Bauer equates 'stray animals' to people in speech on aid to
needyLieutenant governor says those receiving help `owe something
back'
By Nathaniel Cary
Staff Writer
"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman,
but she told me as a small child to quit feeding
stray animals. You know why? Because they breed.
You're facilitating the problem if you give
an animal or a person ample food supply.
They will reproduce, especially ones that don't
think too much further than that.
And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail
that type of behavior. They don't know any better."
-- South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer (R)
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer drew a comparison to "feeding stray
animals" during a speech about people on government assistance,
"babies having babies," and parents whose children are on free
and reduced-price lunch.
Bauer, who's running for the Republican nomination for governor, made
his remarks during a town hall meeting in Fountain Inn that included
state lawmakers and about 115 residents.
"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman but she told me as a
small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they
breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person
ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think
too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got
to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better," Bauer
said.
In South Carolina, 58 percent of students participate in the free and
reduced-price lunch program, 45.5 percent in Greenville County.
Bauer's remarks came during a speech in which he said government should
take away assistance if those receiving help didn't pass drug tests or
attend parent-teacher conferences or PTA meetings if their children were
receiving free and reduced-price lunches.
Bauer later told The Greenville News on Friday that he wasn't saying
people on government assistance "were animals or anything else."
In his speech to the group, Bauer said people have to become more
engaged with government.
"You see, for the first time in the history of this country, we've
got more people voting for a living than we do working for a
living," he said.
Later in his speech, he said, "I can show you a bar graph where free
and reduced lunch has the worst test scores in the state of South
Carolina," adding, "You show me the school that has the highest
free and reduced lunch and I'll show you the worst test scores, folks.
It's there, period. So how do you fix it? Well you say, `Look, if
you receive goods or services from the government then you owe something
back.'"
Bauer said during the speech that there are no "repercussions"
from accepting government assistance.
"We don't make you take a drug test. We ought to. We don't even make
you show up to your child's parent-teacher conference meeting or to the
PTA meeting," Bauer said.
"You go to a school where there's an active participation of parents
and guess what? They have the highest test scores. So what do you do?
You say, `Look folks, if you receive goods or services from the
government and you don't attend a parent-teacher conference, bam, you
lose your benefits.' We're going to have to do things like that. We
can't afford to keep just giving money away."
And he said it was time to confront "babies having babies,
somebody's got to talk about. Politicians don't want to talk about it
anymore because it's politically incorrect."
Later, Bauer told The News that "people in society have certain
responsibilities, just like if you don't pay your taxes, there are
certain repercussions."
He said government hasn't made requirements to make those receiving aid
be more responsible.
"They can continue to have more and more kids and the reward is
there's more and more money in it for them."
Instead, he said the government should place incentives in its welfare
programs such as providing child care so parents can work or receive
education so they can break the welfare cycle.
Government continues to reward bad behavior by giving money to people
who "don't have to do a thing," he said.
Tymeco Gregory grew up in a single-parent home where he said his family
relied on free-lunch programs at school to survive while struggling to
pay bills.
"If I didn't get any money or help with food for school and stuff,
we probably would have to go without eating at school," Gregory
said. "We don't have a lot of extra money."
Now an 18-year-old freshman physics major at Wofford College, Gregory
credited a support system from Furman University's Bridges to a Brighter
Future program and government assistance with helping him achieve his
goal to attend college.
Tobi Swartz, director of Bridges to a Brighter Future, declined to
comment on Bauer's remarks but said students can achieve despite their
backgrounds if shown the opportunity.
"Income and circumstance does not define you and young people have
the ability to make choices that are their future," Swartz said.
"We need to provide opportunities and exposure that will provide
them the vision for something beyond their circumstances."
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