This release from Phil Noble today had me scratching my head, mainly because he didn’t say what he wanted a special prosecutor FOR until the third paragraph:
I’ve asked the AG for a Special Prosecutor
Dear Brad, Today I sent a letter to the Attorney General of South Carolina to urge the immediate appointment of a special prosecutor to lead an investigation dissecting this disaster and, as justice dictates, bring appropriate charges against those whose negligence and willful disregard of the citizens’ interests have undermined confidence in our state’s government.
Such an investigation must be independent, comprehensive, and thorough. In my view, there are few state officials without apparent conflicts of interest that could compromise the integrity and objectivity of such an investigation.
In fact, most of the people investigating this outrageous malfeasance by SCE&G and Santee Cooper have taken money from one or both, and/or remained silent as these crimes unfolded under their watch.
There is a second concern as well:
South Carolinians should get back every dime of their money that was expended on this project. It has been reported that 18% of the monthly bills of SCE&G customers and eight percent of those of Santee Cooper customers have been invested in this project for years without meaningful oversight. It is disgusting that we, as customers, are still being forced to shell out $37 million a month to pay for this project.
A significant focus of my campaign is to bring accountability and justice back to our state government. It starts with making sure this investigation is done correctly and we get our money back.
– Phil Noble
At first, I assumed the “disaster” he was talking about was the State House corruption investigation, which made the release really weird. I mean, Wilson already appointed a prosecutor to that — Pascoe.
But once I saw “SCE&G” halfway through the thing, I went “Oh.” And then I thought, considering how things turned out for him last time, how eager do you think Wilson is to appoint another special prosecutor?
Speaking of which — someone who was in the courtroom yesterday told me that it was really weird how often Pascoe mentioned Wilson — in contexts in which the other South Carolina names that came up were of people who’ve been indicted.
Which, of course, added to the weirdness of reading this initially opaque release today…
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merry halloween where’s bryan
The comment section does not accept emojis, I take it. I posted the laffy face
Sorry, Holly!
It’s pretty clear that Richard Quinn isn’t the biggest fish in this prosecution, no?
Also, I think it is beyond gross the way Rick Quinn spins it that since he “served” his constituents well (in his words) all this other stuff shouldn’t matter. Sure, Rick, you can dream that but it doesn’t make it so.
I’m also fairly confident that there are many legislators who now wish they had been supportive of real ethics reform. Today, I imagine there is a lot of wondering whether they themselves are going to become ensnared in some way as this money trail continues to unfold; sometimes it’s nice to have bright lines to keep us in our lane. Hopefully that message will begin to resonate.
Whether people are actually prosecuted in court, it does seem clearer that the Federal involvement in this pay to play scheme is going to involve, at the very least, some serious IRS demand letters.