Nikki Haley’s funding cuts to sexual assault and DV programs overturned

Last week, Nikki Haley got overzealous with her desire for Tea Party style cuts to the South Carolina budget. While, we all want to save money, she was shortsighted in the kinds of services she was cutting including almost half a million dollars of cuts to domestic violence crisis management and sexual assault prevention services in the state. Well, the South Carolina legislature disagreed with her vetoes of the budget and overturned them in a vote of 111-0.

via Columbia Free Times,

During the process, held July 17 in the House and July 18 in the Senate, Haley took to Facebook and live-posted the unfolding events. After lawmakers overrode her veto of funding that would go to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, Haley posted that “special interests made their way into the DHEC budget.”

The line made Democrats roar. Several called for Haley to apologize.

“Governor, I think you should stay off Facebook, spend a little more time governing,” Joel Lourie, a Columbia Democrat, said from the Senate floor.

“To say I am against victims of rape is beyond absurd,” Haley said, according to The Greenville News. “Their job is to distract. My job is to bring it back on message.”

Here’s some advice–if you don’t want people to think you are against sexual assault and domestic violence survivors–you should reconsider what you decide to make budget cuts to or the things you actually say out loud. Let’s not forget she called sexual assault and domestic violence prevention a “distraction” from the larger issue of public health.