Pay-to-Play Scam Goes Much Deeper
SOURCES SAY DISCLOSED CONTRIBUTIONS ARE JUST THE BEGINNING
FITSNews - June 2, 2008 - The recent pay-to-play scandal involving a Clemson University trustee who bought his way onto the school’s board with contributions to state lawmakers goes much deeper, legislators are telling FITSNews.
Specifically, Defender Services’ CEO John N. “Nicky” McCarter is said to have cut many more checks than those which were originally disclosed in Friday’s edition of The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper.
“People have been ripping up those Defender checks all week,” one lawmaker told FITSNews. “There may have only been six people dumb enough to cash them right after they voted for the guy, but I can tell you there’s a lot more lawmakers who got them.”
Six lawmakers - State Sen. Catherine Ceips and five democrats - received contributions from McCarter’s company just weeks before they voted to elect him to the Clemson University board.
Lt. Gov André Bauer and several other lawmakers also received (and cashed) checks from McCarter’s company, but they either voted for someone else or abstained from voting altogether. In Bauer’s case, he would have only been required to vote for or against McCarter’s nomination in the event there was a tie.
Campaign contributions are not required to be disclosed until the checks have actually been cashed, and according to our sources, several lawmakers are wanting to put some distance between their votes on the trustee election and the time the contributions show up on their disclosure forms.
Unless of course they’ve already ripped the checks up …
“You wait a couple months till the primaries are done and this whole thing blows over,” our legislative source said. “I suspect you’ll find lots of Defender checks being cashed once the dust has settled.”
Oh, and in case you’re wondering what a urinal cake is doing at the top of this story, Defender Services, Inc. supplies equipment to those who practice the custodial arts.
Comments
By Gene E. Nowak on June 2nd, 2008 at 7:33 pm
A legislator can take the money and lobby for a cause and then abstain when it comes to a recorded vote and claim their hands are clean. Especially if they are sure that they have enough “clean hands” to ensure a favorable outcome. That is called plausible denial… Next week it will be their turn to vote for another member’s client’s sleazy deal so that member can have plausible denial. That is called horse trading and deal making and we are to just bendover and smile.
By H.R. Pufnstuf on June 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 pm
While what he did was morally wrong, Nicky is a helluva lot better suited for this position than Rodney “Roooooddddnnnneeeyyyy… Roooooooddddddnnnneeeyyyy… Roooddddddnnnnneeeeyyyy” Williams.
Nicky had this election in the bag the entire way, I hate to see this type of thing come up about him. But hey, it wasn’t illegal. With this surfacing, we’ll see this loophole close next year, resulting in something good coming from all of this.
Once again, I’ll point out where FITS is hypocritical. When it came to Charleston Law, I pointed out (under a different name) that the new law school created school choice for those wanting a JD in South Carolina. Now, I’ll point out that this is no different than Howard Rich giving money from all of his companies to legislators willing to sell out to SCRG and his own agenda.
On the SAT it would look like this…
a)Nicky McCarter:Clemson Board
b)Howard Rich:Destroying Public Education
c)Thomas Ravenel:Pushing Cocaine
d)All of the above
By calhoun fawls on June 3rd, 2008 at 12:08 am
I call bullshit. Mr. McCarter is criticized for giving money to political candidates who he agrees with (agreed, who voted for him ), yet you turn a blind eye to how Club for Growth and SCRG spend millions to influence elections involving candidates who will help their interests? Yes, some of those national out of state backers have financial interests in private school companies and private bus companies.
McCarter did not want to spend millions of state tax dollars to benefit his business interests. He simply gave money to people who supported him. That, Willie, is politics. It’s like those checks the Governor cashed from folks who liked that he made their property values go up with beach renourishment. Or like those upper class folks who like his idea of helping make the volvo payment with private school tax credits.
But, of course, you would have to bite the hand that fed and created you to go there. Better stick to T and A posts.
When you can find how Defender or McCarter enriched themselves, let us know.
By Seeking Truth on June 3rd, 2008 at 9:38 am
I agree with Calhoun Fawls, this is no different than any other situation. Why does Bill Sandifer rake in money from the utilities? (b/c he chairs that subcommittee), why does Tracy Edge get money from Health Care folks? (cause he chairs that subcomittee). Why do SCRG, Club for Growth, Reform SC, Howard Rich give thousands to from to candidates Tom Davis, Lee Bright, Katrina Shealy, and others…I wonder, again FITS, no story
By mrknowzit on June 3rd, 2008 at 9:39 am
Nick McCarter is a good man. So what? He wrote checks to legislators. So what?
If you knew this guy, you’d see that he writes a hulluva lotta checks to a helluva lot of folks and institutions in this area.
He’s given more back to this community than a lot of people, never seeking the public credit.
So, he wrote checks to legislators. So what?
By calhoun fawls on June 5th, 2008 at 2:51 am
I understand the man gave thousands to Clemson. Just a thought.
By Defending Defender on June 9th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Nicky McCarter is the victim of incomplete journalism. What all these articles have failed to mention is that he has given substantial amounts of money (hundreds of thousands of dollars) to Clemson University’s IPTAY booster club and the West End Zone project. He has also hosted his church’s family fun day and the SC Department of Natural Resources kids’ fishing day on his company’s property. If you do your research, you will see that he has been making political contributions for over a decade (since before 1995). Finally, let’s not forget that he was already a member of two Clemson boards including the Board of Visitors.