S.C. Hotline - A Free Press - News, Opinion and Politics by Jeffrey Sewell

Katrina Shealy Back on the Ballot in S.C. Compliments of BFF Nikki Haley, South Carolina’s Poster Child of Public Corruption

By Paul Gable

By a vote of 26-0, an SCGOP Executive Committee placed Katrina Shealy back on the June 12^th primary ballot for Senate District 23.

Shealy was the fourth of five candidates whose protests were heard by the committee. She was the only one successful in reversing a former decision about her certification for the ballot.

The entire candidate filing controversy has been pinned to Shealy’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Jakie Knotts who, reportedly, had someone challenge Shealy’s filing in a lawsuit heard by the S.C. Supreme Court with original jurisdiction of the case.

The Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit in ruling on a strict interpretation of S.C. Code Section 8-13-1356(B).

The Republican Party decision appears to be in direct contradiction to the Court ruling.

According to sources who were in attendance at the hearing, after all testimony and final arguments were made in the Shealy hearing, but before a vote was taken, Gov. Nikki Haley gave a rousing speech about the injustice being done to the nearly 200 candidates statewide left off the ballot.

Among other points, Haley reportedly said there was a major injustice being done to these candidates who were trying to bring new blood and new ideas into politics. She said the whole controversy could have been eliminated by the General Assembly. Haley said laws were passed in the state capitol every day and one could have been passed to eliminate the problem. She pledged to do everything in her power to get all the candidates back on the ballot.

Would that be in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling governor?

Shealy and Knotts had a very dirty, knock down drag out contest for the same seat in 2008. Haley and Knotts have been at odds, some would say political enemies, since Haley became governor.

While this may be a cute little political knife fight, the ramifications for the Republican Party, the law, and the upcoming election will be immense. The governor just over ruled the supreme court with respect to Shealy, while ignoring the other nearly 200 challengers left off the primary ballot. Can you imagine the record number of election challenges that will result from this…

The timing of Haley’s appearance at the hearings certainly seems to be in support of Shealy and to the detriment of the other four candidates who had hearings on the day.

If Haley was so passionate about candidates being left off the ballot, why didn’t she address the committee prior to the commencement of the first hearing?

Regardless of Haley’s motivation for being at the hearing Wednesday afternoon, she has her own ethics problems to contend with. The House Ethics Committee has scheduled a 10 a.m. open meeting Friday to reconsider ethics charges filed against her by Republican operative John Rainey.

Initially dismissed earlier this month, the committee reversed course after Rainey appealed the initial decision and Rep. James Smith (D-72) introduced a resolution calling for the committee to reconsider the dismissed complaint.

According to sources familiar with the appeal, lawyers are currently considering whether Rainey has standing to bring the complaint.

During a May 2, 2012 meeting on the initial complaint, committee members voted 5-1 to dismiss the complaint after voting 6-0 that probable cause of Haley wrongdoing existed and an investigation was warranted.

Haley was accused of keeping secret that she was paid as a consultant by Wilbur Smith Associates while the firm was involved in several state projects. Additionally, Haley was accused of lobbying and fundraising as part of her job with the Lexington Medical Center.

Haley’s Chief Legal Counsel Swati Patel said Haley “has not done anything that is not the norm for members of the General Assembly.”

Another Grand Strand Daily – S.C. Hotline Exclusive

S.C. Hotline - A Free Press - News, Opinion and Politics by Jeffrey Sewell

Haley, in an appearance in Greenville on Monday, said that she does not think

(Mauldin Patch)

Mitt Romney and South Carolina voters have never been a very good match. Whether it is the former Massachusetts governor’s religion or his lack of consistency on issues that matter to the Palmetto State’s overwhelmingly conservative electorate, Romney just hasn’t aroused much passion. He finished a distant fourth in the 2008 South Carolina Primary with 15 percent of the vote. This year, as the presumptive GOP nominee and with the support of Gov. Nikki Haley and State Treasurer Curtis Loftis, Romney finished 12 percentage points behind Newt Gingrich.

Such apathy towards Romney gave Democrats hope that maybe South Carolina could be winnable after all.

Read more >>

S.C. Hotline - A Free Press - News, Opinion and Politics by Jeffrey Sewell

Obama’s Budget Fails in Senate: 99-0

(TWS)

Senate Democrats and Republicans unanimously rejected President Obama’s proposed budget this afternoon. The final vote tally was 99-0.

Prior to the vote, Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions blasted the budget. “It was voted 414-0 in the House this year,” said Sessions. I suspect in an hour or so it will go down again on the floor of the Senate by unanimous vote. That speaks a lot. That says a lot. It indicates the sad state of affairs in which we are in. It’s deeply disappointing.”

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S.C. Hotline - A Free Press - News, Opinion and Politics by Jeffrey Sewell

Developing… Updated 7:04pm

(S.C. Hotline)

Haley’s inner circles are as giddy as preschoolers at an ice cream social, having successfully shopped video footage of Jake’s so-called infamous preprimaries raghead remark in 2010 or so we are told. The not so curiously timed release of the video footage coincides with the full S.C. House poised to re-consider ethics complaints against Gov. Nikki Haley. The video was reportedly and successfully shopped to Buzzfeed, an online aggregator of all thing’s video by Haley’s D.C. Consultant Jon Lerner. What remains to be seen is whether or not the rerelease will retain any leg, our guess is it will not, in our opinion this really never evolved into Jake’s Jimmy the Greek moment.

Most interestingly and or not is that it appears not one of the participants in the episode Pub Politics calls the senator out on his remarks, instead they just sit there looking uncomfortably into their beer, waiting, for the moment, to pass, see for yourself here.

Related >>

State Ethics Committee Violated State Law

WIS: Political whodunit surrounds leak of Knotts video

Because it is simply beyond our control… WIS we love you but no this is not real difficult. Q: Who benefits? A: Nikki Haley, Katrina Shealy and Rich Bolen or at least they think so.

S.C. Hotline - A Free Press - News, Opinion and Politics by Jeffrey Sewell

SENATOR URGES LEGISLATORS TO “ALLOW PARENTS ACCESS TO OPTIONS”

By Jim DeMint

Recently, it was an honor to welcome former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to South Carolina for the Empower Education Reform Summit (click HERE to see video of Gov. Bush’s talk).

The event was an uplifting opportunity to hear the story of Florida’s hard-won public education renaissance and exciting, bipartisan innovations happening all around the country: innovations that are producing measurable gains in achievement for incredibly diverse student populations.

An educated citizenry is the foundation of our Republic and the cornerstone of our future economic competitiveness. South Carolina is a great place to do business, realizing incredible gains in skilled manufacturing jobs from BMW, Michelin, Boeing, Continental, Bridgestone and many, many others. Yet businesses routinely share with me their concern over a shortage of available, qualified workers.

This cannot stand in South Carolina. And I’m confident it won’t.

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S.C. Hotline - A Free Press - News, Opinion and Politics by Jeffrey Sewell