The Anti-FITS Is Back

Just in time for a new legislative session, an “objective journalist” who got caught last year spreading rumors that Lt. Governor Andre Bauer had a cocaine problem is back in business.

Ten months after shutting down the shadowy blog that he ran with fellow Free Times reporter Corey Hutchins, Columbia muckraker Wes Wolfe is back behind the keyboard with a brand new offering, Wolfe Reports.

It’s the third new website devoted in full or in part to covering SC politics to be launched recently, a sign that new media is on the rise in Palmetto politics.

At the time Wolfe and Hutchins were busted smearing Bauer last March, they discontinued their blog and said they were giving up the habit.

“It’s been fun, but, seriously, we don’t need the headaches that come from speaking our minds, or passing along everything we hear over a couple bourbons,” the pair wrote. “Maybe someone else will take up the banner, but it ain’t going to be us.”

Apparently, Wolfe has had a change of heart.

“A new era has begun,” he writes in introducing Wolfe Reports, which kicked off its reporting with an earth-shattering expose about … wait for it … a Facebook comment made several months ago by a former staffer to Gov. Mark Sanford and researcher at the S.C. Policy Council.

Gripping stuff, we know.

Wait … were we being sarcastic just then? Because apparently Wolfe doesn’t like that.

“(Wolfe reports) seeks to bridge the gap between blogs and print news, breaking stories without the sarcasm of the widely-read blogs and with wider access, and deeper analysis, than the average print journalist,” he writes of his new invention.

Sheesh. At least he got the “widely-read” part right.

Anyway, this is obviously the venture we caught wind of a couple of days ago, although it remains to be seen whether or not it will evolve into the full-frontal assault on FITS that’s been promised.

It’s also unclear at this point whether or not Wolfe’s new venture is backed by longtime Columbia lobbyist and political consultant J. Warren Tompkins, as has also been rumored.

Personally, we like Wolfe. He’s a good writer and a nice enough guy, but up to this point his journalistic career has been limited to doing the bidding of our state’s failed political establishment – which we think is a waste of his time and abilities.

Frankly we hope his venture succeeds, though. He’s obviously put his name on it, put some effort into its design and put some thought into what he wants it to accomplish.

After all, we could sure use some competition.

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