Sic Willie

Easy ladies … that disarmingly attractive and diabolically brilliant man pictured above is none other than Will Folks (a.k.a. Sic Willie), the founding editor of FITSNews.com and president of Viewpolitik, LLC, a South Carolina-based political consulting, public relations and graphic design firm.

He is also Commissioner of the Great Santini Fantasy Baseball League and a sensational dancer, despite completely unfounded rumors that he “thrusts too much” and doesn’t have enough “side to side.”

Folks was a bass guitarist for the modestly successful alternative rock band Dead Agent Caper prior to assuming media relations, graphic design and copywriting duties for the gubernatorial campaign of former U.S. Congressman Mark Sanford.

Somehow (we’re not sure how, exactly), Sanford was actually elected the 115th post-Colonial governor of South Carolina, and took office in January of 2003 after winning a brutal seven-way GOP primary and defeating a Democratic incumbent.

Folks was Gov. Sanford’s spokesman from October 2001 to August 2005 (well, minus a six week period surrounding the 2003 inauguration when the governor was acting like a total cheapskate and Folks decided to move to Charleston with his then-TV anchor girlfriend).

Anyway, after leaving the Governor’s Office for good in 2005, Folks has assisted on numerous campaigns including County Council races, State House races, State Senate races, local bond referendums and other statewide campaigns.

Whether at the state or local level, no political campaign in which Folks has been responsible for the message has ever lost.

Folks’ antics along the way, however, have been the subject of much discussion and controversy - even prior to his career with FITSNews.

He landed in hot water during his tenure as gubernatorial spokesman when he borrowed a cherry red Corvette convertible from a local car dealer with ties to the governor’s administration and used it to joyride around the state for a week - a single event which the Associated Press managed to milk into four wire stories.

He is also alleged to have threatened economic development in Anderson County, South Carolina, even though he claims to have merely told a Chamber of Commerce representative there to go screw himself.

But what can you do, people tend to believe what they read in the papers regardless of whether it’s true or not.

Speaking of which, the most controversial and highly-publicized incident involving Folks was his September 2005 guilty plea on a first offense criminal domestic violence charge. He swears to this day he didn’t do it, but this issue is brought up most often by those who are unable to match Folks’ rhetorical skills and need something to shut him up.

It hasn’t worked.

Folks graduated from the University of South Carolina (USC) in 1997 with a B.A. in History and Philosophy and received his Master’s degree in Mass Communication from USC two years later.

Will Folks lives with his smokin’ hot wife and adorable family in Columbia, S.C., where he enjoys losing in chess, singing in the shower, rooting for his beloved Indianapolis Colts, consuming multiple blended Venti Moccha Frappucinos (with extra chocolate drizzle), wearing sailor hats and not showering very often.

You can e-mail Sic Willie at w@fitsnews.com.