For those of you who don’t follow our founding editor’s Twitter feed, consider this your excuse to sign up …
On Wednesday evening – as part of a separate investigation into the nocturnal habits of S.C. First Gentleman Michael Haley – our founding editor received a call from an exotic dancer in Myrtle Beach, S.C. with some shocking information.
According to the woman – who declined to provide either her real name (or her “stage” name, for that matter) – she gave Michael Haley a lap dance during an August 2009 visit to the Masters Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Obviously that isn’t the “shocking information” we’re referring to – plenty of guys (and some very cool girls) go to strip clubs and get lap dances all the time. In fact, multiple sources have told FITS that Michael Haley is a regular guest (and frequent “VIP room” customer) at one particular Columbia, S.C. strip club – a story we’ve been tracking for several weeks.
But this phone call – which was originally placed to verify another report of Michael Haley’s alleged affinity for nude nightlife – quickly took a bizarre turn.
According to this dancer, Michael Haley wasn’t alone on this visit to the Master’s Club.
“She was with him, you know,” the dancer told us.
Wait … she? As in Nikki Haley – who was then a sitting state lawmaker as well as an announced candidate for governor?
“Yes. I danced for her,” the woman said.
Wait … what???
According to the dancer, the Haleys and another man – who she said “talked funny” and was “shorter” than Michael Haley- sat at a VIP table off to the side of the club. There, they drank heavily for several hours and received numerous dances from multiple strippers.
The woman even confirmed Haley’s drink of choice – vodka tonic.
So … how many lap dances did Haley allegedly receive?
“Several,” the dancer said. “All of them were getting dances.”
The woman said she only gave the future governor one lap dance, though.
“She was into it,” the dancer said. “She liked it.”
After firing off a few Tweets recounting this bizarre interview (hence our previous reference to the utility of following our Twitter feed), FITS began receiving a flood of phone calls, text messages and emails from state lawmakers with information relating to the report.
One lawmaker – who claims to have been at the Master’s Club on the evening in question – told us that the gentleman who accompanied the Haleys to the club was none other than Larry Marchant, the lobbyist who in June 2010 confessed to having a one night stand with Haley in a hotel room in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Another state lawmaker – S.C. Rep. Thad Viers – was also allegedly at the scene, although there are conflicting reports as to whether he joined in on the fun. Viers – who the dancer says is a regular at Master’s – was accused last summer by several lobbyists of having a romantic rendezvous with Nikki Haley at a 2006 legislative conference in San Francisco, California.
After receiving the reports about Marchant, FITS contacted the dancer and directed her to a picture of Marchant and Haley that we previously posted on our website.
“That’s him,” she confirmed, identifying Marchant as the gentleman who accompanied the Haleys to the club.
Marchant did not return multiple phone calls on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning seeking comment. A spokesman for Gov. Haley also declined to comment. Messages sent to Viers were not immediately returned.
Obviously, we’ll bring you their responses in the event they decide to issue a statement.
Also, while multiple sources have confirmed numerous specific details about this alleged evening at the club, it’s worth noting that the dancer’s story is not without its inconsistencies.
For example, she initially told us that the alleged visit by the future first couple and their friend took place in August 2008 – but she later acknowledged her error after our legislative sources put the actual date of the visit a year later, in 2009.
Obviously, that’s when House Republicans gathered at the Marriott Resort and Spa and Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach to discuss the impeachment of S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford.
Also, it’s worth noting that if all of our sources are telling the truth – we don’t think the Haleys have done anything “wrong.” In fact, our opinion of Nikki Haley has probably ticked up a notch in light of these allegations – although our founding editor is a bit miffed that she never shared her love of strippers with him during their “inappropriate physical relationship.”
Anyway, say tuned for much more … particularly as it relates to the “First Gentleman’s” love of Columbia-area Gentleman’s Clubs. We’re just getting warmed up on that story …
UPDATE: Shortly after our story posted, Larry Marchant called and confirmed the substance of our report. He says that he and the Haleys did visit a strip club together, but he claims that lawmakers’ recollection of the specific date is inaccurate. Marchant says he does not remember the specific date. He also refused to comment on what transpired in the club.
***
By Are you shittin' me? May 19, 2011 at 2:21 pm
I am lovin’ this shit.
By Anonymous May 19, 2011 at 2:24 pm
In all honesty, who can resist the strip clubs of Myrtle Beach?
By CNSYD May 19, 2011 at 2:30 pm
She’s a stupid ugly (but maybe now slightly cool?) bitch!!!
By Go Cocks! May 19, 2011 at 2:34 pm
That girl with the dog collar is one seriously double-jointed individual!
By joe May 19, 2011 at 2:35 pm
we’ll bring you there responses…. need a correction…. their
By Nikki's my bitch May 19, 2011 at 2:44 pm
This is worth the price of admission.
By Crash May 19, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Dude code. I aint a Michael Haley fan but why would you rat out and investigate another dude for going to titty clubs? It breaks the man code man. Cmon.
By ------------------------------------------------------------ May 19, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Surely the horse trysts won’t be too far behind.
By Grammar Police May 19, 2011 at 2:54 pm
“Obviously, we’ll bring you THEIR responses in the event they decide to issue a statement.”
You’re better than that, Folks.
http://www.learnyourdamnhomophones.com
By Sailor May 19, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Maybe Nikki goes both ways!
By Nikki's Ipad May 19, 2011 at 3:10 pm
I love a good pair of titties and a nice ass….
Full set of teeth not required. That’s why I like the Dyrtle so much.
By sick of your sikh denial May 19, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Is Nikki bisexual?
By Soft Sigh from Hell May 19, 2011 at 3:31 pm
I would not myself speculate on Nikki’s below-the-belt urges, as they are none of my business.
But I’ll bet she wears the pants in the house, even long before the mansion.
By sick of your sikh denial May 19, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Why do women get lap dances in strip clubs? The answer is plain and simple. They want to be sexually arroused by other women.
By pluvlaw May 19, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Sic, can you confirm whether or not this conversation was overheard by the dancer that night between Michael Haley and Larry Marchant:
“What am I talkin’ about? I’m talkin’ about sex, boy, what the hell you talkin’ about? I’m talkin’ about l’amour! I’m talkin’ that me and Nikki are swingers, as in ‘to swing.’ I’m talkin’ about wife swappin’. I’m talkin’ about what they call nowadays open marriage…”
By cash May 19, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Look at it this way. If man went to a male strip club, and got lap dances from another man, you could only assume he is either gay ot bisexual. So, therefore, the same applies to a woman, especially one wanting MULTIPLE lap dances from different women. I can promise you that there are many bisexual women who are married to men.
By cash May 19, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Open marriage. And she called herself a conservative. I feel sure that she is bisexual.
By Crooner May 19, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Wrong, wrong. Chick could just be try to turn her husband on by getting a lap dance at a strip club.
And, BTW, you can always trust strippers to speak the truth. Most of them are just working their way through pharmacy school. The cocaine is just part of a school project.
By cash May 19, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Okay, then if a man got a lap dance from another man, what would you think?
By cash May 19, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Did Nikki go to the VIP room? You know where you pay and get extra.
By Mike Traynor May 19, 2011 at 4:52 pm
You really can’t make up shit like this.
By stimulus May 19, 2011 at 5:07 pm
she is a stupid ugly bitch!
By dwb619 May 19, 2011 at 5:32 pm
Waiting for NIMRATA and Palin to make a sex tape.
You betcha’!
By Wilber Force May 19, 2011 at 5:58 pm
This should be on FOX!
By south mauldin May 19, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Only losers go to breast taverns.
By Matt May 19, 2011 at 6:27 pm
How the hell would a Myrtle Beach stripper remember who she gave a lap dance to two years ago? How would she remember enough to identify Marchant from a photo? You know how many lap dances these sloots give in a two year period?
By Rock Star May 19, 2011 at 6:37 pm
This is a story that can be easily proved or disproved by the media doing its job and asking the right questions. First of all, all strip clubs video tape inside and outside for numerous reasons including security and liability. Secondly, the mainstream media can ask Governor Haley on the record if she has ever been to a titty bar with her husband and another married man, where all three got VIP treatment and lap dances. The governor can either publicly deny or admit. Finally, the media can go to the titty bar and interview the managers, dancers and patrons, and get Larry on the record as well. This is the story where we find out if the mainstream media is incompetant, lazy or indifferent.
By Pomegranate May 19, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Clearly this is not normal behavior for a husband and wife to engage in if it is true. I could never imagine going to a strip club and eating a steak or having a few drinks with my husband and a male friend. It just “reeks of all that is wrong”with the governor. In fact, I wouldn’t want to be privy to knowing whether my husband frequented those kinds of establishments if he does. This is just bizarre and outlandish!
By Mrs. Ethel Krabitz May 19, 2011 at 7:11 pm
How freakin’ cheesy…going to a titty bar! Don’t these poor hicks know that high end strippers will make house calls? The Haley’s gap in knowledge is so shameful for S.C.
By Brian May 19, 2011 at 7:25 pm
“Our founding editor” is a worthless piece o’ crap.
By Billy Bob May 19, 2011 at 8:53 pm
I just want to throw up thinking about this!! Ugly people having sex?? Arrrrgh!!
By Perception is Everything May 19, 2011 at 11:02 pm
It doesn’t matter if this and the other Haley stories are true or not. What matters is that people believe her character is flawed.
By jackie May 19, 2011 at 11:14 pm
Sweet Jesus – I’m looking back on Mark and Andre’ as the good ole days.
By BIN News Editorial Staff May 20, 2011 at 12:16 am
jackie,
Our Funding Editor read your post about Markie and Andre’ a few minutes ago.
She said it gave her a vision of MarkieMark and Andre’ the Giantless giving each other a table dance.
That made her throw up her last 3 Metamucil and triple Black Jack cocktails into her pantyhose. Her Chief of Stiff will be up hours tonight cleaning up that mess.
BIN News
Flair and Balanced
By snarkycondition May 20, 2011 at 8:18 am
Speaking of missing Andre
Everyone knows Andre worked the office on aging.
Can the same be said of his successor?
Sic has discussed how Nikki Haley has grown her office salaries by $247,000, but while Ard’s total payroll may be down since he has purged the office of Andre Bauer people (39 today versus 42 last fall), he has generously increased individual salaries. His chief of staff is Myrtle Beach’s Brant Brantham, now being paid $110,000 vs. the $95,000 paid Bauer’s last chief of Jim Miles, who had served three terms as SC secretary of state. Ard’s Office on Aging director Tony Kester is making $105,000 versus the $93,000 Bauer paid Curtis Loftis to be his aging director.
Meanwhile, half a dozen of the senior managers at Ard’s Office on Aging have received a $1,000 raise – as they cut back services to seniors due to budget cuts. Why are they, Kester and Brantham being paid more to do less?
In other words, a significant number of 85-year-old widows are missing a $5 per day Meals on Wheels so that more than $30,000 can go to the fat cats. All this in a time that the Office on Aging budget has been cut by more than $1 million.
Ard’s ready excuse is that he can say that he has cut staff, and that those “savings” are funding the bureaucrats’ raises. If you are cutting staff, why not use those “savings” to do your job of being the state’s statutorily designated advocate for the elderly and the administrator of nutrition programs that feed lonely, elderly, frail people?
Another question is why is the Office on Aging not observing Older South Carolinians month? Last year, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer issued a proclamation, led his annual senior wellness walk at the State Capitol, and handed out the annual aging leadership awards. Curiously, there is no mention this month of any organized activities conducted by the Office on Aging. Check this at the SC Access calendar on the Office on Aging website by going to https://scaccess.communityos.org/core/dates.taf?function=form
You’d think that with all the raises being thrown around at the Office on Aging some of these well-heeled bureaucrats might think about doing their jobs. Are they keeping Ard in the dark about his aging advocacy responsibilities — just like they are keeping those elderly widows in the dark?
Former Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and Governor Sanford before him held events every year to commemorate May as Older South Carolinians Month. This year’s silence by Ard’s crowd is absolutely deafening.
By Alfred Wilde May 20, 2011 at 8:32 am
FITS News now takes the word of an anonymous woman who claims to masturbate drunken men for a living to smear a conservative Republican Governor? One needs to take a shower after reading such excrement.
By Wesley's Dick May 20, 2011 at 8:39 am
I was there, in the ladies restroom stall number 4. I had to be ready anytime Nikki needed release.
By Thad's Dick May 20, 2011 at 8:40 am
I was there, but nobody would let me out.
By Larry's Dick May 20, 2011 at 8:40 am
I was there too, but Big Mike kept his eye on me.
By Earl's Dick May 20, 2011 at 8:41 am
I was at home.
By SCSPAN May 20, 2011 at 8:49 am
I like jackie’s comment, although I really don’t miss those tools, but I agree that Mark and Andre would not have given us these problems. Mark was too cheap for strip clubs, and Andre wouldn’t be caught dead in one unless it was a male review lock-in.
By SC Southpaw May 20, 2011 at 9:44 am
Family Values!!
By Rylyn May 20, 2011 at 9:50 am
If this were any previous Governor we would not even be thinking about this. But, Because we have a female Governor she is held to a different standard. I will take bet that most, if not every Governor and a good number of legislators have frequented strip clubs “with lobbyist”. The difference here is they didn’t bother to take their spouse with them. What really makes this different is you have some people who are still obsessed with Nikki Haley and cannot get over the fact that it’s OVER!
She has been Governor for 5 months. We have passed Transparency, Voter ID, Cabinet post have been filled with excellant people. We have new industry coming to South Carolina (and I am not talking about Amazon). Have things been perfect – probably not but that is a lot to accomplish in the first five months of a first term Governor who is bashed on a daily basis with things that wouldn’t even make a crap if she were a “good ole boy”!
By cash May 20, 2011 at 9:54 am
I know her children must be proud. NOT!!!
By Shocked May 20, 2011 at 10:19 am
Rylyn, Shut Up.
By Rylyn May 20, 2011 at 10:41 am
Shocked – No
By Shocked May 20, 2011 at 10:55 am
Rylyn, she is a “good ole boy” in a skirt. Obviously, she has some masculine tendencies, so as I said before: shut up.
By cash May 20, 2011 at 11:02 am
Is she bisexual? How many women request lap dances from other women?
By Shocked May 20, 2011 at 11:07 am
Actually, all people fall on a continuum of 0-10 in terms of their sexuality. There are very few people who are a 0 (100 % Hetero) or a 10 (100% Homo), so there is a good chance that she does have some bisexual tendencies, as most people.
By south mauldin May 20, 2011 at 11:19 am
I have bisexual tendencies every time that picture of Larry Martin pops up on the sidebar.
By Rylyn May 20, 2011 at 11:23 am
So shocked as I said before No – I pretty much think this is an open blog and anyone can speak so I’ll type away and say what I like defending who I like when I like and you can continue to bash who you like when you like! I really don’t care. I bet you even went to a strip club before – probably even had a lap dance – heck you may even be 52.80% homosexual – I don’t care!!! But I’m not going to “shut up” because some one named “Shocked” told me too!
By cash May 20, 2011 at 11:45 am
Rylyn speak freely, as freedom is a beautiful thing. Fits News is the best. Never let anyone tell you what you can or cannot say. Blog on!
By Earl's Dick May 20, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Oooooo, ooooooo, That Rylyn is starting to make me throb. Where are you from dear????
By Robert Jones May 20, 2011 at 12:02 pm
I’m lovin Nikki more and more.
By cash May 20, 2011 at 12:31 pm
There are many bisexual women who are moms and wives.
By Titanic Tom May 20, 2011 at 12:41 pm
Tip of the berg. Many folks in Lexington have known about these two for a long time, and are keeping quiet.
They make Bridget Keeny look like a prude.
That’s quite a Gov you 51% voted for.
Never a dull moment in SC politics.
By Earl's Dick May 20, 2011 at 12:48 pm
I’ve never admitted to testing Nikki’s temperature…..never. But I hear she is one hot spot.
By Crooner May 20, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Double standard: women can be bi, men cannot.
By G.L. May 20, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Serious question. I read on the wikipedia that Sihks do not shave any of their body hair. Is this true?
By Rylyn May 20, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Men really are bi – It is just more acceptable for women to be but only “sleezy” women! Not elected official women! Elected official men on the other hand can be womanizing sleeze bags and get re-elected (Bill Clinton) for instance but women who go to strip clubs with their spouse are BAD people! I am not avocating going to stip clubs with or without your spouse but who really gives a hip hip hooray unless it is someone who wishes they had been there with the Elected Official!
Once again – Get Over it! I’m glad someone is out having some fun for a change! I little kinky for my taste but who am I to judge? – That’s “shocked”‘s job!
By Earl's Dick May 20, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Right, Sikhs do NOT shave, but then again…..Nikki is no Sikh. Sic says she has a balled bugger and swallows the whole load. Wow.
By sick of your sikh denial May 20, 2011 at 2:56 pm
How many women has she had an “inappropriate relationship” with? Give me your thoughts on this.
By Gary May 20, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Another Big Bold Faced lie sourced from so called “unnamed anonymous sources” by Will Folks, writhing with pain, humiliation, envy and jealousy.
I wonder how you will feel if some one put up a website where your wife, who I assume may be nice, decent human being- but is daily humiliated/slandered and debased by such made up/baseless stories simply to get some extra hits.
By A/S/L May 21, 2011 at 8:04 am
There are many married bi men
By Prince Poppycock May 21, 2011 at 8:58 am
Oh Gary…….let’s see, Nikki allegedly gives nice head, a decent Hershey Highway ride, and is questionably human.
By I can't believe this May 22, 2011 at 11:41 am
Who gives a crap//// That was two years ago…. What about Now
YOur MAn Sanford was bangin away on the state tit and nothing happened….
Obviously, you have an axe to grind…. propabally because you supported the looser in the Gov. Election… so now you are determined to destroy anyone in your path…
You are a VERY SMALL person….
By Really? May 22, 2011 at 12:34 pm
If her knees were like her elbows, you could shag the pictured dancer from behind missionary style.
By TJ May 22, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Who gives a crap? Maybe the people who supported her and are now finding out they were lied to about the sort of person she is. Two years ago isn’t exactly ancient history…
By Your worst nightmare May 22, 2011 at 8:22 pm
You know what I hear, Will? You dish it but you can’t take it. Let’s test that. Or better yet, let’s test your clients. Howie Rich has been paying you and Larry for years. Of course he “confirmed” your account. He’ll “confirm” whatever he’s told, and so will you. Pity that whole Andre thing didn’t shake out for you.
Do your clients know what you’ve been up to lately? Stay tuned, people….stay tuned. PS: No one reads this webstite except college boys surfing celeb porn. And a few of us who have nothing better to do than screw with overpaid political hacks like you. We don’t get paid by anyone. We’ve got nothing to lose. You, on the other hand….like I said, stay tuned.
Hope your clients can take the heat.
By William Hamilton June 1, 2011 at 9:56 am
Hard proof is in order. Of course ending healthcare for tens of thousands of South Carolinians is more important, but sex sells.