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Rock Hill Herald: Nikki Haley in Rock Hill: Make S.C. friendlier for business

By Matt Garfield - mgarfield@heraldonline.com

Rock Hill — Republican gubernatorial nominee Nikki Haley touted her plan to make South Carolina friendlier to businesses, telling a Rock Hill audience Monday night she would eliminate corporate income taxes and put more business people in charge of state agencies.

In her first visit since winning the GOP nomination, Haley said South Carolina must learn to solve its own problems without looking to Washington, D.C., for help.

“We’ve never seen a time when the federal government has been more intrusive than they are right now,” Haley told about 450 supporters at the Magnolia Room at Laurel Creek. …

“If we become a no-corporate-income-tax state, we will become a magnet for companies,” Haley said.

Haley said she would work more aggressively than Sanford to attract businesses to S.C. ports. Georgia has “totally had their way with us,” she said, in part because the governor makes frequent visits to state ports to understand needs.

“We had a governor who wasn’t necessarily there,” Haley said of South Carolina. “That wasn’t his thing.”

Haley pledged to appoint more private sector executives to state agencies that regulate everything from the environment to motor vehicles.

“When we put business people in those agencies, who know what it’s like to be on the other side, it will be a beautiful thing,” she said. …

Several admirers asked Haley to autograph copies of the July issue of Newsweek magazine that featured her on the cover.

“She’s an inspiration,” said Pat Krewson, a 77-year-old lifelong Republican from Lake Wylie. “It’s time we had more women, especially qualified women like her. She’s everything we’ve been looking for.”

To read The Herald’s entire story, click here http://www.heraldonline.com/2010/08/17/2386528/nikki-haley-to-rock-hill-make.html