Oops, Scoop

In its rush to bash S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford for “waste” in his Cabinet, the website Palmetto Scoop forgot something.

Specifically, the website’s authors neglected to “flush out” the turd-colored Confederate submarine that’s sitting in a glorified taxpayer-funded toilet down in Charleston, S.C.

Hold up … what are we talking about?

Glad you asked. Here’s the skinny …

In his ongoing crusade to provide state legislators with their own police force, Senate President Glenn McConnell has found it politically advantageous to attack the Bureau of Protective Services (BPS), the agency which is currently in charge of State House security.

In fact, McConnell even tried to blame BPS for his recent crackdown on free speech at the S.C. State House – despite the fact that multiple legislative and law enforcement sources have confirmed that the crackdown originated with the Senator.

Not surprisingly the Scoop – whose editor works for McConnell’s consulting firm, Richard Quinn & Associates – has also started attacking BPS, specifically accusing the agency of employing eleven law enforcement personnel to guard a “mythical State House” in Blythewood, S.C.

The reference is to the Department of Public Safety’s headquarters, and the Scoop claims these are all “administrative” positions, i.e. “waste.”

Not so fast.

FITS has discovered that at least two of the full-time “administrators” referenced by the Scoop are actually assigned to guard … wait for it … the H.L. Hunley, Sen. McConnell’s beloved rebel submarine down in Charleston.

That’s right, the very “waste” that the Scoop is trying to “pin” to this law enforcement agency was actually forced on it by none other than McConnell himself.

Talk about circular – and contradictory – logic.

Ironically, the Scoop’s benefactors at RQA also represent Friends of the Hunley, the lawbreaking, money-guzzling, accountability-evading quasi-public entity that has sucked up millions of taxpayer dollars to pursue McConnell’s Hunley fantasies.

The pot is the kettle, it would seem.

Sadly, the whole Capitol Police Force debate stems from Sanford’s refusal to go along with millions of dollars in totally unnecessary and ineffective State House security upgrades, which were foisted on the taxpayers because lawmakers have the audacity to presume that they’re “high value terrorist targets.”

As if.

However, because Sanford opposed those “security” measures – and refused to take guards off of real security work so that they could escort lawmakers into the parking garage – the executive branch is now being further splintered.

Oh well, at least we see now what a bunch of self-serving hypocrites are behind the scam.

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