We’ve found ourselves perplexed over the recent months regarding the interesting political flexing going on by Steve Benjamin’s campaign for mayor of Columbia. The man ran as the Democratic nominee for attorney general in 2002, and counts among his strongest supporters top Midlands Democrats. And yet, it’s not a cut-and-dry situation.
Benjamin hired the local political consulting firm Richard Quinn and Associated to run his campaign. This is the same firm who ran Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster’s race against Benjamin in 2002, and is running McMaster’s gubernatorial campaign. Naturally, that’s giving Benjamin a free pass on RQ&A’s in-house blog, The Palmetto Scoop. Really — Wheels McGee has been at every Benjamin event we’ve ever attended, which is a tad odd for a GOP political consultant and blogger.
In the meantime, he’s also hired several people who were a part of President Barack Obama’s campaign during South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary (Craig Schirmer and Laurin Manning, among others). Early Thursday morning, Benjamin’s campaign announced it would start running a radio ad playing up his Obama connections in the Democratic-leaning capital city.
COLUMBIA, SC – Steve Benjamin’s Mayoral Campaign broke onto the airwaves this week with a radio ad featuring a 2007 voicemail left by then Senator Barack Obama.
“I’ve saved this voicemail for well over two years now,” Benjamin explains. “It has been a personal inspiration for me because I still believe in what we can do when we work together. I still believe in hope.”
The radio spot, Benjamin’s first, went into rotation this week and can be heard on radio stations all across Columbia and at www.stevebenjamin.com.
This takes an extraordinary amount of hubris, considering that his consultants ran U.S. Sen. John McCain’s Republican presidential primary campaigns in this state not once, but twice. Quinn Sr. was a close, unpaid advisor on McCain’s campaign for president in 2008. Then there’s something else.
Interestingly, the child, who seems fit to consider the majority of Republicans in the General Assembly as socialists, has been slurping Benjamin since the very outset. Baldy ran a line of smack against former Speaker of the House David Wilkins, writing, “Anyway, given how ferociously Wilkins promotes (and protects) his reputation as a “Republican,” we were a bit surprised to see him hosting a fundraiser earlier this week for uber-liberal trial lawyer Steve Morrison, who is running for mayor of Columbia, S.C. on the Leftist Lying Bastard ticket (j/k … it’s a non-partisan election).”
Mind you, he never says things like this about the Quinn firm and its relationship with Benjamin, even while assailing RQ&A when it comes to Innovista. It’s often said that a man is judged by the friends he keeps. Another old bromide is “actions speak louder than words.” Benjamin’s words try to play up his connection to Obama. But his actions in regard to people like the Quinns, Folks and Fogle say so much more.
And at this point, we’ve been totally soured on Benjamin, Morrison and City Councilman Kirkman Finlay III. Somebody put a call in to Aaron Johnson.
The biggest story in Columbia right now is the guilty plea and resignation by E.W. Cromartie from the Columbia City Council. Local attorney Matthew Richardson was given authority to handle Cromartie’s open accounts at the former councilman’s law firm, and a significant group of candidates have already lined up for the seat that’s been held by Mr. Cro for 27 years.
The issue was thousands of dollars of unpaid taxes and conscious actions to avoid IRS reporting regulations as it comes to deposits and withdrawals. It turns out that Cromartie isn’t the only person around city government with tax problems. Mayoral candidate Gary Myers Jr. also isn’t right with the Feds right now.
Some of our friends are obsessed with minor candidates. We like them because they often do things that well-handled candidates won’t even attempt.
Myers contemplated withdrawing from the race today after The State newspaper questioned a 2004 bankruptcy in which court papers said he owed $74,466 in back taxes to the IRS.
Myers, who is not considered a frontrunner in the race, first said he would drop out if the story was written. About an hour later, he said he was consulting with family and friends who encouraged him to run for office. But by 4:30 p.m., Myers said he was sticking with his campaign.
“God knows if this is an opportunity for my city to move forward I can’t run (away) now,” he said. “This has nothing to do with me running the city.”
There’s a lot of celebrating going on in Columbia right now, as City Councilman E.W. Cromartie will be resigning his position in light of a tax evasion scandal that broke on Monday morning. Cromartie, who has been in office since for about as long as we’ve been alive, has appeared to come to the end of his political road.
Few people we’ve run into that have had to deal with the City Council have good things to say about Cromartie, as rumors were traded among insiders about this action or that deal wasn’t on the up-and-up. To us, he seemed like one of those municipal elected officials that you find in mid-size cities that nobody really likes but who never gets a serious challenge.
In 2008, we surmised that the only thing that would knock Mr. Cro out would be a crime, not an election challenge. It’s come to pass, with the Feds getting him on non-payment of $25,000 in taxes from 2006, and creatively doing deposits and withdrawals to not get flagged by IRS reporting rules. According to the AP, Cromartie will plead guilty and serve 366 days in prison.
Many Columbians’ unsatisfied desire to raise chickens in an urban setting just got that much closer to becoming a reality. Wednesday morning, the CIty Council gave approval on the first vote on a measure that would allow people to raise chickens — in a coop — in the city. Of course, being that they’re chickens in Columbia, they would probably just be mediocre and produce eggs that are just big enough to be acceptable, even though you wanted better (here ends the absurd allegory).
According to the ordinance, you would not be allowed to have roosters and would be required to maintain the coop so it doesn’t emit a foul smell or attract flies. That’s all well and good, but where’s the push for backyard chickens? Has the organic food movement and other related culinary crazes gone so far that people are clamoring to raise and slaughter their own chickens? Or is it just about the eggs? Is Publix that bad?
Even Mayor Bob thinks it’s funny.
[Councilman E.W. Cromartie's] arguments did not deter Mayor Bob Coble, who voted for the ordinance by saying “Go ‘Cocks.”
If we didn’t have The Onion, self-described as America’s finest news source, where would we be? Surely, it would be without the news that archaeologists have uncovered the remnants of a truly epic keg party here in Columbia. Indeed, it was quite the kick-ass shindig.
[University of South Carolina Archaeology chair Winston] Eng said that the party can be divided into three generally agreed-upon eras, each marked by a watershed event. These include the Arrival of the Three Great Kegs, Brian Crying Like a Little Bitch, and the Lighting of the Bottle Rockets.
In addition to alcohol receptacles of every size and several cast-off contraceptive devices, Eng and his team also uncovered evidence of advanced toolmaking. The most prized discovery to date is a high-volume gravity bong, the sophistication and ingenuity of which appears to be unrivaled by similar THC-delivery devices found at other sites.
If you truly doubt the enormity of this event held in late February of 2010, just cast your eyes on the intricate illustration that shows what went down by the railroad tracks.
Only in Columbia could such an amazing kegger of such significance take place. We look forward to hearing more dispatches from the excavation.
Remember the last debate over the use of the Kenny’s Auto site? Of course you do. It consumed downtown Columbia two years ago, and it’s not over yet. The discussion went back and forth as to whether there should be a tiered garage behind Claussen’s Inn or on the Kenny’s property.
The idea that was most discussed what a multi-level parking garage with stores on the ground floor at the Kenny’s site. Concerns over the integrity of the neighborhood essentially scuttled the plan. We didn’t have a problem with that, but the neighborhood’s integrity has been shot to hell with Starbucks replacing Joyful Alternative, a bank replacing Hiller Hardware and Adriana’s going the way of the dodo.
Anyway, with the Kenny’s site reduced to a Walgreens and some other stores, the developer involved is going to court.
Stan Harpe and Ron Swinson of H.R. Development Inc. had planned to build a six-story retail and condo project on Blossom Street that would have included two stories of public parking.
The project, called Five Points South, cratered when City Council at the last minute lowered the amount it had offered to pay for the parking by $500,000.
As a result, H.R. Development scrapped the plans developed with the city and built a one-story, three-storefront project called the Shoppes at Five Points.
The Shoppes will be home to a Walgreens drugstore. No formal announcements have been made about the two other stores.
Harpe and Swinson are seeking to recoup their expenses for engineering the Five Points South building and making changes in the project in reaction to neighborhood and city concerns.
Chalk this up to another fuck-up by city government.
We came damn close to going to the meet-and-greet for Columbia City Councilman and mayoral candidate Kirkman Finlay III tonight. What would be the vibe? Would it be just rich country club Republican types? But, eh, when the time rolled around, we weren’t feeling it. Brad Warthen decided to talk to Finlay this morning, though, and ended up being greeted by a stack of data.
Finlay is the resident budget maven on the Council, so he had all these spreadsheets and the like, and talked about the city’s truly shitty, shitty, shitty fiscal situation. Warthen says, in effect, that Finlay is better suited to his current position — as an opposition figure — than actually leading Columbia. Makes sense. Then, there was anxiety about figuring out Finlay’s data.
Municipal politics can be strange endeavors. Not the least of which in Columbia, where loyalties get all sorts of crossed up. That’s certainly coming to a head this year, as incumbent Mayor Bob Coble has already announced that he will not run for another term. One, if not the main reason, is the momentum of local attorney Steve Benjamin. As early as spring 2009, a number of civically-engaged people we knew in the city were looking at a Benjamin candidacy as the next best move for Columbia.
But after going to a few of Benjamin’s events and seeing Richard Quinn & Associates so involved, it weirded us out. Why would a guy, a Democrat, sign up with a GOP consulting firm to win an election in a Democratic city? Strange. Crossing the streams, you might say. If it got to the “Ghostbusters” level, Benjamin might be in trouble, but we doubt that. City Councilman Kirkman Finlay III’s disclosure has yet to go up by 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning, but it doesn’t take a genius to say that Benjamin wins this race relatively comfortably, with Finlay in second and Democratic challenger Steve Morrison in third. That’s just the instant analysis from this corner of the city.
Let’s get to the numbers.
STEVE BENJAMIN
Candidate for mayor of Columbia
Contributions: $100,735
Expenditures: $116,656.16
Cash-on-hand: $42,734.89
Significant contributions
Edward Sellers, $1,000
CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina
J.T. McLawhorn, $250
Columbia Urban League
Cynthia Hardy, $100
Public relations executive
Steven Mungo, $200
The Mungo Companies
Frank Knapp, $100
Public relations
Cromartie Law Firm, $125
Law firm of Columbia city councilman E.W. Cromartie
Boyd Brown, $200
State representative
Luther Battiste, $100, $200
Former Columbia city councilman
James Smith, $750
State representative
Pete Strom, $1,000
Attorney
Boyd Summers, $250, $100
Richland County Democratic Party chairman
Jack Van Loan, $100
Five Points Association
Jim Hodges, $1,000
Former governor
Zeke Stokes, $100
Consultant
Charles Way, $500
Former secretary of commerce
Lourie Law Firm, $500
Law firm of Sen. Joel Lourie
Significant expenditures
Banco Bannister (consulting), $2,500×2
WideEye Creative (Web design and construction), $4,225
New Partners Consulting (consulting), $19,800
Richard Quinn & Associates (consulting), $19,668.38, $304.95
We’re still waiting on reports from a good amount of candidates, including Sen. Vince Sheheen, Dwight Drake, Lt. Gov. André Bauer, Rep. Nikki Haley, Steve Benjamin and others, though Sheheen’s put out a news release saying he has $958,000 on hand. Let’s see how everybody else is doing.
MULLINS MCLEOD
Candidate for Governor (D)
Contributions: $102,561.76
Expenditures: $54,446.08
Cash-on-hand: $366,805.62
Significant contributions
J.R. Battle & Co., $3,500
Company of Rep. Jim Battle
Albert McAlister, $200
Former S.C. Democratic Party chairman
Ronald Motley, $500
Attorney
LaNelle Barber, $500
Wife of former Rep. Robert Barber
Law Office of Jim Brown, $500
Former nominee for state representative
Denny Hamlin, $500
NASCAR driver
Significant expenditures
WGG Consulting (consulting), $1,000, $2,000
McIntosh Consulting (consulting), $3,750×3
ROBERT FORD
Candidate for Governor (D)
Contributions: $41,250
Expenditures: $21,416.20
Cash-on-hand: $41,327.72
Significant contributions
None.
Significant expenditures
None.
ROBERT BOLCHOZ
Candidate for Attorney General (R)
Contributions: $167,791.32
Expenditures: $30,647.83
Cash-on-hand: $137,643.49
Significant contributions
Charlie Condon, $3,500
Former attorney general
Bart Daniel, $3,500×2
Attorney
Burnie Maybank, $1,000, $2,000
Former director of the Department of Revenue
Ray Tanner, $500
USC baseball coach
Significant expenditures
Drummond Communications Group (consulting), $2,000×3
Palmetto Community Development Services (consulting), $1,500
Slicker (Web design), $2,500, $3,000
DAVID PASCOE
Candidate for Attorney General (D)
Contributions: $500
Expenditures: $0
Cash-on-hand: $2,600
Significant contributions
None.
Significant expenditures
None.
STEVE MORRISON
Candidate for Columbia Mayor
Contributions: $72,185
Expenditures: $46,644.50
Cash-on-hand: $27,815.50
Significant contributions
James McLawhorn, $250
Columbia Urban League
I.S. Leevy Johnson, $1,000
Former state representative
Luther Battiste, $200
Former Columbia city councilman
Bud Ferillo, $250
Consultant
Bart Daniel, $250
Attorney
Significant expenditures
Ferillo & Associates (consulting), $6,125.65, $20,293.10, $11,854.86
The Rackes Group (consulting), $2,070
A racist spray-painting on the Laurel Street side of Columbia City Hall caused much shaking and swaying in the capital city. City Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine tweeted, “well, vacation is over and back to the real world. We are not even a week from celebrating the birth of Jesus and we have to deal with hate.” A number of others expressed displeasure. Mayor Bob Coble said, “We all as a group want to convey the message that this is not Columbia. This is not what Columbia stands for. We are a city of the new South, a diverse city that embraces everyone in our community. This incident is not reflective of our city.”
It all came down to this:
The message, in red paint in 18-inch letters, according to Coble, was “No n—- mayor die.” It was discovered at about 7 a.m. this morning and city crews removed it with a pressure washer by 8:15 a.m., according to City Manager Steve Gantt.
The graffiti was painted in the center of three arches on the side of the building.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize the message was directed at Steve Benjamin, the odds-on favorite for becoming the next mayor. It’s interesting, though, that some aren’t thinking this is some random hate crime and is, instead, politically-motivated. Hey, it’s South Carolina. You never know.
