South Carolina Republican Primary: Racism and Sexism on parade

At left: Is Nikki Haley our next governor? Photo by Renée Ittner-McManus, for the Haley campaign.




Since Mark Sanford is history, the Republican gubernatorial race has been a total free-for-all. I haven't wanted to write about it because I find it far more unpleasant than usual, knowing that ONE of these clowns WILL be the governor in this reddest of all red states. ((heavy sighs for emphasis))

It all started some time ago, when I was late for work in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and what do I see right in front of me? Andre Bauer's personalized Winnebago (or some enormous vehicle like that), with a gargantuan picture of Himself grinning manically on either side. Well, damn, there is no escape.

He parked, I parked, and I followed him inside. He's a very dapper dresser, like some dude out of GQ magazine. The enormous vehicle took up more than one spot. (As I've mentioned here before, Bauer likes to grab a bite at the cafe in the store where I work.) That's when I realized how much money was behind Bauer, if they could bankroll his daily usage of a gas-guzzling vehicle like that. Who bought it?-- I wondered. Several employees craned their necks from behind the juice bar and asked (voices full of dread) if that was a SCHOOL BUS FULL OF KIDS?!? Is that some daycare expedition? No, it's only Andre Bauer, I answered.

They looked equally nonplussed. He usually drove a black, sporty, GQ-appropriate vehicle, not one the size of Arkansas with his face plastered thereon.

The race is on, I thought, and Andre means to BRING IT.

I got scared, and I've pretty much stayed that way.

~*~

The rise of this Christian fascism, a rise we ignore at our peril, is being fueled by an ineffectual and bankrupt liberal class that has proved to be unable to roll back surging unemployment, protect us from speculators on Wall Street, or save our dispossessed working class from foreclosures, bankruptcies and misery. The liberal class has proved useless in combating the largest environmental disaster in our history, ending costly and futile imperial wars or stopping the corporate plundering of the nation. And the gutlessness of the liberal class has left it, and the values it represents, reviled and hated...

Those who remain in a reality-based world often dismiss these malcontents as buffoons and simpletons. They do not take seriously those, like [Glenn] Beck, who pander to the primitive yearnings for vengeance, new glory and moral renewal. Critics of the movement continue to employ the tools of reason, research and fact to challenge the absurdities propagated by creationists who think they will float naked into the heavens when Jesus returns to Earth. The magical thinking, the flagrant distortion in interpreting the Bible, the contradictions that abound within the movement’s belief system and the laughable pseudoscience, however, are impervious to reason. We cannot convince those in the movement to wake up. It is we who are asleep.

--Chris Hedges, The Christian Fascists Are Growing Stronger


Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, wearing his GQ-duds and burning up more gas than the space shuttle, has already compared poor people to dogs. In his well-worn TV campaign ad featuring a friendly bunch of "just folks" extolling his 'true conservative' virtues, it is notable that the only person of color featured in the ad, claims they like him because he doesn't believe in government handouts.

The Republican race is filled with similar crackpots. Although I was critical of Sanford, we can't doubt that he was intelligent (particularly after reading his well-written love chronicle). Whether Bauer is intelligent or not, he panders to the those who are not, the lowest common denominator.

State Representative Nikki Haley, the conservative woman in the Republican race, appears to have taken the lead. She would be better than Andre, but not by much. The idea of a woman governor appeals to me, despite my common sense. She looks so refreshing, vital, and new, particularly amid the old-bubba's network of South Carolina electioneering. Unfortunately, her politics are more or less identical to the rest of the tea-party fellow-travelers. (Example: She is the only candidate who believes Sanford was correct in refusing the federal economic stimulus package.)

Nonetheless, the attacks on Haley (hyper-conservative or not), have been openly racist and sexist. During the gubernatorial debate (of all places) Bauer accused her of having an extramarital affair, a charge she has vigorously denied. What infuriated me about this charge was the fact that Bauer should know better, since he has been repeatedly gay-baited himself.

South Carolina Lt. Gov Andre Bauer, photo from The Palmetto Scoop.



Bauer even challenged Haley to take a polygraph! (Do you believe?!?!) My initial reaction was that Haley should challenge him right back: "Andre, why haven't you gotten married by age 40?" and make him take one, too. But Haley isn't a guttersnipe (like your humble narrator), and has deliberately taken the high road, and as a result, the charge appears to have backfired. Here in South Carolina, after the nationwide, embarrassing Mark Sanford debacle, even Republicans (maybe especially Republicans) are heartily SICK of hearing about politicians rollicking in the sack. Oh please!--seems to be the collective, eye-rolling response. And this overall disgust with personal attacks has indeed impacted the race. Character counts, and folks seem to prefer a nice conservative to one that peddles sordid adultery-tales to the Columbia State newspaper.

But Daisy remains pissed. The NERVE of that guy. Are we expected to believe that a man who dresses like Andre Bauer is a 40-year-old virgin? Why is HIS sex life off limits for discussion? (Straight or gay, and as I stated in the above-linked post, I have seen him engage in public displays of affection several times, whether "staged" or not.) Oh, right, he's a MAN and it's understood that he will "date"... should we demand a polygraph to test Bauer's virginity? He does know that unmarried men fornicating is considered adultery by his trusty King James Version, doesn't he?!?

I daresay, this might be Bauer's undoing, and it can't come fast enough for me.

From the Washington Post:

Haley leads Republican governor's race in South Carolina despite sex allegations
By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 7, 2010

CONWAY, S.C. -- Even in a state that's accustomed to two-fisted politics, this year's Republican race for governor stands out. As the contenders barreled across South Carolina in a mad frenzy before Tuesday's primary, they confronted at every turn the salacious accusations of adultery swirling around Nikki Haley, the woman who has rocketed to the lead.

Lt. Gov. André Bauer, carrying a backpack stuffed with trinkets to give to children, arrived at a diner in rural Union County to offer hope of replacing the shuttered Disney factory down the road. Yet he faced, and deflected, questions about his ex-campaign consultant who alleged an affair with Haley. Then, climbing into an RV shrink-wrapped with his likeness, he was off to the next county and more questions.

Attorney General Henry McMaster, stumping with a former governor at a brunch spot in Greenville, cast himself as the only adult in a field of adolescents. He asked Susan Bailey and her girlfriends for their votes, but moments later they confessed to a reporter that they had recently decided, over prayer, to go with Haley. "Not because she's a she," said Bailey, 55, a homemaker. "She hasn't bowed down. She hasn't gotten angry. She can handle it like a gentleman, but she's a lady."

And when Rep. J. Gresham Barrett strode into Tommy's Country Ham House in Greenville for red-meat politicking, ready to talk about his Arizona-style immigration plan, a man at the first table asked the question that has sucked up so much oxygen here.

"Do you believe she's been, what is it, unfaithful?" he asked.

"No, sir, I don't," Barrett said, shaking the man's hand and quickly moving on.

From the Bible-thumping Upcountry to the breezy beaches, Palmetto State Republicans have become transfixed by allegations in a campaign that has devolved into perhaps the nastiest brawl in a generation. Haley has fended off unsubstantiated claims from two political operatives that she had extramarital affairs with them. She has swatted away remarks from a state senator who called her a "raghead." And Haley, every bit as scrappy as she is steely, has been running circles around her opponents -- all while propped up in stiletto heels.

The other candidates have bigger names and longer résumés, but Haley, the only woman among them, built a sizable lead by making sport of busting the old-boy fraternity that she says dominates, even corrupts, South Carolina politics.

"When you turn around and threaten their power and you threaten their money, they turn around and push back," Haley, a fast-talking and polished campaigner, told a crowd here on Saturday night. "But what they don't understand is I have a strong faith, I have a strong spine, and I have a strong husband that puts on a military uniform every day."

The couple of hundred Republicans huddled outside an old barn along the railroad tracks in downtown Conway erupted, just as her supporters did after she delivered the same line 230 miles west at a hot-wing bar in Greenville the night before, leaving political observers to wonder whether all the mudslinging is only cementing Haley's popularity.

Haley's campaign says internal polls suggest she has maintained, if not widened, her lead. A few weeks ago, languishing in fourth place, she hoped to just make the expected June 22 runoff. But now she is talking about winning outright with more than 50 percent.

And guess who showed up to do ads for Nikki?

Yup.

She was elevated by an endorsement from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Herself no stranger to scandal, Palin -- who has taken to calling herself the "mama grizzly" -- has defended Haley, chalking it all up in robo-calls to "made-up nonsense."

"She is like Sarah Palin," Trudy Martin, 71, a retired nurse, said of Haley. "Sarah told them to take a hike -- the oil companies, the crooked Republicans. Nikki can do the same."

Impressed in spite of myself, at this unexpected show of sisterhood. The Palin-ads are surprisingly plucky, and have an appreciable fuck-you sound to them. (Conservatives love that shit.)

And then, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, they called Nikki Haley a RAGHEAD.

Yes, you read that right. RAGHEAD:

Now enter Jake Knotts, a rabble-rousing Republican state senator, who ruminated Thursday on Haley's Indian heritage on a talk show and concluded: "We already got one raghead in the White House. We don't need another in the governor's mansion." He later apologized and said his remark was only in jest.

I'm sure he's telling the truth about that. Such a joke would be Jake Knotts' idea of humor.

This is a spectacle rarely seen in politics -- even here in bare-knuckled South Carolina, where in the 2000 presidential primary John McCain fell victim to a whisper campaign alleging falsely that he had fathered an out-of-wedlock multiracial child.

"Southern politics are always colorful, but I haven't seen in a long time, maybe in my lifetime, it so visceral, so nasty, so embarrassing," said former governor David Beasley.

The other night in Conway, it was lost on few that Haley was speaking from a stage named after the legendary senator Strom Thurmond, a onetime segregationist who might have been shocked to see this daughter of Indian immigrants as the favorite to become South Carolina's first female governor.

When Barrett campaigned at the Ham House, Bill Moore said that he would never consider voting for Haley. "I don't know any woman that I'd vote for governor," Moore, 85, a retired textile worker, said as he cleaned his plate of grits and biscuits.

Haley, asked in an interview whether this state is ready for her kind of change, said: "South Carolina is ready for Nikki Haley. . . . It's not about gender. It's not about ethnicity. It's about wanting somebody that's going to fight for the people, and I'm that person."

A group of upright, conservative suburban soccer moms came into my workplace for a quick dinner, and they were plastered with "Haley for governor" stickers and buttons. That's when I knew. She can win, I thought.

I can't hide the fact that I'd love to see a woman governor, but I also can't hide the fact that she scares me almost as much as Bauer. "Bauer with integrity" might be a far more effective Bauer, if you catch my meaning.

Either way, I know it will be pretty interesting. Let's just hope they don't bankrupt the state and lock up the progressives in Gitmo-style prison camps.

Stay tuned, sports fans.

Appalachian Trail, my ass

Mark Sanford back in March, whipping up support in suburban Greenville for his anti-stimulus nonsense. Photo from the worshipful Greenville News.




Yes, we are continuing our sordid gubernatorial saga from yesterday, wherein South Carolina governor Mark Sanford goes on a binge... oops, I mean, decides to hike the Appalachian Trail all Father's Day weekend, without his four sons and (pointedly) not telling his wife where he is going.

What kind of patriarch is THAT, I ask you? Some Family Values THOSE ARE, Governor Sanford!

As stated yesterday, our chickenshit Gannett newspaper, ever-eager to tote water for the GOP, did not cover the story until it went national and people were giggling on cable TV outlets over it. Now, they have decided to (apologies to Gerald Graff) "teach the controversy" as a way of covering the story, without really covering it or doing any in-depth investigation.

Cagey!

Sanford's undisclosed getaway mocked in the media, criticized by lawmakers
Governor leaves town to 'recharge'
By Tim Smith • Capital Bureau • June 23, 2009

COLUMBIA - Gov. Mark Sanford has been hiking along with Appalachian Trail, his spokesman said this morning, and he will return to work tomorrow because of the attention this trip has garnered.

Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for the governor, said Monday that he could not disclose the location of Sanford. He said today that the governor’s staff waited until last night before releasing more detail, in part because “we wanted to have a little bit better understanding of where he was.”

He said the governor was taken aback by so much attention to his trip.

Sawyer said he did not know when the governor would finish his hiking trip or what section he was on of the popular trail, which runs from northern Georgia to Maine. Sawyer said there was no need to turn over his authority to the lieutenant governor.

Sawyer on Monday said the governor had left town last week to a secret location to “recharge” after his bruising political battle with lawmakers over the federal stimulus issue.

Sanford’s sabbatical drew the interest this morning of national radio talk show host Glenn Beck, who mused that the reason the conservative governor’s absence had stirred so much talk among politicians is because he poses a threat to the status quo.

“This guy’s a threat,” he told listeners. “What do they do? They smear him.”

Beck and his staff poked fun at critics of Sanford, mockingly suggesting that one reason Sanford’s wife had said she was not sure where her husband was could be because she had him killed.

“What’s next, Governor Sanford, fishing at Christmas?” Beck quipped.

One state senator questioned whether the governor’s location was known by his staff and criticized the governor for leaving without handling over control of state government to Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer.

“I think everybody in South Carolina ought to have a problem with it,” said Sen. Jake Knotts, a West Columbia Republican and frequent Sanford critic. “I don’t mind him taking off somewhere to be alone. But the constitution says that in the absence of the governor, the lieutenant governor should be left in charge.”

Sawyer said the Republican governor was taking time away “to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session, and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside.”

He said the brief sabbatical is not unusual.

Well duh! No, a sabbatical is not unusual, but not telling even your wife and children where you are, during Father's Day weekend, is just plain weird.

Further, it STINKS.

Does anyone believe this bullshit?

“The governor put in a lot of time during this last legislative session, and after the session winds down it's not uncommon for him to go out of pocket for a few days at a time to clear his head,” Sawyer said in a statement. “Obviously, that's going to be somewhat out of the question this time given the attention this particular absence has gotten.”

Before leaving last week, Sanford told his staff his whereabouts and let them know he would be difficult to reach, Sawyer said.

Should any emergencies arrive before his return, Sawyer said, the governor’s staff would contact other state officials to address them.

Knotts, a former police detective who first learned of the governor’s disappearance on Saturday, said Sanford left last week in a State Law Enforcement Division vehicle and that agency has not been able to contact him since. He said it is not the first time the governor has shaken his security detail.

“I understand that in other instances over the last several weeks, the governor has left without any detail and gone for short periods of time,” Knotts said, “but this is the longest.”

SLED Director Reggie Lloyd could not be reached for comment.

Knotts said he also had a problem with the governor taking a fully equipped SLED vehicle.

“I’ve had my battles with the governor,” Knotts said. “But this isn’t a battle with the governor. This is just plain out logical thinking.”

When Sanford first took office in 2002 he indicated he did not want a security detail watching him. He later relented after discussions with SLED’s chief.

Word of his disappearance on Monday prompted the leader of the Senate Democrats to say that he was praying for the governor.

“We’ve been concerned by the governor’s erratic behavior for some time,” Sen. John Land said in a statement. “We’re praying for him and his family. I hope he is safe and that he contacts the First Lady and his family soon.”

Sanford spent months opposing the acceptance of about $700 million in federal stimulus aid and even filed suit to try and get a federal judge to rule on the issue after the Legislature passed a budget with a provision that required the governor to apply for the money.

A federal judge sent the issue to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which ruled against the governor.

Why are we stuck with this jackass for a governor? Haven't we been punished enough?

And why DIDN'T he want a security detail? Oh yeah, all that Republican fiscal responsibility, right? Does anyone believe that?

I hope some intrepid, dedicated reporter with money and means, is snooping around the bank accounts as we speak, and looking for the brothel or the dope dealer or whatever else it is. Because I don't believe a single word of this CRAP.

Mark Sanford in hiding?

I've been getting hits for a couple of days now, with search terms like:

Mark Sanford Suicide?

Mark Sanford sick

Mark Sanford gone

Mark Sanford in hiding

Where is Mark Sanford?

And so on.

Of course, this excited lots of us, for obviously unsavory reasons, but I won't get into that.

The Greenville News, another Republican...oops I mean, GANNETT newspaper, has not covered the Governor's disappearance. I finally saw it on POLITICO, and now that the story has been picked up by the Associated Press, the Greenville News is forced to take note of the fact that Sanford has been incommunicado for several days:

Unclear if S.C. governor has talked to staff in days
By Jim Davenport • The Associated Press • June 22, 2009

COLUMBIA -- A spokesman for South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says the chief executive may not have checked in with anyone on his staff in four days.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said Monday he last spoke with the governor Thursday and was not aware of any other staff member speaking with him since. He says nobody in the office spoke with Sanford on Monday.

Sawyer said the the two-term Republican was expected to return later this week.

The spokesman emphasized that Sanford routinely takes time to unwind after a legislative session ends. But this time even Sanford's wife says she doesn't know where he went.

First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press said she had not spoken with him for several days. That includes Father's Day. The Sanfords have four sons.

Translation: Even his kids don't like him.

Politico reports:

Staff says Gov. Mark Sanford is safe
By JONATHAN MARTIN & ANDY BARR | 6/22/09 6:25 PM EDT

South Carolina GOP Gov. Mark Sanford is safe and secure, his office said Monday afternoon, moving to tamp down speculation that he had gone missing.

Sanford has not been in touch with his office since Thursday and left Columbia without his state police detail.

His communications director, Joel Sawyer, wouldn’t disclose Sanford’s location but said that before the governor left town last week “he let staff know his whereabouts and that he'd be difficult to reach.”

“Should any emergencies arise between the times in which he checks in, our staff would obviously be in contact with other state officials as the situation warrants before making any decisions,” said Sawyer.

Sanford’s wife, Jenny, told The Associated Press Monday that she was unconcerned and that the second-term governor is “writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids.”

Sawyer added: “The governor put in a lot of time during this last legislative session, and after the session winds down it's not uncommon for him to go out of pocket for a few days at a time to clear his head. Obviously, that's going to be somewhat out of the question this time given the attention this particular absence has gotten.”

Sanford allies blame that attention on some of the governor’s adversaries, especially state Sen. Jake Knotts, a veteran Republican who has clashed repeatedly with Sanford.

It was Knotts who provided the only on-record confirmation of Sanford’s absence to The State newspaper, prompting nationwide buzz about the unlikely story of the disappearing governor.

Knotts demanded in an interview Monday with The State to “know immediately who is running the executive branch in the governor’s absence.”

“As the head of our state, in the unfortunate event of a state of emergency or homeland security situation, Governor Sanford should be available at all times to the chief of [the state police force],” Knotts said.

State authorities told the paper that Sanford’s last known location was somewhere near Atlanta where the governor’s phone signal was picked up by a local cell phone tower.

Sanford’s solo summer sabbatical is only the latest reminder of his eccentricity.

“He marches to his own crazy beat,” said one veteran Palmetto State GOP strategist when asked about this Salinger-like episode.

Sanford, a potential 2012 presidential aspirant, has previously raised eyebrows in South Carolina for bringing squealing and defecating pigs into the statehouse to make his case against pork-barrel spending and for sporting a ratty blazer to his own Inauguration.

A former House member, he easily won his gubernatorial races and has been more popular with the electorate than the state’s political class.

But with unemployment climbing in South Carolina, Sanford has come under fire for initially refusing to take some federal stimulus funds.

Now he’s sure to become the butt of late-night television jokes for a time, not exactly the preferred launching pad for White House hopefuls.

Considering some of his sleazoid friends, maybe he decided to go on a coke binge.

Drugs? Booze? Women? Men? Solitude? Satan? You decide.

More SC state trooper videos, to amaze and astound

Left: South Carolina state flag.


After incidents of racism were brought to light in recently-released videos starring our South Carolina state troopers, we thought we'd heard the last of it for awhile.

Are you kidding?

It just gets worse, as we wake up this morning to more scandals, more videos and more embarrassment.

Troopers taunt Lexington County narcotics officers working undercover

Lawmaker shows newspaper a tape of state officers harassing county narcotics team

Friday, March 7, 2008
By Tim Smith
CAPITAL BUREAU, GREENVILLE NEWS

COLUMBIA -- Months before the South Carolina Senate confirmed Jim Schweitzer in 2004 as the new director of the Department of Public Safety, Sen. Jake Knotts of Lexington said he showed him a videotape of Highway Patrol troopers harassing local narcotics agents on a stakeout because the troopers were upset the local officers were in their territory.

The troopers, in an unmarked SUV, parked near the local agents and then did what they could to discourage the agents from staying, Knotts said, including shining their lights on the highway, shouting and singing over their vehicle's loudspeaker and turning on their blue lights. And when the agents finally pulled out onto the highway in pursuit of the car they were waiting on, the troopers blocked them, Knotts said.

He said Schweitzer told him that he couldn't believe what he was seeing when watching the tape after Knotts told him that the commander of the patrol, Russell Roark, didn't always hand out the necessary punishment when his officers misbehaved.

Three months ago, Knotts said, he warned Schweitzer again, telling him he would have problems with his confirmation for a second term if he didn't do something about Roark.

On Friday, Roark and Schweitzer submitted their resignations, after Gov. Mark Sanford watched with dismay another videotape dated later in 2004 of a trooper shouting a racial slur and threatening to kill a black man he was chasing from the scene of a traffic stop in Greenwood County.

The trooper was given a written reprimand and ordered to counseling by Schweitzer after receiving a recommendation from Roark. Sanford told reporters Friday that the trooper should have been fired.

Schweitzer and Roark couldn't be reached Wednesday to comment.

On Wednesday, Knotts, a frequent Sanford critic, and Sen. Kay Patterson, a Columbia Democrat and a member of the Legislative Black Caucus that brought the Greenwood video to Sanford's attention, took to the Senate floor to praise Sanford for his actions.

Patterson said he wasn't surprised that Schweitzer, a former FBI agent, hadn't acted more severely against the trooper because of the racial background of the FBI. He said he recalled FBI agents not taking any action when blacks were being harassed or attacked by whites in the civil rights era. He also remembered former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover declaring no blacks would be hired by the FBI.

"I'm happy and proud my governor stood up," he said.

Knotts talked of the January 2004 videotape on the floor of the Senate and said he had given a copy to Sanford's office four days before Roark and Schweitzer resigned.

Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for Sanford, said a senior staffer watched the video but what was happening on the tape was too difficult to discern, especially in comparison to the Greenwood County video of the trooper issuing the racial slur.

Sid Gaulden, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said Schweitzer wasn't in Wednesday and Roark was no longer working in the office, having been replaced by a former lieutenant colonel of the patrol.

He said the leader of the trooper team that Knotts complained about was eventually demoted because of the incident and transferred. He said the trooper later sued the state over his punishment. Gaulden said the trooper died several years and he didn't know the outcome of the suit.

Knotts on Wednesday played the tape for The Greenville News. The tape begins with a tirade from troopers upset over the local agents being in their territory, then shifts to the troopers' SUV parking near the agents, with its lights shining on the highway.

Eventually, the troopers begin using their loudspeaker, including singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb." The tape also shows the SUV turning on its police lights and then blocking the local agents' vehicle as they tried to pursue a car.

Knotts said he may release a copy of the videotape later to The Greenville News.

According to Knotts, a supervisor of the narcotics team took the tape to Roark, who he said gave the troopers a written reprimand but allowed them to continue working in Lexington County.

Knotts said he then complained to Roark, who he said seemed unconcerned. So Knotts said he took the tape to Schweitzer's predecessor, Boykin Rose, who then took action against the troopers, including moving them out of the county.

He said he believes Schweitzer is a good man but relied too much on Roark.

About three months ago, Knotts said, he gave Schweitzer some advice.

"I told him, 'You have some serious problems,'" Knotts said. "I told him that Roark was going to take him down. I said, 'You need to get rid of Roark and straighten up that thing. If you don't, you're not going to get confirmed.'"

Videos:

Trooper turns on lights to "out" undercover officer

Confrontation between state trooper and undercover officer

Related story: Retired troopers allege favoritism

Friday, March 7, 2008
By Tim Smith
STAFF WRITER, GREENVILLE NEWS

COLUMBIA -- Two retired Highway Patrol officers allege widespread favoritism existed in their agency, allegations that included favoritism in the Patrol’s promotion system that one said was detailed more than a year ago to Gov. Mark Sanford and director of the Department of Public Safety, Jim Schweitzer.

The retired officers, in interviews with The Greenville News, also allege that some favored troopers were promoted or rehired after being accused of wrongdoing, including one trooper who was charged with breaking into his ex-wife’s residence, another convicted of DUI and one accused of being in an "inappropriate" situation in a hotel with a death penalty case juror.

The issue of appropriate discipline and promotions at the Patrol has surfaced in recent weeks after years of behind-the-scenes meetings between black lawmakers, the director of Public Safety, Jim Schweitzer, and Sanford.

Members of the Legislative Black Caucus asked senators recently to halt the confirmation of Schweitzer to a second term, saying he hadn’t properly responded to their complaints.

Schweitzer and Col. Russell Roark, commander of the Highway Patrol, submitted their resignations Friday after Sanford watched with dismay a 2004 video of a white trooper issuing a racial slur and threatening a black man he chased following a traffic stop. The trooper was given a written reprimand and ordered to attend counseling. Sanford said he should have been fired.

Roark is on leave pending his retirement, an agency spokesman said Thursday, and couldn’t be reached for comment. Schweitzer also couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.

Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for Sanford, confirmed that one of the retired officers met with the governor but he didn’t know what they talked about.

Sid Gaulden, a spokesman for the agency, said Schweitzer wouldn’t be responding to the former troopers’ allegations.

"Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, favoritism is in the eye of the beholder," he said. "If you don’t get promoted, you think it’s favoritism."

He said the issues raised by the two former troopers can vary widely depending on who you talk to.

Joseph Kerbs, who left the Patrol as a sergeant in 2007 after about 24 years, and Daniel Bledsoe, who left the Patrol in October 2006 as a first sergeant after 19 years, said they are publicly talking about their former agency because they are concerned about the future of the Patrol.

"It’s like a cancer that is going to have to be dug out somehow or another," Bledsoe said. "The guy on the road (troopers) is the one who is going to suffer and they shouldn’t have to."

Bledsoe said after he retired he signed up to talk to the governor near the start of 2007 in one of his monthly offers to give citizens five minutes of his time. He said he told Sanford about problems with the promotion system and Sanford asked him to stay longer. The governor then asked him to come back for another meeting, at which Schweitzer would be there, Bledsoe said.

When Schweitzer arrived, Bledsoe said, Sanford asked him if he knew why he had asked him to come.

"He said, ‘This is about some of the same issues we’ve talked about before,’" Bledsoe quoted the governor as saying. "The governor seemed concerned about it because he said he had heard some of the same allegations before. That’s what he told Jim Schweitzer."

Bledsoe said afterward he warned Schweitzer that if he didn’t "take control of that agency, Roark is going to take you down with him."

Those were almost the identical words of warning Sen. Jake Knotts said he used with Schweitzer three months ago.

Knotts showed The News another 2004 video this week that he said shows a team of Highway Patrol officers, upset about Lexington narcotics officers being in their territory, harassing the narcotics officers in their stakeout. He said he showed the tape to Schweitzer before his first confirmation to show him problems that were in the Patrol.

Bledsoe and Kerbs alleged that those who were liked by the agency’s top leaders got promotions while those who weren’t so liked or pointed out wrongdoing didn’t progress.

"People were scared of Russell Roark because Schweitzer allowed him to run things with an iron fist," Kerbs said. "It was like a dictatorship. If Russell Roark wanted something done, somebody promoted or punished, it was going to happen."

And the opposite was also true, Kerbs alleged.

Kerbs said he and others attempted to write up a corporal who repeatedly left his command during the night to go home, even though he was scheduled to work at night. He said nothing was done to the corporal. When he attempted to give him a less than sterling evaluation, Kerbs alleged he was pressured by a superior to change his review, which he said he eventually did.

Bledsoe said the superiors remained agitated at Kerbs for his attempt to write up the corporal, who was eventually promoted. Gaulden said he heard the allegations for the first time from members of the Black Caucus but hadn’t checked into them and had no comment on them.

Kerbs said he and Roark started about the same time in their careers but didn’t get along. Kerbs said he repeatedly found some of the same people on his promotion boards over the years, boards that repeatedly turned down his requests for promotions. He left the agency, he said, in frustration last year.

Before he left, however, he said he saw others who were accused of wrongdoing but seemed to escape any severe punishment at the agency, such as a former officer who dated a subordinate that he eventually married. The officer, Kerbs alleged, was later accused of being in an "inappropriate" situation in a hotel room with a juror during a death penalty trial. Gaulden said he knew nothing of the allegation and had no comment on it.

Another trooper, whom Kerbs said was a good friend of Roark’s, left the Patrol after 13 years and was later convicted of DUI as a civilian.

About 10 years later he was hired by the State Transport Police, then transferred to the Highway Patrol, where he had a series of promotions. That example has also been cited by members of the Legislative Black Caucus, who brought the videotape to Sanford’s attention and have called for an overhaul of the Highway Patrol’s promotion system.

Gaulden said the trooper did have a DUI but that state regulations allow his hiring as a law enforcement officer as long as he had no DUI within five years of his hiring, which he said was the case. He said he graduated from the Criminal Justice Academy before going to work for the transport police. He said he remains with the Patrol.

A sergeant, Kerbs alleges, was charged with burglary after he was accused of breaking into his ex-wife’s residence. He left the Patrol and was rehired, Kerbs said. Gaulden said he knew nothing of that allegation and had no comment on it.

Bledsoe said he was aware of each of the allegations.

He said he would like to see South Carolina follow the example of North Carolina, which uses an assessment center operated by an organization outside the agency, for promotions. Troopers are evaluated by the outside center and their scores listed for all employees to see. When a promotion or job comes available, every trooper there knows who has the first chance for it, he said.

Sanford has said he wants the next director of Public Safety to look at a new system for promotions.

----------------
Listening to: Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere
via FoxyTunes