TheState.com: S.C. Politics

Barrett pulls in more than $500,000

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:01 EDT

U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett raised more than $500,000 in the past three months for his 2010 Republican gubernatorial run, according to his campaign.

Barrett’s total outpaced others in the field, as reports began trickling in Thursday. Today is the deadline to file fundraising reports for the quarter ended June 30.

In total, Barrett has raised more than $800,000 since entering the six-way GOP race in early March.

Barrett’s campaign was finalizing its report and could not say how much cash the campaign had on hand, but did say the second quarter totals do not include any funds transferred from his congressional account.

Both Barrett and Attorney General Henry McMaster, who is weighing a run, reported more than $1 million on hand in first quarter reports.

Early-onset Alzheimers forces Judge Karen Williams' retirement

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:52 EDT

S.C. native Karen Williams, chief judge of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, is retiring, telling her fellow judges she has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

In recent years, Williams had been mentioned in conservative legal circles as a possible candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The retirement of Williams, 57, of Orangeburg, was not a complete surprise.

Lawyers who saw her deliver the commencement address this year at the USC School of Law and more recently, at a recent 4th Circuit gathering at the Greenbriar resort in West Virginia, said she appeared to have intermittent speech and memory problems.

On Wednesday, Williams — the first female judge on the 15-member court and as of 2007, its first female chief judge — informed her brethren on the Court of Appeals she was retiring in a letter that said, in part:

State denies key permit to Duke for Catawba dams

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:34 EDT

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control board denied a key permit Duke Energy needs to operate dams on the Catawba River after hearing from Attorney General Henry McMaster at today's monthly meeting.

''I’m delighted,'' McMaster said after the board voted 4-0 to deny the permit.

McMaster said DHEC’S approval of the permit would have made it harder for him to win his U.S. Supreme Court case against North Carolina over each states' rights to the water in the Catawba River.

The issue centers on how much water DHEC would require Duke to keep in the Catawba below dams it operates. Agency staff members OK’d the permit in May after agreeing on a plan to keep a minimum flow in the riverbed. But McMaster said the state didn’t require Duke to keep enough water in the river below its dams.

His Supreme Court case seeks a greater portion of the river for use by South Carolina. So when DHEC’s staff agreed to the minimum flows, the agency was sending a mixed message to the Supreme Court that could have hurt his case, he says. Thursday’s vote by the agency board overturns the staff decision.

Barrett campaign names fundraising chief

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:43 EDT

U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-Westminster, has tapped former state GOP chairman Barry Wynn to lead his 2010 gubernatorial campaign's fundraising efforts.

In an e-mail to supporters, Wynn said he signed on with Barrett because "character still counts and Gresham Barrett has got it in spades." Wynn is president of Spartanburg investment firm Colonial Group Inc. and spearheaded former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's short-lived S.C. presidential campaign.

Joining Wynn on Barrett's finance team are Greenville developer Bo Aughtry, and Columbia residents Peter Brown, a leader in former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney's S.C. presidential campaign, real estate executive Joe Edens and city councilman Kirkman Finley.

Barrett is one of a half-dozen GOP candidates seeking the GOP nomination.

-- John O'Connor

Barrett campaign pulls in $500k+ in 3 months

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:52 EDT

U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett has raised more than a half-million dollars in the past three months for his 2010 gubernatorial efforts, according to his campaign.

Barrett, a Republican, has raised more than $800,000 since officially entering the six-person field in early March. The deadline to file second quarter campaign reports is Friday.

"I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish from a finance standpoint in this unprecedented economic downturn," Barrett finance chairman Barry Wynn said in a written statement. "A lot of the so called experts said we’d never exceed our first quarter tally, but when we’re finished counting, I’m confident we’ll demonstrate that we’ve kept the momentum from the 1st quarter going.

Staff said they could not yet determine how much cash the campaign had on hand because of issues with transferring money from Barrett's federal account. Both Barrett and potential gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Henry McMaster reported more than $1 million on hand after the first three months of 2009.

Other candidates in the field include Berkeley state Sen. Larry Grooms, Lexington Rep. Nikki Haley and Furman University political scientist Brent Nelsen. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is also weighing a run.

State Republicans censure Sanford

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:37 EDT

After nearly four hours of discussion Monday evening, leaders of the South Carolina Republican Party voted to censure Gov. Mark Sanford, reprimanding him for secretly leaving the state to visit his lover in Argentina.

While the vote reveals how the state’s GOP leadership feels about the scandal, it has no practical effect on whether the governor remains in office.

“The events of the past two weeks have been as divisive as they have been disappointing for Republicans,” S.C. Republican Party chairman Karen Floyd said late Monday in a prepared statement. “But today has brought a large measure of resolution to a sad chapter in our state party’s history. Republicans came together to speak with a unified voice, and now is the time for healing.

“We are now united and we pledge to focus our energy and efforts on finding conservative solutions to the challenges facing South Carolina,” the statement read.

The GOP’s executive committee options were:

Clyburn pushes medical reform

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:13 EDT

U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Monday pushed health-care reform and rebutted critics who argue the plan initiated by President Barack Obama is being rushed through Congress without being properly vetted.

Obama has said he wants to sign a bill in October that would reduce medical costs and provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans. Clyburn, a Columbia Democrat, will be critical to mustering the votes needed to get a bill to the president over the next three months.

Clyburn says reforms are needed to:

• Close the so-called doughnut holes, such as the one that has Medicare recipients paying hundreds of dollars out of pocket for prescriptions when their benefits run out in a calendar year

• Give insurance options to those who are already sick. Health insurers generally don’t cover those with pre-existing illnesses.

S.C. lawmakers not shy about contacting DHEC

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:38 EDT

A downtown amphitheater, clusters of shops and a new hotel appealed to Sen. Robert Ford when he heard about development plans for a blighted part of Charleston.

But Ford also knew the plan to revitalize the area would need state environmental permits. So the Charleston Democrat tried last summer to arrange a dinner meeting between the developer and Earl Hunter, chief executive at the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

“The project was stalled,” Ford said. “I wanted to do this to make sure those projects follow (through). That is a major role I think we have as elected officials.”

E-mails obtained by The State show Ford is among at least 23 lawmakers who contacted the agency during a six-month period last year. DHEC Commissioner Earl Hunter estimates he gets dozens of calls, letters or e-mails from lawmakers and others each week.

Such contacts — whether or not they influenced a decision — are at the heart of an ongoing debate about legislative pressure on South Carolina’s environmental protection agency.

GOP to discuss Sanford’s future

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:37 EDT

Gov. Mark Sanford’s secret visit to Buenos Aires that left state officials and his own staff unsure of his whereabouts has spawned a meeting today of the state Republican Party executive committee.

Members, who plan to talk via conference call, are expected to consider several options ranging from doing nothing, to publicly admonishing the governor, to calling for his resignation.

Already, a majority of state Republican senators and some Democratic lawmakers have called for the governor to step down. Some members of the public are joining in the rallying cry.

But Sanford has repeatedly said he did not misuse state funds and won’t relinquish his post.

Meanwhile, the embattled governor and his family returned to South Carolina on Sunday following a three-day break in Florida.

Dredging approved after senators intervened

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:38 EDT

GEORGETOWN — After two state senators intervened, South Carolina’s environmental protection agency approved a controversial dredging project that the department had rejected twice because of pollution concerns.

Sens. Yancey McGill and Ray Cleary contacted the Department of Health and Environmental Control at least four times from August to December 2006 on behalf of Wedgefield Plantation property owners who favored the dredging work, court and agency records show.

Those kinds of contacts are at the center of a discussion over DHEC’s ability to withstand lobbying from state legislators.

In this case, agency officials insist politics did not influence their change of heart. But people on both sides of the dispute agree the lawmakers got DHEC’s attention.

South Carolina’s fifth-largest agency, DHEC is responsible for more than 150 environmental and health programs that touch the lives of most state residents. Many say South Carolina’s government, which emphasizes a strong legislature and weak governor, makes it harder for DHEC to say no when lawmakers call on behalf of constituents.

SC cops to say if gov misused funds to see woman

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:24 EDT

South Carolina's top cop is ready to say whether Gov. Mark Sanford broke state laws to visit his Argentine mistress.

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd is planning to reveal his report on Sanford's travel records Thursday.

South Carolina's attorney general asked police to investigate the governor's travel after Sanford revealed to The Associated Press he had visited Maria Belen Chapur more times than previously disclosed.

Sanford has given two personal checks totaling $3,300 to the state treasurer as reimbursement for part of a taxpayer-funded trip to South America last year. He says the money covered lodging, meals and airfare to Buenos Aires, where he saw Chapur.

Top state Republicans and several newspapers have called for Sanford's resignation. Sanford has said he won't step down.

39 trips for Sanford with no security in '09

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:24 EDT

Gov. Mark Sanford left the Governor’s Mansion without a security escort, 38 times in 2008. In the first six months of this year, he left the mansion without security, 39 times.

Those trips are about one-third of the 195 trips Sanford made from the mansion, with or without security, over that 18-month period.

The frequency with which the governor shed his security detail has fallen under scrutiny after his secret trip earlier this month to Argentina.

The information was obtained from security logs provided to The State newspaper under open-records laws.

Only on a few occasions when he did not have security with him, Sanford was accompanied by a guest.

Sheheen calls for Sanford resignation

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:24 EDT

State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Camden, called Tuesday for Gov. Mark Sanford to resign.

Sheheen, who is a Democratic candidate for governor in 2010, is among the first of nearly a dozen Democratic and Republican 2010 hopefuls to come out and call for Sanford to quit, brought on by revelations last week of an extramarital affair.

“I sincerely regret the necessity of addressing these issues, but it is an obligation that cannot be shirked by those of us who lead our state,” said Sheheen, who is the father of three sons.

“In recent days, there have been numerous calls for a full investigation into the details of the Sanford situation, but crucial facts have already come to light,” Sheheen said in a released statement. “Sanford misled his staff and the public as to his whereabouts; he used a taxpayer-funded mission to Argentina for his personal behavior, and he failed to inform anyone that he was leaving the country.”

Sheheen’s statement came just minutes after The Associated Press released a story in which Sanford admitted to meeting his Argentine mistress more often than previously acknowledged, including twice in New York City, the first meetings in the United States Sanford have disclosed.

SC gov gambles to 'lay it all out' about affair

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:24 EDT

After days of assuring the public he was firmly in control after admitting a scandalous affair, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford detailed other encounters with his Argentine "soul mate," dalliances with women before her, and his struggle to salvage his 20-year marriage.

Sanford, who last week used a televised news conference to throw himself on the mercy of the public, state leaders and his wife, chronicled his affair and tortured emotions in interviews with The Associated Press Monday and Tuesday. This time, he said, he wanted to "lay it all out."

But as more details of his private life spill out, what Sanford has done in the name of love is too much even for some of his friends in state government.

"He's lost the moral authority to lead our state, so he needs to step down for the good of our state," said state Sen. Larry Grooms, who said he called the governor and asked him to resign.

Others in Sanford's party predict his departure from public life is just a matter of time, and several state newspapers urged him to go.

Gov's `other woman' fiercely private, no pushover

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:53 EDT

She is a 43-year-old, divorced mother of two teenage boys who wants to believe she can still experience true love.

She is an intensely private woman who was not afraid to fight back when that privacy was breached.

She was educated in Catholic schools and professes her belief in God, evil and the afterlife, and yet joined a married father of four in violating the Seventh Commandment prohibition against adultery.

Maria Belen Chapur has successfully eluded the news media since South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford revealed their yearlong affair last week. Friends and family have enfolded her and her boys in a protective cocoon, and the only image of her is a grainy, 8-year-old video from her brief moment in front of the cameras as a television reporter in New York.

Other than a 200-word statement denouncing a hacker's "evil act" of leaking her passionate e-mail correspondence with Sanford, Chapur has maintained her silence.

Sanford met in Atlanta after returning from South America

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:12 EDT

ATLANTA | Gov. Mark Sanford arrived in the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Wednesday morning, having wrapped up a seven-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he said.

Sanford said he had not been hiking along the Appalachian Trail, as his staff said in a Tuesday statement to the media.

Sanford admitted later Wednesday that his secret trip to Argentina over Father's Day weekend was to visit a woman he is having an affair with.

Sanford's whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday, and the mystery surrounding his absence fueled speculation about where he had been and who's in charge in his absence. His emergence Wednesday ended the mystery.

Sanford, in a brief interview with The State in the nation's busiest airport, said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.

[Previous coverage] Sanford due back today, but from where exactly?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:12 EDT

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford will return to work today, his staff said, cutting short a mysterious hiking trip along the Appalachian Trail.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor called chief of staff Scott English on Tuesday morning, and was surprised by the attention.

“It would be fair to say the governor was somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten.,” Sawyer said in a statement.

But there are still unanswered questions about Sanford’s whereabouts, from his exact location on the Appalachian Trail to why the governor, a father of four, would leave town over Father’s Day weekend.

Tuesday afternoon, first lady Jenny Sanford said she still had not heard from the governor.

[Previous coverage] Sanford back Wednesday, his office says [500+ comments]

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:12 EDT

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s staff said this morning that the governor, who went mysteriously incommunicado for several days, plans to return to his office Wednesday.

Late Monday, his office said the governor was hiking on the Appalachian Trail, ending four days during which staff and state officials said they had not heard from him.

State Sen. Jake Knotts issued statement today saying: “I’m happy to hear that Governor Sanford has finally contacted his office after being missing from the state for five days."

"While I believe every person deserves a vacation, our constitution gives only one man authority to act in case of an emergency - the governor of South Carolina. Should the governor decide to vacation away from South Carolina again, it is my sincere hope that he will take his security detail and keep his cell phone on so that he can be reached in case of a large-scale emergency," the statement said.

"If he is not willing to do so, he should turn his gubernatorial authority over to the lieutenant governor,” it continued.

Clyburn: Congress closing in on 2 key bills

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:14 EDT

Lawmakers are likely to reach agreement on health-care reform and energy bills before breaking in August for vacation, U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said Monday.

“Both must be done, I feel, to sustain any kind of recovery,” Clyburn said during a media roundtable event in South Carolina.

Clyburn said he thinks the economy soon could begin to heal, thanks in part to stimulus dollars. However, the jobless rate could rise even higher. Some estimates say South Carolina could see a 15 percent jobless rate by year’s end.

The energy bill, in its current version, would require utilities to meet 20 percent of their electricity demand through renewable sources by 2020 and invest in clean energy technologies. It also would require new energy standards for buildings, appliances and industry.

Meanwhile, debate continues about whether a health-care bill should include a government-sponsored plan for those not covered by a private insurer.

Longtime Thurmond staffer dies at age 85

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:11 EDT

A man who worked alongside Strom Thurmond for more than 45 years and won the state’s highest civilian honor has died.

Warren Abernathy died in a Spartanburg hospital early Monday after suffering several recent health problems, said J.F. Floyd Mortuary general manager Glenn Miller. Abernathy was 85.

Abernathy was administrative assistant to then-Gov. Thurmond and state assistant to Thurmond when he served in the U.S. Senate.

Abernathy received the Order of the Palmetto from Gov. David Beasley in 1998.

The funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at Southside Baptist Church. Abernathy will be buried with military honors in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg.