“A jobs congressman” is my pledge to the people of the 4th Congressional District to not only go to Washington, D.C. and support conservative principles but also to work overtime to recruit new businesses to the Upstate. Remember how Carroll Campbell brought us BMW, I want to recruit businesses like that to the Upstate as your congressman. We need someone who will meet with the CEOs of companies that are looking to relocate and recruit them to the Upstate. We can’t just expect businesses to relocate to the Upstate on their own.

Unemployment is on the rise and many people are out of work. Its time to get the 4th Congressional District working again. That is why I pledge to bring conservative principles back to Washington and to work to bring businesses to the Upstate using my position as a congressman. All it takes is a little hard work and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves to work for you.

David

By Rudolph Bell
and Tim Smith

Upstate workers who haven’t had much to cheer about in a stretch of unrelentingly bad economic news will see the clouds part more than a bit with the expected announcement this week that Greenville has landed an electric bus assembly plant that could employ as many as 1,300.

It’s a desperately needed shot in the arm for Greenville County, where unemployment stands at 10.5 percent, and for South Carolina, where the jobless rate has climbed to 12.6 percent — the fourth-highest in the nation.

It was unclear late Monday over what period of time the jobs would be created.

Though the Protera LLC bus manufacturing company of Golden, Colo., declined to say anything before its scheduled Thursday announcement, state Sen. David Thomas confirmed late Monday that it is coming.

And U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint said the company’s decision proves that Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville is acting as a magnet to expand the automotive industry in the region — building on the earlier successes of Michelin, BMW and a host of automotive suppliers.

The company was drawn by South Carolina’s pro-business climate and cluster of automotive companies as well as the prospect of collaborating with researchers at ICAR, DeMint said.

“They’re hoping that the research and development that goes on (at ICAR) is something they can take advantage of,” DeMint said.

Proterra has previously said it was considering Greenville for a $68 million plant and research office at ICAR. It wasn’t clear Monday what the jobs would pay.

Joshua Goldman, the company’s director of business development, declined to comment, as did Kara Borie, a spokeswoman for the state Commerce Department.

A spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford said the governor has been invited to an economic development announcement at ICAR on Thursday and would attend. He said he couldn’t provide any other details.

Greenville County Council has voted to give Proterra property tax breaks and other incentives, including nearly $7.5 million from county-issued bonds, in exchange for building the plant locally.

Butch Kirven, County Council chairman, declined to comment on whether Proterra was scheduled to make an announcement, but he said ICAR gets credit if Greenville lands the plant.

“The whole reason we’re here is because of the investment and infrastructure in ICAR,” Kirven said.

Proterra, founded in 2004, makes battery-powered buses for the mass transit market and employs about 40 people in Colorado.

Goldman told The Greenville News in December that part suppliers for the plant should create another 5,000 jobs, on top of the 1,300 jobs at the plant, but that not all of the supplier jobs would be located in the state where the plant goes.

Goldman said then that Proterra was scheduled to deliver 20 buses in 2010 and expects to be selling more than 500 a year in several years.

DeMint said South Carolina has spent decades building a pro-business climate that includes reasonable tax rates, competitive energy costs and right-to-work laws.

“Companies are looking at South Carolina not because it’s good weather,” said DeMint, who met with Proterra executives as part of state and local officials’ efforts to recruit the company.

“This is a team effort if I’ve ever seen it,” DeMint said about the recruiting of Proterra.

Thomas, who is running for the 4th District congressional seat, said South Carolina needs to go “nonstop” in recruiting companies such as Proterra.

State Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens called it “huge.”

“It’s extremely exciting,” he said. “It will be a real asset to the Clemson ICAR development.”

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20100202/NEWS/2020310/Bus-company-s-plans-of-1-300-jobs-show-ICAR-paying-dividends

Dear friends,

This afternoon, I wanted to send a little note out to you.  Session is in full swing in Columbia.  You will probably see me at local restaurants meeting voters and talking about issues.

I found an interesting link to a San Diego news station that did a segment on global warming.  This is my position on global warming.

You can check it out here.

Sleeves rolled up,

David Thomas

Friday: January 15, 2010, 7:30-8:30 a.m. – Stax’s Original, 1704 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, SC.
Friday: January 15, 2010, 12:00-1:00 p.m. – The Clock Restaurant in Lyman, 215 Spartanburg Highway, Lyman, SC.

We will have more opportunities for me to meet you.  Check out our events calendar on our website: www.thomas2010.com

Sleeves rolled up working for you,


David L. Thomas

Contact: James Hicks – (864) 271-6371

January 5, 2010

FOUNTAIN INN, SC-State Senator and Fourth Congressional District Candidate David Thomas made the following statement regarding a debate challenge from Bob Inglis:

“Earlier today, I was challenged by Bob Inglis to a series of debates in the coming months.  I have an answer for Congressman Inglis: I’m ready.”

“I am ready to debate Bob Inglis so that voters see the clear differences between myself and the incumbent.  The people of the 4th Congressional District deserve a chance to look at each candidate and evaluate who will best serve them in Washington, D.C.”

“I challenge all local media to get involved and plan as many debates as possible to let voters get to know each of the candidates.”

As you are spending time with your loved ones, I would challenge you to take a few minutes to think about and pray for our men and women serving overseas.  Their service and sacrifice is the reason we can celebrate Christmas and other holidays without fear.  I am very thankful for their willingness to serve.

I hope you continue to have a wonderful Christmas and please let me know if I can ever assist  you.

Merry Christmas,

David Thomas

by James Delingpole

Climategate just got much, much bigger. And all thanks to the Russians who, with perfect timing, dropped this bombshell just as the world’s leaders are gathering in Copenhagen to discuss ways of carbon-taxing us all back to the dark ages.

Feast your eyes on this news release from Rionovosta, via the Ria Novosti agency, posted on Icecap. (Hat Tip: Richard North)

A discussion of the November 2009 Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident, referred to by some sources as “Climategate,” continues against the backdrop of the abortive UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) discussing alternative agreements to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that aimed to combat global warming.

The incident involved an e-mail server used by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, East England. Unknown persons stole and anonymously disseminated thousands of e-mails and other documents dealing with the global-warming issue made over the course of 13 years.

Controversy arose after various allegations were made including that climate scientists colluded to withhold scientific evidence and manipulated data to make the case for global warming appear stronger than it is.

Climategate has already affected Russia. On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with Russian-climate data.

The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory. Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations.

The data of stations located in areas not listed in the Hadley Climate Research Unit Temperature UK (HadCRUT) survey often does not show any substantial warming in the late 20th century and the early 21st century.

The HadCRUT database includes specific stations providing incomplete data and highlighting the global-warming process, rather than stations facilitating uninterrupted observations.

On the whole, climatologists use the incomplete findings of meteorological stations far more often than those providing complete observations.

IEA analysts say climatologists use the data of stations located in large populated centers that are influenced by the urban-warming effect more frequently than the correct data of remote stations.

The scale of global warming was exaggerated due to temperature distortions for Russia accounting for 12.5% of the world’s land mass. The IEA said it was necessary to recalculate all global-temperature data in order to assess the scale of such exaggeration.

Global-temperature data will have to be modified if similar climate-date procedures have been used from other national data because the calculations used by COP15 analysts, including financial calculations, are based on HadCRUT research.

What the Russians are suggesting here, in other words, is that the entire global temperature record used by the IPCC to inform world government policy is a crock.

As Richard North says: This is serial.

UPDATE: As Steve McIntyre reports at ClimateAudit, it has long been suspected that the CRU had been playing especially fast and loose with Russian – more particularly Siberian – temperature records. Here from March 2004, is an email from Phil Jones to Michael Mann.

Recently rejected two papers (one for JGR and for GRL) from people saying CRU has it wrong over Siberia. Went to town in both reviews, hopefully successfully. If either appears I will be very surprised, but you never know with GRL.

Cheers

Phil

And here at Watts Up With That is a guest post by Jeff Id of the Air Vent

And here is what one of the commenters has to say about the way the data has been cherry-picked and skewed for political ends:

The crux of the argument is that the CRU cherry picked data following the same methods that have been done everywhere else. They ignored data covering 40% of Russia and chose data that showed a warming trend over statistically preferable alternatives when available. They ignored completeness of data, preferred urban data, strongly preferred data from stations that relocated, ignored length of data set.

One the final page, there is a chart that shows that CRU’s selective use of 25% of the data created 0.64C more warming than simply using all of the raw data would have done. The complete set of data show 1.4C rise since 1860, the CRU set shows 2.06C rise over the same period.

Not, of course, dear readers that I’m in any way tempted to crow about these latest revelations. After all, so many of my colleagues, junior and senior, have been backing me on this one to the hilt….

Oh, if anyone speaks Russian, here’s the full report.

Check out ClimateAudit.org

November 28th, 2009

Today, Senator David Thomas participated in the 2009 Cowpens Christmas Parade.  For updates from parades this Christmas season, follow sendavidthomas or jameshicks3 on Twitter.

Here are a few pictures from the parade.

As we begin to enter the holiday season, I hope that you are able to take some time to spend with your family and friends.  I hope that we all set aside some time this Thanksgiving to think about those things that we are thankful for: family, friends, and freedom.  I hope you join me in praying for our country and for our troops this Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here.

Sleeves rolled up,