Shared sacrifice in South Carolina? Not while Nikki Haley is there to cut the State budget and reward her friends with big salary increases

With high unemployment, violent crime and some of the Nation's worst poverty bound to get worse under her draconian budget cuts, South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley rewards GOP elites, campaign supporters and staffers with big salary increases. This in a state where the median household income is a meager $39,316 (2005) 41st in the United States.

By Jody Barr, WIS

Haley's highest-paid staffer is her chief of staff, Tim Pearson, who rakes in $125,000 a year. Pearson also ran Haley's gubernatorial campaign.

Pearson isn't not the only Haley campaign worker to follow her into the governor's office. Haley's campaign consultant, Trey Walker, is also now on the state payroll as Haley's deputy chief of staff, earning $122,000 a year.

Haley and her spokesman, Rob Godfrey, have denied several requests for interviews to defend the increases our investigation uncovered. Late Thursday, however, Walker agreed to explain the governor's salary increases on camera.


Read more about Govenor Haley's Good Old Boy system.


South Carolina pays for Gov. Haley's European vacation, "vague" results on jobs and trade
Legislators rig South Carolina pension-salary deals in their favor