When the General Assembly voted on judges, they reelected Justice Don Beatty to the S.C. Supreme Court. He almost got a unanimous vote. Almost. Spartanburg County’s resident padded-cell candidate Rep. Joey Millwood voted no. Mind you, Beatty was unopposed.

A Herald-Journal story reminded people that South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action actively opposed his nomination when he was up the first time, and CIA put out an ad denouncing Beatty, but Millwood seemed to think it was OK for them to do that, but that Beatty should have taken his beating without saying anything.

“When is the last time you saw a sitting Supreme Court justice give a television interview?” Millwood said. “He should be above the political fray.”

Once again, eyes rolling so hard. Yes, defend the shady groups that got you (barely) elected, and go after the Supreme Court justice. It turns out that Millwood thinks that only Republicans should be judges.

Are you fucking kidding us? “I don’t care who the person is. Give me their political party identification, then I know how I will vote.” Lordy. The definition of ignorant is going to have to be expanded for this guy.

As we have often said, Southern public school districts have issues because of integration. White people with money didn’t want their taxdollars going to pay for black children to get educated. This is the main reason many Southern school districts aren’t adequately funded. And now wealthy white people are exploiting the situation to further rip public schools.

But, hey, we aren’t the only ones to come to this conclusion.

South Carolinians for Responsible Government‘s boy Friday at FITSNews, in between showing off his penchant for T&A jokes that an eight-year-old would find sophomoric, tried to make a recent video taken at an education conference into a joke about Gov. Mark Sanford. The Governor has a history of loving media attention (well, before late June, anyway). But, something says that the impetus for the video had nothing to do with Sanford.

Yes, SCRG staffer Neil Mellen was running the camera. And, check out where it was pointing — the camera was pointed at Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Supt. of Ed. Jim Rex the whole time. Even when Sanford spoke, the camera didn’t move. The expression of irritation on Rex’s face is a dead giveaway. He knew what was happening, even if SCRG’s apologist-in-chief would like to take some hits on his old boss to divert attention.

What Sanford was appearing to do was fire back at his old Devine Street buds in order to defend Rex, a guy he has damn near to nothing in common with when it comes to education policy. It seems to us that Sanford was kind of pissed off at this bush-league maneuver that, while normally seen at rallies and debates, is rarely employed at roundtables like the one taped.

Guess SCRG is starting early with its slash-and-burn election tactics. Now, we’re ready for the misleading direct mail attacks and advertisements (in conjunction with half a dozen other groups comprised of the same people) that usually come with its election-year activities.

It’s funny (sometimes) to watch the machinations of the anti-public school people in this state. Most frequently, it seems they’re pissed that public schools are actually educating people who come from parents that don’t have a combined income over $100,000, or a predominantly-minority school that hasn’t already had an associated pastor bought off. Such is life.

The recent swine flu issue is pretty interesting. Back in April, the private Newberry Academy had to be shut down after 13 students and their chaperones went to Cancun and brought back the swine flu. If this had happened at a public school, any public school in South Carolina, Will Folks and his buddies at South Carolinians for Responsible Government would have peed their pants in anticipation of exploiting the situation. Instead, it happened at a place of which their boy Chad Connelly chairs the board.

Now, it turns out that, according to SCRN, 40 percent of the Cardinal Newman football team has been (no pun intended) sidelined with the pig sickness. Yet another private school. Those SCISA football playoffs should be hot.

It’s not a good thing when your marketing strategy is discovered as AstroTurf — the derogatory phrase used in political circles for “fake grassroots.” The actual AstroTurf sucked more, because it was green fabric covering cement (which we blame for Alabama‘s 1996 loss to Florida in the SEC Championship Game), but the group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity went to work and AstroTurfed the shit out of Virginia elected officials.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch, reprinting a story from parent firm Media General, wrote:

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity said its longtime grass-roots contractor, the Hawthorn Group, hired Bonner & Associates to do “limited outreach” in opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, also known as the cap-and-trade bill.

Stephen L. Miller, president of Alexandria-based ACCCE, apologized and said he was “outraged” that bogus letters sent to members of Congress originated at Bonner.

“There is no place for this type of deception,” he said.

Bonner & Associates has blamed the letters on a temporary employee who the company said was fired after it discovered the forgeries.

U.S. Reps. Katherine A. Dahlkemper and Christopher P. Carney, both Democrats from Pennsylvania, also received falsified letters that originated at Bonner, the coal industry group said.

Perriello voted in favor of the energy bill, but Carney and Dahlkemper voted against it.

Perriello’s office discovered six phony letters, one forged to look as though it came from Charlottesville-based Hispanic group Creciendo Juntos and the other five forged to appear as if they originated with the Albemarle-Charlottesville chapter of the NAACP.

The letters, sent on fake letterheads and signed by nonexistent people, urged Perriello to oppose the landmark piece of clean-energy legislation to prevent higher electricity bills.

Jessica Barba, Perriello’s press secretary, said yesterday that two other letters were forged to appear as if they had been sent by the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, a Charlottesville agency, and the American Association of University Women.

In a background document sent to reporters, the ACCCE said Bonner and Associates’ internal process identified the false letters and, “it was Mr. Bonner who first brought this to the attention of the Hawthorn Group…. It was only by reading last Friday’s media accounts that we learned that these matters had not been satisfactorily resolved.”

Lazy. That’s all this was. If you’ve done your job as a special-interest organization, you have contacts you can call on to write letters to the editor. We think coal is a dirty energy source, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a considerable amount of people out there who can write effective 300-word missives in support of coal-powered power plants.

These emails remind us of the bullshit “school choice” emails sent to The State by “Dennis Sinned,” a silly palindromic moniker that was attached to LTEs sent to S.C. papers by then-South Carolinians for Responsible Government executive director Todd McCauley. The imbecile was replaced after his gambit became public.

When you don’t trust the public to trust you, you’re not going to come out on top, no matter what nefarious means you employ. This is just another example.

Katon Dawson, the former chair of the S.C. Republican Party, wants Gov. Mark Sanford to fork over part of his enormous stash. As of the last reporting period, the Governor, who is term-limited, has $1.68 million in the bank, and can’t use it for himself unless he decided to make a run for federal office.

“This is a catastrophic event that we will have to get over,” Dawson told CNN. “Whenever you have a public official who falls so publicly from grace in a manner that is as indefensible as this, it takes the donors and puts a huge question mark up.”

Dawson, who is in the tank to Howard Rich, should know that Sanford will probably dispose of his cash to the 501(c)3 groups that back his “school choice” proposals, like South Carolinians for Responsible Government‘s foundation. Also, there is nothing stopping Sanford allies, like those who set up a myriad of 501(c)4 groups, to create a number of 501(c)3 groups to take his cash and use it for their policy aims.

Perhaps the only time ever South Carolinians for Responsible Government‘s Randy Page worked to get in touch with us, was in order to point out a blog post from Ben Smith. Somehow, Politico got a call into the media-shy Howard Rich, and the real estate magnate and school choice bankroller said that Gov. Mark Sanford did not stay at his abode in Argentina earlier this week.

“We do have a place in Argentina, and I understand people are putting two and two together,” he said, “but it’s not even close.”

Whatever. Over time we’ve learned that our hunches about these guys pay off a lot more than what they say to the press, in the event they say anything. And, we still haven’t heard how Sanford met Maria Belén Chapur in the first place.

It all comes down to Wednesday, as S. 520, this session’s quixotic attempt at getting a private school choice law passed in South Carolina goes to the full Senate Education Committee.

Earlier, the bill was given a 6-4 unfavorable report out of subcommittee, which, for those not bobbing for campaign contributions, was thought to be the most likely outcome.

Time and time again during Gov. Mark Sanford‘s tenure, we have seen him and his out-of-state-funded proxies doing their usual, which is using their massive amounts of money to make their disproportionately-vocal minority look like a majority.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The school choice lobby managed to pick off one idiosyncratic Democrat, but they cannot even secure a majority of Republican legislators for the plan.

Day after day, South Carolinians for Responsible Government, S.C. Club for Growth, S.C. Policy Council and a number of Sanford shell groups have been banging the drum on this issue. They are fueled by large grants and donations from foundations run by super-wealthy people (so far on the edge that they make John Birchers look sane) and other fellow-travelers from the Lowcountry and across the country.

It seems, however, that a couple dozen foundations and a couple hundred high-rollers do not a majority make, especially when they couldn’t accomplish Sanford’s attempted coup on the General Assembly last year.

The need to commit to comprehensive reforms in South Carolina schools has been around practically since the beginning of public education in this state. Like other parts of the South, educating the less-well off (first whites, then both whites and blacks) was never a big priority for the people in power.

Now, here we are, with a lobby of political operatives with deep pockets who would rather eschew the past and nuance and try to put a bumper sticker slogan into legislation.

Hence, why even legislators who may be predisposed to support a version of private school choice will not back a bill like S. 520. Sometimes, with a bill, it isn’t what the bill says, it’s who is pushing it. And, when you can’t trust the motivations of the lobby backing the bill, it’s pretty damn hard to press the “yea” button.

For six years, Gov. Mark Sanford has done all he can to alienate himself from his own party, poison the political atmosphere (which should have been impossible) and show how not to lead.

He also heralded the front line presence of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, S.C. Club for Growth, S.C. Policy Council and a myriad of Sanford shell groups.

Until former State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel’s cocaine bust, he was the obvious heir apparent for this small, but well-funded and vocal, lobby. Hell, Ravenel was even best buds with Mallory Factor.

But, here we are, with three major candidates for governor, none of which is an easy fit with Howard Rich‘s heimwehren. If last year is any indicator, even with a coordinated attack, these groups had to rely on one man, some mistakes, and pure political skullduggery on one particular race, to get just a few key people elected to the General Assembly.

And, some of those guys might as well make plans to go back to the day job full time as of the next cycle.

Still, this lobby cannot do what they like, the Governor is acting like a spoiled child, and the leadership in the House and the Senate is just a little hostile.

Right now, all Team Sanford has to bet on is Karen Floyd, one of theirs. She will be the next chairman of the S.C. Republican Party. But, as has been said, she was the only statewide Republican to lose in 2006 and still has tens of thousands of dollars in campaign debt to pay off.

Unless Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer‘s involvement with Floyd’s firm is him tipping his cards to Project Mayhem, Sanford’s stormtroopers are going to be even more marginalized than they are already.

There are few attractions like one to someone who has been on the opposition, then coverts to your cause. Such has been the love affair between supporters of school choice and Democratic Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston.

Ford is known for his idiosyncratic tendencies, and buttressed that belief by signing on as a lead sponsor for this session’s attempt at getting a school choice bill through the General Assembly. Tuesday, he led off a news conference in the State House rallying support for the bill.

However, Ford’s support has some S.C. political observers raising an incredulous eyebrow at the Charlestonian’s conversion.

During his 2008 primary campaign, Ford received $8,000 from entities affiliated with New York City real estate magnate and school choice supporter Howard Rich. It lead to the speculation that he would join sides with other Rich-backed legislators this session. It should be noted that he paid the South Carolinians for Responsible Government and S.C. Club for Growth-affiliated (and Republican) consulting firm Richard Quinn and Associates $461.10 (The Copy Shop) on July 2, 2008 for 1,500 letters and $5,324.32 (Mail Marketing Strategies) on June 4, 2008 for mail, voter file access and postage.

Several weeks ago, Ford went on a junket with several other legislators to a school choice conference in Philadelphia. Ford has said he has met with Rich, which was most likely at this gathering. At that point, it was only a matter of time.

Ford’s stance is a marked departure from the recent past. In 2007, he voted against an amendment put forth by Sen. Larry Grooms that would have included vouchers into a school choice bill backed by Superintendent of Education Jim Rex.

In an article in The State, Ford admitted that Rich and others lobbied him to adopt his current position, and he was seen talking to Palmetto Policy Group lobbyist Katie Dunning in his office. PPG is the chief lobbying arm for SCRG, and recently had to part ways with associate J.J. Darby. According to sources close to Wolfe Reports, this was because Rich had pulled most of his lobbying money out of South Carolina. The funding mix for the current push is likely only to be known by insiders.

More cynical politicos have said that Ford is leading the school choice fight this year as a way to pull thousands of Rich-backed dollars for his long-shot gubernatorial effort. Though Ford said this was not the case, he admitted he would not refuse the money.

In support of the bill, SCRG produced a palm card, which has since made its way around Columbia. The card, and after an investigation, the SCRG Web site (alg22.timberlakepublishing.com), is parked on a Americans for Limited Government (alg31.timberlakepublishing.com) server, which is hosted by the Northern Virginia firm Timberlake Publishing. Rich is the chairman of ALG.