This week was “crossover” week in the House – the deadline for the House or Senate to approve legislation and send it to the other chamber. After May 1, it takes a two-thirds vote for the other body to even consider the legislation.

So crossover week is a very busy week in Columbia as legislators work long hours to debate as much legislation as possible before the deadline.

While we debated dozens of pieces of legislation, three pieces in particular stand out to conservatives.

First, we approved a sweeping charter school reform package that aims to make our state’s vibrant charter school movement even stronger.

Charter school reform was another of our top priorities this year, and I belief that the best, most conservative way to improve education is to give parents more choices for their child’s education. It’s my hope that more choices will drive more parental involvement in education, which I believe is the foundation of true succes in education.

We overrode the governor’s veto of the “Warrantless Search” for parolees legislation that the House and the Senate have both approved. This legislation – which was supported by Charleston County law enforcement – allows law enforcement to search people on probation and parole without needing a search warrant. People on probation or parole are in the state’s criminal justice system, and if they were still in jail, they could be searched at any time, without warning. Many say that it is a violation of civil liberties, but I want to make my opinion very clear – people who commit crimes lose many of their rights. Being on probation or parole does not mean a criminal has been set free or that their punishment is over. They have been released out of jail, but they are still being punished.

While I understand the concerns about warrantless searches, my first priority is the protection of my law-abiding constituents. Law enforcement wanted a way to search criminals for contraband to protect the public. I believe this legislation will help police do their jobs and protect the public.

Finally, the House approved legislation that will take away the drivers’ licenses for students under 18 who drop out of school. This is the law in many states, and provides a deterrent for underage students from dropping out of school. We allowed exemptions for students forced to drop out of school to support their families by working. This legislation will now head to the Senate.

As always, thank you for allowing me to serve as Our Voice in Columbia. If I can ever be of assistance to your family, please call my cell phone at 843.224.9260.

Sincerely,

Mike Sottile

Our entire nation has been hit hard by an economic downturn, but South Carolina has been hit especially hard. We need to move past the lies, deception and political fighting that has dominated government for far too long. Unfortunately, my political opponent Joe Bustos is engaging in this type of politics.

Joe Bustos claims that I want to raise your taxes. He’s wrong. The ONLY tax I would consider raising is the cigarette tax, which is by far the lowest in the nation and should only be used for health care or an equal tax reduction. I will not support a cigarette tax increase laced with pork barrel or wasteful projects.

Joe Bustos is also lying about my record regarding abortion. I am 100% pro-life and I will always support restrictions on abortions. Bustos is attacking me for voting against a budget amendment that would have stopped state insurance paying for an abortion when a female state employee’s life is at risk. I believe it is heartless, unethical and immoral to deny insurance to a dying woman and I will not apologize for my vote.

We need to get past all these lies and work together to rebuild our economy and creates jobs. I hope you will join me. You can call me anytime on my cell phone at 843.224.9260.

Sincerely,

Mike Sottile

My opponent is trying to say that I’m part of the problem. The truth is that I’ve been in Columbia just over one year. I’m not one of those long time politicians who has been sitting by while our state climbs the nation’s unemployment rankings. I’ve been working hard over the last year serving as Our Voice for coastal issues. If you’ll give me just a few minutes, I’ll tell you about our biggest accomplishments this year.

In January, the House Republicans unveiled a conservative agenda that we believed would create jobs, help improve education, and streamline our government. We have completed that agenda.

The House returned to work this week after our annual Easter furlough. This year, the furlough was a two-week break that saved taxpayers more than $150,000.  Our top priority for 2010 was creating jobs, and I’m happy to report we have approved several pieces of legislation that accomplish that goal.

Last month, the House approved an economic development plan that will make South Carolina more competitive when recruiting the next Michelin, BMW, or Boeing to our state. It will help every business in our state by eliminating the corporate income tax and will give the Department of Commerce new tools it needs to aid in business recruitment. Eliminating the corporate income tax will allow businesses to keep more of their hard-earned money so they can re-invest in their business and their employees.

We are still hopeful this job creation tool will be approved by the Senate. Giving the Department of Commerce more help in recruitment is vital since South Carolina competes with the world in attracting the high-quality jobs we all want to improve incomes and our quality of life.

We approved two pieces of legislation reforming the broken Employment Security Commission. We gave control of the agency to the governor and broke down barriers between the ESC and the Department of Commerce. The new Department of the Workforce will be more efficient and more accountable so businesses can find the workers they need and workers can more easily find the jobs that are out there.

We also approved a sweeping tort reform package that protects small businesses from frivolous lawsuits while protecting your rights to our legal system if you are wronged.

The Republicans’ second agenda item was improving our public education system in our state. In this era of tight state budgets, we gave our schools unprecedented flexibility from state mandates.  Legislation that will help our active charter school movement will be on the House floor soon.  And we were able to ensure our state’s students continue to receive the scholarships they need to attend college.

Our third agenda item for 2010 was ensuring responsible and limited government – values that are clearly not shared by our current Congress.  The House approved new requirements for online campaign finance disclosure.  We also gave you – the voter – the opportunity to decide if the Governor and Lieutenant Governor should run as a ticket, and whether the largely administrative position of Secretary of State should be appointed by the governor. Both the Lieutenant Governor and the Secretary of State are currently elected.

Finally, we told our constituents we would protect our state’s rights under the U.S. Constitution. We approved a state constitutional amendment that will ensure a secret ballot in union organizing elections and strongly protested the recent federal healthcare takeover.

In the first 10 weeks of the legislative session, we completed our agenda — an agenda built after close consultations with our constituents. And it’s an agenda we believe moves our state down the positive, common-sense, conservative path that you have asked us to travel.

I look forward to the final weeks of the 2010 session and working with the Senate to push these conservative initiatives into law.  I also pledge we will continue to represent the conservative values of our constituents.

As always, thank you for the privilege of serving you in Columbia.  If I can ever be of assistance to you, or if you have ideas on issues you want me to share with the rest of the General Assembly, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 843-224-9260.

Thank you,

Mike Sottile

Friends-

I didn’t run for the State House to be someone important. I truly want to change the way things are done in Columbia by pushing strong conservative change that will create jobs and rebuild South Carolina’s coastal economy. Look what I’ve done in just over 1 year serving as Our Voice:

- I pushed bills to restructure SC’s outdated government structure to increase efficiency, reduce waste and save you tax money.

- I backed a bill making the Attorney General fight for South Carolina’s rights when Washington liberals pushed a government takeover of health care on our nation.

- I supported plans to invest your tax dollars wisely to create tens-of-thousands of jobs in our area, most notably my support of the Boeing project.

- I backed a plan to constitutionally limit the amount of money Columbia politicians can spend each year.

- I sponsored a bill to give parents much more choice in education.

- I backed plans to cut taxes on coastal businesses so that they can hire new employees and create jobs in our region.

- I backed a plan to revamp SC’s criminal laws, saving taxpayer dollars and keeping violent criminals in prison.

I hope you’ll give me the opportunity to continue serving as OUR VOICE in Columbia. Call me anytime you want to talk about the big issues facing our area. My cell number is 843.224.9260.

Thank you,

Mike Sottile