Big taxpayer-funded gifts behind big SC job announcements

By Rick Brundrett | The Nerve

In a press release Monday, Gov. Nikki Haley touted her announcements of three separate Upstate economic development projects, which officials say will eventually bring a collective 7,100 jobs, as the “Biggest Single Day Jobs Announcement in South Carolina State History.”

What Haley barely mentioned in her official press statements, however, was the multimillion-dollar taxpayer tab for the projects.

In fact, she left out the single-biggest taxpayer gift among the three announced projects: a $37.8 million state grant to Singapore-based Giti Tire to locate a plant in Chester County.

The Nerve in March reported that the House Ways and Means Committee approved giving the S.C. Department of Commerce $37.3 million for its “deal closing fund,” though Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt or other state officials were tight-lipped then on how it would be used.

at The Nerve.