Kevin Bryant

Bryant Announces March 12, 2012 | Filed under: Featured | Posted by: Booger News By Stan Welch

State Senator Kevin Bryant took off the gloves Monday night in announcing his campaign for reelection from District Three.

Speaking to approximately 75 supporters at the Powdersville Fire Department – or as he said he calls it, Conservativeville – Bryant took on liberals, Democrats and bureaucrats.

Liberals, according to Bryant, believe such things as that AIDS is spread by a lack of federal funding; that business produces oppression while government creates prosperity; and that a liberal opposes the NRA for supporting parts of the Constitution, while supporting the ACLU for supporting parts of the Constitution; and that abortion is alright while the death penalty is not.

Bryant said that liberal Charleston Democratic Sen. Says that if you get to the right of Bryant, you’ll hit a tree. He also pointed out that U.S. Senator Jim DeMint has been quoted as saying that he, DeMint, is a Kevin Bryant conservative. “I expect you’ve seen that on a few billboards by now,” laughed Bryant.

Bryant said he has also been called a right wing extremist and a flame thrower. “With the debt and the unfunded liabilities imposed on us by the federal government, we need extreme measures. We not only cannot continue to kick the can down the road, we are out of road. We must take action to stop the socialistic policies coming from Washington DC. This is no longer about Republican vs. Democrat. It is about freedom vs. socialism.”

Audit: S.C. jobless agency safeguards didn’t work Associated Press

Originally published 04:03 p.m., March 13, 2012
Updated 04:50 p.m., March 13, 2012

COLUMBIA — The second independent audit of South Carolina’s unemployment agency in the past two years has found its system for checking whether people getting jobless benefits also received wages at a job didn’t work properly for six years.

The Legislative Audit Council’s latest report, released Tuesday, also found the Department of Employment and Workforce does not consistently verify that people receiving jobless benefits are looking for work. It said unemployment offices are sometimes impossible to reach on the phone and some employers are making the agency’s job tougher by not following the law and reporting the identities of new hires.

The report did praise some actions taken since the last audit in 2010, including work to make sure that the trust fund that pays benefits is brought back in balance by 2015.

The state currently owes the federal government $850 million in loans used to cover the costs for the sharp increase in people looking for unemployment benefits during the Great Recession, but changes in taxes and benefits mean the state should be able to pay all that money back, according to the audit.

In its response to the audit, Department of Employment and Workforce Director Abraham Turner promised to look at most of the report’s recommendations.

The agency pushed back on the audit report’s recommendation that lawmakers clarify some oversight rules concerning the panel that hears appeals of the department’s decisions on whether people are eligible for unemployment benefits. The agency said the board exceeds federal standards for its work and has become more efficient over the past nine months.

“While the report does offer recommendations for improvements, it also identifies many of the positive initiatives the department has taken over the past two years. These measures have transformed our agency into a more effective, progressive organization,” Turner wrote the Audit Council.

The state agency said the problem with checking wage information against people earning benefits should be fixed by a new software system put in place in December.

The audit said that from 2005 to 2011, the agency’s system for checking that information didn’t work. The report cited a worker who collected $13,000 in benefits over 12 months while he had a job at a technical college.

The audit criticized the amount of information the agency collects on where people receiving benefits look for jobs. People on regular benefits need to only list the name of the employer, making it much harder to verify if they actually applied there. And while people on extended benefits must also list names, addresses, phone numbers and the person contacted, agency employees often didn’t check because employers complained about being bothered.

The agency said it is combining its database of jobs available with the forms that jobless individuals fill out verifying they are looking for a job and requiring at least one of the jobs applied for is listed in the agency’s computers.

Auditors also found outdated information in videos and packets given to workers who just lost their jobs. They called all 56 local unemployment centers in the state, and couldn’t get a person in 14 of them. Eight of those calls went to voice mail, which was full in six cases.

The agency said it is revamping its phone system and getting rid of the outdated material.

Lawmakers critical of the Department of Employment and Workforce didn’t think the audit went far enough.

“What DEW is good at doing is taking taxes from employers and giving it away,” said Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson. “They’re focused on collecting money from employers and paying people not to work.”

Bryant has been highly critical of the $50 million DEW paid out in unemployment benefits last fiscal year to fired workers. Their benefits are now reduced depending on the type of misconduct and severity, up to complete disqualification. But Bryant says the agency has abused that latitude.

He is backing Sen. Lee Bright’s bill to automatically disqualify people fired for misconduct from receiving unemployment benefits. Under state law, gross misconduct already completely disqualifies people. The definition includes theft, alcohol use, property damage, assault, and insubordination.

But senators say the agency isn’t abiding by that law. They have heard testimony about cases in which a fired worker received several weeks of pay despite multiple examples of gross misconduct.

Bright, R-Roebuck, said senators need to carefully consider the reappointment of the three officers that hear appeals. Bryant complained they’re rubber-stamping agency staff’s decisions and giving people benefits when they shouldn’t.

© 2012 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online

March 11, 2012 – South Carolina State Senate Resolution 1241- Recognization of Bryan Moon’s 31 yrs of service as a South Carolina State Constable – presented by Senator Kevin Bryant at Bryan Moon’s 59th birthday celebration

Many thanks to the Anderson Independent Mail’s Coverage of Monday’s (03.12.2012) announcement event.

Anderson Independent Mail: SEN. KEVIN BRYANT WILL SEEK ANOTHER TERM
http://m.independentmail.com/news/2012/mar/12/state-sen-kevin-bryant-will-seek-another-term/

By Mike Ellis Published Monday, March 12, 2012
POWDERSVILLE — State Sen. Kevin Bryant announced his re-election campaign Monday by touting his strong conservative side.

He made the announcement at the Powdersville Volunteer Fire Department before a crowd of about 60. Bryant said it was fitting to begin his campaign in the most conservative area of his district, an area he called “Conservativeville.”

“Whatever you hear me say in Anderson,” he said, “you’ll see me do in Columbia.”

Anderson County Republican Party Chairman Dan Harvell said he would not endorse Bryant, to stay neutral until filing deadlines pass, but added that Bryant was part of the most conservative caucus in the Senate.

Bryant said he gets ridiculed as a “right-wing flamethrower” for his inflexibility but he stands by his objections to abortion, his stringent anti-debt stances and insistence on variety of conservative-first principles.

Bryant, owner of Bryant Pharmacy in Anderson, is in his second four-year term as a state senator.

After redistricting, Bryant’s District 3 now covers the northern half of Anderson County, including Powdersville, much of Anderson and Pendleton.

Bryant said he intends to file for election this week.

Dear Friends,

We’ve seen some progress in Columbia, but we also still see a strong resistance to change. I am blessed to have your continued support and am asking for your help again now that re-election is upon us. We are announcing our re-election on Monday, March 12th at the Powdersville Fire Department. The kickoff will be at 7:00pm followed by a reception.

It is refreshing to see the groundswell of concerned taxpayers engaged in the fight to reclaim our liberty and freedom and reverse the current socialistic course. Our unsustainable debt can’t continue. A limited, transparent, and accountable government is our only option if we want to see any prosperity for future generations.

The good-ole-boy system is a monster, and we’ve been rattling its cage. Those benefiting from the “system” have fought our positive message of reform, but we’ve gained ground on them. We’ve seen victories for transparency and accountability. SC has a lot of good people with solid values, but we also find our state spends too much and borrows from our children’s future. Let’s just say no to the politics of more government and say yes to the liberty of the taxpayer.

This will be the most important election in a generation and the outcome will be the difference between the hope of our founding fathers and the change of Barack Obama’s radical agenda. I will be honored to have your support as we kick off our 2012 campaign. I look forward to seeing you on Monday, March 12th.