Wolfe wins SCPA in-depth reporting award

The S.C. Press Association has named Corey Hutchins and myself as the winners of the in-depth reporting award for January 2008’s “The Hit List” in the Free Times, in FT’s division.

The entire process of running down the story was an ordeal, taking two months. It all started with the question, “Where is Will Folks getting his money?” After some asking around, the hit list proposal dropped in our laps and the story took off from there.

While it was assumed that Folks wrote the proposal, there was no certainty, as there was no listed author on what we had. Nor was the organization it was written for. However, after doing an immense amount of background research and talking to a number of people, the path hit the homestretch: calling the members of the listed core council.

Because every one of the groups allied with Gov. Mark Sanford are staffed like an interlocking directorate, it was a bit of luck that one of the first calls was to Chad Walldorf. The assumption was that the proposal was written for Reform SC. However, during a phone call the day after Christmas, Walldorf, who was the chairman of both Reform SC and S.C. Club for Growth, said that the proposal was written by Folks for SCCfG. Without that key confirmation, the whole thing probably would have fallen apart.

The next two weeks were devoted to writing and rewriting the opus, to the point of being so tired with the subject, looking at the story in its Word file or the lists of notes and quotes felt like a decent into madness.

As we all saw in the primaries last year, the plan did come to fruition, after a fashion, but with mixed results for the Governor and his allies. And, if the proof in the pudding is legislative success, it doesn’t look like Sanford got the big win he was looking for.