Young Legislator Works Both Sides of the Aisle for Education and Economic Development

At 25, it’s no surprise that Representative Clementa Pinckney (Flemming `98) is the youngest member of the South Carolina legislature. What is surprising, though, is that Pinckney is also a minister and a graduate student who, at a young age, can successfully `work both sides of the aisle.’ Pinckney began as a page in the legislature during college and now, five years later, is serving his second term.

Pinckney sees his job as a legislator as an extension of his ministry. "My focus is on the next generation," he says. He recently helped cultivate bipartisan support to fund South Carolina’s exemplary early childhood initiative, First Steps.

First Steps is the brainchild of Democratic Governor Jim Hodges, but the funding had to pass the Republican-led House. Pinckney’s ability to work both sides of the aisle helped produce a successful compromise that fully funds First Steps by dividing the funding responsibility between the general budget and the Education Committee.

Education is one of the issues that Pinckney says are more about people than they are about party affiliations. "We don’t educate Republicans or Democrats, we educate children," he says.

In the 1997 legislative session, Democrat Pinckney sought support from Republican House leadership for a measure to promote economic development incentives for small counties, such as the rural and economically depressed area that Pinckney represents.

He rallied support from fellow Democrats for the Republican-sponsored HB 3919, which amended the utility license tax infrastructure. The enacted bill allowed Pinckney’s district to develop a new business park that will employ 100 or more people.