S.C. textile magnate Roger Milliken is a doddering old 94-year-old billionaire, so it wouldn’t be at all surprising to learn that SCGOP Chairwoman Karen Floyd’s sparkly baubles (and her equally effervescent “bounciness”) won him over rather quickly.
We can feel our collective pulse quickening right now, as a matter of fact.
Anyway, Floyd and Milliken will be appearing together at an overly-hyped press conference in Columbia, S.C. on Monday to announce some decidedly unexciting news – specifically that Milliken will be matching GOP donations “dollar-for-dollar” as part of a new fund-raising effort.
“The funds will go toward paying off the remaining mortgage of the party headquarters (located at 1913 Marion Street, Columbia), as well as capital improvements to the structure to make it LEED Certified (environmentally friendly building specifications),” reads an email obtained by FITS.
Wait … what?
Republicans are broke as a joke (literally and ideologically) but they can launch a massive fund-raising drive aimed at paying off a mortgage held by some GOP insiders? Oh, and retrofit their “new” building with a bunch of non-mandatory “green building” features?
WTF? Why doesn’t Milliken just pay for the damn building – and its “greening” – by himself?
“Wow … mortgages and LEED certification,” one Republican elected official told FITS. “No wonder the party is such a mess.”
True that. If Floyd was serious about turning around the SCGOP’s moribund finances, she might consider “pulling an Anna Nicole Smith” with Milliken.
Now THAT would be a press conference worth hyping …
The only good news is that this money won’t be available to Floyd for the purpose of electing more fiscally-liberal RINOs …
By old bike dude September 28, 2009 at 9:04 am
Sic, you can’t get a tax break for paying off republican debts. But, if you “GO GREEN” then all those wonderful liberal, democratic sponsored , tax breaks come into play. So while all the “rah-rah for the right” spews from the mouth, all the dough saved will go into the back pocket. Maybe Jim Clyburn should attend the burning of the mortgage.
By Billy September 28, 2009 at 10:52 am
Nice to see the SCGOP chair appearing with her fellow Spartanburgian, a man whose history is intertwined with the emergence of the Republican Party in SC.
While Roger Milliken was on the Pat Buchanan bandwagon during GOP primaries in the 1990′s, Karen Floyd was an enthusiastic backer of a different candidate–his name was Bill Clinton.
Of course both Milliken and Floyd were big Fritz Hollings supporters–although Milliken did so as a “Hollings Republican” while Floyd offered her support as a “Hollings Democrat”.
By LA Conservative September 28, 2009 at 11:35 am
The Republicans are not only “broke as a joke” financially, but if Karen Floyd is the only person they could come up with to be State Chair, they are broke mentally! I am a Republican, but things are sure looking bad for us right now.
By political hack September 28, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Just another laughable example of hypocrisy that is ever present in South Carolina politics
By Elizabth Fitzgerald September 28, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Karen Floyd has done more in the shortest amount of time than any other chairman in the nation! She knows how to pull people together and make it happen. If you missed the press conference today at the SCGOP Headquarters you missed quiet a presentation of and by the state’s finest Republicans. She is a marvel to watch!
By fitsnews September 28, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Elizabeth-
She’s a marvel to watch, alright! You get no disagreement from us on that.
-FITS
By You are RIGHT Elizabeth September 28, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Elizabeth:
Hmmm…let’s see: “She knows how to pull people together and make it happen.”
Just what is “it”, exactly?
A fundraiser at her home — serving mostly to boost her own name ID…and of all things a county party (over the state party she chairs)?
Or perhaps it is subleasing state party offices to political consultants — who are working against GOP candidates?
Maybe it is pushing LEED…thus validating a system that many Republicans fear does nothing more than pander to the global warning charade.
If that is “it,” then you are spot-on, young lady. We got ourselves a good one.
If however, “it” is actually helping Republican candidates get up to speed for the 2010 election, then perhaps it is no wonder that more and more of your fellow party goers are starting to wonder if they didn’t make a HUGE mistake.
By Elizabth Fitzgerald September 28, 2009 at 5:07 pm
By “it” I meant she is responsible for bringing fellow Republicans like the Speaker of the House, many top ranking Senators, County Party Chairmen, House menbers from all over the State, along with textile magnate Roger Milliken
on a Monday morning for a press conference to announce she has Mr. Milliken’s check in the bank and just needs us to put up our share! In addition to that she has successfully navigated three (3) the most difficult situations our state has faced in quite a long while and she did this with dignity, grace, and superior political aplomb unmatched in South Carolina. She is a natural leade
r. She definitely has the “it” factor covered!
By BIN News Editorial Staff September 28, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Careful sic(k) willie. Our Funding Editor knows Roger M. She said she would enjoy seeing the expression on your face if he ever takes a personal and “doddering” interest in your attacks on him.
By York GOPer September 28, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Betty/Libby/Bess/Tess/Liz:
I hear you. I hear you. Dignity. Grace. Aplomb. All that. You go, girl.
Of course, we hired her to get people elected…and on that front she picked Roger Costner over Ralph Norman in a GOP primary. RINO vs. #2 conservative in the House a few years ago.
Looks like her boy lost 70-30. Ouch. We file that under “bad decisions” on her part.
So, Ms. Thesaurus, how does that “it” factor look now?
By York GOPer September 28, 2009 at 6:36 pm
PS: I am curious…who were the “many top ranking Senators” and House members who showed up for this charade today?
By Max September 28, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Did Karen Floyd favor Roger Costner over Ralph Norman? If true then it’s not that big of a surprose. If Costner is a RINO then that’s Karen’s type of Republican. When her biggest issue as the “Republican” county council chair in Sburg was pushing for a sales tax increase, you know she likes the RINO’s. When she supported Inez Tenenbaum and Fritz Hollings while at the same time running for county council as a “Republican” (1998) then she must be a RINO.
By baker September 28, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Roger Milliken is a fascinating person. He pretty much built the GOP in South Carolina on his own (not that it wouldn’t have eventually happened without him, but Milliken was a HUGE player in the Republican party….in SC and on the national scene. If I’m not mistaken, he was one of the key investors in the start-up of William Buckley’s magazine National Review.
He also likes to work on the planning and construction of buildings…..and have involvement on the details.
Milliken is truly an advocate for the environment, so it’s not at all surprising that he’s interested in LEED certification. Maybe that makes Milliken — a major, major force in the history of the SC GOP — a crazy liberal.
By thruston September 29, 2009 at 7:18 am
A legal defense fund? A green building? Man, it makes you want to give money to the GOP!
What happened to the huge, nice building on Lady Street? Not enough volunteers to fit in there? Why Lady Street since we’re last in the nation in women elected officials? Marion Street? Easy answer — closer to the old State Hospital.
By Red September 29, 2009 at 1:18 pm
The GOP sounds a lot like our public education system. Spend time and effort on building fancy,expensive buildings for the bureaucrats and don’t focus energy on the main reason for your existence.