André Bauer Blogs

Insider Advantage/State House Report, an independent polling firm, released polling numbers May 28^th that indicate André moved up in the polls by 8 percentage points while every other candidate running for governor has dropped considerably.

South Carolinians are applauding André’s hard work ethic, honesty, and drive to move South Carolina forward. However, we cannot become complacent because the GOP Primary is right around the corner.

Team André will not stop for one second and we hope you will help us keep the ball rolling.

Trust us…we have a lot to look forward to!

As we are coming down the home stretch, we are planning our most important event that will energize our supporters and engage many more South Carolinians to come join our team….stay tuned!

-Team André

Immediately after the debate Tuesday night WIS conducted a poll to see which candidate performed the best. Andre immediately took a commanding lead of 43% with the closest competitor at 19%. 

But the message is clear - immediately after the debate and for nearly ten hours Andre had a commanding lead.  Clearly, the average voter responded positively to Andre’s message.

This is great news for our campaign for the following reasons:

1- Our message has come from people like you who are fed up with government bailouts and political correctness and it has clearly resonated well with others. 

If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please shoot us an email.

2- The ground game – sign waves, yard signs, bumper stickers, and spreading Andre’s message to friends – is working and stronger than any other campaign in South Carolina.

Join the Hardest Working Campaign in SC by emailing us your phone number.

3- Our Campaign Finance Team cannot answer all the calls coming in from folks wanting to make a financial contribution to the campaign.

Your online contribution of $10, $25, or $50 will help us voice our message through TV Ads, Mailers, and Radio Ads – CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW.

As always, thank you for your support and prayers.

-Team André

With a track record of successfully stopping more than $2 billion in tax increases over the past eight years, I never in my wildest imagination would have foreseen that in the darkest hours before dawn last Friday I would be unable to halt millions of dollars in tax increases disguised as vehicle registration fees and increases in hunting and fishing licenses.

As presiding officer of the Senate I had ruled the fees out of order. My ruling was right. There was objection to my ruling, and the Senate voted 28-14 to overturn my ruling, an action unprecedented in the previous seven years I had served as lieutenant governor.

“In the late hours of the night while you were sleeping, a tax increase is proposed and ruled out of order, the chairman is kicked out of the chamber and the taxpayer is shafted once again,” wrote Sen. Kevin Bryant in his blog about those events.

Instead of biting the bullet and finding a way to fund law enforcement, and even presented  a likely target of  $500 million in agency slush funds, the choice was to impose a bunch of fees on South Carolina families and businesses.

Make no mistake: There are fees all over this budget. This is not the way to go.  Elected officials are going to go home and tell their constituents they didn’t vote to raise taxes, but they sure voted to raise fees.

This changes a long-established legislative precedent, and will ultimately add one more layer of an unfair tax burden on average taxpayers.  Whether they want to call it a fee, a tax, or an assessment, it comes out of the pocket of the taxpayer.

For seven years, we’ve been able to protect taxpayers from tax and fee increases being slipped in. But the rules went out the window before dawn on April 30th, and along with them, the protection of the taxpayers.

As president of the Senate, I have steadfastly ruled proposed new taxes and fees out of order.  In this instance, my interpretation was that by creating an annual fee, the proposal  changed permanent law.

In all, I have ruled more than $2 billion in proposed new taxes out of order.  None of my rulings have ever been overturned by the Senate until people who call themselves “fiscal conservatives” wrestled the leadership gavel from my hand.

I am disappointed  that “fiscal conservatives” turned their backs on the taxpayers this time.  True leadership requires  tough decisions in spite of tremendous pressure.

I believe that a fee is a tax increase.  Fees have to be paid out of household budgets.  Fees add to the fixed costs of business. I think every South Carolinian will agree with me when they have to give up something, cut back on something, in order to pay these fees.  We may have lost the battle on this issue, but the war is far from over.

News Release
Contact: Steve Barkdoll, Phoenix Racing 864-583-3767

The premier NASCAR team in South Carolina, Phoenix Racing Inc. of Spartanburg, will support Andre Bauer’s campaign for governor by running his campaign logo at the Royal Purple 200 presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at Darlington Motor Speedway on May 7th, 7:00pm EST. Rookie of the year contender James Buescher will be driving the #1 Phoenix Racing car wrapped with the Andre Bauer Republican for Governor logo.

“Phoenix Racing is a vital component of the NASCAR industry in South Carolina and I am very appreciative of the jobs and revenue they bring to our state and their support in my campaign,” Bauer said. “The NASCAR industry generates an annual benefit of $54 million to South Carolina’s economy and we are very grateful for it.”

“Phoenix Racing is proud to support Andre Bauer for Governor. He attended 14 races this past year and is persuading Sonic Automotive, a Fortune 500 Company and leader in NASCAR, to consider relocating their headquarters in South Carolina. Andre is by all means a true advocate for our industry,” said James Finch (team owner) “The unprecedented growth in NASCAR has provided Phoenix Racing with the resources to build a successful future in South Carolina and we are fortunate to have Andre Bauer on our side.”

In 2008, Sports Illustrated conducted a poll asking NASCAR drivers if they are Republican, Democrat, or Independent and 58% responded Republican. Furthermore, The National Journal reports that a study finds NASCAR as one of the top three sports among Republicans.

“I attend over a dozen races across the country every year and have found NASCAR fans, drivers, and owners to be hard working Americans and I will always support an industry that values a hard day’s work,” Bauer noted. “As a Republican running for Governor I will work tirelessly to bring new industries and jobs to South Carolina.”

Saturday - May 8th - is the S.C. Election Commission’s deadline to register to vote in the June 8 Republican primary.

For more information, click on the link below:

SC Voter Registration Information

“It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives,” D. Thompson.

Thank you all for your support and prayers.

-Team Andre

P.S. If you would like to get more involved in the campaign or want a bumper sticker please shoot us a message at andre@andrebauer.com

 

South Carolinians are a compassionate people who will always help their brothers and sisters who are truly in need. But we cannot and will not allow those who are simply “riding the system” to continue to do so without consequence.

Together, we can Break The Cycle and End Generational Welfare in South Carolina. 

This past weekend, we launched a statewide TV ad – Break The Cycle - that voices our message of Ending Generational Welfare in South Carolina. 

Please take a moment to view this ad and let us know your thoughts.

And if you are able, please make a small contribution of $10 or $20 to help us continue to voice our message.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. As always, please let me know if I can ever be of assistance you.

 

André Bauer’s Record of Limited Government and Lower Taxes

•As presiding officer of the Senate, has RULED OVER $2 BILLION IN TAX INCREASES OUT OF ORDER
•One of the first elected officials who EMBRACED GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY, placing his agency’s budget and expenditures online
•STREAMLINED OFFICE ON AGING to cut rent costs by $40,000 and lower overall expenditures by 20%
•During the last two difficult budget years, the Office on Aging budget has been cut by 22% though seniors only felt 4% of that, due to INCREASED EFFICIENCY AND DEDICATION TO DELIVERY OF SERVICES TO SENIORS
•WENT WITHOUT A PAYCHECK for 3 months in his first term to balance a shortfall inherited from the previous administration
•Asked his staff to join him in taking a two-week VOLUNTARY, UNPAID FURLOUGH in his second term to help preserve resources for seniors

André Bauer’s Commitment to More Efficient Government
•TERM LIMITS for both state and federal elected officials, ending the reign of career “seat warmers”
• END GENERATIONAL DEPENDENCY ON GOVERNMENT by demanding accountability from those receiving government assistance
•SPEND GOVERNMENT DOLLARS MORE EFFICIENTLY by doing things like building one rest stop in the middle of interstates instead of on each side, and using template school blue prints instead of paying an architect each time we build a new school
•CONSOLIDATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS to transform a top-heavy school system, so that more money is spent in the classroom, rather than on administrators’ salaries

Recent Awards Received by André Bauer
•2009 “Friend of the Taxpayer” award from SC Association of Taxpayers
•2009 Terry Haskins Award for Legislative Leadership
•2008 Regional Impact Award from Southeastern Association of Area Agencies on Aging

Look how gubernatorial candidates are running their campaign and spending their money. How do you think they will run our state and spend your money?  If the numbers below are any indication, you can bet they will burn a hole in the taxpayers wallet and spend their way out of  problems facing SC.

Barrett spent 36.7% of all money raised
McMaster spent 24.7% of all money raised
Haley spent 30% of all money raised

Bauer spent 10.4% of all money raised

 Andre Bauer

Lieutenant Governor

State of South Carolina

 

March 25, 2010

 

To my colleagues in the S.C. General Assembly:

 

As you know, President Obama and Congress have – against the wishes of the majority of the citizens of this nation – enacted a law forcing all citizens to participate in government-run health care.

 

I believe this action, left unchallenged, is the beginning of the end of the America we know and love.  The freedoms we have enjoyed in our lifetimes are being steadily eroded, and future generations will suffer the consequences.  The time has come for bold action, and I am asking you today to join me in leading this bold action.

 

While there are other steps being considered, I am not certain that any of them can be successful.  Planned lawsuits, I am informed by legal experts, will not likely be successful.  Repeal efforts, while noble, would most certainly be vetoed by the President, and upheld by his congressional majority.  State legislative “nullification” actions will almost certainly be overturned by the courts.

 

As I have carefully researched this matter to find a solution, I have found but one sure-fire way to overturn the new socialized medicine law: a constitutional convention, called for by the states, as provided for in Article Five of the United States Constitution.

 

I am asking you to support a legislative resolution calling for a constitutional convention, hopefully by joining as a sponsor of the resolution which, at my request, is already being prepared by Senators Campbell and Cleary in the Senate, and Representatives Frye and Scott in the House.

 

If we in South Carolina, along with 33 other state legislatures, pass a resolution calling for a national constitutional convention, we will be able to make amendment to the constitution to reverse the dangerous action taken by Obama and Congress, which will then need to be ratified by 38 state legislatures.

 

While this action is bold, it is nonetheless an actual, workable solution.  (As you may recall, this is the same action that Senator McConnell, probably our state’s foremost legislative authority, suggested to help solve the illegal immigration stalemate.)

 

For you convenience, I am including the pertinent article of the U.S. Constitution below:

   

Article V – Amendment:   The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress…

 

I am asking you to act quickly to join as a sponsor of this legislation so that we can move NOW to reverse this law.  Every day this law is allowed to stand is day of oppression of the basic freedoms which have symbolized America.  (Today and tomorrow, I am contacting other state legislatures to ask them to initiate similar resolutions.)

 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email.  My cell phone is 864-208-7654; and my personal email is  ltgov@scsenate.org.

 

Thank you,

 

 

Andre Bauer

 

cc:        Legislative leadership, all 50 states

Interested parties

 

Contact:

Hank Page

803-661-5856

 

GREENVILLE – Lieutenant Governor André Bauer will officially announce his candidacy for Governor next week with a 24-hour long kickoff tour that will take place on Monday and Tuesday.  The 15-event tour, set to start at 7:15am on Monday, March 22^nd and end on Tuesday, March 23^rd, will allow him to make his announcement in cities and towns across the state as he shares his message with South Carolinians about the future of the state.

 

“I look forward to sharing my vision for the state during the 24-hour long tour and the days thereafter leading up to the primary. I want to use this tour to meet the factory worker leaving his shift, the waitress at the diner who works two jobs to feed her children, the brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe, and so many more South Carolinians who are facing challenging times,” Bauer said.

 

“I want to hear what’s on the minds of all South Carolinians and discuss the direction we want to move our state over the next four years. Nobody - and I mean nobody - will work harder than me when it comes to bringing jobs to our state and reforming the way government does business in South Carolina.”

 

Below are the times and locations where Lieutenant Governor André Bauer will be stopping during his 24-hour kickoff tour:

 

7:15 a.m. – The Skillet Restaurant

435 East Main Street, Spartanburg, SC

 

8:45 a.m. – Andre’s Home

701 Lady Hillingdon Court, Greer, SC

 

10:45 a.m. – Gira Steel, Inc.

841 Williams Street, West Columbia, SC

 

1:00 p.m. – Francis Marion University

4822 East Palmetto Street, Florence, SC

 

2:45 p.m. – Crown Reef Hotel

2913 South Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, SC

 

 

5:30 p.m. – Patriot’s Point

40 Patriots Point Road, Mount Pleasant, SC

 

7:15 p.m. – VFW Post 8760

37 Castle Rock Road, Beaufort, SC

 

8:45 p.m. – Kent’s Korner

651 Bettis Academy Road, Aiken, SC

 

10:45 p.m. – Howard’s on Main

330 Main Street, Greenwood, SC

 

12:45 a.m. – Homeland Park Fire Department

3299 South Main Street Extension, Anderson, SC

 

1:45 a.m. – Waffle House

1064 Tiger Boulevard, Clemson, SC

 

2:35 a.m. – Coyote Coffee Café

1035 South Pendleton Street, Easley, SC

 

4:30 a.m. – Union County Sherriff’s Office

210 West Main Street, Union, SC

 

5:45 a.m. – Side Street Diner

104 North Rutherford Street, Blacksburg, SC

 

7:45 a.m. – ProCal

2061 Mount Gallant Road, Rock Hill, SC

 

12:00 p.m. – Preside over the Senate

State House, Columbia, SC

 

 

-End-