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.

Earlier on Monday, we say a post the child did on Sen. Vince Sheheen. We didn’t pay it much mind, because we don’t pay the person writing it much mind. But, later on in the day, we were alerted to a certain phrase in the post. That line did ring a bell at the time, but there were more important things to do.

Sheheen doesn’t speak with an accent any worse than other well-educated state leaders that are South Carolina natives, but whatever. Witness:

That wording was used in something else he wrote — the ultimately failed blueprint to turn the General Assembly into Gov. Mark Sanford’s rubber stamp.

Guess everybody not from the Lowcountry’s landed class is a bumpkin these days.

Rep. Nikki Haley has made her time in the House by bullshitting her constituents, who apparently haven’t been paying close enough attention or been getting involved enough to call her on her hypocrisy. Of course, her buds (Will Folks, the S.C. Policy Council, [because his boss heads SCPC] Adam Fogle, the S.C. Club for Growth, &c.) won’t do anything to show what a shit campaign she’s running for governor.

If Haley had decided to bide her time in the House, she probably wouldn’t be caught in so many traps. But, she creates them for herself and then steps into them and acts like nobody will pay attention. That’s too bad, because the House leadership is done with her crap. When you get called out in public by the leadership of your own party, that could be a clue that you don’t know what they hell you’re doing.

Tuesday, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dan Cooper, decided he had enough and called a spade a spade.

For months I have held my tongue while Rep. Nikki Haley traveled the state touting her “opposition” to taking federal stimulus dollars, but after reading her Feb. 12 guest column in this paper I felt compelled to set the record straight. Here are the facts:

While the majority of state legislators opposed President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan on principle, we realized that if South Carolina did not accept the federal funds then the hard-earned tax dollars of the families we represent would be spent in other places, like New Jersey and California. In other words, we would be paying the price and getting nothing in return.

Rep. Haley knew that. This legislation was thoroughly discussed, and the issues were very clear. On March 9, Rep. Haley joined 107 other legislators voting for an amendment to the budget bill to accept the stimulus money. The very next day, she voted for the budget bill that included the stimulus money. On the third and final reading of the bill, it passed overwhelmingly with a voice vote.

It was only two weeks after she announced her candidacy for governor that Nikki Haley changed her tune on the stimulus. She then began to publicly question everyone else who had joined her on multiple occasions in voting to accept these federal funds. And despite all of her double talk, the truth is Nikki Haley’s rhetoric just doesn’t match her record.

Haley has taken steps in recent years to get in tight with the Sanford cabal. Now that organization is falling apart, she’s up the creek. It should be a lesson to others who sell out for for out-of-state dollars and perceived influence. Put your constituents and your district first — not political pals.

Well, isn’t this interesting. It appears that Rep. Nikki Haley is still hanging on to an unfounded, unproven and to the best of our knowledge, untrue rumor regarding her Web site. Remember when all that happened? It was in those fine times of the mid-Summer, when Columbia feels like the ninth circle of Hell. Our own apartment averaged 80 degrees at night. It was fun.

Yeah, so it was rumored that we were receiving inside information about Haley from Under The Power Lines, which had run Haley’s site before she announced for governor. Actually, no — it wasn’t so much rumored. The Haley campaign just went to their lackey, Will Folks, to put a hit on us and UTPL for something that had absolutely no evidence, except for the fact that the Haley campaign was then, as is now, dead in the water and leaking like a rotten wooden-hulled ship. That was piggy-backed on an earlier post of dubious repute, which led to what happened today.

Haley sent a Facebook message to Nancy Mace, the woman who took over Folks site and had a chance to operate Haley’s site.

Around here, we have a phrase for such nuttery: total fucking bullshit. Really, if there was any, and we mean absolutely any, truth to this allegation, it would have hit the papers and local TV stations months ago. But, it’s not true, ergo there is no evidence, except for a blog post written by Haley’s Internet boy.

Just another example that Haley’s a decidedly second-tier gubernatorial candidate that would have been better served by staying in the House and serving her friends at S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government, the S.C. Policy Council and the last few remainders of the Sanford crowd.

If you believe the effluent regularly produced by Will Folks‘ bile duct, you would think that the S.C. Policy Council is doing something new and inventive. After all, they hired Eric Ward from the Free Times and Rick Brundrett of The State. We suppose these guys don’t mind trading in their ethics for an organization that laughingly calls itself “non-partisan.” OK, maybe just “Sanfordite Republican,” and not non-ideological. And the organization will lose a hell of a lot of influence when Gov. Mark Sanford rides off into the sunset, if not already.

You see, the Policy Council’s shill at FITSNews is making a big deal out of some new Web site that the SCPC is starting up.

In what could become some heady competition for Palmetto State media outlets (including FITS), the S.C. Policy Council is on the verge of launching a new “citizen reporter” website – perhaps as soon as next week.

Reportedly dubbed The Nerve (or something to do with nerves), the top secret project will provide original content from Policy Council writers as well as contributing writers from all corners of the state, sources tell FITS.

What this clown doesn’t tell you, and what he knows, is that the plan to hire formerly legitimate reporters and start such operations has been in effect since at least 2007, if not before. And it’s not just South Carolina. Every member of the State Policy Network, which is tied at the hip with robber baron Howard Rich, is doing exactly the same thing. It’s a national effort. Because some reporters are so broke and scared of losing their jobs, they’re willing to do what it takes to pay the mortgage, get insurance and put food on the table.

What sucks for those guys is that they have to make peace with that Faustian bargain, and realize their work — and your labor is one of your most important actions — is actively going against their self-interests. But that’s how the journalism industry crumbles.

To say that FITSNews‘ Will Folks and Columbia lobbyist/political consultant Larry Marchant are tight would be an understatement. One might make allegations of money exchanging hands, but we recall what happened last time we wrote about allegations that didn’t come with something official. Like a police report.

After the Free Times broke the news of Marchant’s DUI arrest, interested parties were no doubt drawn to see what Folks would write about his pal. If you want to reread it, joke’s on you. It’s not there anymore.

Unlike the Lee Street Jackass, we don’t consider everything that has connections to the government to be bad. After all, if it wasn’t for the Family and Medical Leave Act, our mom would have been broke and not guaranteed to have her job after a major operation several years ago. The private sector fought that bill the whole way. We’re big fans of corporate America — without the private sector, there aren’t jobs for the rest of us schlubs — but to see the world in simplistic back-and-white is moronic.

So, when Jimbo over there slammed South Carolina traffic and mentioned, “a boatload of government-funded TV commercials,” we rolled our eyes and went on to the next thing. No point in paying attention to a drooling fool. But wait, what was that we saw recently?

South Carolina authorities say 2009 has been the safest year on the state’s roads in 14 years.

Preliminary reports say 881 people died on the state’s roads last year, compared to 921 deaths in 2008. The State of Columbia reports the last year to have fewer than 900 deaths on South Carolina roads was 1995.

Public Safety Department Director Mark Keel credits both the slow economy for reducing the amount people drive as well as heightened enforcement for the lower death toll.

Keel says seat belt use is at 81 percent in South Carolina — an all-time high. He says citations for not wearing a seat belt and for driving under the influence also increased significantly this year.

Yeah, turns out that state highways are the safest they’ve been in years.

It was with some pleasure that we found ourselves on the “Power 100” list created by the Capital City Clown. What makes him think that he’s somehow the arbiter of who is powerful in this state (beyond an ego that’s so large it’s devouring itself), we’ll never know. Evidently, our upstart operation caught the court jester’s attention again, landing in the “Dishonorable Mention” slot.

We could search and search for what the guy actually knows, but it would be easier to fill a tome with what he doesn’t. And really, it was an honor just to be nominated. The company isn’t half-bad, either, as we’re alongside Rep. Jimmy Merrill, S.C. Chamber of Commerce’s Otis Rawl, SCBIPEC’s Tom DeLoach, The State’s Cindi Ross Scoppe, S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce’s Frank Knapp and Columbia mayoral candidate Steve Morrison, among others. Not a bad crew to run with.

Gov. Mark Sanford nearly impeached for cheating on his wife in Argentina while taxpayers payed the tab.

Former State Treasurer and rising political star Thomas Ravenel sent to prison on charges he operated a cocaine ring.

Former Sanford spokesman Will Folks pleading guilty to criminal domestic violence.

Lobbyist and political consultant Larry Marchant thrown in jail for driving under the influence.

A four-star failure, and embarrassments, all of them. Thus has been the public lives of four of the major players in South Carolina’s antagonizing school choice movement. The policy proposal that was once considered the most divisive in the State House is now hurdling to Earth in a fireball of humiliation and seems set to peter out to the lonely sound of a lone blogger’s key strokes.

How many of these guys are going to implode this effort, one personal scandal at a time? And when are people going to start connecting the dots? This so-called “reform movement” is having a meltdown, principal by principal, consultant by consultant.

You can’t trust an issue being peddled to you when you can’t trust the people pushing it and the lawmakers writing bills about it.

If you’re involved in public education in this state, Will Folks probably dislikes you greatly (unless you’re superintendent of education candidate Kelly Payne). Or is paid to dislike you greatly. Whatever. All the same to us. His loose cannon on Tuesday fired off to Kershaw County.

The whole “problem” was educators getting raises. FOR SHAME! Look at all those wealthy people in their spats and monocles, twirling their pocket watches, coming out of the classes they teach, and the schools they manage. Yes, we’re rolling our eyes. Because it’s totally absurd.

One of the people he calls a “moron,” is county Superintendent Frank Morgan. We know Dr. Morgan from his days in Virginia. Previously, he was the head of the Goochland County schools. He did a great job at Goochland, and the close-knit community was sad when he left to come to South Carolina. He, unlike Willy Will, is not a moron. Morgan is a man charged with the responsibility of administering a rural, but growing, school district, much like he did in the Old Dominion. And he left a legacy of success in Goochland.

However, he must have had a screw loose to come to a state that has abandoned public education since integration, and has a very small but very vocal crowd that is pumped up by out-of-state cash to destroy public education forever. At least in Virginia, there is a commitment to making sure that children, no matter their financial background or family relations, get a good education.