• Sanford trying to shift blame on job growth

There’s an old saying in our part of South Carolina: “A hit dog hollers.” Well, Gov. Mark Sanford is hollering about job growth now, and with all of the people leaving his office, we guess there are few staffers left to check his facts.

In his recent column, Gov. Sanford accuses us of not working with him to bring jobs to our state. The governor’s “facts” are misleading. We voted for tort reform. We introduced a bill to lower the income tax on small businesses and the bill that provided tax incentives for job creation. And we remind Gov. Sanford that we joined a majority of senators, including members of the governor’s party, in overriding his reckless vetoes.

It was Sen. Hugh Leatherman, battling against opposition from the governor’s office, who secured funding for a Competitiveness Council that the governor had nothing to do with creating.

The governor even attempted to take credit for attracting a $400 million forest products investment. It was the Carolina pine trees that attracted this industry, not Gov. Sanford.

The governor should stop trying to cover up his shortcomings by blaming others. Our state has the nation’s fifth-highest jobless rate and we are dead last in job growth. It’s way past time for the leadership he promised the voters of South Carolina.

SEN. JOHN C. LAND III

Manning

SEN. BRAD HUTTO

Orangeburg

• Holdouts to blame for many problems

We search for a government official to blame for the aftermath of Katrina. Accountability starts at home.

Evacuation notices were given well in advance, but many chose to stay when there was a way out. This resulted in not only putting their lives at risk, but the lives of our fellow countrymen and -women. It also hindered the effort to save those who did not have a choice but to stay.

It is being said that we should learn from our mistakes. How many storms does it take to start learning that evacuation means to leave the area?

I am not saying mistakes have not been made by our elected leaders, but let’s take a look at who made these officials make the decisions that they did.

Sometimes it’s better to start at the bottom and go up as opposed to jumping straight to the top. How much of the taxpayers’ money are we willing to spend in order to learn from the past?

MARTY COLLINS

Barnwell