South Carolina Paper Whacks Gov. Nikki Haley Over 14-Year-Old Daughter's Gift-Shop Job

NewsBusters.org ^ | July 28, 2012 | Tim Graham

[Kaslin]

South Carolina’s largest newspaper has a new anti-Republican scoop: “Gov. Nikki Haley’s 14-year-old daughter is working in the State House gift shop, raising questions about nepotism that the governor’s office declines to answer.” The daughter, Rena Haley, is working about 20 hours a week at $8 an hour.

The newspaper called The State (based in Columbia, the state capital) is holding an online poll asking "Is it proper or improper for a governor's child to have a state job?" Three-fourths of respondents said "improper." The paper marched over to the Democrats so they could denounce Haley’s lack of ethics:

The issue is not Haley’s daughter but the Republican governor’s judgment, said Dick Harpootlian, chairman of the S.C. Democratic Party.

“You don’t use your position to get your daughter a job. It’s not about the daughter. It’s about lack of judgment by the governor,” Harpootlian said. “The appearance of impropriety doesn’t seem to bother the governor.”

In South Carolina, with the nation’s fourth-highest unemployment rate and a governor who boasts of cutting state spending, the hiring of Haley’s daughter also raises questions of unfair favoritism.

“Even these minimum-wage jobs in this economy can be pretty tough to find,” said Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Washington, D.C.,-based Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan think tank on government issues, including ethics. “While this is probably a small-potatoes case, it creates the appearance of a conflict of interest and strikes me as a politically tone-deaf decision.”

Meredith McGehee spent 15 years at the liberal lobby Common Cause (and before that four years with liberal Congressman Lane Evans), so don't rely too heavily on the "nonpartisan" label. As for Harpootlian, his lack of judgment is shown by his description of proposed voter-ID requirements as "electoral genocide."

Gov. Haley responded to questions with anger: “Y’all are not allowed to talk about my children.” But the newspaper persisted. “The State newspaper ... should be ashamed for printing details of a 14 year old’s life and whereabouts, against the wishes of her parents,” Haley’s spokesman, Rob Godfrey, said in a statement to the newspaper July 17. “We have nothing more to say.” They did later put out the daughter’s hours and wages to a different newspaper, the Charleston Post and Courier.

The State executive editor Mark Lett told readers that “It is not our practice to cover the children of sitting governors.” That’s no longer true. “In this instance, the essential issue is whether it is appropriate for the daughter of the governor to be placed on the state payroll. The child was put in that position by adults in state government and in the Haley family. We have made no attempt to interview the daughter but have asked those adults for comment.”

Lett might also have said "This is only our practice when the Governor is a Republican with a shot at being a vice-presidential contender and it would get us noticed by our liberal colleagues in the national media."

[yarddog]

My guess is the girl liked the place and applied for a job there. The fact that she is the Governor’s Daughter probably helped her get it but maybe not.

[wally_bert]

It should be a tenth of that but there are probably a ton of seasoned citizen die hards that probably keep it alive.

[rwilson99]

Meanwhile Graham Spanier who facilitated child rape while President of Penn State has a top secret National Security job with the Obama administration.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Actually, they provided no information whatsoever to suggest that anybody helped her get the job.

For all we know, no kids could be bothered to sign up for an $8 job that involved hard work in a place not frequented by your peeps. Maybe the job went unfilled for weeks, and when she applied, she was the only applicant, and they were happy to get her.

In Virginia, Kings Dominion has a halloween haunt every year. Pay is $8, it’s weekend work, hard work, about 20-30 hours a week. Over the course of 2 months, anybody who is willing can make about $1000.

So far as I can tell, they don’t turn people away. There just aren’t that many people willing to work hard for $8. I got the job no problem, my daughter got the job no problem, and with any luck, my son will get the job this year with no problem.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Did you apply for a 20-hour-a-week gift shop job that pays $8 an hour, and get turned down?

If you live in Virginia, and want a part-time $8-an-hour job, apply for a job at Halloween Haunt at Kings Dominion; if you are closer to Busch Gardens, they probably are also hiring.

IT’s hard work, but a lot of fun.

You could also probably find a McDonalds pretty much in any city that would pay you $8. And Walmart is often hiring.

So far as I can tell, hard-working people should be able to get an $8 an hour job in this economy.

[DAC21]

I tossed papers at 13, and Scooped ice Cream for 31 Flavors at 16...the horror of a 14 year old working!. Fact is not many kids these days work at all before age 18, at least in Kalifornia, it’s all handed to them on Silver Plate. If they go to College make that 22 years before they look for their first job.

Fact is Haleys kid probably had little competition for the job, the Welfare crowd wouldn’t be embarrassed by an $8 an hour job.

[Kaslin]

I always mute that idiot whenever he is on one of the Fox News Programs

[Realman30]

Does NOW have a position on this issue?

[Kaslin]

The horror

[Kaslin]

What state job? She’s selling gift items in a gift shop. Big deal. that idiot Harpootlian and that rag paper are making way to much out of the whole thing

[Tax-chick]

Most -ian or -lian names are of Armenian origin. However, because Armenia has usually been a terrible place to live, there are substantial Armenian communities in many parts of the world. Just taking a guess, I would suggest Armenian ethnicity, Iranian nationality (before arrival in the US).

His religion is probably Orthodox Christian, even if he doesn’t actively practice it.

[Conservative4Ever]

Probably a work plan through the daughters school. There are limited hours worked and wage paid. I suspect this is the case.

[smoothsailing]

Sure can’t blame you, what a pathetic excuse for a man.

[REDWOOD99]

No matter how big the deal, The State has a point about preferential treatment aka cronyism. Are we just against it when it’s dems?

My point is The State now has the responsibility to expose it ALL.

[PapaBear3625]

Some of the comments at “The State” are scathing. Here’s one:

If The State wanted to really cover nepotism they would reference this story by Jonathan Martin in Politico that shows how Obama rewards those prominent Democrats who were early or important supporters by hiring their relations:
They’re well-known names in Democratic politics - Kerry, Clyburn, Hamilton, Gregoire, Mikva and Emanuel - but have received little attention because they’re not taking jobs in the senior-most ranks of the government. They are: • Cameron Kerry, the brother of an early Obama backer, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who has been tapped as chief counsel at the Commerce Department.• Mignon Clyburn, daughter of House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, who received a coveted appointment to the Federal Communications Commission despite no qualifications. • David Hamilton, nephew of former congressman and Democratic elder statesman Lee Hamilton, who was appointed to an appellate judgeship • Courtney Gregoire, daughter of Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, who was tapped as director of legislative affairs at Commerce • Laurie Mikva, daughter of legendary former Chicago judge and Congressman Abner Mikva, who was appointed to the board of the Legal Services Corporation, which provides legal aid to low-income people • And Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who is a special adviser on health care to OMB Director Peter Orszag.
Mikva has long standing Chicago ties and during the campaign, spoke glowingly of Obama’s commitment to the safety and security of Israel. We know that’s a joke now. Lee Hamilton has become one of the closest foreign policy advisers to Barack Obama and the number one adviser regarding Iran, according to David Ignatius, the foreign affairs columnist of the Washington Post . Hamilton vouched for Obama during the campaign, too.

Mignon’s appointment is a classic example of nepotism and she’s receiving a six figure salary, not minimum wage!

[saradippity]

Thanks for interjecting some good judgment into this thread. It is not at all difficult to see why some of the Republican shtick(?) doesn't resonate with intelligent Independents and other people of good sense.

If a group of like minded citizens is trying to establish or reestablish a wiser,fairer,kinder,gentler,more exceptional America then wouldn't it be more in keeping with reality to have an important successful public figure's child,and a very young one at that, volunteering in some capacity or another.

I seem to recall the outrage many conservatives felt when they learned that the young"volunteer" Americorps workers received compensation.

It is not difficult to see how thoughtless it may seem to an average American struggling with financial problems to parade your fourteen year old daughter's job throughout the media. I have to wonder if there may not be quite a few older persons with or without families that may be looking for work,how might they feel? And,how would we feel if Malia got a job selling papers at the White House news stand?

I am a former human resource employee in a public agency and I used to get sick and tired of requests to find work for high level bureaucrats and politicians children. I would suggest that they have their children volunteer for a couple of years so that they might be more ready to participate and improve the world we live in. Several of them thanked me and I found placement for their children in positions that allowed them to see the world they never saw from their nice homes and private schools.

[Kaslin]

Can you say hypocrites? I knew you could

[wardaddy]

8 bucks an hour is now nepotism according to this paper and some here

lol

[saradippity]

The jobs I found for children of important people were all volunteer work jobs,most of them in a government acute care hospital and/or clinics throughout the county. When they went off to college or entered the real work world they were giant steps ahead of most of their friends and/or fellow students/new employees.

[StAnDeliver]

"Meredith McGehee spent 15 years at the liberal lobby Common Cause (and before that four years with liberal Congressman Lane Evans), so don't rely too heavily on the "nonpartisan" label. As for Harpootlian, his lack of judgment is shown by his description of proposed voter-ID requirements as "electoral genocide."

These two are the kind of scum who purposely chase good people out of politics, and keep positive changemakers from ever getting in.