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Boeing workers vote ‘no’ Union bid fails in South; facility set to host Trump COLUMBIA (AP) — Boeing workers’ overwhelming anti-union vote at the aviation giant’s 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina is a big victory for Southern politicians and business leaders who have lured manufacturing jobs to the region on the promise of keeping unions out. It’s also a win for the company that will host President Trump at its North Charleston facilities Friday. Nearly 3,000 workers were eligible to vote THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Wednesday on representation by the InternaAn engine and part of a wing from the 100th 787 Dreamliner that’s tional Association of Machinists and Aerobeing built at Boeing of South Carolina’s North Charleston facility space workers. According to Boeing, nearly 74 are shown Tuesday outside the plant. percent of the more than 2,800 votes cast were
against representation. It was a massive victory for union opponents, in line with longstanding Southern aversion to collective bargaining. At 1.6 percent, South Carolina maintains the lowest percentage of unionized workers in the country, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In a statement on the union election, Boeing vice president and general manager Joan Robinson-Berry looked past the decisive vote to Trump’s visit. “It is great to have this vote behind us as we come together to celebrate that event,” she said.
Letting their voices be heard African-American pastors speaking out against school district officials BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com Several African-American pastors in the community are speaking out against Sumter School District’s superintendent, and some are extending blame to the school board for the district’s current budget crisis. At least 10 members of the Concerned Clergy of Sumter County were in attendance Monday at the Sumter School Board of Trustees’ meeting at Wilder Elementary School, according to the clergy’s immediate past presi-
dent, and a few spoke during public participation. Several members were contacted this week by The Sumter Item seeking additional comments on who they believe is responsible for the district’s financial crisis. Two months ago when the district’s audit for last fiscal year was presented to the board, it revealed the district overspent by $6.2 million last school year and had a general fund balance
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Spokesperson: All 7 board members have personal ties to superintendent BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com All seven board members on the Sumter School Board of Trustees have either worked under the current district superintendent or have a spouse currently employed in the district,
according to a district office spokesperson who was contacted this week. The Sumter Item contacted Shelly Galloway, district public information and strategic partnerships coordinator, after an area pastor referenced that five school board members’ personal
allegiance to Superintendent Frank Baker affects their actions and decisions as board members. The Rev. Marion Newton, senior pastor of Jehovah Missionary Baptist Church in Sumter, said
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The Rev. Willie Wright, pastor of New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, was one of at least three pastors who spoke out Monday night during the Sumter School District SEE TIES, PAGE A6 Board of Trustees meeting at Wilder Elementary School.
District 5 congressional hopeful visits Sumter Rep. Mulvaney
selected for Trump’s Cabinet as budget chief
Chad Connelly stumps at Bubba’s Diner BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com Hours before South Carolina Congressional District 5 Rep. Mick Mulvaney was approved as President Trump’s new budget director, Chad Connelly campaigned for the District 5 seat he will vacate at Bubba’s Diner in Sumter. The conservative Christian candidate for the Republican nomination to fill Mulvaney’s seat received a warm welcome from the similar-minded crowd at the eatery. As waitresses squeezed between campaign staffers and local supporters to bring people their breakfasts, Connelly said he was campaigning on a platform of term limits, free enterprise and public involvement. “We are losing the country,” he said, “and it nobody’s fault but our own.” He urged other Christian
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conservatives similar to himself to become more engaged in the nation’s political system. “I believe our country is off the rails, and God expects us to do our part,” he said. He said he believes Washington will not be reformed until he country ends the reign of career politicians. “I don’t believe we are going to clean up Washington until we have term limits,” he said. The engaging candidate grew up in Prosperity, South Carolina, he said. “It’s about 200 people if you count the animals,” he said. Connelly, a former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, has spent the past few years as leader of the national Republican Party’s outreach to evangelical Christians, traveling extensively throughout the country to engage faith leaders to become more active in politics.
JIM HILLEY / THE SUMTER ITEM
District 5 congressional candidate Chad Connelly, left, works the crowd at Bubba’s Diner Thursday morning. Connelly said he is running for the Republican nomination on a platform of term limits, free enterprise and engaging more people in the political process. He said that outreach has taken him to 21 states in the past year. “All of the traveling has shown me people are frustrated,” he said. A Clemson graduate who helped pay his way through college by working at McDonald’s and in the engineering
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lab, Connelly is married to his second wife Michelle. Both endured the deaths of earlier spouses. He brought two sons into the marriage and she brought two daughters.
SEE HOPEFUL, PAGE A6
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Trump’s pick to run the White House budget office, giving the Republicans’ tea party wing a voice in the Cabinet. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., MULVANEY squeaked through on a 51-49 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate. Mulvaney’s confirmation promises to accelerate work on Trump’s upcoming budget plan, which is overdue. That’s typical at the beginning of an administration.
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