S.C. Lt. Gov. Ken Ard systematically violated state campaign finance law by using campaign contributions for personal expenses, state ethics investigators alleged on Friday.
Of course when it comes to the $800 gown he purchased for his wife, Tammy, to wear at the governor’s inaugural ball, we’re willing to cut him a little slack …
Anyway, on Friday the S.C. State Ethics Commission (SEC) detailed the 106 civil charges that it is filing against Ard. That’s up from 92 charges announced by the agency earlier in the week.
After winning election last November, Ard spent more than $20,000 on an array of dubious expenses – including expensive meals, lavish hotel rooms, computer equipment, a family vacation and the aforementioned inaugural gown. As a result, he has now been charged with 93 counts of “converting campaign funds to personal use” and 23 counts of “failure to disclose campaign expenditures.”
As it relates to the personal use charges, Ard basically admitted his guilt in an interview with Corey Hutchins of The (Columbia, S.C.) Free Times.
“I’ve got a vast amount of my personal wealth tied up in this campaign and I’m just trying to recoup as much of that as I can,” Ard told Hutchins.
After The Free Times story was published, Ard told the Associated Press that he had “no idea” where Hutchins got that quote. Days later, however, Hutchins released an audiotape of his interview with Ard that confirmed the accuracy of the statement.
Each of the ethics charges against Ard carries with it a $2,000 fine.
In addition to his ethics problem, Ard is also facing tax troubles … again. According to Florence County property tax records, Ard is currently delinquent in paying a $2,300 tax bill on one of his properties in Effingham, S.C. Another $1,600 tax bill was paid via a tax sale.
Ard was not our first choice for the Republican lieutenant gubernatorial nomination last summer. His record on taxes and (government) spending is abysmal, and from what we’ve seen his desire for reform is about as limited as his intellectual curiosity.
Additionally, Ard showed extremely poor judgment by selecting one of the central figures in the infamous “Coastal Kickback” campaign finance scam to serve as his chief of staff.
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By Go Cocks! March 18, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Well….to clothe a woman of that stature it almost seems worth it.
By stimulus March 18, 2011 at 4:21 pm
damn she is hot!
By Poppy March 18, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Let’s see. Kenny keeps screwing up, she takes off, he quits, Nikki quits, Timmy quits……hopefully not before Sic’s book comes out.
By That Boz Guy @ The Beach March 18, 2011 at 4:33 pm
“She may get weary, young girls they do get weary,
Wearing that same old shabby dress,
When she gets weary, buy another shabby dress …”
- Jerry Lewis’ version of the standard “Try a Little Tenderness.”
Of cousre, that dress ain’t too shabby right there … and neither is Mrs. Ard, obviously.
Great excuse to bring the ever-topical King of Comedy into a comment, though.
HEY, LAAADIE!!!!
/// Additionally, Ard showed extremely poor judgment by selecting one of the central figures in the infamous “Coastal Kickback” campaign finance scam to serve as his chief of staff. ///
This can’t possibly be repeated enough. But it sure as hell can ber amplified thusly:
Additionally, Lt. Gov. Ard showed extremely poor judgment by selecting Brant Branham, one of the central figures in the infamous “Coastal Kickback” campaign finance scam (specifically the one most responsible for either sending out or hand-delivering the “pay-to-play” envelopes to various pols who had voted for the 1% local option sales tax benefiting the Chamber) to serve as his chief of staff.
By That Boz Guy @ The Beach March 18, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Clearly, I’m just being a tin-foil hat wearing finge-o nut job trouble-maker, though.
Should Governor Haley not serve out her full term, for whatever reason, what person in their right mind could possibly doubt that Lt. Gov. Ard would be the man for the job?
After all, as his record clearly shows, he is perfect GOOBERnatorial material.
HAW!
Anyway, I LOVE the fact that my tin-foil hat is serving as an unstuck-in-time TV antenna, though, and picking up old Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethons today. Who the hell needs YouTube?
And the beat goes on …
By Doris March 18, 2011 at 5:17 pm
That’s Peggy McMaster in the background. Her dress was not bought for any measly $ 800.00.
By Real Housewife of Irmo March 18, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Amen Doris! The Gov’s dress wasn’t anything to write home about, either. She looked like a bridesmaid. I was expecting something far more runway-worthy.
By Harrison March 18, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Flat chested. Poochie stomach. Pink eyes.
But at least he showed up with a female.
Bauer never did that.
When are we ever going to get governor and lt. gov. on the same ticket so the governor can screen out breeds like these two?
By Matt March 18, 2011 at 6:37 pm
As a guy, I’m not into all the fashion stuff – but that looks an awful lot like a nightie I bought for my girlfriend a while back.
Was there an inaugural slumber party?
By Rachel March 18, 2011 at 6:38 pm
He paid $800.00 for THAT dress? Now I’m not one to believe that “the dress makes the woman” but… really, $800.00? Michelle Obama is “re-using” her dresses, maybe Ard should consider this trend?
By jim lewis March 18, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Looks like the Political Aristocracy is living high on the taxpayer hog. As they dine, dance and devour the finger food the average state employee is facing no pay increase, loss of pension, loss of insurance coverage, more days off without pay and worse of all they can’t even access Fitsnews while at work.
Ain’t life a bitch. Qu’ils mangent de la brioche says the Teflon Queen.
By reprobate March 18, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Mike or Insect: Would you hit that?
By Jeffy01 March 18, 2011 at 10:18 pm
Well, Florence County corruption is close to Horry County corruption. Thus the nutty multiple posts from Boz.
By DK'D March 18, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Yeah we gotta side with Doris whoever… that aint a $800 dress and if it is the fine should be twice for paying that much, fucking dumbass.
By That Boz Guy @ The Beach March 19, 2011 at 1:00 am
/// By Jeffy01 March 18, 2011 at 10:18 pm
Well, Florence County corruption is close to Horry County corruption. Thus the nutty multiple posts from Boz. ///
Nutty is as nutty does, Jeffy.
Sometimes Florence County corruption and Horry County corruption are one and the same actually. This is one of those times.
Why is it, btw, that you never seem to say anything worth a shit?
By Jeffy01 March 19, 2011 at 4:30 am
Pot ……..kettle?
By That Boz Guy @ The Beach March 19, 2011 at 9:06 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y
By scmajor March 19, 2011 at 2:25 pm
You gotta look at who the skank is with.
Another gold digging whore that will be gone in a heart beat when Ard resigns in disgrace.
By Ashley January 22, 2012 at 9:50 am
They actually have been married for 23 years….do your research before you comment on people that you don’t have a clue about!
By Cathy March 19, 2011 at 6:10 pm
I would hit that. Flop that pink nightie over her head, and ride on till morning. She would never go back to Ard after a romp with me.
By BradWarthenSucks March 20, 2011 at 6:58 pm
Ride on what? Don’t know too many guys named Cathy. I guess you could always use a strap on, but I’m thinking that riding plastic would get old in a hurry.
By Wendy March 20, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Not if you hook up the battery.
By Carol March 20, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Put extra lube on the tip.
By Bill Ravenel March 21, 2011 at 6:25 am
We elected a guy with property in Effingham… thats all I need to know… cue the banjo’s!
By Prevert March 21, 2011 at 8:43 am
at my age i could overlook the pooch to hit that
By Andy March 21, 2011 at 10:50 am
Dude must be hung. Good for him. That’s one fine looking woman right there.
By Tammy's my bitch March 21, 2011 at 12:06 pm
I’d tap that.
By Nostradumbass March 21, 2011 at 1:15 pm
@Wendy, Carol and Cathy,
I’m in love with you. Yes, all three of you.
By Nostradumbass March 21, 2011 at 1:25 pm
@BradWarthenSucks,
Don’t forget, you can always take up a couple of hours tounge-grinding that as well.
By Oy Vey March 21, 2011 at 1:56 pm
He got taken! $800??? for that ingenue-prom-y schmata. Don’t you have a Loehman’s down there? He could have gotten that dress for under $100 in the Northeast!! Some people have more money than taste.
By Lance Riprock March 21, 2011 at 4:47 pm
She’d look good in a tater sack, though I’d prefer an onion sack. Speaking of onion sacks, this dude who went to Clumpson with her told me, “Nikki could pull a vacuum on an onion sack.” That’s right up there with sucking the chrome off a trailer hitch ball.
By That Boz Guy @ The Beach May 11, 2011 at 5:14 am
Ken Ard will yet be shown to be, like his Chief of Staff Brant Branham, up to his crooked eyeballs in the Coastal Kickback scam.
It becomes clearer, as we near Grand Jury time, that the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce case will prove a useful microcosm of US Chamber of Commerce crony capitalism abuses and violations of the public trust.