DARLA MOORE
SPEECH TO THE SC ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES
AUGUST 2, 2003
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC

I'm honored to speak to this distinguished group because county officials, more than most, have your hands on the pulse of grassroots South Carolina. I heard a county councilman say working on problems like sewage gets you about as close to people as you want to get.

I want to warn you about a couple of things.

First, I'm going to challenge you today because the Association of Counties' role in South Carolina is absolutely critical if we are going to be all we can be. I just want you to know I'm not picking on you. What I'm about to say to you I've said to other important groups because I think there's tremendous unrealized potential in South Carolina and I want us to work together to fulfill it. Now I've been accused of being blunt and maybe a little overbearing at times. If that's true, and it probably is, I blame it on growing up in the Pee Dee. I think Terry Alexander, Mitchell Kirby, Waymon Mumford and Tom Smith would confirm that people from our neck of the woods are an independent lot-some would say ornery-and it goes back a long way.

For example, Florence and Darlington started the Dispensary War in 1894. Governor Pitchfork Ben Tillman declared us to be in a state of rebellion because we didn't want anybody messing with our liquor (pause). Still don't.

Florence County is known for being in the middle of the Tobacco Belt. But history also records we were one of only six counties in the early 1900s that remained wet. I kind of take pride in that.

Ya'll laugh, but it's a fact that South Carolinians cling to the past and have a hard time adapting to change. And that's what I want to talk about today-change, especially in our economy.

In the book "Red Hills and Cotton," an old South Carolina farmer talked about the gut-wrenching dilemma of having to leave the country and go to the city for work. He said: "We had our love of family, our love of history, and our resistance to change that was both for and against us."

That's a pretty good description of South Carolina. I can relate.

We moved back to Lake City to live in the same house my daddy was born in. Those are my roots, my foundation. I've taken my southern drawl all over the world, lived in a lot of places, but none so special as that patch of Lake City farmland.

Rusty Smith knows what I'm talking about.

I know you share your own appreciation of heritage, and it's important. But so is change.

Today, South Carolina is in the throes of change just as challenging as the transition from farming to manufacturing at the beginning of the last century. And the question is: are we up to it?

Many of you are serving in elective and appointed capacities because you love your state and want to help. The Palmetto Institute is our way of trying to do the same thing.

We are an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research foundation. We have on the board some of the finest people I've ever worked with, including Hilton Head's own Paula Harper Bethea.

We have one goal: to help increase the per capita income for South Carolinians.

Per capita income is the single most important measurement of the quality of life. Not how many jobs are created. Not how much new investment. We can create new jobs and investment and still not raise the standard of living.

Indeed, we have been doing just that for generations. We've relied upon the big hit, or the buffalo kill as I call it, to boost our fortunes with offers of low wages and taxes and high incentives. Those days are over.

We found out last year that other states can win the bidding war for a big plant, and empty manufacturing buildings dotting your counties stand as reminders of the harsh reality of change.

Most of those plants won't reopen when the economy improves. Those jobs are gone for good.

The first thing we did after forming the Institute was commission a full-blown study of South Carolina's economy to get an objective baseline analysis. That's in keeping with our mission of not relying upon guesses or opinions, but objective research.

It concluded that we cannot compete in the new knowledge-based economy with our current mix of industries and economic foundations.

Yes, we have created new jobs and investments over the years, but so have other states. The only difference is they've been doing it better.

• Our personal income is 18 percent below the national average.
• Our gross state output is 20 percent below the national average.
• And the average manufacturing wage is 24 percent less.

Even more alarming is that we trail Georgia and North Carolina…and the gap is growing.

Our economic study, conducted by the international economic research firm, DRI-WEFA, is a sobering report. But it's not all bad news. In fact, the research concludes that we can become competitive…we can raise the standard of living…if we work smart.

It recommends a two-pronged approach to address our deficiencies.

First, we must diversify our industries and build upon our assets by establishing a framework for industry clustering.

Thanks to Bob Faith, diversification is underway. He's working with the Institute and other business groups to develop a long-range plan of identifying industry clusters that are natural for South Carolina, but also have the ability to grow in the knowledge-based economy. We've retained the Monitor Group, an outstanding economic consulting group guided by Dr. Michael Porter of Harvard, to help us. This will take time. It will also take collaboration among a host of leadership groups, including the Association of Counties. But this challenging process, I am convinced, will eventually help make us competitive with our neighboring states. At the same time this is being done, we must also improve our economic foundations to nurture and grow these clusters. By economic foundations, I mean education, work force skills, access to capital, research and development, hard infrastructure, business climate and quality of life.

We rate pretty well in business climate and quality of life, but not in the others.

Now let's get to the bottom line real quick. If we don't improve the work force, we're dead.

It's a problem for America. The Aspen Institute last year warned that the greatest social crisis facing our country in the next two decades is the lack of a trained work force.

Double that for South Carolina because we're behind most of the country.

According to the Governor's Work Force Education Task Force survey for 2001, 61 percent of our employers could not find the skilled employees they needed. Did you hear that? Six in 10 employers can't find enough qualified workers.

A real life example I heard about was an employer who needed to fill five jobs. He got 900 applications. Twenty applicants out of 900 passed a basic skills test. Those 20 were tested for drugs. Only four passed. One of the jobs remained unfilled.

That's scary, folks, but it's reality.

If we can't train a work force, we can't get a foot in the door of the new economy. And that spells disaster.

I served on a panel last year that reviewed a report produced by a major research foundation in North Carolina. The report, called "Shadows in the Sunbelt Revisited," assessed conditions in the South since the first report of its kind was issued in 1986.

The findings are shocking.

Too many southern communities count high school graduates as their biggest export. Left behind are people lacking education and job skills as well as educated people with deep roots who simply don't want to leave.

These communities face a litany of challenges: isolation by distance, lagging infrastructure, sparse resources that can't support education and other public services, social and ethnic divisions and a weak overall economy.

I see these problems all across South Carolina. You do, too, and some of you are using duct tape and glue to hold things together in this economy.

So what do we do? I don't have all the answers. That's why we founded the Palmetto Institute-to help leaders like you find them. Here's a Cliffs Note version of what I see.

High-growth regions in the country share at least three characteristics that we do not have, at least not to the extent that we need them. They cooperate, they strategically plan and they have first-rate research universities.

Every study I've read says no city or county can realize its full potential by itself.

It's ironic. All of us understand how events halfway around the world affect us here at home, yet many political subdivisions govern as though they were islands unto themselves.

If they think at all about their neighbors, it's often in terms of competition. We compete too much and don't cooperate enough.

That's not just true for counties and cities. It's true in higher education, healthcare and a lot of other sectors.

Maybe we all should sit around in a great big circle, hold hands and sing 50 verses of Kumbaya before we go home.

At the very least, we ought to have a law that says the only time contiguous counties can compete is Friday night football.

When it comes to economic growth and work force development, we need-you need-to forget political boundaries. Forge regional alliances. Work off each other's strengths. Stop trying to outdo your neighbors.

We see stories all the time about counties and cities fighting each other. It's a terrible waste of time and resources. We must work together.

That's especially true for those of you in rural South Carolina. You have to tap into the strategies and efforts of your closest urban center because you will not make it by yourself.

Likewise, leaders of those urban centers should consult with you as they plan. Lake City, for example, must be tied to Florence because we do not have the resources to succeed by ourselves.

Virtually every growth region in the country has adopted this approach to economic development. Show me a region of the country that is vibrant and growing and I'll show you a region that thinks beyond city and county limits.

The Research Triangle is said to be in the Raleigh-Durham area. There's a hyphen between those cities because they are connected to the common purpose of competing in the knowledge-based economy.

Another strategy most economically thriving regions have in common is that they play to their strengths, and that's not accidental.

You are key leaders in your communities. You and the other movers and shakers must identify your assets, your human, cultural and natural assets. What makes you unique? What's attractive about your county and region and how do your market it? What are your weaknesses and how do you shore them up?

I'm talking about the need to develop a strategic plan to grow your competitive advantage. It is an arduous, time-consuming task, but it is essential for long-term vitality.

If you don't have a strategic plan for where you're going, I assure you that you and your people will never get there.

If you don't have the expertise in-house to do this, go out and find it. The Commerce Department might be able to help. We at the Palmetto Institute can point you in the right direction.

I've learned over the years there's no such thing as accidental success. As the church sign says, "Ideas work only if you do. The key to the Kingdom is implementation."

Another common trait that high-growth regions share is a first-tier research university. That's the intersection of the disciplines of academics and the pragmatism of business.

State law hamstrings Clemson, USC and MUSC from working with the private sector. All three have developed visionary strategies that can take South Carolina to a new level in the knowledge-based economy, but they can't get there from here until we free them from mindless bureaucratic logjams.

So these are three of the things most high-growth regions have in common. Two of them-regional cooperation and strategic planning-are within your purview to implement. This group, as influential as you are, can decide to do them today. The Association of Counties can become a model for the state. Some of you are working toward these ends, but we need every county involved.

Now I know there are all kinds of forces working against you-everything from a bad economy to unfunded mandates and citizen apathy. Some of you have every reason to throw up your hands in disgust and walk away.

If you feel that way I encourage you to do so. But if public service still seems to be a valuable use of time, and if you believe you can still make a difference, I encourage you to hang in there and fight.

Fight complacency.

Fight for a modernized tax structure that reflects the change from a goods-based economy to a service economy.

Fight to improve labor force skills that will either make or break South Carolina. It's not just the responsibility of the public schools or higher education. It's your responsibility, too.

And oppose with all your might baser parochial instincts that worship the glorified past that never existed and which stand in the way of regional cooperation and strategic thinking.

Some of you are thinking, "She's done gone to preaching." If that's so, let me close my sermon by singing what has become my theme song.

I think a lot of our problems in South Carolina stem from a huge and pervasive inferiority complex that I have not seen in other places, even though some states should have one. But not my state.

We don't have more because too many of our people-including too many leaders-don't think we can. I outright reject that.

Empirical, verifiable research that the Palmetto Institute and others have done describes a state brimming with tremendous possibilities. We have the potential to redefine our future. It's a future that can be competitive, that can retool itself for the knowledge-based economy and produce the work force that serves it. And our future can be enticing to our young people and keep them here.

If you haven't read our economic study, you can get it off our website. It is both sobering and challenging. It does not just list our problems, but our opportunities as well. I've just addressed a few of the highlights.

I want you to know this institute and our board are in this thing for the long haul. We're not going away. We have invested time, money and reputation in this endeavor and we're going to see it through.

We want to work with you and other leaders to improve the quality of life that all our people aspire to.

We can do it, but we've got to do it together.

Thank you.