By FITSNews || Everybody knows that South Carolina students, parents, teachers and taxpayers are getting a lousy rate of return for their record $8.4 billion investment in the Palmetto State’s worst-in-the-nation public “education” system.
Well, it looks like there could be a(nother) good reason for that …
S.C. Superintendent of Education Jim Rex, considered by many to be the front-runner for the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, may have taken himself completely out of the running with a fourth quarter fund-raising report that left even seasoned political operatives scratching their heads for an explanation.
According to documents filed Friday with the S.C. State Ethics Commission, Rex raised $117,300 from September through December of last year. That figure trails the quarterly totals that were put up by fellow Democrats Vincent Sheheen and Dwight Drake, but it’s Rex’s expenditures that have raised eyebrows.
Rex spent a whopping $133,050 during the quarter, according to his report, meaning that his campaign has $15,750 less on hand today than it did three months ago.
It also means Rex has less cash on hand than every single one of his Democratic rivals – a paltry $28,647 to be precise.
That’s absolutely unheard of for a major gubernatorial campaign at this stage of the race.
“Jim Rex hardly has enough money to buy a new car much less compete with the other Democrats running for Governor,” one political operative told FITS.
Here are the current cash on hand totals for the Democratic candidates:
Vincent Sheheen: $749,028
Mullins McLeod: $366,805
Dwight Drake: $315,948
Robert Ford: $41,327
Jim Rex: $28,647
Rex started his gubernatorial campaign with shockingly-low fund-raising numbers, but it was assumed that he would be able to raise enough money to be competitive with the other candidates.
Clearly that isn’t happening.
A quick look at Rex’s filing shows thousands of dollars spent on consultants, which again, makes his campaign not at all dissimilar to his equally ineffective government bureaucracy.
UPDATE: We’d also be remiss not to point out that Rex paid a $100 fine for failing to file an initial disclosure report with the S.C. State Ethics Commission, a story which broke exclusively here on FITS.
By freddie guy January 15, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Rex has self-destructed.
McLeod lust let Mayor Riley’s endorsement get away from him.
Drake has yet to compete with Sheheen in a fundraising quarter…
…and Sheheen now has more in the bank than all the other Dems COMBINED…
Bring on the Republican candidate!
VincentSheheen.com
Give to the cause. Rid the State of Mark Sanford.
By Bobby January 15, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Dr. Rex ought to run for U.S. Senate. He’d have no trouble raising funds there considering the fact that there is no real Democrat running for that seat. Why run someone with strong name recognition in a race where support seems to already be lined up behind Vincent Sheheen?
By Ron January 15, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Good evening Will,
Thanks for the update. I predict that Nikki Haley will have a record first quarter 2010 and sails to victory in the GOP June Primary! When facing the dem candidate leading up to the Nov general election, it’s NO CONTEST!! Nikki’s genuine concern for ethics and transparency just lets the “sun shine in” upon a miserably and despicably corrupt South Carolina political arena!! IT’s Governor Haley in 2011-2014 and beyond.
Go Nikki!!
By freddie guy January 15, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Ron:
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you haven’t pulled up Haley’s results thus far in the campaign. Although she had a decent quarter, she continues to fall behind her rivals. The crowd that drinks the Haley kool-aid can go on and on about how powerful her message is, but if she does not have the money in the bank to project that message across the State, there is no campaign. So far, she is burning cash at a much higher rate than opponents. She, like Sheheen on the Dem side, does not have statewide name ID. Means she will need MORE money than her rivals to get that message out. The others Rebubs are generally known statewide.
Btw, I would love to see a Sheheen/Haley general, but feel personally like Barrett and McMaster have the upperhand at this point. Keep writing the checks to her and encouraging others to do the same!
My 2 cents…
Fred
By John January 16, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Ron:
Ms. Haley doesn’t even turn her ethics disclosures in on time…how can she lead the transparency movement???? Also, she along with almost every other politician in the state voted to take the federal stimulus dollars. Her record doesn’t = her message.
By Barker January 17, 2010 at 2:15 am
Freddie, what the hell are you sniffing? “Rid the State of Mark Sanford”?
Mark Sanford is leaving and nothing your guy can do will speed up that process. As soon as he’s gone, the effort to purge state government of his holdouts will be uniform and bipartisan.
But if he has a secret way to rid us of Sanford now, I might be willing to vote for him.
By Richard January 17, 2010 at 9:19 am
Somebody hasn’t been doing their homework. Good thing I have. First for Nikki Haley, she voted for the stimulus only after it was mandated by the feds and pay it back or not take it and pay it back. Common sense there.
Of course money is a very key component, it’s just not the golden ticket. There are many extra curricular motif’s in political races and this is one for the history books. More to come on that in the coming months.
Also, I have reviewed her ethics disclosures (and others) and there is zero evidence of a disclosure being late, neither in her House of Representative account or gubenatorial bid.
Now back to the article…Jim Rex. I’m trying to reasonably calculate the thought process of someone in his position running for governor and South Carolina’s entertaining it. If you have a very challenged school system and Jim Rex has not fixed it nor offered any suggestions, as far as I could find, how can one be satisfied with this option? Of course the election has not happened yet so maybe the results will provide me with some belief in South Carolina’s mental state. Until then…
By freddie guy January 17, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Barker:
good point re: “Rid the state of Mark Sanford”…
it still sounds good.
Kind of rolls off of the tongue.
guess you did not donate? It was worth a try.
Fred