STATE REP. SLAMS CONGRESSMAN FOR TARP VOTE

Congressman Gresham Barrett is beginning to realize that it was a bad idea to play politics with a decision that could send detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to South Carolina.

Barrett sent an email to nine gubernatorial candidates Tuesday asking them to sign a letter to President Barack Obama demanding that he not send suspected terrorists to the Naval Brig in North Charleston while they await adjudication.

The latest to reply Barrett was State Rep. Nikki Haley, who Wednesday said she would sign the letter, but thought it was nothing more than a political stunt — “the oldest one in the book,” added one South Carolina politico.

“Like most South Carolinians, I of course strongly oppose the Obama Administration transferring terrorists to the Charleston Navy Brig or any facility in our state,” Haley wrote. “However, calling on candidates for Governor to join you in a letter to President Obama, rather than asking your colleagues in Congress – who are actually in a position to prevent this potentially dangerous situation – to do the same, strikes me as little more than political grandstanding.”

But Haley didn’t stop there. Instead, she offered Barrett a little advice on another letter he might think about writing to Obama.

“Please ask the President to stop using taxpayer dollars for the TARP bailout,” wrote Haley. “As you were a supporter of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, adding your voice to the chorus of conservative opposition to that continuing waste of tax dollars might actually prove helpful.

“South Carolina taxpayers are already overburdened without having to foot the bill for bailing out Wall Street’s failed corporate giants.”

Check. Mate.

Haley’s words weren’t quite as harsh as Democrat Mullins McLeod, who told Barrett, “With all due respect, I’d request that you take your letter and shove it.”

But was also a little more pointed than Attorney General Henry McMaster, who said he would sign the letter but that Barrett, as a member of Congress, could better serve South Carolina by working with his colleagues in Washington to tackle the problem.

You can read Haley’s entire letter by clicking here.