In his bid for South Carolina Governor, Senator Vincent Sheheen (D) made a campaign stop in Williamsburg County. Sheheen met with local leaders to discuss longstanding issues that face the state and its rural areas. Some issues Sheheen covered were conservation, public education, and economic development.
“Economic development is critical at this time, especially in our rural areas, ” said Sheheen who represents Chesterfield, Kershaw and Lancaster counties.
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Sheheen views conservation in the rural areas of the state as an untapped potential. But having served in the senate for five years, he has watched in frustration as that potential continues to lay dormant. “If you think about why we haven’t made the progress we should, you discover the one big issue is there has been no leadership for almost a decade,” he said. “I feel that someone from the next generation needs to step up and say there are different ways to do this. And that’s just the truth.”
Sheheen acknowledges the strong presence in the general assembly and leadership at the local level.
“We’ve got local people in our communities that I’ve met over the course of this year who are doing good things, but what we lack is a true statewide effort in these areas,” said Sheheen. “The only person in state government who can lead the statewide effort in job creation and in the new public education initiative is the governor and we haven’t had it.”
Sheheen drives this point home at every campaign stop. “Instead of pockets of success and pockets of failure, we need to have a strategy for the whole state to move forward as a whole,” he said. Sheheen said a look at the record high unemployment rates, such as Chester County topping 22 percent, and why they are so high, is not because of the individual counties but what is happening on the outside of those counties. “We have to stop what we’ve been doing for so long, looking at county by county or region by region,” said Sheheen. “We need to do both. We must consider what makes us different and what unifies us and brings our people together to find the right solutions.”
Sheheen, a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law, practices law in his hometown of Camden. He worked as a city prosecutor and has served in the South Carolina General Assembly since 2001, first as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and currently as a member of the Senate. Sheheen has also served as chairman of the Senate Sportsman’s caucus.
“Economic development is critical at this time, especially in our rural areas, ” said Sheheen who represents Chesterfield, Kershaw and Lancaster counties.
Sheheen views conservation in the rural areas of the state as an untapped potential. But having served in the senate for five years, he has watched in frustration as that potential continues to lay dormant. “If you think about why we haven’t made the progress we should, you discover the one big issue is there has been no leadership for almost a decade,” he said. “I feel that someone from the next generation needs to step up and say there are different ways to do this. And that’s just the truth.” Sheheen acknowledges the strong presence in the general assembly and leadership at the local level.
“We’ve got local people in our communities that I’ve met over the course of this year who are doing good things, but what we lack is a true statewide effort in these areas,” said Sheheen. “The only person in state government who can lead the statewide effort in job creation and in the new public education initiative is the governor and we haven’t had it.”
Sheheen drives this point home at every campaign stop. “Instead of pockets of success and pockets of failure, we need to have a strategy for the whole state to move forward as a whole,” he said. Sheheen said a look at the record high unemployment rates, such as Chester County topping 22 percent, and why they are so high, is not because of the individual counties but what is happening on the outside of those counties. “We have to stop what we’ve been doing for so long, looking at county by county or region by region,” said Sheheen. “We need to do both. We must consider what makes us different and what unifies us and brings our people together to find the right solutions.”
Sheheen, a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law, practices law in his hometown of Camden. He worked as a city prosecutor and has served in the South Carolina General Assembly since 2001, first as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and currently as a member of the Senate. Sheheen has also served as chairman of the Senate Sportsman’s caucus.
