Reeves has a billion dollar plan to save South Carolina

FLORENCE — Green Party gubernatorial candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves visited Florence on Thursday as his campaign traveled through South Carolina looking to pick up speed before a planned debate with Republican candidate Nikki Haley and Democratic candidate Vincent Sheheen.

“What makes me different is that I have a plan, and I have a real plan, and I have a plan to get the money,” Reeves said while speaking at Pete’s Barber shop Thursday afternoon.

Reeves said his focus is on putting money and power back in the hands of everyday people through jobs and education.

Reeves has a $40 billion plan he said is the first step toward fixing South Carolina’s education system and money problems.

Increased exploration of green energy options and education reform are what will make the state more attractive to big industry, providing jobs for people that live here, he said. These include ideas for an offshore wind farm, hydrogen refueling stations throughout the state and increased production of ethanol for fuel.

Florence resident Gregory McElveen is skeptical.

“I like the fact that there are more options in the race, but his plans seem out of touch,” he said.

McElveen was referring to part of Reeves' idea of bringing a bullet train to South Carolina as part of his plan for job creation.

The 200 mph train would connect in every city and every town in South Carolina, Reeves said.

“How are we going to afford all this? ” McElveen said. “He has a lot of good and green ideas, but it’s just going to take money South Carolina does not have.”

Vera Smith, visiting Florence from Anderson, said she is indifferent toward political candidates who try to sell themselves by “going green,” but Reeves’ idea for state-wide free Wi-Fi caught her attention.

Part of increasing education in an area is increasing the availability of resources, she said.

“To make any of these plans work, it’s going to take sacrifice,” Reeves said. “I want to ask everyone in South Carolina to give $100.”

Roughly 4,500,000 people live in South Carolina, according to 2009 census data. This money would provide the government with $40 billion to put toward these projects.

Reeves said this money would go toward teacher salaries, making school year-round and converting school buses to run on ethanol.

Reeves said he hopes private companies would be willing to invest in the “fast rail” system and the production of a hydrogen plant and ethanol-powered vehicles once they see the potential positive impact on the state’s economy.

He said he hopes technical schools would take more students who would be able to build and maintain the rail systems and South Carolina residents would look for work all over the state instead of being limited to their city or town.

“If they gave that $100 twice,” he said, “then we’ll even have a surplus.”

Reeves calls himself the “teamwork” candidate and said he would provide a unique perspective for South Carolina taxpayers — a perspective that isn’t Democratic or Republican, but something that meets in the middle.

Reeves said he is looking forward to the gubernatorial debates this fall.

“The only way there can be any real change in South Carolina is for voters to vote for an independent candidate like myself,” he said.