Happy to see this spot-on post. Congress needs Elizabeth Colbert Busch. I'm asking you to ask everyone you know in the First Congressional District to vote for Colbert Busch on May 7! Every vote matters, especially in this race!
from the Savannah Morning News/"Savannah Now"
http://savannahnow.com/column/2013-04-11/oxnard-finding-sanity-south-carolina#.UWrM4YKvXbl
Oxnard: Finding sanity in South Carolina
Posted: April 11, 2013 - 9:37pm | Updated: April 12, 2013 - 12:13am
If I had to choose one word to describe Elizabeth Colbert Busch, it would be this: normal.
Anybody who follows politics in general, and the recent travails of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District in particular, knows that normal is the last word that comes to mind.
Yet last weekend when I met Busch, who is running as a moderate Democrat in a special election on May 7 to replace Congressman Tim Scott, all I could think of was how normal, grounded and, well, sane she is.
And this in the district that brought us Mark Sanford, he of the Appalachian Trail-meets-Buenos-Aires shenanigans.
The same Mark Sanford who, bizarrely, is embarking on a comeback tour and running for his old seat in the 1st.
Colbert Busch could make serious political hay with Sanford’s scandalous backstory, and yet, at a recent meet-and-greet in Bluffton, S.C., she never once mentioned his name. Instead, she talked passionately about looking forward to her district’s future as a center for 21st-century technology and energy production.
A whip-smart businesswoman who cut her teeth working in the mostly-male world of shipping, ports and technology, Colbert Busch is also the proud mother of three, grandmother of two and, as you may have heard, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert. Given her accomplishments and renowned family, she could come across as smug, entitled or aloof, yet she radiates exactly the opposite energy. She’s sharp, but approachable. Warm, yet professional. Grounded, yet excited about her dreams for S.C.’s 1st District.
Those dreams include an intense focus on high technology, clean energy production and the educational improvements that will lure those industries to the Carolina Lowcountry. She sees the future, and says, “It is all about energy.”
Indeed, Colbert Busch was one of the people responsible for bringing Clemson University’s Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility — the world’s largest — to the region in 2009, along with thousands of wind energy jobs.
“That market is growing,” she says. “In the next two decades, the wind industry alone is projected to add an additional 20,000 jobs, $2 billion in wages and $600 billion in (South Carolina) state and local revenue.” She also says that in spite of the Lowcountry’s burgeoning tech industry, her district is not doing enough to market itself as a bastion of innovation and job creation.
But energy investors won’t come to South Carolina’s coast if the workforce isn’t well-trained. So Colbert Busch proposes creating partnerships between industry, academia and public school systems, beefing up STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curricula and creating more varied career paths for high school students, especially in technical vocations.
What struck me the most was her normalcy — the feeling that she could be your helpful neighbor, your friend’s cool mother, your easy-going yet hard-working boss, your wildly successful pal who remains humble and fun. This is not what I usually think after meeting a politician.
When asked why she is running, Colbert Busch said she wants to speak for those in her district who are usually not heard from — the ones who are often ignored or left behind in politics. Whether this compassion stems from her Catholic upbringing; her experience with creating businesses and learning how jobs can transform people’s lives; or being a mother and grandmother and seeing why education matters, it is notable and welcome in a field normally populated with megalomaniacs, mercenaries and mean-spirited social Darwinians.
Mark Sanford may have name recognition after having inappropriately used state funds to pursue his paramour in Argentina. And he may be on a self-described path to redemption that resonates with Christian conservatives.
But it is Colbert Busch who has the moral compass, the business chops and the vision to lead her district into a more prosperous future.
Given the deep frustration among voters — especially women — with the U.S. Congress, Colbert Busch’s quixotic journey may well end with her not tilting at windmills, but creating them.
K. W. Oxnard lives and writes in Savannah.
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