Haley won't back good ol' boys breakup

And you thought Nikki Haley was going to shake up South Carolina's good ol' boys club.

The South Carolina Gubernatorial Appointments Project, a nonpartisan group dedicated to getting more women involved in state government, asked Haley and Democratic governor nominee Vincent Sheheen to sign a pledge to commit to try to recruit more women for state boards and agencies.

The group isn't talking specific numbers, or asking for quotas; it's an open-ended thing. Pretty innocuous -- and appropriate, given this state's history. Sheheen signed immediately.

Haley said no.

Through a spokesman (which is about the only way Ms. Accountability answers questions these days), she said she appreciates what the group is trying to accomplish, but will not sign a pledge.

Of course, if some yahoos asked her to sign a no-new-tax pledge, or a pledge to not accept more federal stimulus money (which we're paying for anyway), or even a pledge to pursue capital punishment for illegal immigrants, she'd probably break out in a sprint to go sign it.

Strange how these things work.

Double standards

Haley is turning out to be more and more like her political mentor and idol (well her old one), Mark Sanford.

The Legislature, dominated by her own party, hates her; the business community is scared of her; and she's already had a scarlet letter slapped on her (although it didn't stick).

She can't even raise as much money from South Carolina voters as Sheheen. In fact, turns out she's taken more than $150,000 in out-of-state contributions, while Sheheen has taken only $7,000. If that was the other way around, you'd never hear the end of it.

But by running around shouting "transparency" (and then refusing to answer questions or turn over phone and e-mail records), she maintains a lead in the polls.

Meanwhile, Alvin Greene -- who's said just about as much of substance as Haley -- is going through his own Inquisition.

No wonder Haley feels comfortable enough to blow off any group that, if she supported, might raise eyebrows among her tea party fans.

Doesn't add up

Now, the truth is, pledges are by and large silly things. They don't mean much -- remember how that whole term-limit thing the Republican Revolution pushed in 1994 turned out. And don't you know that President Bush the First wishes he'd never told anyone to read his lips.

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But this Gubernatorial Appointments Project is a little different. This state ranks last in terms of percentage of women in our Legislature (there are 17 women lawmakers out of 170). No women hold statewide elected office, and only four of 15 Cabinet-level agencies are led by women.

It just makes sense to get more women involved. They couldn't screw up the state any worse than men have been doing for centuries.

Sheheen told The Post and Courier's Yvonne Wenger on Tuesday that he doesn't support any quotas but wants to get more than "just friends and buddies" involved in the government. That's a moderate, sensible approach.

As for Haley? Well, based on her brush-off of the S.C. Gubernatorial Appointments Projects, she's apparently only interested in getting one woman a job.