had a strong anti-illegal immigration bill when I became governor. All I wanted to do was enforce it. Our law required businesses to prove they weren't hiring illegal aliens by using, among other methods, a federal database called E-Verify.
The problem is, for E-Verify to work government has to know whether employers are actually using it. Obama's Department of Homeland Security told us we could no longer audit businesses to check if they were using E-Verify. The privacy of the people
being checked, they said, would be compromised if we asked for proof from businesses. Out of the more than 6,000 businesses they had checked, over 2,000 violations had been found. But no more. Now the federal government was saying that we couldn't use
the best and most efficient means we had to enforce our law.
My goal wasn't to overburden employers with rules and regulations. I just wanted to use the easiest and least costly way, to ensure we weren't employing illegals, and that was E-Verify.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.211-212
Apr 3, 2012
On Immigration:
It's not a racial issue; it's about the rule of law
Pro-illegal immigration groups and, quite frankly, the Obama administration constantly want to make illegal immigration a racial issue. They say those who want to crack down on illegal immigration are being insensitive to minorities.
They say they're shocked to see me, a minority governor, doing such a thing. They could not be more wrong, about me and about illegal immigration.I am the proud daughter of legal immigrants--emphasis on the LEGAL.
My parents played by the rules and waited their turn. They are offended--as I am--by those who try to backdoor the system and come here illegally. When we allow this debate to be about race, we lose sight of the principle that is really at the heart
of it: the rule of law. We are a nation of immigrants, and we're proud of it. But we are first and foremost a nation of laws. If we give up being a nation of laws, we give up everything this country was founded on.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.213
Apr 3, 2012
On Jobs:
Right-to-work helps Boeing deliver jets despite strikes
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was preparing to sue Boeing for building its 787 Dreamliner assembly plant in South Carolina. The board was alleging that Boeings's decision to locate the production line in S.C. was an illegal labor practice.
Unlike Washington State, where Boeing's other 787 assembly line is located, South Carolina is a right-to-work state where workers can't be forced to join a union.The lawsuit charged that Boeing had illegally retaliated against its largest union, the
International Association of Machinists (IAM), when it opened a 2nd assembly line in South Carolina. The machinists had struck 4 times since 1989 at Boeing's facility in Puget Sound, Washington. Their latest strike, in 2008, had gone on for
8 weeks and cost the company $100 million a day. Production of the 787 was 2 years behind schedule when Boeing made the decision to come to South Carolina. When, I wondered, did it become illegal for a company to want to deliver a product on time?
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.214
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
My Sikh dad proudly wears turban over uncut hair
Although it is changing, in the Sikh faith men traditionally don't cut their hair. From the time they're little boys, they allow their hair to grow. That's one reason Sikh men wear turbans, to manage their long hair.
Still, I can't remember a time when I went somewhere with my parents and people didn't stare. "What's that on your head?" they would say. Walking into a restaurant meant hearing people whisper.
Walking by a store meant seeing people point.
I can honestly say that I was never embarrassed. I was, however, very sad. My dad is one of the best people I know. He's honest and optimistic. And he loves this country in the way that only a man who gave
up a life of comfort and prestige elsewhere can. When I was little, the stares and comments he would evoke instilled in me a kind of quiet sadness. When I was older, it was quiet anger.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 12
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
First Indian family in small town of Bamberg SC in 1960s
In South Carolina in the late 1960s, when it came time for my parents to find a home, no one would rent to them. World quickly got around that my father worked at the "black school," and besides that, he and my mom were obviously foreigners themselves.
Then they finally found a house, they had to buy it, not rent it. And they were told there were conditions: They couldn't entertain black people in it. They couldn't have alcohol in it. And they had to sell it back to the man they had bought it from.
It was located in the nearby town of Bamberg, population 2,500.We were the first Indian family ever to live in Bamberg. In a time & a place that only knew black & white, we didn't fit either category. We weren't dark enough to be black or pale enough
to be white. We were brown. That difference--our difference--was an inescapable fact. We coped the only way we knew how: We went into survival mode. We clung to one another tightly. We worked hard. We were respectful to our neighbors. We tried to fit in.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 4-5
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
Converted to Christianity to marry Michael & raise children
When Michael and I were dating, we had many heartfelt conversations about religion. They touched our mutual desire to bring God into our lives in a more personal and direct way than I had growing up. When I attended Sikh worship services as a young
person, I gained an appreciation for God's presence, but because the ceremony was conducted in Punjabi, I never truly understood the message.I converted to Christianity because the teaching of Christ spoke to me in a way that
I could understand and that would help me live my life--the life I wanted in mine and Michaels's marriage and raising of our children.
To me this was all very personal. As a newcomer to politics, it came as quite a shock to me that my faith journey
was something that would be dissected by political opponents on the campaign trail.
Michael and I were married in the Christian faith. Our children were baptized as Christians. We attend church regularly. It was and is central to our lives.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 47
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
Removing religion from public discourse is entirely wrong
My conversion and my walk with God as a Christian remain intensely personal to me. I will probably never be 1 of those politicians who sprinkle biblical passages into every speech.
Mind you, I have no objection to those who do. The effort by some in our country to remove religion from public discourse is entirely wrong. Public policy would benefit from more, not less, infusion of religious values.
But I think maybe my upbringing as a religious minority has made me sensitive to how religious talk can easily become politically manipulated.
And that's just not who I am. What I do know is that you can never have too much of God in your life, and I am mindful of that every day.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 48
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
2005: Unseated longest-serving legislator in SC history
Legislatures--and the South Carolina legislature is not exception--are clubs. They have rules. Play by the rules and you remain a member in good standing. Break the rules and, well you can get locked out of the clubhouse
I came to the South Carolina house in 2005 having already broken a rule. I had unseated the longest-serving legislator in South Carolina history--a real good old boy. Luckily, I had company. Nathan Ballentine had unseated the majority leader.
Nathan and I were the skunks at the garden party. No one wanted to be near us.
At the meeting of the Republican caucus, the incumbents patted one another on the back like old friends, while we stood off to the side, not sure what to do.
We had defeated their friends, and we were feeling it. We knew it would take time for them to get to know us and for us to prove ourselves.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 59-60
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
RedState Moneybomb: $50,000 in four days
Along with the folks at RedState, at the end of March we launched the Nikki Haley for Governor Money-bomb--a concerted, 4-day push to raise $50,000 on-line. It wasn't much money to my competitors, but to me it was the world. We cut a fast-paced
Moneybomb video that highlighted me as a small-government, fiscally conservative reformer. In it I promised to lead a coalition of conservative governors to push back against the federal government. The response was eye-opening.
In just the first day, we raised $34,000 in small donations from people in South Carolina and across the country.In the end, over 500 contributors from 45 states supported the campaign. Their contributions were small, averaging just over $100.
But the boost they gave our morale was worth more than the money. We were hearing from people all across the country who wanted to send the message that they didn't care if their politicians were Republican; they cared if they were conservative.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.130-131
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
First gubernatorial campaign TV ad: "Join the Movement"
Like our campaign, our first TV ad was unconventional. While most campaigns would use a biographical spot to introduce the candidate to the voters, we knew we didn't have time for that. We had 3 weeks to show them that I was the better choice for
South Carolina's future.So we made an ad with just that message. It began with a black-and-white image of Gresham Barrett flashed on the screen: "Bailouts." Then Andre Bauer: "Stimulus spending." Then Henry McMaster: "Career politician."
And then it proclaimed, "South Carolina can do better." Then the ad pivoted to upbeat music and color footage of me talking to supporters. The tagline called on voters to "Join the Movement."
That was the message we were trying to get across:
We could do better. We could do better than the establishment candidates, better than the spend-and-stick-the-taxpayers-with-the-bill mentality that had run Columbia--and Washington, DC--for so long.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.141-142
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
OpEd: Accused of affair with Gov. Mark Sanford
A blogger who had once worked for me posted on his blog that Gov. Sanford and I had had an affair several years earlier. The phone began to ring off the hook at headquarters. Overwhelmingly, the South Carolinians we heard from were outraged by the
charges. They were embarrassed to be going down this road again.Many were asking what they could do to help us fight it. Others said it only made them support me more. But if the people weren't playing along with the politics,
the press was a different story. After showing some initial restraint, they lost all control. The media began to camp out in front of campaign headquarters.
We put out the statement. I have been 100% faithful to my husband throughout our
13 years of marriage. This claim against me is categorically and totally false. These attacks --and those sure to follow--are an effort at distraction, but I will keep my focus on what matters.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.147-151
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
OpEd: Accused of affair with well-known state lobbyist
A well-known lobbyist in Columbia was alleging that he had had a one-night stand with me on a trip to Salt Lake City in 2008. It was the 2nd smear in as many weeks. Once again, I was being forced into the humiliating position of having to deny
being unfaithful to my husband. It was a lie, it was ugly, it was sexist, and it was crowding out all of the issues the people really cared about in the campaign.We had given up on the press's attempting to bring any credibility to their process of
reporting the "news." We woke up the next morning expecting another ugly story to be splashed across the front pages. But there wasn't one. Good for them, I thought.
They're not playing the game. Then something interesting happened. The Bauer campaign sent out a press release saying it had fired the lobbyist, who had been its paid consultant up until that day.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.158-160
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
Calling me a "raghead" reinforces S.C.'s worst stereotypes
The previous day, on an Internet political talk show called Pub Politics, in which a Democrat and a Republican drink beer and talk politics, state senator Jake Knotts, a Bauer supporter, had said: "We've got a raghead in Washington.
We don't need a raghead in the state-house."Jake Knotts is a self-described "redneck" with a reputation for...let's just say "blunt" language. As far as I was concerned, he was the poster boy for everything that is wrong with South Carolina politics.
His comments would go national. At a time when I wanted people to feel good about our state, he was an example of why we've been regarded as a bunch of uneducated, backwoods racists. That was the saddest, most regrettable thing about the
senator's bigoted remark: Jake Knotts doesn't reflect the views of most South Carolinians, but here he was, reinforcing everyone's worst stereotypes and prejudices about our state.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.161-162
Apr 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
Not Republican government but conservative government
I made it clear to the legislature in the State of the State address that I was going to strictly observe spending caps. I meant what I said. When the legislature didn't listen, I vetoed $213 million in spending.
It sustained the vetoes of just $800,000 of it and spent the rest. In a Republican-controlled house and Republican-controlled senate, no less! It just makes my point that we don't need Republican government, we need conservative government.
My goal for the coming year is to get legislature to understand how it is we got into this spending hole. Every dollar counts, and when we have extra ones, we should use them to pay down the debt or give them back to the taxpayers.
If we don't, we risk becoming another Washington, DC--and in South Carolina believe me, those are fighting words!
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.221
Apr 3, 2012
On Social Security:
Social Security reduced rampant poverty among elderly
President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal changed how Americans thought about the federal government. People were suffering, and the private sector was viewed as having failed. So the American people, under Roosevelt's direction, turned to government.
It was a government that appeared more compassionate and caring but was at the same time more aggressive and intrusive.Some of the government interventions of that time and of the previous progressive era are things we now take for granted.
Social Security as a way to reduce rampant poverty among the elderly. Child labor laws and minimum-wage and maximum-work-hour-laws to curb some of the roughest edges of the capitalist system. The ability to voluntarily join an industrial labor union.
We would no more look to undo these innovations than we would seek to return to the pre-civil rights era laws on race discrimination. They have become a part of the American fabric, and it's a good thing they have.
Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p.235
Apr 3, 2012
Page last updated: Feb 19, 2019