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Incumbent South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace is accusing her establishment GOP primary rival of costing Palmetto State taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal settlements due to her “reckless” management – and also of pocketing tens of thousands of dollars a month in “vague government consulting fees” after she left office.
According to Mace, former two-time South Carolina state agency director Catherine Templeton “abused her position in government to line her personal pockets with thousands of dollars in sole source contracts and cost taxpayers over $1 million in lawsuits over discrimination and wrongful terminations.”
Mace specifically singled out allegations of discriminatory firing practices employed by Templeton during her tenure in former governor Nikki Haley‘s administration. Nearly a dozen former state employees filed lawsuits against Templeton after the self-styled “conservative buzzsaw” fired them from their positions.
“Defending and settling these lawsuits for Templeton cost S.C. taxpayers $1.2 million,” Mace’s campaign said, citing a 2018 report in The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper.
“Templeton’s penchant for firing state workers comes with a price,” the paper reported, referring to federal civil rights claims as well as negligence cases brought in the aftermath of a 2013 tuberculosis scandal that took place while Templeton was director of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC).
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My media outlet defended Templeton at the time of the tuberculosis outbreak, but did question her hiring and firing decisions as being politically motivated.
Our media outlet also covered several of the sole-source contract claims involving Templeton when she ran for governor in 2018 – including an ethics complaint which alleged that she received no-bid contracts from both SCDHEC and the S.C. Department of Revenue (SCDOR) in violation of state procurement law.
Those contracts paid Templeton a combined $29,800 a month at the time they were issued – which amounts to nearly $40,000 a month adjusted for inflation.
“Catherine Templeton’s tenure in state government is a masterclass in reckless mismanagement and utter disregard for taxpayer dollars,” Mace spokeswoman Gabrielle Lipsky said this week. “Templeton was a destructive force who left chaos and hefty bills in her wake. South Carolina cannot afford leaders who treat public service like a game, where the real losers are the taxpayers.”
Mace’s campaign wasn’t the only one throwing haymakers as the race’s final week heated up.
Templeton assailed her rival following a report in the left-leaning Washington Post which alleged the second term congresswoman was one of many lawmakers who ran afoul of ethics rules regarding reimbursements for living expenses.
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“Nancy Mace stole from all of us,” Templeton’s campaign manager Chet Martin said. “She is broke, so she’s taking money out of our tax dollars to bail out her poor decision making. She should resign.”
Team Mace fired back at the allegation, equating it to “the desperate cries of a desperate campaign who knows they are going to get their clock cleaned on Tuesday.”
According to Mace’s campaign, up until last year members of congress were unable to receive reimbursement for travel expenses to Washington, D.C. with the exception of airfare. Last year, for the first time, they were able to receive reimbursement for lodging in the capital – an expense which three-quarters of congress claimed.
“I followed all the rules or else I would not have been able to get reimbursed,” Mace said.
Her campaign added that Templeton’s ethical lapses were “far more egregious than a member of congress getting reimbursed for lodging when traveling to Washington like any employee who travels for work.”
Templeton is the Washington D.C. establishment’s choice for South Carolina’s first congressional district seat against Mace – who is being targeted because she had the temerity to stand against the Washington, D.C. swamp and its uniparty leaders.
“The Swamp has decided it’s time to try and cancel her,” our Prioleau Alexander noted of Mace back in December, hailing her as a rare “reach across the aisle Republican” who has repeatedly “said the quiet part out loud.”
I concur. As I’ve often pointed out in covering this race, if you care about freedom and free markets – as this media outlet does – Mace has been a reliable vote. In fact, that’s why she is being targeted.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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6 comments
When the two worst people you know get in a hissy fit with each other.
While I have no particular love for Templeton, Nancy Mace is a feckless coward who has done absolutely nothing for this state or her district. She claims to be a rape victim, but got on her knees and kissed the ass of a proven and confessed molester of women and serial adulterer in order to get his support. She even flaunted her affairs in the face of the people of her state, and her entire staff abandoned her because she has no ethics and no moral center. That last part of course makes her the perfect Trumper and Trump tool. She is certainly not a rare Republican. They are all asked to bend a knee and kiss Trump’s ass at high noon in front of the Capitol, and they all do.
And still no mention of the Washington Post article on Mace detailing her excessive reimbursement claims.
We Willie still has his schnoz firmly ensconced in Nancy’s ample fake bazooms.
Have I missed any mention of Joe “YOU LIE!” Wilson endorsing Templeton?
I didn’t think FITS believed in tuberculosis, vaccinations and all of that other pointy-headed science fiction crap.
Wonder what Nikki Haley thinks of all this?