I was shocked to receive a mailer from the South Carolina Republican Senate Caucus praising the work of our Senator, Randy Scott, for passing and enacting tax cuts during the past year. What the caucus failed to point out was that the savings in taxes amounted to a re-shifting of taxes to other areas. The bottom line is that we didn't get a reduced tax bill; it simply shifted the taxes to another area. In this instance, the sales tax was increased by 1 cent. This is called "revenue neutral". It also didn't point out that during the three years Senator Scott has been in office, the budget has increased by 41% or over two billion dollars. Do Senator Scott and his colleagues think we are idiots or what? We in Dorchester County can see through this blatant campaign tactic. The mailer is simply the Senators thanking themselves with misleading claims that they caused tax "cuts", when in reality all they did was shift some taxes to a sales tax in a way that was "revenue neutral". It's like Senator Scott handing out checks to various interests to the tune of $160,000 while it costs us Dorchester taxpayers over $400,000 to get this as he had to vote to give Senator Hugh Leatherman millions in special projects.

What shocks me even more is that the Senate caucus ignores Senator Scott's recent DUI arrest and his arrogant and vulgar attack on the dedicated law enforcement officers and magistrates of our community. Senator Scott demanded preferential treatment for him from the arresting officers and magistrates, and threatened them with their jobs. He then used vulgarity in his conversations with a woman whom he thanked for the night and his wife demanding that his nephew, a Magistrate that he appointed, get of his A-and bond him out-preferential treatment that he has used in the past for his friends.

It is time that the voters of Dorchester County placed integrity, honesty and character at the forefront when they cast their vote on June 10. Do we want change or continued abuse of the present system?

Lauren Bethea