Drake polling rumor raises questions
According to a source close to the situation, a meeting was called last Tuesday at U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn‘s Columbia office at the request of Rep. Bakari Sellers. At that meeting, it was said that Columbia lobbyist Dwight Drake proceeded to do what he does best — lobby. But, instead of a client, it was done for his gubernatorial bid. About five or six Democratic operatives attended.
Allegedly, Drake’s intention was to get some of these operatives to come on board with his campaign. To convince them to do so, he referred to a poll that showed he was a viable candidate in the race. The poll was supposedly done by the high-level Washington firm of Garin-Hart-Yang Research. No small potatoes, there.
The problem lies in the fact that the poll was not reported on Drake’s initial disclosure report, which was filed on Aug. 17. If the report went live last Monday, the poll had to have been conducted before the next day’s meeting. That, needless to say, would raise some serious ethics concerns.
The news of Sellers calling the meeting struck us as rather odd. The last time we saw Drake and Sellers in the same place, it was in the thick of the payday lending debate during the last legislative session. Drake appeared visibly upset about remarks that Sellers made in a committee meeting. So, naturally the juxtaposition of the meeting and the previous argument seemed strange — though often, enemies one day are friends another time.
A Democratic operative said that, basically, Sellers called the meeting to prove that he could.
As for us, we’re itching to get our hands on the results of this poll.
