• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

More South Carolina political fun.

G

gturner

Admiral
A complete unknown, with no job and a felony arrest for showing porn to a college girl, won the South Carolina Democratic primary for the US Senate.

This is causing some head scratching and accusations that the candidate is a Republican plant, which isn't likely since the South Carolina Republicans can't even tell a Punjabi Sikh from an Iranian Shi'ite, and frankly, nobody would've thrown away any money on this guy.

Here's Keith Olbermann interviewing the candidate.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxnTYPZOmK0[/yt]

As Jon Stewart said, when the news is all bad South Carolina is there to cheer us up. :)
 
Does anybody else get the "just stay in the race and they promise to let my family live" vibe out of that interview?
 
I think Olbermann was feeling a little frustrated, perhaps horrified. ;)

To those TrekBBSers in Europe and elsewhere: Here in America, even if you didn't stand a chance in your race for junior-high student council treasurer, once you turn thirty you can cough up a $10,500 filing fee and probably make it into that most august deliberative body, the United States Senate.

I'm not even sure we require a first and last name, and I know we don't require the candidate to know their first and last names.
 
Wait how is it a felony to show porn to someone? Was the girl underage or something?
 
As I understand it (based on vague accounts), he basically flashed some porn to a random college girl and suggested he do the same to her in her dorm - or something like that.
 
gturner said:
This is causing some head scratching and accusations that the candidate is a Republican plant, which isn't likely since the South Carolina Republicans can't even tell a Punjabi Sikh from an Iranian Shi'ite, and frankly, nobody would've thrown away any money on this guy.
Click to expand...
I don't know one way or the other, but this unemployed, involuntarily discharged (from the Air Force AND the Army) guy was indigent in November and required a public defender, all of a sudden has over $10,000 in March to enter a US Senate race?

Former chair of the SC Democratic Party Richard Harpootlian had this to say:

"Well, I mean, we've had this happen before. The most graphic example, when I was the district attorney in 1992, I prosecuted a Republican operative who used campaign money from his sister's campaign for lieutenant governor to pay the filing fee for an unemployed African-American shrimp fisherman out on bond for selling cocaine, to run against Arthur Ravenel, the congressman in Charleston. The idea that if Ravenel had an African-American run against him in a Republican primary down there, it would increase the turnout in that area, which would help this guy's sister, who was from down there.

Of course, it didn't. It was a stupid thing to do. I prosecuted her brother and convicted him. "

So there's a possible precedent for this kind of thing - although I agree that it would have been stupid for any Republican to waste their money, because DeMint is going to win no matter who the opponent is...
 
Misfit Toy said:
gturner said:
This is causing some head scratching and accusations that the candidate is a Republican plant, which isn't likely since the South Carolina Republicans can't even tell a Punjabi Sikh from an Iranian Shi'ite, and frankly, nobody would've thrown away any money on this guy.
Click to expand...
I don't know one way or the other, but this unemployed, involuntarily discharged (from the Air Force AND the Army) guy was indigent in November and required a public defender, all of a sudden has over $10,000 in March to enter a US Senate race?

Former chair of the SC Democratic Party Richard Harpootlian had this to say:

"Well, I mean, we've had this happen before. The most graphic example, when I was the district attorney in 1992, I prosecuted a Republican operative who used campaign money from his sister's campaign for lieutenant governor to pay the filing fee for an unemployed African-American shrimp fisherman out on bond for selling cocaine, to run against Arthur Ravenel, the congressman in Charleston. The idea that if Ravenel had an African-American run against him in a Republican primary down there, it would increase the turnout in that area, which would help this guy's sister, who was from down there.

Of course, it didn't. It was a stupid thing to do. I prosecuted her brother and convicted him. "

So there's a possible precedent for this kind of thing - although I agree that it would have been stupid for any Republican to waste their money, because DeMint is going to win no matter who the opponent is...
Click to expand...

I heard that on NPR yesterday. Interesting story.

This guy is probably going to be in trouble since he's out on bond and filed an affidavit of indigency, which got him a court-appointed lawyer. You can only do that if you're broke--and he had the $10K to register as a candidate.

Not only will he not win, he is probably going to spend time in jail over this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top