SC

Clementa Pinckney Is Feeling Froggy

S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney has sent a letter to members of his local legislative delegation attacking this website for its recent report on a brewing scandal in the Jasper County school district. Missed that story? Click here. Apparently Pinckney didn’t take kindly to being linked to the scandal – which…

S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney has sent a letter to members of his local legislative delegation attacking this website for its recent report on a brewing scandal in the Jasper County school district.

Missed that story? Click here.

Apparently Pinckney didn’t take kindly to being linked to the scandal – which we’re told involves the misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars at one of the state’s very worst government-run school districts.

“The allegations published in a Columbia-based blog that are being forwarded around as ‘truth’ need to be addressed,” Pinckney writes in his letter. “First, these allegations made against me are absolutely and totally false. Second, the publisher of these falsehoods is not a news organization.”

Pinckney goes on to say this website’s founding editor, Will Folks (a.k.a. Sic Willie) is “a well-known purveyor of rumors and innuendo within state government.”

“He is not a journalist and does not abide by journalistic standards,” Pinckney writes. “He answers to no editors or bosses. Simply put, Mr. Folks lacks credibility.”

Hmmmmm …

Pinckney’s letter is a classic ad hominem (“to the man”) attack, in which one directs their rebuttal against an individual rather than the case made by the individual. According to British venture capitalist Paul Graham’s “hierarchy of disagreement,” the ad hominem response is the second-lowest level of rebuttal – ahead of only “name-calling.”

Pinckney does not reference the allegations against him. Nor does he provide a direct response to them beyond assuring the letter’s recipients they are “false.”

Most importantly (like S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley during the whole “inappropriate physical relationship” thing) Pinckney does not accompany his denial with a demand for our website to retract its allegations. Or threaten any legal action against us for failing to do so.

Accordingly, we would humbly offer the following suggestion to Pinckney: “If you feel froggy, jump.”

PINCKNEY LETTER

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36 comments

? September 12, 2013 at 3:59 pm

Ad Hominem is ahead of name calling you say?

Well, let me start things off right by telling Placenta Pinckney that I fart in his general direction. (HT to Monty Python)

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Bill Clinton September 12, 2013 at 4:08 pm

“Second, the publisher of these falsehoods is not a news organization.” Truth is, neither

is ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC…

PS…I had Clementa once, but a dose of penicillin cleared it up.

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Smirks September 12, 2013 at 5:12 pm

Clementa sounds like something that would be sexually transmitted if you ask me. Oh, wait, your username. Ha!

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Scrappy September 12, 2013 at 4:08 pm

Getting a little too close for comfort Senator? Does this mean you will be showing up more in Jasper County? Possibly even live in your district?

I think a well placed phone call and a good “talking too” to the “Black Reverend’s Coalition”. should get you some sermons on Sunday morning about the evil “white folks” medalling in your “Bidness” should simmer all this down for you.

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shifty henry September 12, 2013 at 6:09 pm

Robert Ford is available to make an appearance for expenses & food.

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SamAdams2010 September 12, 2013 at 4:55 pm

OF course Fits is a news source. You may not like the news or opinion. He may not necessarily be a reliable one, but this site is a news source that requires a politician alleging defamation to allege and prove malice. Transparent.

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Halfvast Conspirator September 12, 2013 at 4:56 pm

Shouldn’t it be “Clementus” for a male?

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shifty henry September 12, 2013 at 6:13 pm

Just this morning it was brought to my attention the similarity between onus and anus. Anybody who can explain this?

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TontoBubbaGoldstein September 12, 2013 at 6:52 pm

9″ in 3…2…1…

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9" September 12, 2013 at 10:51 pm

‘Onus’ is a burden,and sometimes one that is handled by the ‘anus’.If you do it right,your anus will be rewarded by the onus,and it’ll be a weight off YOUR shoulders,etc,and that guy who has his HANDS on your shoulders,when you finally get through…You’re welcome.

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TontoBubbaGoldstein September 13, 2013 at 8:57 am

Thanks for your… er…input!

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shifty henry September 13, 2013 at 8:59 am

Haw! He hadn’t been posting as much lately so I set that one up for him…….

? September 13, 2013 at 1:10 pm

9″ is always at the ready when it comes to anus’s and inputs.

I for one, am glad the onus is not on me.

But alas, to each their own, and not someone else’s.

:)

9" September 14, 2013 at 7:31 am

don’t count your chickens before they hatch,or something like that

your name is, ‘? ‘-not to worry…

you sound a tad curious

Smirks September 12, 2013 at 5:09 pm

She says “purveyor of innuendo” like it’s a bad thing.

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TontoBubbaGoldstein September 12, 2013 at 6:49 pm

“a well-known purveyor of rumors and innuendo within state government.”

Is the purveyor “within state government”, or is it the “rumors and innuendo”?

journalistic standards

*snorts derisively*

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Ben Franklin's Ghost September 12, 2013 at 7:31 pm

“Journalistic standards”? ?? “Slash and Burn??” “Standards???”
Bwwwwwwwwhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Fourth Estate equals Fifth Column — even if y’all born after 1935 don’t know what the Fifth Column (or possibly the “Fourth Estate”) are — see Wikipedia.

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Kel Champlin September 25, 2013 at 12:36 am

There are a few of us who understand EXACTLY what the Fourth Estate is. We also understand when and why the STATE doesn’t do it’s damned job.

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shifty henry September 12, 2013 at 8:19 pm

Call me dumb ,folks, but I’ve never heard of this guy – another black preacher.

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jimlewisowb September 12, 2013 at 9:16 pm

If nothing else, willie now has written confirmation that at least one Cockroach Senator surfs his website

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shifty henry September 13, 2013 at 7:04 pm

Probably not after reading these comments!

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TontoBubbaGoldstein September 13, 2013 at 7:02 am

Tags: Public schools, Jasper County, journalism, black people, FITSNEWS, corruption, Clementa Pinkney, ad hominem.

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shifty henry September 13, 2013 at 8:57 am

The world is in a turmoil and we are posting comments on Fitsnews about food, football, area codes, and lesbian lawyers. HAH!

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Philip Branton September 13, 2013 at 10:30 am

Dear S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney, how are you today. If the previous article in which your name appears is so concerning to you, then why do you not use your freedom of speech rights to defend yourself right here in the comment section. You do realize that this comment section can be used in a court of LAW, don’t you.
Mr. Pinckney, considering that you are so concerned about the information involving Jasper County and the perception of corruption within the School District, we hope Mr. Wil Folks does not use Google Earth and locates the Jasper Landfill that all that Hilton Head Island Trash is trucked too. You do realize that all that foreign OIL those trucks use to transport that trash is helping fund the Terrorists in the Middle East, don’t you. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand how Waste Management campaign donations can be perceived as a KICKBACK for approving landfill expansion instead of using NEW technology that makes Landfills practically obsolete and produces energy.
Senator, you can jump up and down to give Wil Folks a smile and fluff info to scribe about but your constituents could really use some JOBS. According to Wil Folks, this lack of fiscal accountability in the Jasper School District should really be right up a politicians political alley. Maybe you need to have a sit down press event with Wil Folks to clear the air and make public the need for student accountants to review Jasper public fund records. Its not like Brian Hicks is beating down your door to give your political concerns any daylight in the Post and Courier. Matter of fact, has Mick Zais failed to answer any of the concerns you have for Jasper County Schools.? We highly wager that Wil Folks would love to know. I know Grand Tango and Smirks do.

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Philip Branton September 13, 2013 at 10:43 am

Dear Mick Zais……..

Did you say this….”“What happens in Jasper County depends on what happens in the community, and if the community and its citizens decide that something needs to change and actually makes that change,” he told reporter Sarah Bowman of The (Hilton Head) Island Packet…..”

Really…..?

Well, its no wonder that you are NOT the commissioner of the National Football League. Can you imagine a commissioner saying what you said about the DALLAS COWBOYS.??
“What happens to the Dallas Cowboys on the field depends on what happens in a sub-division in Fort Worth..!!”

LOL…..Mick Zais, you might just be an IDIOT. Heck, we wager that Jerry Jones would even bust a gut to understand your logic..!!

Well, at least the reporter from the Island Packet got some words from you to even print.

Mick, have you ever stopped to think of just how many students across South Carolina are going to DIE on a battle field over OIL …?? Fitsnews readers have. We wonder just how fast you can find out how much OIL our state’s schools use every month. Mick, how fast can Wil Folks find that information..? How fast can the Captain of Spawar Atlantic find that info on such a transparent website as your state education’s website..?

Mr Zais……you had better use that smartphone in your pocket and realize how every student can use it against YOU…!!

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Philip Branton September 13, 2013 at 11:49 am

Dear Hugh Leatherman…………….http://www.senatorleatherman.com/

When you read this article, I hope you understand what information Wil Folks should possess that will make your chat with Bobby Harrell and Senator Pinckney and Hugh Weathers later today very interesting.

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Gulf-Keystone-Wins-Legal-Battle-over-Kurdistan.html

DO you understand how each one of you have connections to US Special Forces Captain Rex Wempen…?

What would happen to US Senator Lindsey Graham if Wil Folks actually took the time to do a “Kevin Bacon” graphical display..?

Hugh, how many kids in Jasper County School would understand the game that would make Wil Folks a lot of MONEY..?

We wonder how many Sea Coast Church patrons would know how to play and pray..!

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nitrat September 13, 2013 at 5:46 pm

Speaking of Hugh Leatherman, this blog seems to have missed, or I just can’t find it due to fucked up organization of the site, that Florence County Council and Leatherman are going head to head over a penny sales tax referendum. Apparently, Hugh has persuaded AG Alan Wilson to sue Florence County Council and they are highly, highly pissed at his attempt to tell them they don’t need fire stations, just roads…you know, made of concrete.
It certainly appears that Hugh has fouled his nest big time.
This continuing saga has been at the SCNOW.COM site over the past couple of weeks.

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Philip Branton September 13, 2013 at 12:07 pm

We wonder how many Citadel grads in Jasper County know this General……

http://uskbc.org/sites/uskbc.org/files/IMG_1779fix.jpg

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shifty henry September 15, 2013 at 3:49 pm

OK, I give up. Which one is the General and why should I know him ?

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Kel Champlin September 25, 2013 at 12:39 am

There are two – General Jacob Smart and General Lloyd Newton. Branton is confused, though. The Citadel is in CHARLESTON. Smart was a brilliant tactician, Newton was the first African-American pilot to fly with the Thunderbirds. If Branton had actually done his research, he would know that.

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shifty henry September 25, 2013 at 8:01 am

Thanks!

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Philip Branton September 13, 2013 at 12:17 pm

Dear US Senator Graham…………..

Read this and weep……..

http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/tag/excalibur/

Senator, do you not wonder what questions Wil Folks would love to ask Nancy Mace and you concerning what Rex knows about Kurdish contracts in Syria..?

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TontoBubbaGoldstein September 13, 2013 at 1:20 pm

TBG is confused. The above photo of Colleen Condon does not seem to have anything to do with the article. What’s her connection?

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Coosawhatchie Charlie September 14, 2013 at 8:47 pm

Clementa, you live in a third world country. Corruption is part of your lifestyle. It’s pitiful. This is the reason neither Beaufort County or Hampton County wanted you in 1911. However, you may fit in well with Darryl Jackson, James Smith and Joel Lourie in the “new” Richland County. Somebody pay this guy off and let him go away. We know, we know. You will all vote for Bob Sheheen’s nephew. Because your votes will all be rented for the day. State of SC? We need some help down here.

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Kel Champlin September 25, 2013 at 12:34 am

Pinckney answers address questions
By Kelly Champlin
Jasper County Sun
Published on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 – 10:17am |

For political purposes, Sen. Clementa Pinckney, the Democrat who was recently re-elected to the District 45 seat, lists his home address as P.O. Box 300 in Ridgeland. The physical address for that P.O. Box is a home at 171 Sunset Ave. in Ridgeland, according to Pinckney. He is registered to vote at that address.
The senator admitted recently in a telephone interview that he does not live at that address and hasn’t since 2009.
Pinckney’s voter registration was obtained through SCVotes.org, part of the SC Election Commission website.
P.O. Box 300 is also the address Pinckney used with the S.C. Ethics Commission to file his most recent campaign disclosure form on October 17, 2012, and is the address used when he filed his candidacy for the recent election.
According to property tax information obtained online through the Jasper County Treasurer’s office, the home at 171 Sunset Ave. is owned by Theopia S. and Kenya Pinckney. Kenya is a relative of Pinckney’s, and Theopia Stevenson Pinckney, now deceased, was Pinckney’s mother.
That same property tax information shows that the address for Kenya Pinckney for tax year 2012 has a zip code for the town of Lacey, Wash. The tax bills for the property at 171 Sunset Ave. began going to out-of-state addresses in 2009, including addresses in Alabama and Georgia.
The property at 171 Sunset Ave. has been rented to a tenant and has been a rental property for at least two years.
A second P.O. Box address is also listed for Pinckney on the ethics commission website: P.O. Box 507, Ridgeland. It was used for Pinckney’s Statement of Economic Interests report as his return address. It is also the post office box that Pinckney lists as his home address on the S.C. Senate webpage.
This post office box also goes back to 171 Sunset Ave., according to Pinckney.
He confirmed that he has not lived at the Sunset Avenue address since 2009 and gave another address close to that location.
“I’ve been at 233 Cross Creek Circle since about ’09, and we put that house (Sunset Ave.) up for rent in 2011 and again this year, so that’s really my old address, and I just haven’t changed it,” Pinckney said. “My [driver’s] license doesn’t expire until 2016, so I’ll change that then. I just didn’t change it. There’s nothing nefarious.”
The home at 233 Cross Creek Circle, Ridgeland, is owned by Pinckney’s cousin on his mother’s side of the family. That address has, however, only been listed in the Jasper County Tax Records online in his cousin’s name since 2010.
Pinckney said he could not provide any proof of residency when asked if he had utility bills or any other pieces of mail that are sent to the Cross Creek Circle address in Ridgeland. He said that he does not receive mail there.
One of the state’s definitions of residency is that of “domicile,” where a person has their bills sent to, IRS forms sent to, where their personal property is – and where their family resides.
Pinckney said his wife and children live at 197 Foreman Road, Jackson, in Aiken County. Jackson is about 108 miles north of Ridgeland and is not in District 45, which includes parts of Jasper, Hampton, Charleston, Beaufort and Colleton counties. Jackson is about 75 miles from Columbia.
He confirmed that his eldest child attends a public school in Aiken County.
“My wife’s parents have been getting up in age, and they’ve been off and on sick, and it’s a personal family thing that we don’t really talk about,” Pinckney said, “but her family has been sick up and down and it was a tough decision, but I don’t reside in that area … That’s where my wife is but that’s not where I reside.”
When asked about changing his voter registration when he moved from Sunset Avenue in 2009, Pinckney repeated that he didn’t change it.
“I didn’t because I didn’t, and I need to,” Pinckney said. “But it’s the same precinct, its right down the street from 171 (Sunset) and I just haven’t done it. That must have been an oversight on my part.”
Pinckney did not change his address on either his voter registration or his vehicle registration. He did not change his address with the post office, the Election Commission or the Ethics Commission.
He also did not change his address with the Senate Clerk’s Office.

State election rules
One of the requirements to file as a candidate for the S.C. Senate or House of Representatives is that the candidate must be a registered voter within the district they are campaigning for at the time of filing, according to Chris Whitmire, Director of Public Information and Training for the South Carolina Election Commission.
“South Carolina 7-1-25 says that a candidate must be a resident of the district at the time of filing,” Whitmire said. “Residency is not verified by the state election commission. It’s verified by the local and state parties. The County Election Commission verifies whether or not a candidate is a registered voter, then it goes to the parties.”
Jasper County Election Commission Chairman Donald Sheftall did not return phone calls requesting information about Pinckney’s address.
According to Jasper County Democratic Party Chairman Arthur Murphy, the local party does not verify addresses for candidates, although that is required by the state election commission.
“We don’t have to verify his address. The address he puts out, if somebody else wants to challenge that, that’s up to them,” Murphy said.
He added that there’s nothing unusual about a candidate having a post office box as an address.
“If that’s what address you have, that’s what address you have,” he said. “It doesn’t say that you have to have a physical address.”
A voter is required to have a valid and current physical address to register to vote in South Carolina, according to the SC Elections Commission. A post office box may be used for mailing purposes only.

Please note that the state defines “domicile” as where your family resides, not where photos of your family sit on a dresser in your cousin’s mobile home in Ridgeland…..

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