Two Republican party chairmen from South Carolina, in trying to defend Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) practice of not using earmarks, said DeMint “is watching our nation’s pennies,” just like “the Jews who are wealthy.”
Edwin O. Merwin and James S. Ulmer, chairs of the Bamberg County Republican Party and the Orangeburg County Republican Party, respectively, wrote an op-ed in the Times and Democrat this Sunday.
“There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves,” they wrote. “By not using earmarks to fund projects for South Carolina and instead using actual bills, DeMint is watching our nation’s pennies and trying to preserve our country’s wealth and our economy’s viability to give all an opportunity to succeed.”
Merwin and Ulmer were responding to a column written by a Democrat in The State that ripped DeMint for not requesting money for South Carolina via earmarks.
“Sen. DeMint cedes his funding allotments to other states by not requesting projects on behalf of South Carolinians,” wrote Bakari Sellers, a state legislator and vice chair of the state Democratic party. “Like Sen. DeMint, Sen. Graham regularly supports measures to restrict earmarks. However, he works vigorously to secure funding for South Carolina because he understands the present reality: If we don’t get it, it goes to other states.”
