Clyburn earns SC co-op’s highest honor

Over three decades in Con­gress, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn has orches­trat­ed the pas­sage of major leg­is­la­tion, advised pres­i­dents and become one of the country’s best known polit­i­cal fig­ures.

But no mat­ter how high his polit­i­cal stock rose, Clyburn nev­er lost sight of his mis­sion to improve life in rur­al South Car­oli­na. Time and time again, he proved a savvy oper­a­tor on Capi­tol Hill who could bring home the fed­er­al sup­port and fund­ing nec­es­sary for impor­tant South Car­oli­na projects.

That’s why South Carolina’s elec­tric coop­er­a­tives recent­ly vot­ed to rec­og­nize the 84-year-old Demo­c­rat with their high­est hon­or, the sec­ond-ever Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive Out­stand­ing Pub­lic Ser­vice Award.

The award rec­og­nizes Clyburn’s part­ner­ship with South Carolina’s co-ops to meet grow­ing ener­gy demands, expand rur­al broad­band access, low­er pow­er bills through ener­gy effi­cien­cy and more.

“For over 50 years, this guy has had our back,” said Mike Couick, CEO of The Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tives of South Car­oli­na. “He’s always been there for rur­al peo­ple.”

Clyburn’s lega­cy of pub­lic ser­vice is more ful­ly explored in the cov­er sto­ry of February’s South Car­oli­na Liv­ing. You can read the full sto­ry here.

Source: South Car­oli­na Liv­ing mag­a­zine