Shame on Carol Fowler for this one

July 31, 2007 | Filed Under State Politics, The Chaser | 3 Comments

Sanford endorses Tim Scott, who could be the first black statewide elected official since reconstruction, and rather than congratulate him, the Democrats respond with this attack.

Democrats pride themselves on being the party that represents African American values, but every time a Republican tries to advance the ball for African Americans, the Democrats have some snoody comment.

Shame on Carol Fowler and the SC Democratic Party for this press release. Instead of congratulating Tim Scott, they call him a “lame endorsement.”

Columbia, SC - South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler today released the following statement in regards to Governor Mark Sanford endorsing Charleston County Councilman Tim Scott as his choice to replace State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel.

“If the Governor were serious about having credible input as to who would serve as South Carolina’s State Treasurer, he would have asked Mr. Scott to serve as interim State Treasurer. By making this last minute, lame endorsement after most of the legislators have already decided on who they would support, the Governor has done nothing for Mr. Scott and nothing for the state of South Carolina. Instead, the Governor, as we’ll see Friday, has shown again how irrelevant he is to the South Carolina legislature.”

SC Ethics law allows campaigning on your dime

July 31, 2007 | Filed Under Presidential, State Politics, The Chaser, Thomas Ravenel, Top Shelf News | 1 Comment

The Attorney for the SC Ethics Commission has said that the law governing state employees use of time and equipment for campaign purposes specifically excludes Federal elections.

This comes as quite a suprise, nevertheless, it has effectively cleared Scott Malyerck, one of Thomas Ravenel’s chief advisors, from any wrong doing when he used state computers to communicate with Ravenel about the goings on of the Guiliani Campaign.

My guess is this loophole gets closed pretty quickly. Not that political staffers don’t bend the rules on this anyway, but the wording of the law if puzzling. Why would you exempt any type of campaigning in the first place?

Check out the AP story below.

S.C. Ethics Commission lawyer says state employees can work on federal campaigns on the job

By JIM DAVENPORT Associated Press Writer

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ South Carolina law may allow state workers to use taxpayer computers and time to promote presidential campaigns, a state Ethics Commission lawyer said.

The comments from commission general counsel Cathy Hazelwood came after an Associated Press review of e-mails that showed former state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel exchanged messages promoting Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani during office hours. Ravenel resigned last week following a federal cocaine charge.

”I think an argument can be made that it is an unwise use of time; however, campaign practices specifically excludes federal candidates,” Hazelwood wrote in an e-mail to the AP.

Between February and April, treasurer’s office spokesman Scott Malyerck e-mailed Ravenel at least six times during office hours regarding the former New York Mayor’s campaign. Malyerck has maintained he did nothing wrong by forwarding messages to Ravenel, who served as Giuliani’s South Carolina campaign chairman until the unrelated indictment June 19.

Since the Malyerck-Ravenel e-mails were made public, interim Treasurer Ken Wingate has met with Malyerck and said office computers can’t be used for campaign purposes.

Gov. Mark Sanford’s spokesman Joel Sawyer also said state workers shouldn’t use taxpayer time or computers to promote any candidate.

The Ethics commission has never addressed the issue, Hazelwood said. When asked if the law was flawed, Hazelwood said it could be a potential loophole.

That’s not what the Legislature had in mind in writing the law, said Republican state House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison. He said the Judiciary Committee would talk with Hazelwood and draft any needed legislation.

”I can’t imagine any legislative intent that would treat a federal election any different than a state election,” he said.

Malyerck said Tuesday that he would like to see the law cleared up, too.

”Let’s change it,” Malyerck said. ”I want to lead the charge.”

“The fox guarding the henhouse” says DeMint

July 31, 2007 | Filed Under Alex Stroman, The Chaser | Leave a Comment

[Alex Stroman]

Sen. Jim DeMint has been on the forefront of ethics disclosure in the Upper Chamber of the US Congress–just ask Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and President Pro-Tempore Robert Byrd (D-WV).

From a DeMint Press release:

There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors in the new ethics bill, but upon a close look its obvious that earmark transparency reforms have been eviscerated. Senator Reid has given himself and a few committee chairmen the authority to determine whether congressional earmarks have been properly disclosed to the public. My office has confirmed this with the Senate Parliamentarian. Under this bill, the American people would be forced to trust Senator Reid and Senator Byrd – two of the biggest earmarkers in the Senate – to certify earmark disclosure. This bill allows the fox to guard the henhouse and makes a joke of ethics reform.”

So, if Robert Byrd wanted to have pet projects in West Virginia, he could not disclose them, but then could force Lindsey Graham to disclose his projects for SC? How about disclose ALL of them?

First we had “Immigration Reform” and now “Ethics Reform.” I thought the word “reform” meant to change things for the better. Maybe when the Democrats won by the Congress, they won the rights to Mirriam Webster’s Dictionary as well…

Sanford to endorse Treasurers candidate at 2 pm…probably not Earl Capps

July 31, 2007 | Filed Under State Politics, Top Shelf News | 5 Comments

We just recieved a press release from the Governor’s Office stating that Governor Sanford will endorse a candidate for State Treasurer today at 2pm.

We are pretty sure it won’t be Earl Capps. However, Mr. Capps has the full endorsement of The Shot. Capps would be a strong watchdog for the taxpayers….Natty Lite kegs in the Treasurer’s Office instead of Bud Light.

Fair Tax Cost Thompson More Credibility

July 31, 2007 | Filed Under 2008 | Republicans, Presidential, The Chaser | 3 Comments

[Tim Cameron]

Yesterday ABC News broke the story that Fred Thompson had promised voters that he would support the Fair Tax, and would eventually sign the pledge. Today the Thompson campaign is saying that Thompson hasn’t promised to sign the pledge.

The Fair Tax organization then released a video of Fred Thompson speaking to a fair tax supporter in Texas. In the video Thompson is asked: “Senator, if the House and Senate pass the ‘Fair Tax’ bill would you sign it?” Thompson replies, “yeah, absolutely”. You can watch the video here.

I realize that Thompson might have only said that to satisfy the massive crowd of Fair Tax supporters who greeted him at the airport (a move any candidate should avoid making). But his communication department has butchered this situation. I don’t know if this was some confusion over the contents of video, but the Thompson campaign simply replied that the Fair Tax organization was “wrong” for claiming their candidate has promised to sign the pledge.

I don’t know what went wrong with communications department, but I do know something went wrong. Fair Tax is one of the most organized groups in the entire nation. Anybody who witnessed their rally before the Fox News Debate earlier this year can attest to that. His campaign just made a lot of people angry, because his campaign just made the Fair Tax people appear like they have no clue what they are talking about.

Now if this story was just one bump along the road, it probably wouldn’t be that bad. But this is part of a long string of negative stories about Thompson’s campaign.

Rick Klein at ABC’s the Note has a pretty concise summery of Thompson’s recent problems:

What an actor needs to learn about timing

Lessons learned in the two months that former senator Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., has been “testing the waters”: 1. Having a campaign shake-up does not require having a campaign (though having a meddlesome spouse helps). 2. Folksy observations do not answer questions about lobbying work on behalf of abortion-rights groups (and the flies called “opposition research” buzz really loudly come fall). 3. No one politician can possibly fix all the things that plague the GOP (even if that politician plays a problem-solver on TV). 4. Some actors look better in the middle distance than in tight shots.

As Thompson gets his first of many close-ups today with a federal financial filing, the question must be asked: Did Thompson miss his moment? If Thompson had jumped into the race in late spring, when the GOP was in full angst mode over its presidential field, his announcement would have itself provided a major lift. The storyline: a smooth-talking (conservative) giant-to-the-rescue — irresistible to the party faithful, and filling a discernable void in the field.

But with officials indicating that Thompson will barely top $3 million in money raised in June — far less than the goal the campaign let linger publicly — his fundraising announcement combines with staff turmoil to tell a muddier story. “The amount . . . was less than the $5 million that Mr. Thompson’s supporters had hoped for and has met with some disappointment inside his camp, which has also been buffeted in recent days by staff defections and high-level disagreements,” write The New York Times’ Susan Saulny and David Kirkpatrick. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/us/politics/31fred.html

And now it’s the Fair Tax story.

This certainly won’t doom Thompson’s chances, but it doesn’t help either. If Thompson had announced in the spring, many of this troubles would be non-existent. But he didn’t. I’m beginning to think that Thompson has the “shoulda, coulda, woulda” campaign of 2008. The problem is “close” and “almost” only count in horseshoes and hand grenades, and certainly don’t help you get the Republican nomination. I understand the reasoning behind not wanting to announce until after Labor Day, but Labor Day is still over a month away. The question now is how many more “bumps” along the road can Thompson take before he becomes the Wes Clark of this election cycle?

Clyburn suggests waiting…

July 31, 2007 | Filed Under Alex Stroman, The Chaser | Leave a Comment

[Alex Stroman]

In a recent interview with the Washington Post online, Majority Whip Jim Clyburn(D-SC6) suggested that House Democrats wait until after General Petraeus’ September progress report before charting their next moves on their plan for Iraq.

Clyburn noted that Petraeus carries significant weight among the 47 members of the Blue Dog caucus in the House, a group of moderate to conservative Democrats. Without their support, he said, Democratic leaders would find it virtually impossible to pass legislation setting a timetable for withdrawal.

“I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course and if the Republicans were to stay united as they have been, then it would be a problem for us,” Clyburn said. “We, by and large, would be wise to wait on the report.”

Looks like Jim Clyburn (of all people) is a voice of reason in the Democratic Party.

GATEWAYS SUCK

July 31, 2007 | Filed Under The Chaser | Leave a Comment

We want to urge our readers to NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER buy a Gateway computer!

Thank you!

Illegal Immigrant arrested for Charlotte rapes

July 31, 2007 | Filed Under The Chaser | 5 Comments

Thought y’all would be interested in this story from today’s Charlotte Observer.

Police accuse man of being serial rapist
Illegal immigrant charged in attacks spanning nearly 2 years

BY MELISSA MANWARE

An illegal immigrant who was about to be deported has been charged with raping three Charlotte women in a series of attacks that left police frustrated and female joggers leery for nearly two years.

Jose C. Rivera, 26, was in Atlanta awaiting deportation when the rape charges were filed Friday. The charges will stop the deportation proceedings.

Rivera is accused of attacking three women in different parts of Charlotte between April 2004 and Sept. 2005. Police say he talked his way into a victim’s home, attacked another in the common area outside her apartment, and then, wearing only red underwear, grabbed a jogger who was running alone.

A month after that rape, in October 2005, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police announced that they had evidence connecting the three rapes, but had been unable to identify the attacker. They used DNA to link the cases.

It’s unclear what evidence detectives now have to connect Rivera to the attacks. But last year, he was convicted of receiving a stolen vehicle. As a felon, he would have been required to surrender a DNA sample.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police would not comment on details of the case Monday. Spokeswoman Julie Hill said detectives had not interviewed Rivera and fear the publicity could jeopardize their investigation. The warrants, however, are public record.

As Mecklenburg’s immigrant community has grown in recent years, illegal immigration has become a controversial topic. Since last spring, the Mecklenburg sheriff has been working to identify illegal immigrants among jail inmates and get them deported.

Records show Rivera, who’s from Honduras, has been jailed in Mecklenburg County at least eight times since 2004. In November 2006, he was deported, a spokesman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

Most recently, Rivera spent five weeks in the Mecklenburg jail on breaking and entering charges.

Because he was not charged with a violent felony and was about to be released, the sheriff turned him over to immigration officials Thursday, sheriff’s spokeswoman Julia Rush said.

Rapes by strangers are uncommon in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and across the country — and more difficult to solve than acquaintance rapes. Nationally, about seven of 10 women who report sexual assaults know their attacker. Each of the women Rivera is accused of raping was attacked in the morning by a man with a weapon.

The first was April 2, 2004. A 32-year-old woman told police a stranger talked his way into her apartment on Roseview Lane off Eastway Drive around 10:45 a.m. Once inside he pulled out a handgun and raped her. Police would not say what the man said to get in the door.

On Feb. 19, 2005, a 41-year-old woman told police a man overpowered her outside apartments on Woodway Hills Drive off Independence Boulevard around 4:30 a.m. He forced her to perform oral sex on him and raped her. The man used a sharp instrument as a weapon.

Then, on Sept. 25, 2005, a female jogger told police a man grabbed her and threatened her with a screwdriver as she ran along East Boulevard in Dilworth around 7 a.m. The woman said the man pulled her behind a building near Springdale Avenue and raped her. He was wearing only red underwear, and a white cloth covered much of his face.

Last January, police said the serial rapist may have attempted to strike again, after a 41-year-old woman in Myers Park fought off a man with Tae Bo, a type of kick-boxing exercise.

The woman told police she was walking alone when he came up behind her and reached his hands between her legs to try to pick her up.

She screamed and kicked the man, who fled without physically injuring her.

That woman’s description of her attacker closely matched the description given by the woman attacked in Myers Park, police said. Rivera has not been charged in that case.

Jose C. Rivera

In 2005, police interviewed three victims and released this description: The suspect is a 5-foot, 7-inch Latino man, between 25 and 30 years old, with a slim build. He has short black hair and a very short, neatly trimmed beard and mustache. One victim first described him as Middle Eastern.

THE CHARGES

Rivera faces 16 charges in the three attacks. Fourteen are felonies. The charges are:

• Five counts of kidnapping.

• Four counts of rape.

• Three counts of sexual battery.

• Two counts of sex offense.

• One count each of robbery with a dangerous weapon and breaking and entering.

HIS RECORD

Records show Rivera has been jailed in Mecklenburg County at least eight times since 2004.

First Round

July 31, 2007 | Filed Under The Shot | 1 Comment

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