Update at the bottom...
In July, The State newspaper heard that Gov. Nikki Haley's 14-year-old daughter had been given a job at a state-run gift shop, the paper then asked questions about the hiring process.
At issue were concerns that the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism job — an agency that Haley appointed the head of — may have unfairly hired Haley's daughter, giving her 20 to 25 hours of $8 per hour work per week in a tight job market.
It was a matter to which the Haley administration responded through a spokesman by saying, "The State newspaper – the reporter who wrote it, editors who approved it, and ownership who published it – should be ashamed for printing details of a fourteen year old’s life and whereabouts. We have nothing more to say."
I'll point you to the paper's report over here.
Now expect to hear more about this one, not as much for the matter at stake (concerns over favoritism for an $8 an hour gig) but for how Haley stonewalled a discussion and refused to belay concerns over nepotism.
On July 26th, Political columnist Brad Warthen has done some solid reaction and pondering on this story, in part:
The lesson to be learned here is obvious: This governor, when backed into a corner, will use hypocritical obfuscation in an effort to manipulate an emotional backlash reaction from her base so that she can hide behind it, rather than give straight answers.
Most telling on that score was the fact that Gov. Haley herself has consistently disclosed information about her children and their doings, even to providing the name of her daughter’s orthodontist — and yet has the nerve to (apparently) induce the head of SLED to say, absurdly, that disclosing that her daughter has a job that is just outside the governor’s office and protected by more than one layer of security somehow threatens her safety.
Read his full reaction over here.
Update September, 24, 2012. Gina Smith from The State newspaper has a piece on how odd Haley's daughter's government-funded job was.
According to Smith, Governor Haley's daughter is, "the only 14-year-old to hold a state job as of July 2012. And no 14-year-olds were employed by the state in either July 2011 or July 2010."
Read The State's full write-up.
Additionally FITS news has some information regarding more state funded jobs that have gone to Haley's family and associates. Read that here.
Finding family and friends jobs isn't anything new, however it is odd coming from a tea party favorate candidate who is opposed to Government spending.
As of 8:51 a.m. Haley has yet to take to Facebook to yell at the media.
