SC

Group Could Spend $200,000 On Campaign To Oust Hugh Leatherman

POWERFUL S.C. SENATE LEADER COULD FACE WELL-FUNDED CHALLENGE THIS YEAR A group which which brands itself as a voice for fiscally conservative public policy is reportedly pledging to spend more than $200,000 on a campaign to unseat the most powerful politician in the Palmetto State. The S.C. Club for Growth – an arm…

POWERFUL S.C. SENATE LEADER COULD FACE WELL-FUNDED CHALLENGE THIS YEAR

A group which which brands itself as a voice for fiscally conservative public policy is reportedly pledging to spend more than $200,000 on a campaign to unseat the most powerful politician in the Palmetto State.

The S.C. Club for Growth – an arm of the national Club for Growth – wants to devote that sum in an effort to defeat liberal S.C. Senate president Hugh Leatherman, who has run unopposed in his last several elections.

Not only that, they’ve reportedly picked out their ideal candidate and conducted preliminary polling in the rural Senate District that Leatherman has represented for the past three-and-a-half decades.

Representatives of the Club were not immediately available for comment, but we’re told the six-figure funding commitment was made to a Florence-area small businessman who is active in the local “Republican” party.

This website has been one of Leatherman’s most relentless critics over the years – although of late we’ve gotten some company from others who are similarly concerned with his unscrupulous wielding of near-dictatorial power.

This is especially true as it relates to road funding – an area in which Leatherman has some major conflicts of interest.

(See here and here).

One small problem?  The diminutive 84-year-old leader has a whopping $690,000 in his campaign account, according to the latest reports filed with the S.C. State Election Commission.  And that’s just the beginning of the resources he could potentially summon to defend his seat.

In other words spending $200,000 against him may not be enough to get the job done … especially when you consider the tremendous institutional support he’s purchased over the years with your tax dollars.

First elected in 1980 as a Democrat, Leatherman switched parties and later became chairman of the Senate’s powerful finance committee.  In 2014 he became president of the Senate.

Stay tuned … we hope to have an update on this story soon.

Pic: Travis Bell Photography

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37 comments

Matt February 10, 2016 at 8:52 pm

It won’t happen. He will give one of them a job, or hire one of their law firms for state work, or something like that.

Leatherman always wins as he buys off those that claim to want change.

BTW, the Club for Growth is crap. They never do anything.

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nitrat February 11, 2016 at 10:15 am

they raise money from saps…

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Jan February 11, 2016 at 3:29 pm

So anyone disagreeing with you is a “sap.”

You are an arrogant prick.

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DDR February 10, 2016 at 8:57 pm

Club for Growth has been shooting blanks FOR YEARS. They promise large sums of money then spend little or nothing.

They never win tough races, on claim victory when most races are unopposed.

The Litter Digger, the Big Crook Leatherman, will eat them for lunch.

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The Colonel (R) February 10, 2016 at 8:57 pm

Any idea who we can call to contribute money to that fund?

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Flip February 10, 2016 at 9:27 pm

1-800-KOCHBROS

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erneba February 10, 2016 at 9:03 pm

If $200,00.00 would be all it takes to remove Leathernman from office, that would be one helluva a bargain.

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Flip February 10, 2016 at 9:27 pm

Special interest group funded by out of state donors might replace a bad politician with one of their own bad politicians? Oh joy I bet that will fix all of our problems! NOT!!!!!!

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shifty henry February 10, 2016 at 10:28 pm

Hey, Will, somebody must be crapping with Fitsnews, I just checked back in and your site freezes blank, or slow, or presents the wrong article I click….. hope ya’ get ’em

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Flip February 11, 2016 at 8:43 am

I just want the damn thing to stop roaming to other pages in the middle of me reading stuff.

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shifty henry February 11, 2016 at 8:54 am

—- or in the middle of a reply

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CorruptionInColumbia February 11, 2016 at 1:55 pm

I feel you guys’pain! For some reason, mine has been stable the last week or so, but such is annoying as hell. We exit the shadow period of this first (of four, this year) Mercury Retrograde on the 15th. It may or may not continue for another week or ten days and then communications should normalize for about a month or so.

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CorruptionInColumbia February 11, 2016 at 1:34 am

I hope the people in his district wake up and unseat this greedy, despicable, corrupt, piece of shit from office. He is nothing more than the male equivalent of Jean Toal.

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Flip February 11, 2016 at 8:44 am

Jean Toal was a woman?

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12345678987654321 February 11, 2016 at 9:06 am

Why would they unseat him? Although you may not like him he looks out for those in his district and gets plenty of funding for Florence. It may not benefit those outside of his district but he takes care of his own.

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vicupstate February 11, 2016 at 9:49 am

Yep, he isn’t doing anything that the ones before him didn’t do. The real problems in the state government aren’t confided to pork projects in Florence.

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CorruptionInColumbia February 11, 2016 at 1:50 pm

True. “Free stuffs”, aka pork projects, have kept the undeserving crooks in office far longer than they ever should have been, going back for decades.

One such POS in my home county got re-elected to the Senate term after term, because he was attaining seniority, power, and influence, and idiots believed that somehow was good for our county. Never mind that he used those things to line his own pockets at every turn. Never mind that he would steal the pennies off of a dead man’s eyes if he thought no one was looking. Never mind that he was constantly stopped for DUI by the Highway Patrol on a very regular basis and immediately released. Back then, “legislative immunity” was a regular “get-out-of-jail-free” card for these clowns.
Idiots in my county saw his ascension up the legislative ladder as somehow good for our county. This mindset is such utter rubbish, but people still cling to it.

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12345678987654321 February 11, 2016 at 4:30 pm

Couldn’t agree more, especially with Leatherman climbing the legislative ladder like no one has in a long time. President of the Senate, Chairman of Finance, and serves on many other committees and boards which gives him a ridiculous amount of power and influence. The real reason the roads debate isn’t going anywhere on the Senate is because Leatherman is waiting until its closer to budget time and he can control the outcome to please him. Hell his son-in-law is one of the commissioners for DOT.

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CorruptionInColumbia February 11, 2016 at 5:14 pm

Exactly, my friend! Exactly!!!!

The Copper Dome February 11, 2016 at 12:14 pm

As much as I cannot stand leatherman, we would get Harvey Peeler as leader of the Senate! I’d rather have the sicko Nelson Hardwick, even he would be better!

And, with pathetic brother, Trash Man (Boob Peeler), the State would be the cesspool of the Country!

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gamecock1 February 11, 2016 at 1:54 pm

AW com one now, Jean is a much better MAN than he is.

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CorruptionInColumbia February 11, 2016 at 1:56 pm

Well, since you put it that way, I can’t really argue with you.
:-D

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Elfego February 11, 2016 at 2:33 pm

They wont because too many of those with influence are obligated to him and the average voter does not know what is happening and in a lot of cases could care less.. The average American has become selfish and cares nothing about the future.

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CorruptionInColumbia February 11, 2016 at 5:15 pm

So true!

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Milton F February 11, 2016 at 4:19 am

This is just the Club for Growth pretending to be active. In truth, they will produce and internet ad or two for the cost of $5,000 and call it a day.

Just another sham by our “conservative leaders.”

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nitrat February 11, 2016 at 10:12 am

Like Ben Carson’s campaign, raising money is their primary goal because it enriches the fund raisers.

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Herman W. "Buz" Martin February 11, 2016 at 6:44 am

Just like our own Mike Wooten, Hugh Leatherman has recently drawn harsh criticism, and even outright condemnation, from groups on the “left” and the “right”, and points in-between. That MEANS something, and it may not mean anything good for either of them. Both, in my opinion, represent the heart and soul of corruption, graft, nepotism and pork-mongering in South Carolina. How lucky we are to have both of them so close to us.

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HD February 11, 2016 at 8:17 am

He was vulnerable in 1996 in the primary (his first after his party switch). If anyone was going to beat him it was then. Now? Forget it.

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Bible Thumper February 11, 2016 at 8:51 am

In spite of everything else in the news, weekly unemployment claims are at a seven week low, The number receiving benefits declined about 20,000 to a rate of 1.6%, down 0.1%.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm

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Marvin Straight February 11, 2016 at 9:37 am

BREAKING NEWS: The dementia-ravaged Leatherman announced he would cede the election to any opponent who could defeat him in a layup contest.

UPDATE: Leatherman dizzily recanted his offer after frantic staffers successfully applied a clarity restoring Exelon patch on the withering arm of the dementia-ravaged Florentine. The patch wascustom-made to fit to delicate, infant-like arms of the Senate’s second most senior member after he nearly suffocated when the standard-sized patch came off during his sleep and engulfed is entire head, save the ears. His staffers, who continue to deny that as a college student Leatherman served as Walt Disney’s figure model for three of Snow White’s seven dwarves, were visibly relieved that the patch worked, sparing them the unsavory task of “going nuclear” as they call it, which involves shoving a staffer’s entire hand up Leatherman’s well-trodden sphincter, taking over his head and operating him like a puppet to make him “speak.” “Don’t get us wrong, we do that all the time when we’ve been hitting the bong, but we make him sing, not speak,” said an anonymous, long-time staffer. “But ‘Leatharoke’ is done in private, and we needed to conduct his backpedal in public to make it look legit.”

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shifty henry February 11, 2016 at 9:41 am

Now THAT is cleverly done and FUNNY – when I can stop laffin’ it goes to my Saved Files …..

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CorruptionInColumbia February 11, 2016 at 1:59 pm

+ 10,000!!!!!

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Squishy123 February 11, 2016 at 10:13 am

You people do realize that this is all the man has to live for, if taken away he’ll shrivel up like the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz.

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CorruptionInColumbia February 11, 2016 at 2:01 pm

… which certainly doesn’t sound like a bad thing for SC!

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dm10ae February 11, 2016 at 11:46 am

He should have retired long ago, he has too much power and his appointments reek of misconduct and his retirement system interference is costing the state millions.

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Toyota Kawaski February 11, 2016 at 11:46 am

SCCG= Useless as tits on boar hog. How did that work out for them in Aiken County attacking Tom Young when he ran for house and Don Smith before he retired from the House?

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Writ February 11, 2016 at 6:27 pm

Better to spend the money forcing the DOJ to nail his ass to the cross.

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