We got caught up with some other things over the weekend, so one story that flew under the radar was allegations by voters around Aiken that there’s been some push-polling going on in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Via The Aiken Standard, people in three counties received phone calls from well-known firm Conquest Communications, in which the questions appeared to be slanted and U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett was placed into a negative light.
“Why would you have a survey that ended that way if it was a real call?” asked Linda Tyner of Abbeville of her call Tuesday. “I felt it was a farce; it was a purely political move by someone seeing that Gresham Barrett doesn’t get elected. They tell outright lies.”
Tyner said she is a Barrett supporter. When she asked the party questioning her the response would have been if she had selected another candidate, she was informed there was no follow-up for any candidate other than Barrett.
When asked by two individuals whom the pollsters were representing, they replied “Conquest.” Conquest Communications Group is a Virginia-based firm that specializes in direct contact programs for campaigns.
All last week, there were rumors of such a thing going down, and that the campaign of Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster was to blame. According to Conquest’s client list, McMaster is the only candidate in the race retaining its services. Not surprisingly, McMaster campaign manager Trey Walker tried to spin it like the whole thing was on Barrett and his supporters. We wonder that as more revelations come out about McMaster’s mishandling of his rental properties, if that can be somehow flipped on a political opponent, too.
We’d say we were surprised by this sort of thing, but we’re not.
We had never heard of this strange festival before, but apparently in Aiken a celebration of the noble lobster is entering its 26th year. this evening, the Lobster Race will take place as lobster owners and their hard-shelled charges go to the streets to see which of the bugs of the sea was quickest on the track.
This year, the actual lobster races draw national attention as 14 heats with five lobsters each will race three meters across a Plexiglas lobster track. Challengers will be looking to beat the 16.15-second standing track record.
It’s unclear at this time as to whether a fast lobster is also a tasty lobster, or if they’re trained by a guy standing behind them and threatening them with a baster loaded down with clarified butter.
Coverage of the abortive Ku Klux Klan rally in Aiken revealed a side of our state, and people in general that, for lack of a batter phrase, was just damn funny. It all started out with the brilliant headline, “KKK rally disappoints.” Yeah, I never expected to see a hed like that in a mainstream paper, either. It raises all sorts of questions as to what would be the content of the article.
From all appearances, it seems like the Klan organization putting on the get-together completely botched the operation, as the majority of people who showed up to see a performance. Sure, a lot of people expressed disgust with the Klan, if it were a real rip-roaring hatefest, the attendees probably would have gone home satisfied that they got to witness a freakshow.
It says a lot about how far we’ve come as a country that an event like this is seen as some sort of sick entertainment and not as a threat to the safety of the community.
The State Ethics Commission report on Gov. Mark Sanford’s indiscretions regarding use of state money and campaign dollars was released today, but we’re not sure if this thing is really worth a damn or not. A few of these charges, here or there, might lead to a fine or a stern rebuke from the General Assembly. But, when they come across, one after one, it looks like the members of the House may have a case. According to the report, there will be a hearing at SEC offices at an undisclosed date to deal with the findings.
USE OF PUBLIC OFFICE FOR PERSONAL FINANCIAL GAIN
Section 8-13-700(A), S.C. Code ann., 1976, as amended
37 counts
Upgrade on flight
- Graz, Austria to Frankfurt, Germany (2005)
- Frankfurt, Germany to Charlotte, N.C. (2005)
- Chicago, Ill. To Tokyo, Japan (2005)
- Tokyo, Japan to Shanghai, China (2005)
- Beijing, China to Chicago, Ill. (2005)
- Charlotte, N.C. to London, U.K. (2006)
- London, U.K. to Charlotte, N.C. (2006)
- Charlotte, N.C. to Munich, Germany (2007)
- Munich, Germany to Paris, France (2007)
- Munich, Germany to Charlotte, N.C. (2007)
- Washington, D.C. to Beijing, China (2007)
- Beijing, China to Washington, D.C. (2007)
- Columbia, S.C. to Atlanta, Ga. (2008)
- Atlanta, Ga. to Sao Paulo, Brazil (2008)
- Cordoba, Brazil to Buenos Aires, Argentina (2008)
- Buenos Aires, Argentina to Atlanta, Ga. (2008)
- Upgrade on flight from Charlotte, N.C. to New York, N.Y. (2009)
- Upgrade on flight from New York, N.Y. to Warsaw, Poland (2009)
Improper use of state plane
- Spartanburg, S.C. to Clemson/Oconee County for a county party dinner (2005)
- Columbia, S.C. to North Myrtle Beach, S.C., transporting a Governor’s Office staffer, then North Myrtle Beach, S.C. to Columbia, S.C. for staffer and himself to receive a haircut (2006)
- Columbia, S.C. to Mt. Pleasant, S.C. for a book signing (2006)
- Mt. Pleasant, S.C. to Aiken, S.C. for a birthday party for a contributor (2006)
- Lewisburg, W.Va. to Brunswick, Ga. for family for a personal weekend (2006)
- North Myrtle Beach, S.C. to Columbia, S.C. for son’s sporting event (2007)
- Columbia, S.C. to Greenville S.C. for House Republican Caucus reception (2007)
- Columbia, S.C. to Greenwood, S.C. to Charleston, S.C. for Reason Weekend dinner (2008)
- Columbia, S.C. to Myrtle Beach, S.C. for family to attend “soft” opening of Hard Rock Park (2008)
Campaign funds for personal use
- Receiving $40 for activity not related to the campaign (2006)
- Receiving $329.40 for expenses from attending the Alfalfa Club Dinner in Washington, D.C. (2007)
- Giving $610.30 to staffer Marisa Crawford to attend the Republican Governors Association meeting (2007)
- Receiving $181.23 for direct marketing, telephone, Internet and/or cable services at the Governor’s Mansion (2008)
- Receiving $280.16 for direct marketing, telephone, Internet and/or cable services at the Governor’s Mansion (2008)
- Receiving $297.89 for direct marketing, telephone, Internet and/or cable services at the Governor’s Mansion (2008)
- Receiving $864.90 for expenses from the Republican Governors Association meeting and a hunting trip in Ireland (2008)
- Receiving $79.95 for direct marketing (2009)
- Receiving $96.95 for direct marketing and a presidential inauguration ticket (2009)
- Receiving $159.90 for direct marketing (2009)
Last year, a goodly number of phone calls went out in Aiken County, illegal robocalls in support of Sen. Greg Ryberg and House candidate Scott Singer in the Republican primaries. Ryberg never needed the help, as much as it was, and Singer lost to Rep. Tom Young. Law enforcement got involved and former Aiken GOP board member Ginny Allen was arrested.
It looks like she’s not going to get much in the way of legal punishment, sending out her statement admitting guilt as a part of her pre-trial intervention program.
“I regret my participation in the negative campaign tactics surrounding the automated robo-calls during the recent state Senate race, and I want to be very clear that Sen. Ryberg had no knowledge or any involvement,” Allen wrote in the letter carbon copied to Solicitor Strom Thurmond Jr. and her defense attorney Greg Harlow.
Investigators said Allen manipulated the caller ID to show the number of “REI Incorporated,” a business owned and operated by Sen. Ryberg but did not have the senator’s permission to do so.
“The apology appears to be sincere, it lays out exactly what happened,” Ryberg said of the letter, Tuesday. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s behind us.” The South Carolina Senator said he felt PTI was appropriate for the case.
Few things are more interesting than internal battles within the S.C. Republican Party. With the S.C. Democrats damn near anemic, all the soap operas (or, at least the best ones) go on in the right side of the ledger.
In this case, it involves the race for SCGOP chairman. Recently, S.C. Republican operative Mike Green recorded a debate between the three candidates on his iPhone. The thing is, while he was testing it out, he shot several things. Almost all have been pulled off the Internet. One was early in a debate when you could see former Aiken County GOP treasurer Ginny Allen standing near candidate Karen Floyd with a Floyd sticker on.
In December, Allen was arrested by SLED for sending out robocalls on Sen. Greg Ryberg and House candidate Scott Singer. According to most S.C. politicos, she was also behind the Aiken-based political blog Kaolin Kronicle.
It just goes to show that in S.C. politics, you are rarely six degrees away from someone who has pending prison time.
Sen. Shane Massey beat the odds the first time, when he won a contentious Republican primary, then knocked off the favorite, Rep. Bill Clyburn, in the special election to fill former Sen. Tommy Moore‘s seat.
But, that didn’t mean that it would be A-OK in the 2008 general election. After all, with energized Democrats and record turnout among black voters, the Democratic-leaning seat covering Aiken, Edgefield, Saluda and McCormick counties could have easily switched back from red to blue.
Massey consultant Wesley Donehue said the first part of the path to the win was the senator’s work after he was first elected.
“When we first met with Shane, we knew he was the best candidate because the guy was a machine — the guy worked around the clock,” he said. “The greatest thing was he worked as hard as he could, during that primary, runoff and general election. When he got elected, he never quit running. He was still calling voters every week, he was still going to every single event, and it wasn’t just the white Republicans. He was spending a lot of time in the African-American community, with the minorities in his district. He, literally, never stopped working.”
Massey’s rival, fellow Edgefield resident Greg Anderson, is a well-known attorney from a well-established local family (for example, his brother, Joseph F. Anderson Jr., is the chief judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina). Not only that, but Anderson led off his campaign by running to the middle, saying that he, “shared the same fiscal concerns as Republicans,” and stressing the need for rural areas to get their say in the General Assembly.
When Massey started out his general election campaign, he stressed the need to be closely involved with his constituents.
“I can’t do my job and help shake up Columbia if you aren’t telling me what’s on your mind,” he said when he filed for reelection. “I’m holding neighborhood chats across the district so that you can tell me about the issues you care about.”
Donehue said that a significant aspect of his win was, as they say in the movies, getting it on with the people.
“He spent time with them. This is a Democratic district that should have never, ever, gone Republican,” Donehue said. “They should have been able to pick it back up, but the fact is, they could not outwork Shane Massey. I don’t want to keep beating a dead horse on this, he courted them and turned them Republican got them to vote for a Republican. He went to nearly every single NAACP meeting. They had never seen a white Republican at an NAACP [meeting], and he didn’t just go to get their vote. He was working hard for them.”
So, what does incumbency and a year of constant contact with your voters get you? It’s the difference between a recount in a special election and a decisive eight-point win a year later.
