Since I griped about the lede headline in The State today (and I wasn’t picking on John there, it was just the headline that got me), I want to direct you, with my warm approval, to Cindi Scoppe’s latest today.
The subject: Nikki Haley’s habit of misleading, and just generally saying stuff that isn’t true. After taking Vincent Sheheen to task for HIS misleading question, “When will she release her tax returns?,” when she sorta kinda had, Cindi went on to demonstrate how such misstatements are a regular thing with his opponent.
I’ll excerpt here the last few grafs of the column:
The day after her WLTX interview, Ms. Haley appeared on Greta Van Sustern’s cable talk show and stepped up her usual attack on Mr. Sheheen for “making $400,000 as a trial lawyer” by calling him “a trial lawyer that makes $400,000 a year off the state.”
It’s pretty audacious, in a state with a median household income of $42,000, for someone who made $196,282 last year to castigate someone else for making $372,509. But the more serious sin here is the total fabrication about where Mr. Sheheen’s money came from.
Contrary to what you’d think if you listened to the Republicans’ drumbeat for Mr. Sheheen to reveal the sources of his income, legislators already have to report all the money they receive from state and local governments. In addition, attorneys must report the money they receive representing clients before the Workers Compensation Commission and other state boards.
As our news department noted on Sunday, last year Mr. Sheheen reported receiving $29,000 in salary and expenses as a senator, and his law firm received $13,000 from the Kershaw County Medical Center, $4,700 from the Cassatt Water Co. and $2,400 from the S.C. Guardian Ad Litem Program. That’s a total of $49,100 “off the state.” I suppose it’s possible that he made money that he didn’t report on his economic disclosure statement — you know, like that $40,000 in consulting fees that Ms. Haley didn’t report from a state government contractor who hired her for her “good contacts.” But since there’s no gray area in state law about reporting government income, I seriously doubt it.
Mr. Sheheen also reported that his law firm made about $170,000 in workers comp fees last year. Now, I would like more details about where the rest of his income came from, and I think he probably could provide them without violating legal ethics, say by telling us how much he received in contingency-fee awards, in retainers, in hourly fees. But it’s more than a little misleading for Ms. Haley to demand more transparency from the candidate who has been far, far more transparent than she has about his income as well as his communications on the taxpayers’ computers and e-mail accounts. Unfortunately, that sort of thing is becoming commonplace.
Cindi, by the way, is about the last person in the MSM you’ll ever see mistake feeling for thought. Always has been. Here, she has demonstrated that laudable trait once again.
By the way, you may want to read her previous column, which she links from this one, on the disturbing Jekyll and Hyde quality Mrs. Haley has demonstrated over time.
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Michael – soon.
Just don’t give it a second thought the next time you are complaining about hypocritical politicians and find that no one takes you seriously.
As every day goes by, I realize that Nikki Haley is more and more like her hero and idol, SC Guv’not Mark Sanford.
1. Nikki espouse the same philosophy of Sanford.
2. Both received funds from NY real estate mogul Howard Rich’s shell companies for school vouchers.
3. Sanford does not play well with the General Assembly. Nikki does not get along well with the House. She got a plum committee assignment stripped.
4. Sanford does not know when to quit digging the hole deeper and deeper when he gets in trouble. Nikki, also, does not know when to stop.
5. Sanford says “Do as I say, not as I do”. Although Nikki is promoting transparency in government, which I think is an excellent idea, she is telling us that she does not have to reveal emails because legislative emails are protected from public scrutiny by law. Well, Nikki, if you want to change how the House does business, why don’t you buck the trend and be totally open and reveal your emails? I don’t mind the redacting of the names and contact information of private citizens like Vicent Sheheen did; as a matter of fact, I hope that you protect citizens’ privacy like Sheheen did.
? The “Bill Clinton Problem” SC Guv’not Mark Sanford demonstrated last year that he had a “Bill Clinton Problem”, a problem controlling his pants zipper. Now, there are three different allegations that Nikki Haley also has a “Bill Clinton Problem”.
I think that Nikki’s nickname should not be “Transparent Nikki”, but “Opaque Nikki”.
Then, as Cindi points out, taxes are due on 4/15 regardless of extension, but on numerous occasion, she has paid taxes late, like over a year past due.
Hey Nikki, while you are governor, I’m not going to pay my state income taxes!
Brad, I am still trying to figure out why “The State” let you get away from them. Of course with Cindi still there, they have all of the Nikki bashers that they need. They should just go ahead and print their endorsment of Sheehen. Their endorsments haven’t been too good so far.