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Leventis receives major public policy award
(Excerpted
from The (Sumter) Item)
APRIL 26, 2008 -- On Friday night, state Sen. Phil
Leventis, D-Sumter, was honored at the South Carolina Chapter
of the International Association of Workforce Professionals by
being given the state Public Policy Award. Unbeknownst to him
before the chapter’s annual conference in Spartanburg, Leventis
also received the international version of the award.
Leventis was the lead sponsor of legislation, introduced in January
2007 and passed the following June by the General Assembly, that
provides unemployment insurance benefits to working spouses of
military personnel who lose their jobs due to a spouse’s
transfer.
A former Air Force pilot, Leventis retired as a brigadier general
from the Air National Guard and flew 21 combat missions over Iraq
and Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War. Leventis sought through
the legislation he sponsored to help ease the financial burden
of military families by providing unemployment insurance benefits
to those who may be forced to give up a job to accommodate a spouse’s
transfer.
“It’s a very good honor on his behalf, and we think
that the reason for it, the legislation ... can certainly be a
good thing for folks in the military,” said Clark Newsom,
director of communications for the South Carolina Employment Security
Commission.
Leventis said he was excited to learn the legislation was receiving
a positive response.
“You have to be appreciative that the things you think are
important on the behalf of your constituents, other people agree
are,” Leventis said.
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