“SILENT TREATMENT” KEEPS IT ALL IN THE FAMILY …
In the last few weeks, this website has written a pair of stories about the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW). For those of you new readers, this is the agency we relentlessly exposed back in 2011-13 – reporting which ultimately led to the resignation of its scandal-scarred former director, Abraham Turner.
Well guess what … we’re sinking our teeth into SCDEW again …
The first of our recent stories addressed the abrupt resignation of the agency’s top internal watchdog – who stepped down because he believed SCDEW’s new director, Cheryl Stanton, was conspiring to fire a whistleblower for exposing the failure of a multi-million-dollar boondoggle.
The second story – which is probably more significant – addresses allegations that the agency has been deliberately overcharging businesses that pay into its unemployment insurance (UI) fund.
Over the last four years this fund has erased a $933 million deficit and is currently $280 million in the black – but in the process they’ve been accused of
More stores are forthcoming … however we don’t expect any of them to be picked up by the state’s mainstream media.
Why not? Because SCDEW’s top bureaucrat – chief administrative officer Neil Adcox – has an “in” with the press. Specifically, he is the brother of Associated Press (AP) reporter Seanna Adcox – whose slavish obedience to the powers-that-be in South Carolina has been previously documented by this website.
According to our sources, Neil Adcox has played a starring role in the latest round of problems at SCDEW – which could wind up costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. He’s also allegedly been involved in some extracurricular activity that we’re told was “buried” by the office of S.C. governor Nikki Haley – which oversees SCDEW.
In fact sources inside Haley’s office have confirmed that an “incident” involving Neil Adcox was brought to their attention prior to his recent promotion within the agency.
Now … does anyone think for a second that Seanna Adcox would ever write a negative story about her brother’s agency?
Of course not …
The AP wields vast power in the South Carolina mainstream media landscape. In addition to the original content its reporters produce, the wire service amplifies coverage from its subscriber news organizations (i.e. all of the state’s mainstream media outlets).
This content is then reflexively regurgitated far and wide over radio, television and the internet …
In other words, having an AP reporter in one’s back pocket is the equivalent of having a “license to kill” in the Palmetto State.
Hopefully the AP will eventually realize what’s going on at this agency – and dispatch a real reporter to cover it.
Until then, count on this website to continue digging on SCDEW – and every other bureaucracy looking to put the screws to the hard-working taxpayers and small business owners of South Carolina.