PEE DEE POLITICS: Wukela-Leatherman bond is model politics

There’s deadlock in Congress over meaningful reforms to things like spending and solving the debt crisis, an ineffective president is sitting in the White House seeming to worry primarily more about his re-election campaign than actually leading, and members of the GOP who would love to occupy the Oval Office are bloodying each other over who can pander to an ultra-right-wing base that doesn’t even exist.

With politics today falling deeper in the abyss of partisan rhetoric, Florence Mayor Stephen J. Wukela and state Sen. Hugh Leatherman are a beam of light in a very dark place.

Ask anyone the reason for the partisan bickering in Washington, D.C., and you’ll probably get a myriad of explanations ranging from chiasmus divides in ideology to arguments that “the other side is just stupid,” but what’s sad is that the basis of the Wukela-Leatherman relationship so basic it’s almost too easy.

“The senator and I are both professionals,” Wukela said in a recent interview. “At no point were we going to let any personal or political viewpoints get in the way of us doing our job. He made that clear very early on and I’ve agreed with that. Since then, we’ve had a very productive relationship. That’s what should be expected. That should be the norm. We elect people to do a job and it shouldn’t be so unusual.”

It’s fitting that what brought about the revelation of this strong Wukela-Leatherman partnership was the simple fact that the pair agreed Oakland Avenue needed some work and found a way to make it happen.

Sure, resolving something like the debt crisis is a little more complex then filling a pothole, but keeping our nation from defaulting is a more pressing issue than repaving a street; one would think our leaders would attempt to solve the gargantuan problem post haste rather than wasting time in a sea of partisan jibber-jabber

When approached by Wukela about Oakland Avenue, Leatherman’s response to finding a solution was what Republicans and Democrats alike should have said when they realized how high our nation’s debt was.

“It should have been done a long time ago,” he said.

The simple fact is, there is a difference between philosophical differences and partisan bickering, and if national leaders don’t learn how to follow the example of Wukela and Leatherman, we’re all going to be in even deeper trouble than we already are.

“We’ve got to rise above that to put the best minds of this community working together to find the most practical and effective solutions to the problems that face this community,” Francis Marion University President Dr. Fred Carter said. “I think we’re seeing more and more of that occur across this community and I think it’s a terrifically responsible reaction for policymakers to take.”

While there are some factions of local politicians who seem to revel in this ultra-partisan deadlock, there are signs that more reasonable leaders are emerging.

Bill Pickle, chairman of the Florence County Republican Party, for example, routinely shows an understanding that it’s policy, not party, that matters and has preached that message even at the cost of support from some members of the local Tea Party.

Even Dick Harpootlian, the outspoken Democratic partisan wizard, recognizes the importance of working together and says Wukela’s ability to do has marked him as a future leader his party.

We have a choice in our country today, and it is as simple as agreeing to pave a road. Either we work together, balancing our philosophical differences to turn partisan bickering into meaningful debate and sound solutions, or we destroy this greatest haven for freedom in the history of the world.

I know what I chose.

John Sweeney covers politics for the Morning News. Contact him at 843-317-7276 or jsweeney@florencenews.com. See his video logs at scnow.com and on the Morning News Facebook page.