Governor’s Leaker Targets S.C. Attorney General?

ATTACK ON McMASTER BLAMED ON SANFORD’S FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

FITSNews – June 9, 2007 - It’s no secret that the relationship between S.C. Governor Mark Sanford and Attorney General Henry McMaster has never been chummy, but a recent leak of sensitive information targeting McMaster’s children could prove to be the permanent undoing of ties between the two statewide Republican officeholders. Sources tell FITSNews that former Sanford communications director Chris Drummond is responsible for orchestrating the leak against McMaster, an accusation that has infuriated the Attorney General, put the Governor’s Office on the defensive and even ascended into the realm of presidential politics.

The origins of the spat are rumored to date back to early April of this year, when Drummond was dismissed from the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. John McCain. According to our sources, Drummond vowed revenge on the Arizona Senator after a senior McCain staffer specifically distinguished his dismissal from a broader “campaign reorganization” taking place at the time.

According to the staffer, Drummond’s firing was attributed instead to “a total failure on his part to achieve any of the objectives outlined for him by the campaign.”

Fast-forward to two weeks ago, when McMaster (one of McCain’s South Carolina Co-Chairmen) made headlines around the state for his office’s ongoing efforts to track down and prosecute sexual predators on the Internet.

Within hours, several unflattering Internet pictures of McMaster’s two children (taken from the online college networking website Facebook) were sent anonymously to FITSNews along with the press clippings from McMaster’s announcement.

Out of respect for the McMaster family, we are choosing not to publish these images or describe their content, except to say that none of the images we were provided with depicted nudity or any form of illegal activity.

Our sources also say that both The State and The (Columbia S.C.) City Paper received copies of the photographs and similarly declined to publish them.

In addition to being mentioned frequently as one of the governor’s plumbers, Drummond is widely credited as the individual responsible for leaking news of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s multiple speeding incidents to reporters last year.

Drummond was not available for comment, but has previously denied having any professional relationship with Sanford since leaving the governor’s office in 2005.