Spartanburg’s Newspaper Continues Reporting False “Facts.”

As the SC Senate District 12 runoff campaign moves toward its end on Tuesday, June 24, Spartanburg’s Herald-Journal newspaper continues disregarding the truth in favor of biased reporting.

In articles published over the past few days, the newspaper’s reporters asserted support to a specific candidate from groups with which the newspaper has previously taken issue.

In a June 17th article titled “Sanford backing Bright for Senate,” Trevor Anderson wrote, “The common thread between Bright and Davis is that they are backed by S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action.” Anderson then inserted an editorialized nickname for those groups from a member of the county’s legislative delegation who otherwise had no reason for placement in the article.

In a June 18th article, “Bright heats up contest with Talley,” Robert Dalton, a reporter who consistently editorializes in news articles wrote that the five legislators who attended a news conference endorsing Lee Bright came because “they are supported by the same ‘out-of-state special interest groups’ backing Bright – the S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action.”

While we have not received any comments from the two of the three groups, after inquiring, Conservatives in Action’s spokesman sent us a copy of an e-mail he sent to reporter Trevor Anderson and Representative Scott Talley on June 17.

The e-mail in its entirety read:

Mr. Anderson,

I read your article today ”Sanford backing Bright for Senate,” and as Conservatives in Action’s spokesperson I felt the need to contact you about a major inaccuracy in your piece. Please note that I also copied Representative Talley on this message.

Among other things you stated, “The common thread between Bright and Davis is that they are backed by S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action.”

Please know that 1) As an educational organization, Conservatives in Action does not endorse or oppose political candidates and 2) Conservatives in Action has not allocated any resources for issue education in the Senate District 12 race. As a side note, Conservatives in Action was not involved in the Senate District 46 race between Senator Ceips and Tom Davis.

I wanted to clarify these points for both you and Representative Talley as matters of fairness and honesty, and I hope you can make the same clarification for your readers.

If you have any questions regarding Conservatives in Action’s activities, please feel free to contact me.

The spokesman said that Trevor Anderson did not inquire with Conservatives in Action about specific groups’ activities, and even after an attempted clarification was made, certain members of the newspaper’s political beat ignored the denial.

We made one inquiry to these groups and received an e-mail contradicting the newspaper’s “facts.” Why is the Herald-Journal jeopardizing its actual or perceived journalistic integrity?

What’s the rest of the truth? We’ll update you when we find out what it is.

TRUTH UPDATE: We followed up with the Conservatives in Action spokesman today (June 19) to see what response he received from Anderson regarding the e-mail or if anyone contacted him to apologize for falsely reporting his group’s support. He infomed us that he has not heard from Trevor Anderson with a response or correction and that no one from the Herald-Journal has contacted him to issue an apology for reprinting the allegations in a separate story.

Greenville County is Fishing for Trout.

One of our readers, Jennifer P. sent us the following e-mail.

“If your blog is interested in truth in politics, there is a great story in Greenville County politics that someone needs to get to the bottom of. The local news media (Greenville News and the television stations) are all just repeating what they are told and don’t really do any investigative reporting. Check out the story about County Councilman Tony Trout and the recent FBI search warrant of his computer equipment. Apparently, Mr. Trout sent spyware via e-mail to the county administrator’s computer and to other council members. Trout says they are retaliating against him because he has exposed their graft and corruption regarding illegal road paving contracts.”

We have the federal affidavit available here as a PDF.

Councilman Trout contends that he was within his rights to install the virtually untraceable spyware on county administrator Joe Kernell’s computer because the administrator is his employee. However that position was contradicted by Greenville County’s attorney Mark Tollison who said that Mr. Trout was incorrect and that the administrator works for the entire council — not a single member — and that court precedent also rules against Mr. Trout.

Federal investigators today obtained a search warrant for the software manufacturer’s offices in Orlando, FL. Full details of the warrant are not known, but we have been able to confirm that it does mention the manufacturer CyberSpy Software, LLC and the software product RemoteSpy. As of this afternoon, CyberSpy Software executives said they had not yet received the warrant.

Last night, on the motion of council member Dr. Bob Taylor (father of Representative-Elect Wendy Nanney) Greenville County Council authorized an ad hoc committee to monitor the investigation while the council is recessed until August. The committee, which has the authority to contract with outside attorneys on the county’s behalf, consists of Chairman Butch Kirven, Vice Chairman Judy Gilstrap, Dr. Bob Taylor, Cort Flint, Fred Payne, and Joe Dill.

David Smith, the former grand jury foreman who, according to a winter 2007 State Law Enforcement Division affidavit had 190 phone calls with Mr. Trout, voluntarily turned his computer over to federal authorities before a warrant was issued.

Both Smith and Trout were forced to turn their computer equipment over to authorities in December 2007 concerning a SLED investigation “to determine if this communication violates Section 16-9-350; Attempting to influence Juror by written or oral communication; and/or the common law offense of Contempt of Court.”

We’ll publish more when we have additional information.

That’s the truth.

TRUTH UPDATE: This is not a advertising based site. Remaining free from pressure by advertisers is one of the ways we ensure fairness in reporting. With that said we received an e-mail from Tracer Spence, CEO of  CyberSpy Software, LLC (makers of RemoteSpy) on June 19. His request was simple.

“Where applicable we would appreciate a link to our website when either our quotes are used or copyright/trade marks are listed. Our official websites are: http://www.cyberspysoftware.com and http://www.remotespy.com.”

We’re not a promotional organization, but to remain fair to a company that has been mentioned in connection with this investigation, we honored his request. We will also include this link to TonyTrout.com in advance of his request so as to provide equal access to each side of this ongoing investigation.

Sombody Isn’t Being Honest: THE UPDATE

We told you about Representative Bill Sandifer using the SC Association of Taxpayers “Thank you” for signing a pledge ten years ago as an endorsement.

We were told by an association executive member that the association’s bylaws prevent the group from making endorsements.

Our question was, is a “Thank you” note for signing a ten-year old pledge the same as an endorsement?

If it is, then SCAT is violating its bylaws. If it isn’t, then Representative Sandifer is being dishonest with his constituents. We hoped that the group would settle the controversy.

It has apparently done so, except there was not a specific clarification here for this race. According to The Palmetto Scoop, Don Weaver issued a statement regarding a similar controversy in the Gloria Haskins vs. Wendy Nanney race in SC House District 22.

According to The Palmetto Scoop, Weaver said that Representative Haskins’ “use of his praise in a campaign mail piece was perfectly acceptable.”

“I have absolutely no complaint about the manner in which Rep. Haskins conveyed our view of her record in her campaign materials,” Weaver said in his prepared statement.

So the question is answered, and we now know the truth. The South Carolina Association of Taxpayers, according to its president, allows for these “thank you” letters as endorsement even though the bylaws prohibit endorsements from being made.

If he would like to clarify his position further, we welcome his comments here.

That’s the truth.

What Our Motives Aren’t.

If you know this place, we don’t have to tell where it is. If you don’t know this place, we won’t tell you where it is.

It’s a place where several marriages ended — not literally, but some of the actions that occur here cause marriages to end.

There are a large number of legislators, staff, lobbyists, and other peripheral individuals who keep their actions totally above board. Actually, to be either fair or generous, we contend that most act that way.

Unfortunately, in a case of “a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch,” there is also an element that views the legislative session like a three-day-a-week Spring Break lasting from January to June. Everybody knows about it, but nobody talks about it.

We received an e-mail last night asserting that a sitting legislator is among those ranks. The e-mail began, “In relationship to the election, it’s the witching hour and I realize it is too late for this information to have an impact, but here it is anyway.”

We don’t doubt it, but for anyone wondering who the individual may be, we’re sorry. That’s not what this site or this group is about.

While the Carolina Truth Coalition wants to shed light on the way South Carolina politics operates, we’re doing it in a way that focuses on promises made, promises kept, and promises broken.

We’re focusing on candidates or office holders who claim one thing during a campaign, vote differently when they’re elected, and then completely reverse themselves for the next election — denying their own actions and tacking them instead to their opponent.

There are a number of individuals, groups, and sites that will be more than happy to “out” the kind of behavior sent to us, but that isn’t what we want to accomplish here.

We want South Carolina’s voters to understand that although “truth in advertising” is not legally required in political communications, we will do what we can to pull back the curtain to filter through the smoke and mirrors of campaign propaganda.

That’s the truth.

It’s OK to Question Media.

Anderson’s Independent-Mail newspaper published an interesting truth today that we frankly wish we’d seen first.

The article claims that Jerry Edwards, one of the owners of the Seneca Daily Journal newspaper has some potential voting issues.

It seems that although Edwards is a Pickens County resident, he cast his June 2008 primary election absentee ballot in Walhalla which is in Oconee County.

According to the Anderson paper, this is not the first incident of personal voting irregularity. In the 2008 presidential preference primary, Edwards allegedly voted using the Seneca address of his business interests as his residential address.

That’s the truth.

TRUTH UPDATE: The Seneca Daily Journal confirmed the story on its web site today. See: http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2008/jun/10/election-appeal-filed/.

Masters of Our Domain.

No one likes typing http://scpoliticaltruth.wordpress.com, so we made it easy.

Bookmark CarolinaTruth.com in your “Favorites” folder to find us faster.

We organized the CTC to provide a fresh perspective on Palmetto State politics, and we hope to be here for many elections to come.

That’s the truth.

Who’s Taking Over?

For the past few years, Tim Cameron operated ShotPolitics.com.

At times he reported news. Other times he reported rumors. Other times, he reported information beneficial to his employer’s client base.

Among his chief criticisms has been the involvement of third-party organizations in South Carolina issues and elections.

According to a post today, Tim is moving out-of-state to be web manager for Newt Gingrich’s “American Solutions” group.

This brings up a few questions that we don’t know the answers to, and we want to know the truth.

1. Now that Tim is going to work for a 527 organization, will he continue being critical of 501(c)(4) groups who exist for the same purpose as his new employer?
2. Who, if anyone, will maintain ShotPolitics.com?

What’s the truth? We’ll update you when we find out what it is.

Sombody Isn’t Being Honest.

There’s a truth problem somewhere, and we honestly aren’t sure where it is.

Representative Bill Sandifer of Oconee states at the end of each of his recent news releases that, among other groups, he received the endorsement of the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers or SCAT.

There’s just one problem with that. According to a SCAT executive member, the association’s bylaws prevent the group from making endorsements.

We know that Representative Sandifer signed the association’s “No-New Tax Pledge” about ten years ago, and that’s sufficient for him to continue receiving “Taxpayer Hero” news releases each election without challenge, but is a “Thank you” for signing a ten-year old pledge the same as an endorsement?

If it is, then SCAT is violating its bylaws. If it isn’t, then Representative Sandifer is being dishonest with his constituents.

What’s the truth? We’ll update you when we find out what it is.

Sandifer Claims Endorsement from State Leaders

Representative Bill Sandifer of Oconee County recently sent a news release claiming that “South Carolina leaders” endorsed him.

He’s right. That is true, but just like any statistic, there is more to the story.

SC House District 2 is a demographic mix of local residents in the Seneca area and of relocated northerners around Lake Keowee.

The Seneca side seems to trend toward both fiscal and social conservative leanings, while the lake residents seem to be more concerned with more of a fiscally conservative and socially moderate philosophy.

With that said, knowing that your voters are concerned with financial issues, wouldn’t you want to paint yourself first and foremost with those concerned with fiscal effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability? Of course you would.

Adding the support of constitutional officers, fellow House members, and various private groups would seem to give you some measure of legitimacy and credibility, but is there more than meets the eye? There always is.

The state treasurer endorsed representative Sandifer. OK. The state treasurer was elected from the House by the legislature (really the house since the 124 members of the House will trump the 46 votes in the Senate just by math, alone) in the summer of 2007 when the state treasurer found himself in legal trouble over a personal bout with cocaine. Thomas Ravenel’s legislatively elected successor was seen as the anti-conservative and creating a new majority on the state’s all-powerful Budget and Control Board that would open the state’s wallet with a spending rampage instead of fiscal restraint shown by Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom and Governor Mark Sanford. For his personal failings, Thomas Ravenel was a fiscal conservative.

Representative Sandifer was also endorsed by big business and a number of PACs. The big business endorsement is actually surprising since his support of tax swaps will, for the next several years, place the majority of the property tax burden on South Carolina’s businesses. That will be the case until around 2010 when residential property owners will see their property tax savings disappear because Representative Sandifer and his colleagues did not enact spending limits to fix the holes they left in property tax reform.

Speaking of colleagues, several of his colleagues in the legislature supported him. Of course they did. Why does he feel the need to brag about it. An even bigger story would be if the guy that sits next to you decided to support the challenger instead.

Self-preservation is a given among these folks, and this year they feel it’s extremely important to stick together.

Incumbent legislators know that with state government growing by 41% over three years, $1.5 billion in reserve funds spent in the same period, a more than $200 million deficit for the upcoming year, there is discontent among South Carolina’s voters.

Bill Sandifer is among the incumbents who during the last week continuously voted to override the majority of Governor Sanford’s 69 vetoes amounting to $72 million, and he still tries to wrap himself in a blanket of financial responsibility.

That’s the truth.

More “Truth” from the Be(er) Holder.

Truth seems to be becoming more subjective as we get closer to the June 10 primary.

That other truth group we mentioned continues confusing fact and fiction. Last time they said the mailer came from a campaign instead of an outside group. They were wrong.

Now they claim that the mailer above came from an outside group when, in fact, it came from candidate Ken Roach’s campaign.

Unless a blind person is doing the group’s research, there is no excuse for these types of false accusations. Just look at who paid for the mailer (upper left corner of the piece). It’s not that hard.

That’s the truth.