Cabinet Cat Fight?

The South Carolina press corps is buzzing after S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley’s welfare czarina dissed her health and environmental czarina prior to a press conference last week – an exchange which was captured by several open microphones (but never reported).
“We’re not going to steal the gov’s thunder,” S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) director Lillian [...]

Bakari Sellers Eats Nikki Haley’s Lunch

This website doesn’t object to S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley’s attempt to limit food stamp recipients’ access to fatty junk. We don’t think such a proposal solves the real problem (the fact far too many people in this state are on food stamps), but whatever.
As we noted in our original post on this subject, beggars can’t [...]

SCDSS Audit: It’s About Time

MORE CABINET PROBLEMS FOR NIKKI HALEY
Months after this website began exposing a pattern of data manipulation at the S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS), state lawmakers FINALLY got  around to requesting an audit of the agency.
According to The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier, a group of lawmakers has asked the S.C. Legislative Audit Council (SCLAC) [...]

Meet Isabel Blanco

SECOND-IN-COMMAND AT SC WELFARE AGENCY HAS SOME SERIOUS ISSUES
Not long ago, our founding editor attended a meeting hosted by South Carolina’s Department of Social Services (which has been receiving glowing coverage from the state’s mainstream media despite clear evidence of manipulated data).
Anyway, leading this assembly was Isabel Blanco – deputy director of the Palmetto State’s welfare [...]

SCDSS: What Gives?

REFORM IN ACTION? OR A GROWING DISASTER? RADICALLY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES EMERGING …
Earlier this month The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier – which has become Gov. Nikki Haley’s go-to publication of late – ran a fawning editorial praising the work of the S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS).  Entitled “Making welfare reform work,” this article praised SCDSS [...]

More On SC’s “Food Stamp Fix”

HOW SOUTH CAROLINA BUREAUCRATS ARE COOKING THE BOOKS
As we reported exclusively last month, multiple sources at the S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) tell FITS that the agency has been “cooking the books and supplying the federal government with false information” regarding its food stamp program.  Specifically, the agency has been accused of deliberately misleading [...]

More Money For SCDSS Leader’s “Special Friend”

LILLIAN KOLLER’S CONSULTANT TAB KEEPS CLIMBING
The S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) has paid a “special friend” of its director tens of thousands of dollars to consult for the $2.2 billion agency.
Earlier this week, FITS reported that director Lillian Koller paid welfare consultant Sandie Hoback $102,633 from July 1, 2011 to April 30 of this year.
Hoback [...]

SCDSS Director’s “Special Friend” Got $102K

WHO ELSE IS ON SCDSS CONSULTANT TAB?
The welfare consultant who reportedly enjoys an “especially close” relationship with S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) director Lillian Koller (above) was paid much more by South Carolina taxpayers than we originally reported.
In an earlier report, FITS uncovered more than $20,000 in payments from SCDSS to consultant Sandie Hoback from [...]

SCDSS: Food Stamp Miracle?

OR IS SC’S WELFARE AGENCY COOKING ITS BOOKS?
Food stamps are (sadly) a big deal in South Carolina …
Nearly one out of every five Palmetto State citizens uses them, costing taxpayers more than $1.3 billion annually. And historically, South Carolina has been among the nation’s worst states when it comes to overpaying benefits (a chronic problem [...]

The Wire

Welcome to “the wire,” our pseudo-regular effort to engage the growing number of tips, comments and questions we receive here at FITS News. While we continue perfecting this new format, please keep your tips, comments and questions coming!
Also be sure and check back during the day as we occasionally add new items to the mix.
To the [...]

Lillian Koller’s “Special Friend” Got Paid

DIGGING INTO SOCIAL SERVICES’ CONSULTANT TAB
Looks like those rumors about a South Carolina cabinet director doling out taxpayer-funded cash to one of her “special friends” were accurate …
Sandie Hoback – a social services consultant who reportedly enjoys an “especially close” relationship with S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) director Lillian Koller – has been paid [...]

Lillian Koller’s Consultants

NIKKI HALEY’S WELFARE DIRECTOR FACING FRESH HEAT
We knew S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) director Lillian Koller had a potty mouth … and allegedly partook in a lifestyle that certain Bible-thumping South Carolina Senators might find offensive (especially when one of those Senators claims to have been misled about that lifestyle during Koller’s confirmation last [...]