Reunited?

Mama said that you can’t hurry love (you’ll just have to wait) … but we’re not quite sure what Mama would say about this.

Republican S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom and Kelly Payne – a former GOP candidate for State Superintendent of Education – appear to be “reunited” less than ten months after news first broke of their “affair.” At least that’s what we’re gathering from Payne’s Facebook page, which shows a picture of her and Eckstrom (above) along with the notation that Payne is now “in a relationship.”

A spokesman for Eckstrom, however, tells FITS that he and Payne are not dating.

So … what’s up with Payne’s Facebook page?

“Good question,” the spokesman said. “I don’t know.”

Payne was divorced at the time of the “affair,” while Eckstrom was separated from his wife – leading some to conclude it really wasn’t an affair, but rather a pair of consenting adults doing what consenting adults are prone to do.

Also – and this is the only thing that matters as far as we’re concerned – Payne is AMAZING at the job taxpayers pay her to do, which is teaching civics to high school students. In fact, she’s turned her Dutch Fork High School classroom into the state’s preeminent forum for political talk – hosting dozens of public officials including Gov. Mark Sanford, Rep. Nikki Haley, Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, Speaker Bobby Harrell and Superintendent Jim Rex. She’s also welcomed top reporters like Jim Davenport of the AP and John O’Connor of The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper.

To her credit, unlike most liberal educators Payne has never attempted to inject her own conservative beliefs into the classroom – always letting her students form their own opinions about the guests they welcome while at the same time encouraging them to volunteer on behalf of candidates they support.

Speaking of which, Payne was by far the most substantive candidate for State Superintendent, and would have made the best Republican nominee in our book.

Meanwhile Eckstrom is also doing the job taxpayers pay him to do – and doing it well.

He is one of only a handful of S.C. Republicans who has never voted in a manner inconsistent with his fiscal principles, and while other “conservatives” have rallied around the transparency issue as a way to promote their own political self-interest, Eckstrom has been doing much of the heavy-lifting on that front.

Accordingly, if these two want to reward themselves with some consensual boot-knocking … then by all means, they should knock themselves out.

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