Rep. Joan Brady Dominates Environmental Forum

According to a recent poll, environmental issues did not rank in the top eight issues that voters are most concerned about this election season. Undeterred by such polling, on Monday night the Sierra Club hosted a candidates forum moderated by the League of Women Voters on the campus of the Univ. of South Carolina, in, appropriately, the Green Quad.

The candidates for House Districts 75 and 78 comprised the forum, taking seven prepared questions and several more from an audience of about 30. District 78’s Rep. Joan Brady (R-Richland) was the only incumbent in attendance. She was joined by challenger Beth Bernstein, Joe McCulloch (D) and Kirkman Finlay (R), the latter two of whom are vying to replace the retiring James Harrison to represent District 75.

Among the main topics of the forum were nuclear energy, mandatory recycling, a possible gas tax, SCE & G rates, and government regulation.

Bernstein aimed to position herself as pro-business, coming out against raising the gas tax and mandatory recycling while supporting incentives for alternative energy uses like solar. She also said she believes the key to dealing with environmental issues is to emphasize long-term thinking. "We have a great resource in South Carolina, but we aren't using it," Bernstein said at one point.

McCulloch left the door open to raising the gas tax, saying that if South Carolina’s infrastructure—which he deemed among the world’s worst—was going to improve, hiking the gas tax may be "unavoidable."

All of the candidates were dubious about the prospects of nuclear energy, but McCulloch said, “One has to wonder why other countries (like Germany and Japan) are phasing nuclear energy out.”

In many of his answers, Finlay expressed a desire that the two of the state’s agencies most responsible for managing the environment—DHEC and DOT—become more efficient and more accountable.

When asked what the state could do to prevent nuclear waste from being put in the Savannah River site, Finlay got off the line of the night when he said, “We could secede, but that hasn't worked so well in the past.”

With a serious anti-incumbent breeze blowing through the state’s air, one might think that Brady would downplay her environmental record. Instead, she did just the opposite. Time and again Brady cited legislation she had worked on or passed that was environmentally-friendly and that “being green saves money.”

Brady spoke passionately about conservation and sustainability, noting, as a Republican, that her views did not coincide with many members of her party. “I have put my political career on the line for the environment…I am often the lone voice in a Republican-led assembly,” she said at one point.

She later reminded the audience she was one of the few women in a General Assembly with the lowest percentage of female representation in the country and that she had been invited to the White House for her work on the environment.

Brady later invoked enviro-speak, saying she was, “a hybrid. Neither Democrat nor Republican. I’m more concerned about the next generation than the next election.”

Brady concluded by defending her incumbency. “It takes an insider to get things done and to be an advocate. It’s not the R or D, it’s the person,” she said.

CORRECTION: The article has been updated with the correct spelling of Joe McCulloch's name.