S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson has issued a cease and desist order against a professor at the University of South Carolina Upstate accused of selling unregistered securities.
Wilson’s order notes that the professor – Richard “Ric” Routh – has not registered his business with either the S.C. Secretary of State’s office or the South Carolina Securities Division.
“We always try to quickly warn South Carolinians when an investment is not complying with state law,” Wilson said in a prepared statement. “That is why we ordered this company to stop offering securities in South Carolina.”
Routh’s business – which he has reportedly been using taxpayer resources to promote – was first exposed in this exclusive report published by FITS. A follow-up report revealed the extent to which Routh – who draws a $66,861 salary from taxpayers to teach students “business informatics” at USC-Upstate – was leveraging taxpayer time, facilities and equipment to promote his business.
In fact we’ve subsequently received reports of Routh using USC-Upstate students to perform functions related to his business – which is ironic considering the extent he ridiculed these students in one of his promotional videos.
“More than one-third of them are incapable of figuring out what 10 percent of a billion dollars is,” Routh said in one of the videos. “Most of them have no clue that you need to collect 1,000 different piles of a billion dollars in each pile in order to have a trillion dollars.”
He later adds that “these same students have no idea that we even have a separation of powers in our federal government, or why that is historically important.”
***
54 comments
Do readers actually buy into this? While it might be true Wilson is doing something about one puny professor, SO WHAT??? Appears a transparent attempt to get support for Wilson. Don’t report about Wilson’s role as defendant for violating FOIA and refusing to disclose McMaster’s agreement in Brown case. Never mind investigating Wilson’s campaign; and reporting real data on how he uses his money for the Repub party instead of citizen needs; his lack of performance fighting public corruption and supporting FOIA.
No wonder SC is a laughingstock. It wouldn’t be so ridiculous if FITS didn’t have the word ‘news’ in the title.
Fits thinks Wilson is doing a “good “job.
Yah. Good to FITS? Awww, Wilson said pwetty puffy words. Awww, hurts FITS head to read accountability report, look at Wilson’s budget. Ohhh, look at dancing of the pwetty empty flaccid politicians FITS!!!! Just the kind you like!!
Slapping the P!$$ out of this Liberal punk Idiot Elitist is very symbolic. It will make Wilson a Hero to those of us who see liberals at university robbing us blind, and polluting the minds of students…while we pay them to pontificate leftwing ignorance that has to be -de-programmed to make students functional.
I am not convinced the Big T personna is not an avatar FITS is using to entice responses. Supposing this is a real person: Symbolism is empty and irrelevant. Performance is all that counts. Resting one’s opinion of Wilson’s job performance on this one instance is tantamount to being led by a ring in the nose. In the real world, job performance is indicated by a pattern. People who are foolishly led by their own bias jump to emotional conclusions based on one event.
ALAN WILSON – LARGEST CAMPAIGN FAILURE IN MORE THAN 12 YEARS
S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson Failed to Report $134K in Campaign Funds
By Corey Hutchins
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
South Carolina’s Republican attorney general, Alan Wilson, failed to report $134,000 in campaign donations and payments two years ago, something that’s just now come to light. He amended his ethics disclosure reports to correct the errors last week.
Because he self-reported what his campaign characterizes as “simple clerical or scrivener’s errors,” Alan Wilson will face no late-filing penalties, according to the S.C. Ethics Commission. Officials there will run a report to make sure there aren’t any further discrepancies. But they will not request bank records from Alan Wilson’s campaign, and cannot investigate what happened without a formal complaint.
Alan Wilson’s is the largest campaign reporting error the ethics agency has seen in more than a dozen years.
As attorney general, Alan Wilson is the state’s top prosecutor and is in charge of enforcing the state’s ethics laws. Last year he toured the state with Gov. Nikki Haley touting an ethics reform plan, and he’s been asking lawmakers to create a Public Integrity Unit to help streamline ethics investigations. He recently asked the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate the campaign finances of GOP House Speaker Bobby Harrell; and last year, he prosecuted ex-GOP Lt. Gov. Ken Ard for orchestrating an illegal campaign finance scheme.
Alan Wilson’s own campaign finances came into question after Free Times reported on a campaign donation he’d received from Harrell, but failed to report. Wilson immediately said he’d return the money to neutralize the appearance of any conflict of interest in the Harrell matter. Alan Wilson’s campaign then found more than a dozen more unreported donations and hired an accountant to review all of Alan Wilson’s campaign filings. The accountant found much more missing money: 68 donations totaling $66,890, and payments to 16 vendors totaling $66,797. The accountant is still looking.
“Wilson believes it’s important to lead by example. He could easily have asked the campaign to correct the handful of errors that were initially found and stopped with that,” said his campaign chairman Thad Westbrook in a statement.
The initial unreported campaign filings stemmed from how Wilson paid for his inaugural ball in January 2011, after his election in 2010. Typically, campaigns set up an independent committee to fund their inaugural parties. That way, donors don’t have to worry about exceeding campaign finance limits. But Wilson’s team decided to fund the gala through his campaign account, Thad Westbrook said.
Outgoing South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian said he wants the Ethics Commission to investigate whether Alan Wilson’s campaign broke any laws.
“Who investigates the investigator?” Harpootlian said. “It’s troubling to have the guy who is supposed to enforce the ethics law violating the ethics law.”
Harpootlian says his party is calling on Alan Wilson to voluntarily request that the ethics agency investigate beyond what Wilson self-reported to make sure his campaign didn’t violate the law. If he declines, Harpootlian said the party would file an ethics complaint.
http://www.free-times.com/news/s.c.-attorney-general-alan-wilson-failed-to-report-134k-in-campaign-funds
Do readers actually buy into this? While it might be true Wilson is doing something about one puny professor, SO WHAT??? Appears a transparent attempt to get support for Wilson. Don’t report about Wilson’s role as defendant for violating FOIA and refusing to disclose McMaster’s agreement in Brown case. Never mind investigating Wilson’s campaign; and reporting real data on how he uses his money for the Repub party instead of citizen needs; his lack of performance fighting public corruption and supporting FOIA.
No wonder SC is a laughingstock. It wouldn’t be so ridiculous if FITS didn’t have the word ‘news’ in the title.
Fits thinks Wilson is doing a “good “job.
Yah. Good to FITS? Awww, Wilson said pwetty puffy words. Awww, hurts FITS head to read accountability report, look at Wilson’s budget. Ohhh, look at dancing of the pwetty empty flaccid politicians FITS!!!! Just the kind you like!!
Slapping the P!$$ out of this Liberal punk Idiot Elitist is very symbolic. It will make Wilson a Hero to those of us who see liberals at university robbing us blind, and polluting the minds of students…while we pay them to pontificate leftwing ignorance that has to be -de-programmed to make students functional.
I am not convinced the Big T personna is not an avatar FITS is using to entice responses. Supposing this is a real person: Symbolism is empty and irrelevant. Performance is all that counts. Resting one’s opinion of Wilson’s job performance on this one instance is tantamount to being led by a ring in the nose. In the real world, job performance is indicated by a pattern. People who are foolishly led by their own bias jump to emotional conclusions based on one event.
ALAN WILSON – LARGEST CAMPAIGN FAILURE IN MORE THAN 12 YEARS
S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson Failed to Report $134K in Campaign Funds
By Corey Hutchins
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
South Carolina’s Republican attorney general, Alan Wilson, failed to report $134,000 in campaign donations and payments two years ago, something that’s just now come to light. He amended his ethics disclosure reports to correct the errors last week.
Because he self-reported what his campaign characterizes as “simple clerical or scrivener’s errors,” Alan Wilson will face no late-filing penalties, according to the S.C. Ethics Commission. Officials there will run a report to make sure there aren’t any further discrepancies. But they will not request bank records from Alan Wilson’s campaign, and cannot investigate what happened without a formal complaint.
Alan Wilson’s is the largest campaign reporting error the ethics agency has seen in more than a dozen years.
As attorney general, Alan Wilson is the state’s top prosecutor and is in charge of enforcing the state’s ethics laws. Last year he toured the state with Gov. Nikki Haley touting an ethics reform plan, and he’s been asking lawmakers to create a Public Integrity Unit to help streamline ethics investigations. He recently asked the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate the campaign finances of GOP House Speaker Bobby Harrell; and last year, he prosecuted ex-GOP Lt. Gov. Ken Ard for orchestrating an illegal campaign finance scheme.
Alan Wilson’s own campaign finances came into question after Free Times reported on a campaign donation he’d received from Harrell, but failed to report. Wilson immediately said he’d return the money to neutralize the appearance of any conflict of interest in the Harrell matter. Alan Wilson’s campaign then found more than a dozen more unreported donations and hired an accountant to review all of Alan Wilson’s campaign filings. The accountant found much more missing money: 68 donations totaling $66,890, and payments to 16 vendors totaling $66,797. The accountant is still looking.
“Wilson believes it’s important to lead by example. He could easily have asked the campaign to correct the handful of errors that were initially found and stopped with that,” said his campaign chairman Thad Westbrook in a statement.
The initial unreported campaign filings stemmed from how Wilson paid for his inaugural ball in January 2011, after his election in 2010. Typically, campaigns set up an independent committee to fund their inaugural parties. That way, donors don’t have to worry about exceeding campaign finance limits. But Wilson’s team decided to fund the gala through his campaign account, Thad Westbrook said.
Outgoing South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian said he wants the Ethics Commission to investigate whether Alan Wilson’s campaign broke any laws.
“Who investigates the investigator?” Harpootlian said. “It’s troubling to have the guy who is supposed to enforce the ethics law violating the ethics law.”
Harpootlian says his party is calling on Alan Wilson to voluntarily request that the ethics agency investigate beyond what Wilson self-reported to make sure his campaign didn’t violate the law. If he declines, Harpootlian said the party would file an ethics complaint.
http://www.free-times.com/news/s.c.-attorney-general-alan-wilson-failed-to-report-134k-in-campaign-funds
Wilson should stop wasting his time investigating this Mickey-Mouse stuff and tell us what he’s doing to investigate the Wolf, Bobby Harrell.
He’ll never do it. He’s a politician, not a public servant. Citizens voted him in on a political platform, people like the author of this article won’t, or can’t, review Wilson’s performance according to what a servant should be doing (following the rules of his job). Wilson will never go against his party cronies by doing anything real about Harrel. Just like SLED’s investigation on Harrel. SLED isn’t reliable. Obviously, there are citizens who let themselves be bamboozled with the stupidity in this piece, or FITS wouldn’t keep publishing such garbage.
Kat, what is this “flaccid” business? Did you learn this word today? Did it come up during a conversation at breakfast this morning (oops, that doesn’t make sense, does it?) Good word, but don’t overuse it!
As usual shifty, love your refreshing posts! Thank you, hard to see my own stuff so I appreciate the insight. I’m sure I’m overusing the word cause when I’m writing about Wilson and his ilk, I get the picture they serve us with shriveled impotence, thus not at all. I need to expand my visual imagery.
You can expand your visual imagery with this word — “JUGLANDACEOUS” which is a recent word of the day from my on-line dictionary and thesaurus. It’s not what you may think.
Wilson should stop wasting his time investigating this Mickey-Mouse stuff and tell us what he’s doing to investigate the Wolf, Bobby Harrell.
He’ll never do it. He’s a politician, not a public servant. Citizens voted him in on a political platform, people like the author of this article won’t, or can’t, review Wilson’s performance according to what a servant should be doing (following the rules of his job). Wilson will never go against his party cronies by doing anything real about Harrel. Just like SLED’s investigation on Harrel. SLED isn’t reliable. Obviously, there are citizens who let themselves be bamboozled with the stupidity in this piece, or FITS wouldn’t keep publishing such garbage.
Kat, what is this “flaccid” business? Did you learn this word today? Did it come up during a conversation at breakfast this morning (oops, that doesn’t make sense, does it?) Good word, but don’t overuse it!
As usual shifty, love your refreshing posts! Thank you, hard to see my own stuff so I appreciate the insight. I’m sure I’m overusing the word cause when I’m writing about Wilson and his ilk, I get the picture they serve us with shriveled impotence, thus not at all. I need to expand my visual imagery.
You can expand your visual imagery with this word — “JUGLANDACEOUS” which is a recent word of the day from my on-line dictionary and thesaurus. It’s not what you may think.
Here’s a real story (dig into the whole ongoing saga about the flaccid Wilson, and his equally soft predecessor) that the equally flaccid FITS doesn’t know how, or won’t, report. Aww, Wilson your boo, FITS?
http://watchdogwire.com/blog/2013/03/19/james-brown-bombshell-ag-wilson-drops-out-of-lawsuit-filed-by-non-existent-legacy-trust/
Here’s a real story (dig into the whole ongoing saga about the flaccid Wilson, and his equally soft predecessor) that the equally flaccid FITS doesn’t know how, or won’t, report. Aww, Wilson your boo, FITS?
http://watchdogwire.com/blog/2013/03/19/james-brown-bombshell-ag-wilson-drops-out-of-lawsuit-filed-by-non-existent-legacy-trust/
ALAN WILSON’S CAMPAIGN FINANCES MELTDOWN – CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN THAD WESTBROOK CAN’T KEEP HIS STORIES STRAIGHT
Alan Wilson’s campaign left $134,000 off previous filings.
COLUMBIA, S.C. South Carolina’s top prosecutor amended his campaign filings Friday to account for $134,000 in donations and expenses previously unreported on disclosures surrounding his 2010 election win.
Attorney General Alan Wilson’s campaign chairman Thad Westbrook says NOW 68 donations and 16 payments NOT REPORTED
The 59 checks and nine online donations that came in after Wilson won the office totaled $66,890, The payments totaled $66,797
Thad Westbrook initially estimated that 10 to 15 donations were mistakenly unreported. That number represented other sponsors for Alan Wilson’s inaugural gala that were unaccounted for in his online filings.
But an independent accountant Alan Wilson’s campaign hired to review his account found many more deposits, checks, and expenses not reported.
WHERE’S THE REST OF THE MONEY?
10 TEN PLATINUM DONORS TIMES $10,000 EQUALS $100,000.00
4 FOUR GOLD DONORS TIMES $5,000.00 EQUALS $ 20,000.00
2 TIMES $3,500.00 Harrell cash EQUALS $7,000.00
For a grand total of $127,000.00
The campaign NOW reports $66, 890 in contributions previously unreported.
127, 000 – 66, 890 = $60,110.
Where is the other $60,110 ?
The Wilson campaign account is the perfect measurement for which outsiders can gauge the political establishment of SC. No one is responsible, the politican himself hides away and refuses to speak about this our other ethical lapses, and a volunteer is thrown under the bus.
And think about this; the lazy, unethical politican thought so little of his donars that he did not even notice that thier contributions were missing! People gave the SOB as much as $3500 a person and he never noticed they were not reported.
Why would anyone give him another dime?
“Why would anyone give him another dime?”
Q: Why did they give him a dime in the first place?
A: A fool and his money are soon parted.
could you tell us where this was reported
SECTION 8-13-1366. Public availability of certified campaign reports.
Certified campaign reports must be made available for public inspection at the office of the State Ethics Commission, the Senate Ethics Committee, the House of Representatives Ethics Committee, and the county clerk of court within two business days of receipt. The commission, ethics committees, and county clerks of court shall not require any information or identification as a condition of viewing a report or reports. The commission, ethics committees, and the county clerks of court must ensure that the reports are available for copying or purchase at a reasonable cost.
Thanks, I mean the info on the independent accountant. This is EXTREMELY interesting to me, I’d like to include the data sources in the preliminary performance review I have already done on Wilson.
Oh right, the phantom independent accountant. The trumped up independent accountant is a figment of their imagination, just like the phantom clerk that allegedly made all of the “human errors”.
Anyone who investigates Wilson’s campaign finances will find a cover-up on top of a cover-up and the so-called “independent” accountant, if there is one, would only report the data that was given to him/her from Wilson and Westbrook. If you saw them in a room together you would see a two-headed monster.
ALAN WILSON’S CAMPAIGN FINANCES MELTDOWN – CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN THAD WESTBROOK CAN’T KEEP HIS STORIES STRAIGHT
Alan Wilson’s campaign left $134,000 off previous filings.
COLUMBIA, S.C. South Carolina’s top prosecutor amended his campaign filings Friday to account for $134,000 in donations and expenses previously unreported on disclosures surrounding his 2010 election win.
Attorney General Alan Wilson’s campaign chairman Thad Westbrook says NOW 68 donations and 16 payments NOT REPORTED
The 59 checks and nine online donations that came in after Wilson won the office totaled $66,890, The payments totaled $66,797
Thad Westbrook initially estimated that 10 to 15 donations were mistakenly unreported. That number represented other sponsors for Alan Wilson’s inaugural gala that were unaccounted for in his online filings.
But an independent accountant Alan Wilson’s campaign hired to review his account found many more deposits, checks, and expenses not reported.
WHERE’S THE REST OF THE MONEY?
10 TEN PLATINUM DONORS TIMES $10,000 EQUALS $100,000.00
4 FOUR GOLD DONORS TIMES $5,000.00 EQUALS $ 20,000.00
2 TIMES $3,500.00 Harrell cash EQUALS $7,000.00
For a grand total of $127,000.00
The campaign NOW reports $66, 890 in contributions previously unreported.
127, 000 – 66, 890 = $60,110.
Where is the other $60,110 ?
The Wilson campaign account is the perfect measurement for which outsiders can gauge the political establishment of SC. No one is responsible, the politican himself hides away and refuses to speak about this our other ethical lapses, and a volunteer is thrown under the bus.
And think about this; the lazy, unethical politican thought so little of his donars that he did not even notice that thier contributions were missing! People gave the SOB as much as $3500 a person and he never noticed they were not reported.
Why would anyone give him another dime?
“Why would anyone give him another dime?”
Q: Why did they give him a dime in the first place?
A: A fool and his money are soon parted.
could you tell us where this was reported
SECTION 8-13-1366. Public availability of certified campaign reports.
Certified campaign reports must be made available for public inspection at the office of the State Ethics Commission, the Senate Ethics Committee, the House of Representatives Ethics Committee, and the county clerk of court within two business days of receipt. The commission, ethics committees, and county clerks of court shall not require any information or identification as a condition of viewing a report or reports. The commission, ethics committees, and the county clerks of court must ensure that the reports are available for copying or purchase at a reasonable cost.
Thanks, I mean the info on the independent accountant. This is EXTREMELY interesting to me, I’d like to include the data sources in the preliminary performance review I have already done on Wilson.
Oh right, the phantom independent accountant. The trumped up independent accountant is a figment of their imagination, just like the phantom clerk that allegedly made all of the “human errors”.
Anyone who investigates Wilson’s campaign finances will find a cover-up on top of a cover-up and the so-called “independent” accountant, if there is one, would only report the data that was given to him/her from Wilson and Westbrook. If you saw them in a room together you would see a two-headed monster.
Even script writers for Letterman and Leno can’t make up shit like this
You have an elected official who “oops” his bank account by $130,000+, sits on his ass while other elected/appointed officials rip off the Pension Fund, the Lt. Governor plays with his taxpayer funded steel dildo, the Speaker tells everyone to suck off and then he acts like George Patton jumping hedgerows as he goes after a Portly Ponzi Professor from Pacolet
Maybe karma will get Wilson’s Woodchuck Ass when he meets up with James Brown on the other side of the pond and Brown performs “Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine”, literally
Even script writers for Letterman and Leno can’t make up shit like this
You have an elected official who “oops” his bank account by $130,000+, sits on his ass while other elected/appointed officials rip off the Pension Fund, the Lt. Governor plays with his taxpayer funded steel dildo, the Speaker tells everyone to suck off and then he acts like George Patton jumping hedgerows as he goes after a Portly Ponzi Professor from Pacolet
Maybe karma will get Wilson’s Woodchuck Ass when he meets up with James Brown on the other side of the pond and Brown performs “Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine”, literally
Deflection from his own campaign finance issues. Who gives a shit?
Who is planning to run against him in 2014?
Deflection from his own campaign finance issues. Who gives a shit?
Who is planning to run against him in 2014?
Is this idiot still allowed to teach our students or is he suspended?
Is this idiot still allowed to teach our students or is he suspended?
Does Mr. Wilson finally have his campaign finances straight?
Does Mr. Wilson finally have his campaign finances straight?
Alan Wilson taking on the Liberal Elitist, failing academics will make Alan a HERO….It was Certainly an area where Sanford FAILED miserably…(though Sanford was great at talking the talk)…
A Vast majority of SC voters will Lavish any CONSERVATIVE who will OBLITERATE the left…Wilson may have figured that out…Haley sure is screwing up in that dept. w/ her 4-year-old K (government paid day care) stance…
Maybe Wilson will go after Haley in the GOP Primary…
Assigning characteristics to a human being based on membership in a group is bigotry. This avatar’s fondness for labels and frequency of using them as foundation for arguments reeks of FITS writers. Your sweeping assertions of future events, such as “a vast majority…” are personal speculations as to what may happen in the future. As such, these assertions are your own irrational emotional claims. If you had data on past events, a rational unemotional conclusion would be ” Based on x,y,z past data, it is likely event q will happen” Fighting and defending personal claims with nothing but attacks and other personal claims is the mark of emotionally skewed, untrained reasoning. Hence, my speculation this is a FITS writer.
Alan Wilson taking on the Liberal Elitist, failing academics will make Alan a HERO….It was Certainly an area where Sanford FAILED miserably…(though Sanford was great at talking the talk)…
A Vast majority of SC voters will Lavish any CONSERVATIVE who will OBLITERATE the left…Wilson may have figured that out…Haley sure is screwing up in that dept. w/ her 4-year-old K (government paid day care) stance…
Maybe Wilson will go after Haley in the GOP Primary…
Assigning characteristics to a human being based on membership in a group is bigotry. This avatar’s fondness for labels and frequency of using them as foundation for arguments reeks of FITS writers. Your sweeping assertions of future events, such as “a vast majority…” are personal speculations as to what may happen in the future. As such, these assertions are your own irrational emotional claims. If you had data on past events, a rational unemotional conclusion would be ” Based on x,y,z past data, it is likely event q will happen” Fighting and defending personal claims with nothing but attacks and other personal claims is the mark of emotionally skewed, untrained reasoning. Hence, my speculation this is a FITS writer.
You lie!
You lie!