By John Temple Ligon 

Newly elected Secretary of Commerce Joe Taylor at the Coordinating Council for Economic Development meeting last month. Photo by John Temple Ligon

SC Governor Mark Sanford asked former pre–cut log homes magnate Joe Taylor to move from the chairmanship of the SC Jobs–Economic Development Authority (JEDA) to the SC Department of Commerce as secretary, the new boss. Vacating the secretary’s slot is Bob Faith, who assumes Taylor’s post at JEDA. The state Senate will have to approve Governor Sanford’s appointments.

Faith, by all accounts, did a superior job, but he was paid only $1 a year. As chairman of JEDA, he can put more time in with his family and his Charleston–based real estate business. Taylor, however, is going on the payroll. For the first time since SC saw the shift from the state Development Board to the SC Department of Commerce, the secretary is getting a full salary, probably somewhere around $150,000 and maybe as high as $190,000. Beginning with John Warren, former head of SCANA, the secretary’s job was seen as noblesse oblige. Taylor plans on taking the position as a full– time pursuit with no distractions.

Faith put in the time and did the work, but the idea behind a full salary for a full–time job brings a new optimism to the state economic development agency. The national unemployment rate is less than 5%, and SC’s rate is above 7%, and some new direction can send out new signals.

Textiles is shrinking. Tourism is on the rise. Even though tourism is growing, the difference from making and shipping sheets and towels to washing and folding sheets and towels is a precipitous wage drop.

The challenge is a two–front war. SC must continue the hunt for new industrial investments and relocated operations, but the local companies’ growth curves need more support and, unfortunately, more time. The idea behind gaining more corporate headquarters is the commitment to local growing companies. Firms that start here need to stay here and boom here.

Sanford has already proposed increasing the SC Department of Commerce annual budget from $10.4 million to $21.9 million.

Taylor, a Wofford graduate, founded Southland Log Homes and sold Southland Log Homes and made a fortune, staying in SC all the while. He did. Others can. And Taylor is here to help.