One of the few good things to come out of Gov. Mark Sanford’s email dump is that we finally get clear answers to what was obvious, but what his prevaricating staff would never make clear.
Reform SC
Though the Governor and his people have said damn near everything to the contrary, it’s been common knowledge that groups like Reform SC have been getting their marching orders from “downstairs” at the State House. With a kicker, that revelation is attached to a PR strategy email about ways to attack Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell.
The alternative budget
Earlier this year, Sanford allies in the Senate said time and time again that the “alternative budget” did not come out of the Governor’s Office. Sen. Tom Davis seemed to bristle at the suggestion that the budget was a Sanford venture. The first cracks in this façade were when Sen. Kevin Bryant said in a news story that several senators had met with the Governor’s staff to develop the proposal. Now we finally know the real truth.
Not so obvious
Because to have a blinding flash you first have to have the dark, here it is: the now-anonymous email talking to Sanford about a media play by consultant Bob McAlister against the Governor’s stimulus position. Who sent it? From where? Thanks to the redacts, it’s hard to know.
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.
