With thirteen months to go before the 2014 election, S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley has opened up a three-to-one cash advantage over her Democratic rival.
Haley’s campaign reported bringing in $950,000 from July to September – her best fundraising performance ever. That leaves her reelection bid with $3.175 million in the bank.
Meanwhile S.C. Sen. Vincent Sheheen reported contributions of just $565,507 from July to September – and only $1.04 million on hand.
Yeah … there’s no way to spin those numbers as anything other than a slam dunk for Team Trikki.
Sheheen gave it the old college try – pointing out that 97.1 percent of his donors were from South Carolina – but like it or not Haley’s out-of-state special interest cash spends every bit as well as Sheheen’s homespun funds.
National Democrats have viewed Haley’s low poll numbers as a sign of weakness – and vowed to match any money thrown into the Palmetto State by national “Republicans” (who are eager to protect their female minority starlet).
And Haley has all sorts of vulnerabilities just waiting to be exploited …
But a three-to-one cash advantage with just over a year left on the clock? That’s quite a mountain for Sheheen and his allies to climb.
We’ve said all along this race offers very little in the way of a choice – assuming you care about South Carolina adopting anything resembling a competitive economic environment.
Neither Haley nor Sheheen support broad based tax relief, universal parental choice, spending cuts, taxpayer rebates or any of the other free market reforms this website has consistently championed. Meanwhile both support expansions of the state’s Medicaid population, more government involvement in education and … of course … crony capitalist “economic development” deals which shift the state’s tax burden onto the backs of small businesses.
21 comments
People get the government they deserve.
YES! ANOTHER story about Haley. Its been almost 15 minutes since the LAST one.
NELSON MULLINS – a law firm representing South Carolina in the aftermath of a massive cyber breach now says no competitors were contacted before South Carolina reached a $12 million no-bid contract with Experian.
Attorney Jon Neiditz of Columbia firm Nelson Mullins said the confusion over whether the firm had contacted other credit monitoring companies resulted from an unclear statement made by another attorney.
The Revenue Department reached an initial agreement with Experian just before the breach affecting millions of current and former S.C. taxpayers was first announced publicly on Oct. 26.
EXPERIAN is providing a year of credit monitoring for taxpayers and dependents as well as lifetime credit fraud resolution.
The confusion over whether Nelson Mullins ever reached out to Experian competitors began at an Oct. 30 Senate Finance Committee hearing.
Revenue Department Director James Etter correctly told senators that no other companies were contacted besides Experian.
But Nelson Mullins attorney Thad Westbrook immediately followed up and told senators that pricing was obtained from two other firms but Experian had the ability to scale up quickly in an emergency situation.
Weeks after the hearing, Revenue Department spokeswoman Samantha Cheek named the other two companies that Nelson Mullins had obtained estimates from as Citreas and Identity Force.
Obtaining pricing information from Experian competitors and examination did not include reaching out to them.
Neiditz said he had pre-existing pricing information from various cyber security companies and knew Experian could offer the best deal. The leaders of other firms have disputed that assessment.
Neiditz said Monday that Westbrook’s statement during the hearing caused confusion.
“It wasn’t clear,” Neiditz said. “It led to the impression that other companies had been contacted. I mentioned those vendors to him.”
Some senators have expressed concerns about the state’s no-bid contract with Experian.
Anderson GOP Sen. Kevin Bryant said it’s worrisome that no other companies were approached following the breach.
Normally, state contracts are struck following a request for proposals from various companies.
The law states “competition as is practicable shall be obtained.”
Neiditz recommended Experian to his firm, which then recommended Experian to the state. Nelson Mullins is being paid an estimated $100,000 for its work assisting the state.
Neiditz said he actually considered 20 vendors, not just Experian and two competitors as Westbrook and Cheek said, but never contacted any of them before deciding on Experian.
He said he first contacted Experian on Oct. 23, three days before the breach was announced.
Experian was first contacted on Oct. 25. The Secret Service alerted state officials to the breach on Oct. 10.
Experian already had a contract worth about $750,000 with the S.C. Department of Health and Human services after a breach of Medicaid patient information announced in April. That deal also was reached using the emergency law.
The CEOs of Citreas and Identity Force said earlier this month that their pricing would have been competitive with Experian and their services would have been superior in some ways.
Bryant questions that logic, saying vendors likely would have been beating down the state’s doors and possibly could have provided a better deal with the potential for millions of future customers in mind.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20121127/PC16/121129491/
That picture is a female impersonator, I hope.
Good God Almighty, Will! That is absolutely THE worst pic of Nikki I’ve ever seen. For a minute I thought it was one of my photo-realistic caricature, but then I realized I’d never done one of her.
I’m with Boz. Horrid picture. However, we know she’s got a gorgeous ass and great legs — two assets Sheheen lacks. Plus she a Punjab, loved by the morons of South Carolina who vote every four years. (In S.C., mostly morons vote.) She’ll coast to reelection.
Not if she’s indicted.
Boz, perhaps this is her “trick or treat” look….
From the looks of that pic, all of her lies, corruption, and other misdeeds, are catching up with her.
This post presumes that the Governor’s office goes to the candidate with the most money automatically?
No need to go to the polls, people. Sic Willy has declared it a “slam dunk for Trikki.”
you don’t understand politics very well do you?
I can now claim that I’ve had an inappropriate visual relationship with SC Governor Nikki Haley.
LMAO !!!
That’s a GREAT one.
I frankly could give a damn how much money this failure of a Governor has. I will never vote for her again!
There is NO way Sheheen would be anything, but an improvement. If Haley is re-elected, it will be another screw up just like Sanford’s and Obama’s !
For you people who keep doing the same thing and expecting different results, that is the definition of insanity!
“At a cabinet meeting Thursday, Haley asked state agency leaders to deliver proposals by Tuesday on how to tell the public more about enrolling in credit monitoring.”
“State employees are not allowed to help people register for the monitoring because of privacy issues, said Thad Westbrook, an attorney with Columbia’s Nelson Mullins law firm, hired by the state to examine liability issues associated with the data breach.”
http://newsle.com/article/0/50058712/
The resemblance to Moe Howard is amazing.
Duz the guv-a-nuh wook wike a wabbit?
Or a new nun who has a bad habit?
That lapine-toothed grin
Masks a warren of sin.
Will we find out she’s dating Brer Rabbit?
She’s fat and ugly. Damn Nikki, put down the fork.
She looks like her mama.
Folks would be more interested to see a present day rematch of Ali-Holmes than this rematch.
I’ll bet Rena is glad she looks nothing like her mom. She;s her dad made over.