Recently, FITS reported on a state government audit of the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR).
While this report uncovered several serious problems at the agency, it was by no means a seismic scandal – and probably would have vanished into the ether of last week’s internet news were it not for the agency’s colossally-misguided response.
For starters, LLR has refused numerous requests for information from FITS. Seriously – they won’t even return our calls. Second, the agency banned our website the day after we reported on the audit – a ham-fisted effort to shield its employees from the truth (and “send us a message,” according to one source at the agency).
Anyway, we’re used to being cut off by “government sources.” And we’re used to state agencies banning us – which in addition to contributing to our daily “five p.m. surge” strikes us as a sign that we’re doing our jobs (unlike a lot of other media outlets in this state).
But LLR’s response has created another surge – a literal barrage of leaks from numerous sources within the agency alerting us to additional scandals.
We’re used to having one or two moles at the various state agencies in Columbia, but within the last week we might as well have opened a “mole farm” at LLR.
Seriously … it’s raining incriminating information, and we’re going to be bringing everything that we can independently confirm to you just as soon as we’re able to independently confirm it.
One scoop we received on Friday morning involves a list of individuals who obtained or are suspected of obtaining their professional licenses through the SC Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation via fraudulent means. Even after LLR discovered the fraud, it not only renewed the licenses in question – but actually endorsed letters of verification that were sent to other states permitting some of these individuals to obtain licenses there.
The list of nearly 300 names – most of them Vietnamese Americans – was included in a settlement reached between the agency and a former employee at the World Beauty School in Greenville, S.C. You can access the list (in the form it was provided by the agency) by clicking this settlement agreement.
Obviously, we think it’s ridiculous that the state of South Carolina requires people to obtain a professional license (for a fee) prior to cutting hair or giving manicures for a living. That’s a perfect example of government overstepping its bounds – to say nothing of the state ripping off the private sector “because it can.”
Even worse than such a ridiculous requirement (and fee), though, is the fact that taxpayers are subsidizing a “protection” that they aren’t even receiving. Seriously … we’re all for government not enforcing ridiculous laws like this, but the reason we support such regulatory relief is that we want to see a corresponding reduction in bureaucracy and taxpayer expense.
LLR is (or in this case, was) getting paid NOT to enforce a bogus requirement.
A spokeswoman for S.C. LLR did not immediately respond to our request for comment regarding the list. Neither did S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley’s office – which oversees the agency.
We expect to see a lot more of that stonewalling as we delve deeper into this agency in the coming weeks, but despite their attitude towards this website, FITS will continue to give both LLR director Catherine Templeton and the governor’s office every opportunity to explain their position on these matters to our readers.
UPDATE: For those of you technical “abbreviationazis,” a “knock” list refers to “Non Official Cover (NOC).” It’s a CIA term for agents who are employed in non-governmental spy roles.
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By tammy July 29, 2011 at 11:20 am
Considering the failures we’ve seen from the LRR in Spartanburg (especially in regard to the Cleveland Train accident), somehow this doesn’t surprise me.
By cash July 29, 2011 at 11:25 am
Asians obtained by fraudulent means. Isn’t Haley Asian? Seems to be a pattern.
By lexconserve July 29, 2011 at 11:58 am
Why does Catherine Templeton bring her kids to work with her? Doesn’t she only come in a couple days a week as it is?
By jimlewis,owb July 29, 2011 at 12:40 pm
She is fucking special, that is why.
State Employees are now divided into two distinct groups.
The first group are those employees who have to follow all rules of leave, time and attendance or they will be kick to the curb like a dirty mangy flea bitten dog.
The second group are the Courtesans and Eunuchs such as Templeton and Pearson who do what the fuck they want to do.
Roll on Lizard Queen, Gypsy Queen, Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, Nikki R. Haley, José Jiménez or whoever the hell you are, dammit roll on.
By Concerned July 29, 2011 at 2:35 pm
LLR has problems for sure. I sent FITSnews an e-mail a few days ago with some information on what appears to be fraudulent activity by a former LLR investigator. I don’t know if he will do anything with it however….
By cash July 29, 2011 at 3:42 pm
I want to work 2 days a week, make $174K a year and bring my kids with me. What’s wrong with that? Wow, $200 per hour isn’t bad pay. Is it?
By eggaday July 29, 2011 at 5:30 pm
*run for cover* concerned! run~
By Frank Wilson July 29, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Timmy P., I know all about Pa. and NY. Call me ASAP.
By TURBINATOR July 29, 2011 at 7:05 pm
Haley has publicly stated …..”she and Templeton (P.T.T.Part-Time Templeton her favorite cabnet Director) are exactly the same”…..WOW.. P.T.T. and her cronnies @ LLR, (a major back story is forthcuming), have destroyed a state agency… and she only works Part-time mind you…thank God she does not work full-time…God bless the employees still @ LLR. Help them FITS…
By I Call BS July 30, 2011 at 7:29 am
LLR is like most of Sanford’s Cabinet agencies, just worse. 8 years of mismanagement and neglect and you people think it can be fixed in just a few months? We finally have a leader here at LLR, but you are gonna keep hearing people bitch about Templeton because she is getting rid of dead weight, incompetents, and crooks. She still has poison in the general counsels office. My guess is that’s where a lot of this crap is coming from. Pretty sure I know who turbinator is and I think I got a line on one other poster who still works here. Your comments say more than you think. Idiots.
By overitall July 30, 2011 at 9:26 am
Templeton not only got rid of dead weight, incompetents, and crooks but she also got rid of dedicated, hard working employees and in turn kept a healthy dose of dead weight, incompetents, and crooks. How former assistant deputy director David Christian was allowed to stay on premises while other employees were let go is beyond me. Templeton is nothing more than a puppet of Haley’s so yes go ahead a commend her as she operates with the hand of the governor elbow deep in her ass. Kudos.
By losingfaithrapidly July 30, 2011 at 12:56 pm
overitall…your right, of all the people gone from LLR, some bad, but overwhelming, very good people, fired, demoted or forced to leave on one level of another, i can not believe that David Christian is still allowed on these premises. The entire audit was brought on because of his failures and overwhelming ego. While i agree there is always dead weight in government agencies, templeton has lost alot of great employees…and they ranged from receptionist positions to legal and everywhere in between, and most of those were not the problem…the problems are still there and as far as i can see, there has been zero strides in helping to point things in a different direction. As to the jest of this article, the people of SC should be very angry that LLR is knowingly allowing fraudently licensed people to continue to work in this state. Boards are in place to properly license industry and protect the publics safety…and yes, tremendous harm can result in the cosmetology industry…death has even occured, more than once sadly..sorry Sic…it does happen, believe me, its more than just a bad haircut or badly polished nails. And when the nail tech can’t read the ingredient list on the bottle of nail product that your child just swallowed, your going to lose a child…just like the child killed on the train in Spartanburg…a tragedy that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
By Nikki's Twitter July 30, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Get excited. I am fabulous. My breasts real. My box hot. Gamecocks huge. Makes box wet. Vicki helping my stress. Tim’s awesome back-rubs. Mike’s great fishing. Gresham poor loser. Veteran’s help themselves. Bisexuals great. Debt wins. I am white. NAACP is wrong. A wonderful day to be the beautiful me. I am great for me, SC, and America.
By Soft Sigh from Hell July 30, 2011 at 4:34 pm
I have wondered why someone has not yet put up a site (or maybe just as part of a site, say here) with an area for comments and scuttlebutt from, or about, each SC agency and board. It might need a bit more moderating, to glean out what posts should better be saved temporarily as tips from those posts that are simply fair comments or descriptions. It could definitely give indigestion–or a hotfoot–to a lot of high-up gasbags, preeners, goldbricks, fools, and dregs, not to mention incompetents, kept stooges and squeezes, hatchetmen, and crooks.
By turbinator July 30, 2011 at 5:45 pm
BS, are we suppose to be frightened that u may or may not know our identity? Please, please
Don’t fire us….if you think P.T.T is a leader of state employees at a major department,I’ve got to wonder why u have been smoking today. Give me a call if ur sure of my identity and i’ll buy u dinner and we can discuss, your choice of restaurant. Ask questions….demand ….answers…
By Mr. Anonymous July 30, 2011 at 9:40 pm
Thanks for bringing us [the public] this information, but can you please cutoff the Licensees SSN? Poor judgement in including that portion. It’s not necessary & you wouldn’t want your personal information put out there like this either.
By I Call BS July 31, 2011 at 2:21 am
Stay close to the phone
By david July 31, 2011 at 6:42 am
LLR exists for competition protection, not consumer protection. Licences are required to make it harder to get into the business. I know in my field, there are convicted felons walking around with licences even though LLR was notified. My trade association, however, strongly supports licencing to “protect the consumer”.
By losingfaithrapidly July 31, 2011 at 9:17 am
David…please…competition protection??? come on now…sounds like you are afraid of competition. All licenses determine minimal competency to ensure public safety…period. As for felons, sure there are convicted felons, in ALL fields. Do you think just because someone is convicted of a DUI they should lose their license to practice? Heck, many of these fields that require a license to practice are taught in our prison systems so that they can earn a living upon release. Now, if they are a convicted pedophile wanting to obtain licensure within a field that would put them near children…say, cosmetology, then absolutely licensure could be withheld, but not because they are convicted of many other things.
By Caramel July 31, 2011 at 11:09 am
I realize people have the tendancy to talk without knowing all the facts, which can be very damaging. Catherine came into LLR with less on her lips. She did for some useless scum, but the majority were hard working people, who came to work, took the time to read the laws and regulations. Which I remind is put into place to “protect sc citizens”, and keep alot of other ethnic groups out, like the accountancy board. After doing some research david christian was called downtown because of following the laws and regulation voted on by the great people of this state. Not only that his predecessors did not and they didn’t try to hide their racist actions toward anyone that wasn’t licking their tail or in their “good old boys club”. I also found out people that were working at LLR for over 20 years were getting paid way less than their counter parts (white) that didn’t do a 1/3 of the work the should have been doing, nor could they explain the reasoning behind alot of their actions…their is definitely more to this story, which is wrapped on lies, deceit, and racism
By Nikki's Twitter July 31, 2011 at 11:41 am
Get excited. Complete silence about Will Folk’s lies and fictitious accusations PROVES I’ve always been truthful and faithful about everything. A wonderful day to be the beautiful me. I am great for me, SC, and America.
By Frankly My Dear July 31, 2011 at 1:33 pm
LLR employees, you were done in by a former coworker who was an investigator a few years back and now works in a similar job in another agency. Apparently he was friends with PTT, and met with her and the Gov long before PTT’s appt.
By cash July 31, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Part-time and brings the kids to work while LLR emplyees get their pay chopped. What a role model.
By Mediaeval SC July 31, 2011 at 4:38 pm
“LLR exists for competition protection, not consumer protection. Licences are required to make it harder to get into the business.”
Absolutely true in some and perhaps many of the boards. It is the ancient guild system rewrote. “Soil Classifiers” is one of the worst examples, preserving for themselves required work that many engineers, geologists, and agronimists (and even just plain reasonably skilled farmers) could do as well and as readily.
Try to get a septic tank permit for a slightly troublesome site without one of these protected parasites being paid big money because of little competition.
By John July 31, 2011 at 4:43 pm
any close investigation of anything Haley touches will show it to be a fraud.
By Mediaeval SC July 31, 2011 at 5:11 pm
The CHAIRMAN of one of the boards turned in falsified data in an official report to a state agency, for which he also was paid state tax money I believe. A diligent staff member caught the lie and reported it but the cowards in state management refused to go after him (he is one of their favorites). Their excuse was “it wasn’t provably illegal” which conveniently ignored the fact that an ethical violation is “actionable” too in a licensed profession.
By losingfaithrapidly July 31, 2011 at 6:57 pm
mediaeval…last time i checked, anyone call file a complaint with the ethics commission…doesnt have to be LLR staff. If you’ve got the proof to back up your allegations, file a complaint, otherwise its another foundless allegation.
By I Call BS July 31, 2011 at 7:58 pm
Hey Caramel, LLR hasn’t been in existence 20 yrs. And you had an African American Director for the past 8 yrs. Make up some better bullshit. Typical pattern emerging here. People can’t get away with their incompetence and illegal activity anymore so they make stuff up on blogs. At least you aren’t one of the LLR lawyers who post on here.
By Lewis July 31, 2011 at 10:46 pm
I was in the legal office at LLR last week. It was a hell of a time – trying to decide which shade of taupe to paint the walls. Who THE HELL HIRED THOSE QUEENS!!!!!
By Nikki's my bitch August 1, 2011 at 10:12 am
Look at all those Social Security Numbers ripe for the taking…
By cash August 1, 2011 at 10:25 am
Bet her dad is chomping at the bit.
By Mediaeval SC August 1, 2011 at 8:04 pm
An unproved allegation on Fits!? Zounds! Tell me it isn’t so.
Anyway, the ethics complaint would normally go to the professional board, and he heads it. But you raise an interesting alternative: the Ethics Commission. Hmmm . . . maybe a possibility.
Also, you might review the precise definition of “foundless.”
By Wake up and smell the coffee August 1, 2011 at 9:09 pm
I’ve never read so many lies. Whiners! The most egregious of those is “Part Time Templeton.” Anyone who has worked with Mrs. Templeton over the years or at LLR knows that she’s more “Around the Clock and Works on Weekends Templeton.” She’s done more in 6 months than anyone thought humanly possible and she’ll continue to clean up the mess she inherited. The LAC report and the above-mentioned nail debacle were things that happened during the previous administration. She’s having to clean out years of wrongdoing and corruption. Give the lady a chance. And, by the way, she doesn’t make $174,000 and she does not bring her children to work with her.
By brown sugar August 8, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Well, a lot of things said about LLR is true. No matter where you work, there will always be unfairness.