June 12 S.C. Elections in Turmoil: Federal Judge Hears Ballot Controversy Case

Here’s Corey Hutchins’ take at the Free Press:

Today, U.S. District Judge Cam Currie heard the arguments in Columbia.

The hearing illustrated just how confusing the case — and the state’s election law — is.

Indeed, Kincannon had written in the opening statement of his suit, “This case is one of the strangest cases in the history of American election law.”

The judge today appeared to agree.

“I realize there is a great deal of chaos out there,” Justice Currie said at one point about the case. “Since it has gotten to federal court, it’s gotten even stranger.”

There were points in the hearing when even the judge admitted that it wasn’t clear who were the plaintiffs and who were the defendants in the case — and who should or should not be considered a legitimate candidate.

Kincannon argued that the State Election Commission violated the federal Voting Rights Act by allegedly sending improper ballots overseas to military service members.

The State Election Commission argued it did not.

Judge Currie ordered both parties to produce more detailed information — and ASAP.

A three-judge panel could hear the case again as early as Monday, Currie said.

May 10, 2012   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Operation Lost Trust

We heard while in Columbia for the Senate Judiciary Hearing in Tuesday that the law that was written pertaining to filing a paper copy of the Statement of Economic Interest (SEI) was in response to Operation Lost Trust. What is that? A sting operation during which 27 convictions were handed down, 17 of them to state legislators 20 years ago. After that, filing an SEI was required at the time of filing for an elected office.

Today, a similar level of corruption using the SEI has thrown the SC election process into chaos. Here is a 2010 article detailing Operation Lost Trust by Schuyler Kropf at The Post and Courier.

Drugs and booze flowed freely among a boastfully corrupt group of South Carolina lawmakers who called themselves “the Fat and Ugly Caucus.”

They were known to cut deals in the halls of the Legislature, or after hours in hotel bars where cash and bribes helped push through favors.

Unknown to most of them, the FBI was watching. When the Statehouse sting known as “Operation Lost Trust” snapped shut in the summer of 1990, more than two dozen lawmakers, lobbyists and others would be caught in what participants recall as the largest legislative public corruption prosecution in U.S. history.

Oh yeah. Keep reading.

May 10, 2012  Tags:   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Boehner Gives Full Support to Issa’s Fast and Furious Investigation

I have a feeling Trey Gowdy did a LOT of talking to Boehner to arrive at this conclusion.

Mary Chastain @ Breitbart:

Today House Speaker John Boehner stated that he fully supports the investigation of Operation Fast & Furious by the House Oversight Committee and Chairman Darrell Issa.

Read more at the link.

May 10, 2012  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

3 judge panel to hear SC election case Monday

Tiffany Barkley @ Easley Patch:

A U.S. District Court judge on Thursday afternoon said she will ask for a special three-judge panel to be assembled on Monday in the battle over the S.C. ballot.

Judge Cameron Currie asked Todd Kincannon, an attorney for an Upstate candidate who filed the federal suit a week ago, to clarify some of his claims by Friday. And she asked the State Elections Commission to file a response by Monday.

Then, she hopes the panel to hear the case on Monday afternoon to decide whether elements of the Voting Rights Act were violated when 180 candidates for state office were striken from ballots last Friday.

May 10, 2012   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Wednesday’s Spartanburg County Budget Workshop

From Roger Nutt:

Here is the video of our Budget Workshop for those of you that couldn’t make it…..which unfortunately was….everybody. From what I could tell nobody was there except for county employees. (Pardon me if I missed you and you were there!). Please tell me what I can do to help people be more involved….I know that having these meetings at other times is one small answer, but maybe there are others???? We will never be able to make real changes if more people don’t get involved. As you can see from the video, only a very small amount of what we discussed was actually reported in the paper. and nothing was covered on TV…..

May 10, 2012   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

H 4894 passes Senate Subcommittee

Sheila asked about the latest on the School Choice bill, you can find that here.

A group of State Senators voted to pass school choice legislation out of their sub-committee on Wednesday morning. The bill, which emerged from the full House in March, is now headed to the Senate Finance Committee.

Lobbyists representing the School Boards Association (SCSBA) and School Administrators Associations (SCASA) expressed their distaste for the plan, a position they’ve held for nearly a decade. They speculated that the plan could damage education in the state.

Parental choice proponent Senators Larry Grooms (R-Berkeley) and David Thomas (R-Greenville) hotly contested that claim. “The facts don’t bear that out,” Thomas insisted. “Parents who are happy with their traditional public schools can stay put. Parents who feel their children aren’t being fully served can choose a more appropriate school,” explained Senator Grooms, who is also one of the bill’s sponsors. “Clearly this is a good thing for the student and the family either way.”

It remains incredibly important that you contact your state senator. Please contact them at www.mysclegislator.com, and urge them to make sure H. 4894 gets an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.

May 10, 2012   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Spartanburg County Council discusses budget needs, pay raise increase

Andrew Doughman, reporting at SHJ:

Several Spartanburg County Council members said a 2 percent pay increase for Spartanburg County employees is their No. 1 priority on Wednesday.

The pay increase would cost about $500,000 and would only happen if the county gets more money than it currently expects to collect. But council members also acknowledged other competing matters. Although county employees have not had a pay increase in the past four years, the county’s overloaded court system has about $500,000 in additional needs.

Some of these, including scanners and digital recording systems, are important for putting Spartanburg County in the digital age and hosting more documents online for the public, Hubbard said.

The county also has 71 frozen positions, and backlogs are piling up in several county departments. So as council members determine their priorities in spending any new revenue, they must weigh a potential pay increase for employees with the equipment and personnel needs of county departments that serve the public.

If you are following the discussions of the County Council and the budget and would like to have an opportunity to address that …

The final county budget will not be approved until June, and any Spartanburg County resident can address the council about the budget during council’s next meeting, scheduled for May 21 at the county administration building.

May 10, 2012   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Senate kills bill to reinstate 180 candidates

ANDREW SHAIN at the State reports:

When they go to the polls June 12, voters will likely not see the names of 180 candidates ousted from the S.C. primary ballot because of a state Supreme Court ruling.

The state Senate rejected a proposal Wednesday that would have reinstated the candidates if they filed statements of economic interest by April 15. That would have restored almost all the ousted candidates, state Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said.

But some senators objected to the extension of the March 30 state mandated deadline. They also believed that by not changing the deadline the state would avoid a federal review over changing an election law that could delay the primary.

Read more at the link. It’s unbelievable for those of us following this that (I’m estimating) 90% of South Carolina voters have no idea that their right to vote was removed by the SC Supreme Court, much less the oh so familiar stench of corruption in the Legislature.

May 9, 2012   Posted in: Uncategorized  5 Comments

FOIA. Languishing. No one is shocked.

Eric K. Ward reports at The Nerve:

An S.C. House-passed bill to monumentally strengthen the state’s open-government law faces a precarious road in the Senate.

Most immediately, the Senate is consumed with crafting a legislative response to an S.C. Supreme Court decision. The ruling last week disqualified scores of candidates from the June 12 statewide primary elections.

Beyond that, the Senate is preparing to debate a budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year that starts July 1.

Moreover, the committee chairman who has frontline jurisdiction over the sunshine bill in the Senate says he is concerned about a provision that would eliminate an exemption in the open-government law for legislators.

Those three strikes against the bill, however, do not necessarily mean it’s out.

Despite his reservations about ending the legislative exemption, the committee head, Judiciary Chairman Larry Martin, R-Pickens, says he is working to get a hearing on the bill.

Read more at the link above.

May 9, 2012   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Big Labor/Big Union LOSES its own county in Wisconsin

By now you all know how much I LOVE the patriots in Wisconsin, and how important I think they are to restoring liberty to our country. YEP. That important.

Here is a Breitbart post by Mike Flynn that is wicked cool. The Dems and the Unions are beside themselves today. Check out last line.

Dane County is the political base of Wisconsin’s public sector unions. It is home to both the state capital, with its thousands of unionized workers, and the University of Wisconsin, with its starry-eyed college students and aging hippie professors. It is easily the most left-wing county in the state–think San Francisco in the heartland. It is exactly the place where Big Labor and its champion, Kathleen Falk, who served as County Executive for 14 years, should have had their best showing in the primary. Instead, she was absolutely trounced.

Falk lost her home county by 31 points–62-31. In contrast, she lost the state by “only” 20 points. Public sector unions spent millions of dollars from their members’ paychecks to support her campaign. They accused her opponent, Tom Barrett, of supporting Walker’s budget reforms. They, along with Falk, mobilized dozens of left-wing activist organizations, most of whom are headquartered in the county. The unions members make up a sizable percentage of the county’s electorate. And, the unions’ members soundly rejected their preferred candidate.

Since the passage of Walker’s budget reforms, public sector unions and their shills in the media have repeated the claim that voters would reject Walker’s “divisive” policies. We have heard ad naseum that voters would stand in “solidarity” with the unions against the reforms. But, hell, even the union members won’t stand in solidarity with the unions.

Change is blowing across the country. Voters understand that the status quo will no longer meet the challenges we face. That some measurable percentage of union members rejected their own union’s candidate tells you that the unions are a paper tiger. That Scott Walker, in a largely uncontested primary, can attract almost as many votes as 5 Democrats combined tells you that voters see at least some benefit to his reforms. It also tells us that a reform wave is building strength.

The national GOP should take this lesson to heart: Courage wins.

May 9, 2012   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment