South Carolina House passes nullification bill to make Obamacare a crime

By David Edwards/Raw Story

The South Carolina state House on Wednesday passed a so-called “nullification” bill that is declares President Barack Obama’s health care reform law to be “null and void,” and criminalizes it’s implementation.

The South Carolina Freedom of Health Care Protection Act was passed by a state House vote of 65 to 39. The bill intends to “prohibit certain individuals from enforcing or attempting to enforce such unconstitutional laws; and to establish criminal penalties and civil liability for violating this article.”

The measure would allow the state Attorney General “to restrain by temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, or permanent injunction” any person who is believed to be causing harm with the implementation of the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Any South Carolina taxpayer who is forced to pay a penalty due to the federal health care mandate would be able to deduct the full amount of the penalty from their state taxes.

Additionally, the measure would outlaw state and local government from creating or using non-profit health care exchanges a outlined by the health care reform law.

States rights advocates see nullification as aviable alternative to secession because they claim the state has authority under the Tenth Amendment to invalidate unconstitutional legislation.

But many constitutional scholars believe that the Tenth Amendment is too vague to be used as a way for states to usurp federal authority on key issues.

“To say that the Tenth Amendment somehow empowers states or gives them state sovereignty is just reading way too much into the text,” John Marshall Law School law professor Steven Schwinntold CNN in 2010. “The Tenth Amendment just can’t bear that weight.”

South Carolina’s Obamacare nullification bill was introduced in the state Senate on Thursday and referred to the the state Committee on Finance.

In her State of the State address earlier this year, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R)pledged not to accept the president’s health care reform law.

“South Carolina does not want, and cannot afford, the president’s health care plan,” she said. “Not now, and not ever. To that end, we will not pursue the type of government-run health exchanges being forced on us by Washington. Despite the rose-colored rhetoric coming out of D.C., these exchanges are nothing more than a way to make the state do the federal government’s bidding in spending massive amounts of taxpayer dollars on insurance subsidies that we can’t afford.”

Haley has not indicated if she would sign the South Carolina Freedom of Health Care Protection Act.

While Romney Embarrasses Himself Abroad, Campaign Sends Auto Rescue Opponent to Stand in for Him in Michigan

From the Michigan Democratic Party:

State Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton, MDP Chair Mark Brewer Call out Romney Campaign’s Distortions

LANSING – State Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer set the stage for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s visit today to Michigan on behalf of Mitt Romney, who is desperate to distract voters from his anemic record of job creation in Massachusetts and Michigan voters in particular from his opposition to the auto rescue.

“It was Mitt Romney who said, ‘Let Detroit go bankrupt,’” said Brewer. “He must have liked what he heard from Nikki Haley, who called it ‘a terrible mistake’ when she was running for governor.

“Of course, Mitt Romney was wrong, and Governor Haley was wrong, about the auto rescue. Just yesterday, the Detroit News featured a story about Michigan’s recovery outpacing the rest of the country. The resurgence of the American auto industry – bringing with it jobs and economic security for middle class families – have helped Michigan turn a corner. And Michiganders know we can’t go back.”

“Governor Haley is coming to Michigan today, and like everyone else associated with the Romney campaign, including the candidate himself, she will twist the President’s words and hold on for dear life to their thoroughly distorted interpretation – against the judgment of every single independent fact checker on earth,” said Lipton. “When your own economic policies are exactly the same as the ones that caused the greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression, it’s probably smart politics to talk about something else. But it doesn’t make it the truth.

“When your private sector record at Bain Capital – once the centerpiece of your campaign – looks more like a liability amid discussions of outsourcing, laid-off American workers, devastated communities and retroactive retirement, it’s probably smart to change the subject. But it doesn’t make it the truth.

“And when your job creation record in Massachusetts was awful, it’s probably smart to talk about anything else. But that doesn’t make it the truth, either.”

Top GOP Donor Claims SC Gov. Haley Illegally ‘Exploited Her Public Office For Personal Financial Gain’

By Ian Millhiser/Think Progress

A top Republican donor who helped recruit former Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) to run for South Carolina’s top job filed a lawsuit accusing current Gov. Nikki Haley (R) of trading off her former job in the state legislature to earn big corporate paychecks. If the allegations against Haley are true, she may have earned as much as $150,000 from wealthy interest groups eager to enlist a sitting lawmaker as an advocate for their interests.

According to the GOP donor’s lawsuit, Haley failed to disclose $42,500 in secret income she earned from a company called Wilbur Smith Associates, and she failed to recuse herself from a vote that financially benefited Wilbur Smith. Haley also took a $110,000 a year job from a hospital company and then allegedly worked as an illegal lobbyist for the company while she was a sitting lawmaker:

The lawsuit accuses Haley, first elected in 2004 to represent Lexington in the House, of lobbying the state Department of Health and Environment Control on behalf of Lexington Medical, as it sought permission for a new open-heart surgery center. Haley and hospital officials previously have said her job as a fundraiser – a $110,000-a-year job the hospital’s CEO created for her in August 2008 – had nothing to do with the heart center.

But the lawsuit points to an August 2008 email between Haley and her boss.Asked about a meeting on the heart center, she replies, “We have some work to do not only to switch votes but to hold the ones we have. We are as close as we are going to get and can’t afford to leave one stone unturned. … Fingers crossed!”

If these allegations prove true, they are quite serious. There is a clear and serious conflict of interest when a lawmaker is allowed to influence matters that benefit their employer — especially when the lawmaker is allowed to keep many of the details of that arrangement secret.