My office has made an attempt to contact every candidate for Trustee posision of our University System. Each candidate was asked this question: “If the Legislative Audit Council receives an audit request for the University that you represent, would you publicly support this audit?”

Below are the candidates that answered “yes”
Clemson University
At-large (3): Ms. Patti McAbee; Mr. Nicky McCarter; Mr. Joseph D. Swann

SC State University
At-large Seat 7 (2): Mr. Roger Leaks, Jr.

University of South Carolina
1st Circuit: Dr. Sharon Eden; Mr. Charles H. Williams
3rd Circuit: Mr. C. Dorn Smith, III
5th Circuit: Mr. William C. Hubbard; Mr. Russ “Chip” McKinney, Jr.
13th Circuit: Mr. Richard A. “Dick” Jones Jr; Mr. Mack I. Whittle, Jr.
16th Circuit: Mr. Alton Hyatt
If we have mistakenly misrepresented a candidate, please let me know

Tea Party focus shifts from White House to Statehouse by ASHLEY BYRD on (SC Radio Network)

State lawmakers are off this week and will return to Columbia on April 13. When they return, they will be the focus of attention of the Tea Party groups in the state.

The conservative arm of the Republican Party gained momentum this time last year, with large-scale rallies on tax day in the state and in Washington. There will be a couple of Tea Party rallies coming up this month, but the attention is now shifting from Congress and the White House to the Statehouse.

Harry Kibler, spokesman for the Upstate Coalition of Conservative Groups says, “I know that the number of folks who have went up recently have diminished, but I also see the number of people being actively involved in their state government and even on a county level, I see that increasing.”Kibler says he thinks Washington is paying less attention, so his Tea Party groups are taking a different approach.

“If you don’t like folks that are up there in Washington, spending all of your time trying to influence them to do something that you are not going to do is wasting your time and you could be spending that helping to recruit a candidate or get behind a candidate that could be there replacement,” Kibler says.

Jonathan Hill, organizer of the Anderson County Tea Party agrees with Kibler. He went to Washington for the health care vote in the House and came away saying, “I’m telling you, they don’t listen. The people up in Washington do not listen. They were locking their doors and that’s against House rules from what I understand.”

Hill says he is happy to turn his attention to politicians on the state and local level. Upstate Tea Party groups are planning a rally in downtown Greenville at the BI-LO Center for April 17.

Here’s JC explaining how you make a duck call

I have supported raising the tax on cigarettes under certain circumstances. As a health care provider, I witness daily the health problems caused by smoking. Cigarette smoking costs the taxpayers millions of dollars a year, and I know that this extra cost is unfair the non-smoking taxpayer. I also witness a tremendous amount of waste in health care, and will continue to use my experience as a pharmacist, to reform our system.

I favor raising the tax on cigarettes and coupling that tax increase with an equally valuable tax decrease on personal and or corporate income. Such action would not only depress the incidence of cigarette smoking and its related health care costs but would also ignite our anemic economy.

During the debate of H. 3584, I offered an amendment to offset the cigarette tax with a cut in the top rate of income taxes. This would cut taxes for everyone in South Carolina making over $13,000. Not only would this tax cut benefit individual returns, but most most small businesses. Among the businesses affected would be LLC’s, LLP’s, sole proprietors, S-Corps and others. Most will agree that small businesses are the economic engine of our economy. Small business tax cuts have always resulted in job creation as proven by history time and again. Unfortunately, this amendment failed. I also supported amendments cutting taxes for agriculture property, property taxes for manufacturing, residential and commercial property taxes, and finally, I supported an amendment to eliminate the capital gains tax. Unfortunately, all of these jobs creating tax cuts failed.

The final bill raised the tax on cigarettes $.50 directing $15 million to the I-95 corridor for a myriad of local projects, diverts funds for agriculture projects, and pays for smoking cessation programs. The remaining funds will be directed to a trust fund for health care. I am opposed to expanding government health care in this fashion, and there was nothing in this bill that would spur our struggling economy, therefore I voted against H. 3584. Also, I will support the suspected veto by the Governor.

Benzoyl peroxide is a chemical that’s been used to treat acne for over 40 years. It can be purchased over the counter in brands such as Clearasil®, Oxy 5®, and Stridex®.

Below are two benzoyl peroxid products. Both are reimbursable by SC Medicaid (ie your tax dollars). The product on the left is  Triaz® cleansing cloths. The product on the right is a generic over-the-counter benzoyl peroxide 10% cream.

South Carolina reimbursement medicaid for Triaz® is $254.11. Benzoyl peroxide reimbusement is $9.67. Now pretend you’re a cash customer without insurance. You bring in a prescription for Triaz® and ask for a price quote. After we picked you up off the floor,  you would probably question the cost. You’d ask “doc, isn’t there something else we could at least try?” I’d point you to the over-the-counter acne product shelf. I’d tell you to “wash your face real good with soap and water 2-3 times per day and apply a little dab of the acne cream on your face when its still wet. Since the cheaper cream is 4% stronger, you may want to apply it only once a day if it irritates your skin. This may be a little more trouble, but hey, it’s your $ 244.44, not mine.”

Unfortunately, the taxpayer doesn’t get this option.

The problem with insurance coverage is that the consumer doesn’t have the incentive to question these costs. The physician doesn’t have the incentive either. The drug companies control the Pharmacy Benefit Managers, so they like this stuff. (A PBM is the go between the pharmacy and the insurer).

I could give you dozens of examples of this kind because I see it everyday in the drug store. This is why our health care system is such a mess. There’s a lack of consumerism, lack of accountability, and very little free market.