The Shot!

Sunday, June 24, 2007
By Dan Hoover

CNN: “S.C. treasurer (and Giuliani’s former S.C. state director) in cocaine bust.”

Fox News: “Giuliani’s S.C. campaign chair indicted on cocaine charges.”

Washington Post: “One Giuliani backer is a bust.”

MSNBC: “Giuliani’s S.C. chairman faces cocaine charge.”  

It’s all over the Internet, from www.facebook.com to www.technorati.com. And remember, this stuff has a half-life like uranium, so it lingers, for future use and consumption.

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Cocaine indictment suggests public persona vastly different from private life
By JOHN MONK

State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel squeezed through the crowd of party faithful, presidential hopefuls and elected officials, then began to weave and lurch as he made his way across the floor of the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

It was the GOP’s annual Silver Elephant dinner in May — on the eve of Columbia hosting a presidential debate — and Ravenel, amid a thousand-plus fellow Republicans, was staggering like movie pirate Capt. Jack Sparrow, with his comically uneven walk.

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By JASON SPENCER
June 23, 2007

The indictment and suspension of state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel on a federal cocaine charge this week comes as a major blow to a conservative faction of the Republican Party that hoped Ravenel would run against Sen. Lindsey Graham in 2008.

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From last night’s Conan:

 “Yesterday, a top aide to Rudy Giuliani was busted for possessing and distributing cocaine.  Yeah, when asked about it, Giuliani said, ‘Cocaine?  I asked him to get me Rogaine.’”

We have heard from numerous legislators this morning that Senator John Courson may be running for Treasurer also.  A couple of those legislators claim believe that Richard Quinn has asked Courson to run to split the Senate vote, hurting Ryberg, and helping Rick Quinn.  We will follow up on this story throughout the day.

In case you are keeping count, we’ve now heard:

Ryberg, Quinn, Ballentine, Chellis, Courson

(UPDATE) - Here’s an interesting rumor going around:  A few legislators told us that the Democrats are pushing Courson because they know that Courson is the only Republican who can win his Senate seat.  If Courson were to become Treasurer, the Dems would nearly automatically pick up a seat in the SC Senate.  Interesting….we will look into it.

(UPDATE 2) - Many legislators say that Courson has asked for their support. He’s in.

SCGOP Chairman Katon Dawson has released another statement on the Ravenel indictment:

“Our Party suffered election defeats in Washington last November partly because a handful of Republican lawmakers abused the trust placed in them by voters.  In some cases, crimes were committed.  In other cases, these officials failed to live in accordance with the core principles that Republicans stand for.  In all cases, voters held our entire Party responsible.

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There are TONS of stories about Ravenel today.  Read these and you will get a good idea of what’s going on.

The Shot – yesterday we told you that Senator Greg Ryberg, Former Majority Leader Rick Quinn, and Representative Converse Chellis are all considering running for Treasurer.  Representative Nathan Ballentine has been approached by numerous State House leaders and urged to run.  We also learned that Ken Wingate is a temporary Interim Treasurer.  Sanford appointed him to sign some immediate checks. The Dems attacked Wingate on his ties to confederate groups. Sanford will appoint a different Interim Treasurer in the coming days to fill the position until the General Assembly elects a permanent replacement.

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According to Brad Warthen, Harvey Peeler has proposed a bill to have all our constitional officers drug tested in response to Ravenel’s indictment. We here at The Shot say he should start with Secretary of State Mark Hammond.

Just kidding sir…

The South Carolina Democrats have been circulating information all afternoon about Ken Wingate’s past ties with confederate organizations they call “hate groups.”

Above is a cartoon they have been emailing around.  Here’s a press release from the Democratic Party.

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Numerous Republican House members are pushing Representative Nathan Ballentine to run for State Treasurer.

Ballentine is a prominent Columbia banker and a rising star in the Republican Party

Most interesting is that Ballentine had the 2004 Upset of the Year, defeating then House Majority Leader Rick Quinn for re-election.  It would be interesting to see Ballentine face Quinn again in this race.

Developing…