We waited to see if anyone was going to run with this story, but considering that the South Carolina blogosphere is either 1) in hock to the Sanford cabal or so ignorant as to believe its bullshit, or 2) liberal and too far removed from the state conservative echo chamber, nothing came up. OK, it could have just been that the immature baldy and his randy escapades have caused people to pay attention to little else.

See, one of Gov. Mark Sanford‘s shell organizations, Reform SC, was forced by a court order to stop running ads that were all but explicit campaign ads for Rep. Nikki Haley‘s gubernatorial campaign. Then the story came out on Wednesday that the group will shut down the effort altogether, unless in the unlikely eventuality that Haley is the nominee.

In a letter sent to Hayes and filed with the Clerk of Court’s Office, ReformSC said it has made all “necessary and reasonable” attempts to make sure the ad does not air in South Carolina. The group, launched three years ago by Gov. Mark Sanford and his allies to promote their political agenda, stated it will not air the ad in question or similar ads.

The letter, filed by Spartanburg attorney Jason Imhoff, is not an admission of liability, wrongdoing or impropriety. It agrees not to air the ads until June 23, one day after the primary runoff election will be held if no candidate wins the necessary votes on June 8.

If South Carolina is lucky, this is another death-blow to the Sanford machine, and for the next four years the most we’ll have to deal with is the few fellow travelers in the General Assembly who blindly support that agenda.

Here’s a strange development that nobody seems to be noticing, and it’s that Gov. Mark Sanford’s gubernatorial campaign disclosure shows no contributions for the first quarter of this year. You may say, “What’s the big deal, Mac? He’s not running for state office.” Very true. But here’s the rub — for the other disclosures during his second term, Sanford’s been rolling up thousands of dollars in interest payments from his campaign account(s). Why would that end this year? Curious.

On an other note, word on the street is that there are plans in the works — or with the Reform S.C. commercials, maybe already underway — for Sanford to spend his cash throwing it into his cabal of “independent” groups and organizations to prop up Rep. Nikki Haley‘s gubernatorial campaign. Her campaign, on paper, was at a significant disadvantage monetarily compared to her Republican rivals. Behind-the-scenes moves my Sanford and his toadies could significantly help her in the next month to try to put her into second place and in the runoff.

And if it can happen, it will happen. That’s how these guys and gals roll.

MARK SANFORD
Contributions: $0
Expenditures: $238,878.11
Cash on hand: $1,166,346.96

Significant contributions
None.

Significant expenditures
S.C. Department of Commerce (fine), $18,000
S.C. Division of Aeronautics (fine), $7,791.67
S.C. Department of Natural Resources (fine), $1,003.32
S.C. Ethics Commission (fines), $110,498
Shipman & Goodwin (legal fees), $28,248.92
Red Sea LLC (consulting), $4,000
Basswood Research (survey), $12,500
Hall & Bowers (legal fees), $50,304.40

This year, as opposed to 2008 and 2006, Gov. Mark Sanford‘s lack of political capital has led his cabal of “independent” groups, non-profits and political consultants into a reality where they are no longer tightly united and starting to go their own way. Even his out-of-state allies aren’t on the script anymore. The national Club for Growth endorsed U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett for governor, while the S.C. Club for Growth, a typical close Sanford ally and member of said cabal, endorsed long-shot Rep. Nikki Haley.

Reform S.C., one of Sanford’s toady groups, is going on the air with new TV ads. Most people would say that it seems odd, considering it involves advocating for legislation this year, in particular. Where was the organization last year? Hm. And what’s the legislation? Well, that would be none other than a bill by Haley on more roll call voting. Color us surprised that the group’s first ads in some time are backing the Sanford candidate, one who is having significant fundraising trouble compared to the Big Three of Barrett, Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. André Bauer.

It’s rather funny. And if there’s one thing that investigating Sanford’s groups told us, any conspiracy theory isn’t theory. The facts are likely more outrageous than what you could imagine.

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.