Anderson’s Wicked Witch

It must pain Bonnie Williams immensely to live in Anderson County, S.C.

After all, she probably fancies herself as an educated, sophisticated woman who wears pretty scarves … and working in a po-dunk, backwoods hellhole for a company that just posted a $500 million annual loss can’t be much fun.

Plus there’s the fact that the po-dunk newspaper she works for, the Anderson Independent Mail, keeps getting its ass kicked on all the big local stories by an even po-dunker paper.

Of course, none of that is a good excuse for South Carolina’s most left-of-center editorial page editor to be such a raging bitch all of the time – which Williams has been for the past seven years, and probably much, much longer.

Seriously, ever since we called on Williams for the first time back in 2001, it was obvious that this throaty liberal a) never met a tax increase or government program that didn’t deserve her raspy endorsement and b) removed any semblance of joy from her life a long, long time ago.

But Williams isn’t just slightly to the left of the Obama administration, she’s utterly consumed by the zero sum mentality that anybody who doesn’t agree with her socialist world view is automatically evil and must be annihilated … well, insofar as her pedantic pen is capable of dispensing annihilation.

Take last Friday, when Williams refused to meet with Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, State Sen. Kevin Bryant (who’s from Anderson) and S.C. Policy Council President Ashley Landess, all of whom were in her fair city yesterday to talk about the issue of government transparency.

But Williams didn’t just say “talk to the hand” to Eckstrom & Co., she also refused to make anyone on her staff available to meet with them, and declined to look over any of the information they were prepared to provide her in advance.

That’s a constitutional officer, a State Senator and the president of the state’s most influential think tank … and she told ‘em all to take a hike. Except in a round-about, Martha Stewart sort of way.

Not with lasers and rock music like we do it.

Of course Williams claimed she had a “doctor’s appointment,” but she conveniently neglected to mention the real reason she wasn’t open to hearing them out – namely the fact that she had already written a scathing editorial ripping the upcoming event.

“In fifteen years of doing this I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Policy Council Communications Director Bryan Cox.

Here at FITS, we rip on people left, right and straight down the middle … and we do it like it’s going out of style, as a matter of fact.

We also proudly wear our “Unfair, Imbalanced” button and relish the unconventional methods we employ to get at the truth in S.C. politics.

But here’s the thing … if State Education Superintendent Jim Rex, Sen. Vincent Sheheen and the head of the S.C. School Boards Association (three folks diametrically opposed to the parental choice philosophy we endorse) ever wanted to sit down with us and share information about a proposal they were offering, we would not only agree to the meeting, we would show them and their ideas the respect they deserve.

Or more aptly, respect that’s undeserved based on our K-12 system’s performance.

Sure, we’d rip ‘em a new one afterward, but we’d at least give them the chance to make their case.

Sadly, though, that’s more consideration than Williams has ever given anybody she disagrees with, which is why we are pleased today to bestow upon this shriveled old prude the FITS nickname “Anderson’s Wicked Witch.”

Oh, and Mrs. Williams, should you have any doubt how pervasive our nicknames can become, just ask your left-of-center friends down the road at La Socialista.

Or for that matter give your local Representative, Chairman “Egg-Tooth” a call. You two are thick as thieves, aren’t you?