LIBERTY — One word sums up U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett’s campaign for governor.

“The governor’s number one job is jobs,” Barrett said. “He should wake up every day and ‘What am I going to do for South Carolina? How am I going to create jobs?’”

South Carolina should offer business packages that are competitive across the Southeast, he said.

“That’s who we’re competing against,” Barrett said.

Government’s role is “to set the table,” he said.

“To make sure the infrastructure in place, to make sure the rules and regulations are not onerous, that we’re not over-burdening our businessmen and businesswomen,” Barrett said. “But once that table’s set, we get the heck out of the way.”

The three categories that fall under Barrett’s jobs platform are economic development, education and energy.

The Port of Charleston is essential to the state’s economic future, Barrett said.

“One out of every 10 jobs is directly related to ports,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure the Port of Charleston is our gateway to the coasts.”

“When the Panama Canal is widened in the next three years, container traffic will increase three-fold,” Barrett said. “Making sure we can move that container traffic is extremely important.”

Infrastructure is also essentially for attracting new industry, he said.

“You put the infrastructure in place and they will come,” Barrett said. “We’re a plug-in society. Businesses are the same way. They want to come in, they want to plug in and they want to start working today.”

The state’s tax structure needs to be brought into the 21st century, Barrett said.

“If you had a garden hose that’s been repaired as many times as the South Carolina tax code, you’d throw it out and get a new garden hose,” he said.

Barrett favors a holistic approach to overhauling the state’s tax structure.

Regulations are tying the hands of businesspeople across the state, he said.

“Government should be a partner, not a competitor, in business,” Barrett said. “These rules and regulations cost businessmen and businesswomen money every day.”

School districts are so strapped for cash that teachers are forced to buy supplies for their students.

“There’s something wrong with that picture,” Barrett said. “Why are these funds not funneling down to our classrooms?”

Barrett believes in helping not only K-12 classrooms, but higher education, including community college.

The governor should meet with education leaders every quarter, with the goal of constantly pushing education forward, he said.

“What are we going to do with all these young people we’re educating?” Barrett asked.

“Where are they going to work? Let’s put them to work in the energy industry. A nuclear reactor welder can make $40,000 - $70,000 a year.”

The four nuclear reactors in the works are each “$10 billion investments,” he said.