Cooperation brings jobs

Cooperation can exist in a politically charged arena if something important is perceived to be on the line.

Such was the case last week when the Legislature met in special session and approved of concessions that allowed airplane giant Boeing to announce South Carolina as the destination of a new airline assembly facility.

Without that being the main topic of conversation (the Legislature convened to help get additional weeks of benefits for jobless South Carolinians) lawmakers had no problem speeding the concessions through both houses and onto the governor's desk.

And Gov. Mark Sanford, on the hot seat since his Argentinian indiscretion of June, signed the bill that cemented the Boeing deal for the state.

With faltering employment a significant issue, the House, the Senate and the governor found they could work together to the benefit of the state - not to the benefit of individual political players.

If they can do this with something as important as several thousand new jobs for the state, imagine what they could do if they put their heads and hearts together for something as significant as the education of hundreds of thousands of South Carolina children - the future economic engine of the state.