Andre Bauer: The Joke’s On Us

The fact that S.C. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer received $180,000 from the General Assembly over the last two years for “executive protection” is downright ridiculous.

The fact that he stiffed the State Law Enforcement Division for the bill, though?

That’s just plain rude.

And the fact that no one is currently investigating Bauer on this – or any of his office’s questionable ethics of late?

Well, that’s just par for the course in South Carolina.

We thought a brush with death in 2006 had taught Bauer a thing or two about being a responsible public servant, but it would appear he’s already back to the same old shenanigans that nearly cost him his job two-and-a-half years ago.

And the timing couldn’t be worse, as Bauer needs to pretty quickly start convincing people – and not just the senile people he “serves” at the S.C. Office on Aging – that he’s gubernatorial material.

Clearly stories like this Greenville News article won’t help:

Bauer’s office was appropriated $180,000 by lawmakers over the past two years to pay for the security detail but thus far has given none of it to SLED, according to letters obtained by The Greenville News under the state Freedom of Information Act.

Frank Adams, spokesman for Bauer, told The News last month that it was sending payment to SLED for $11,500, an amount that was calculated to be 1/11th of what Gov. Mark Sanford sent to SLED for his security detail.

Instead, Tony Kester, the interim director of the Lieutenant Governor’s Office on Aging, sent a letter dated Jan. 15 to Lloyd explaining that the office considered $11,500 to be a “fair and reasonable” amount and asking if SLED concurred to send a bill so the agency could be paid.

Lloyd disagreed and told Bauer’s office in a letter dated Jan. 22 that just the actual salaries of the agents assigned to the security detail totaled $64,966 thus far in the year. He said there also were costs for vehicles and travel expenses. SLED spent $1,602.87 on travel to guard Bauer at the Republican National Convention, Lloyd wrote.

Unreal …

If Bauer was just a spoiled brat trying to stiff law enforcement so he could continue spending taxpayer money gallivanting around the state pretending to care about old people, that would be one thing.

Of course, the real problem with Bauer is he’s just another good ole boy politician who has failed to use any of his political capital for anything beyond advancing his own interests.

He has fought tooth and nail to preserve his little piece of our state’s failed status quo, and consistently demonstrated a personal recklessness and contempt for the taxpayers in doing so.

Frankly, the fact that someone of Bauer’s stature is being seriously considered as a Republican candidate for governor is indicative of the sorry state of the SCGOP.

In any other state, Bauer would’ve been dismissed as a joke years ago, but as is the case with so many “Republican” politicians in South Carolina, the joke is once again on us.

Props to SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd for being one of the few in Palmetto politics with the courage to stand up to Bauer’s ridiculous demands for security.

Now all we need to do is start working on the tapioca pudding crowd …