As the final regular season of Barbecue & Politics comes to a close, and football season nears, it’s time to look back at a few of the highlights of the summer...
Normally I don't write about political consulting firms, because there are enough blogs out there actually written by political consulting firms ... so if there's dirt to be dished, it usually gets dished with the quickness.
If Gervais has said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: Charleston millionaires simply have too little influence in our state government. A few months ago, I discussed how the South Carolina Club for Growth is here to fix that problem, by using synchronized contributions [...]
When campaign finance disclosures were due on July 10th, Gervais waited patiently to find out how much money SCRG voucher/tax credit candidate Kyle Boyd got from NYC millionaire Howard Rich and his associates, in his recent loss to GOP Rep. Carl Gullick of York. Boyd waited [...]
The first time I ate at Little Pigs Barbeque, this blog wasn’t even two months old. It was November of 2005, and a reporter for The State newspaper had contacted Gervais by email about doing a story on this new-fangled political parody blog called “Barbecue & [...]
From The State, Education panel appointee answers critics:The president of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State said [newest Education Oversight Committee member Julie] Hershey signed his group’s proclamation — favoring the privatization of public education — at a 1999 Greenville event.
“There [...]
So for the past few days, we’ve been discussing Julie Hershey, the newest Education Oversight Committee member, whose name showed up for a brief period (4 years, at least) on the anti-public school pledge of the Alliance for Separation of School and State. But [...]
Below: A screen shot of Obama's personal blog
It's been six days since Gervais first told you that the newest member of South Carolina Education Oversight Committee, Sanford appointee Julie Hershey, was a listed as a signatory of a pledge that states:
Julie Hershey, the newest member of the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee, claims she never signed the anti-public school pledge that says:
Any psychic could have told you on June 10th that Joe Bustos, Annie McDaniel, and Joey Millwood got 55%, 85%, and 65% of their campaign contributions, respectively, from New York millionaire Howard Rich and his associates. Unfortunately, most South Carolinians suffer from a lack [...]
Somebody please tell Gervais this is a joke. Somebody please tell me that the newest member of the Education Oversight Committee is not a signatory of an oath against public education … a pledge that says:
“I proclaim publicly that I favor ending [...]
What’s the best way to surprise your enemy while advancing for a lethal blow? I have no idea. Go ask a ninja.
But if you’re one of millionaire Howard Rich’s voucher groups, and you want to take out Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, you might try funding [...]
On May 27th, Senate candidate Lee Bright turned in his final pre-election campaign finance disclosure. Here’s how much out-of-state voucher cash it showed:$0.00
With just two weeks to go before the primary election, nothing.
Of course, that number didn’t stay at zero for long [...]
Senate District 23 candidate Katrina Shealy took an incredible amount of money off Howard Rich’s hands in her recent primary loss to Republican Jake Knotts. And I mean incredible. The State on Friday reported that “[o]ut-of-state donors accounted for $57,000, or 41.5 percent, of what Shealy [...]
House District 22’s next lawmaker filed her post-election campaign finance disclosure on Saturday, and the good news is that 55% of her money came from “South Carolina,” the triangular-shaped state that surrounds the district. Only 45% came from out-of-state voucher interests.
But, in keeping with SCRG’s [...]
It would’ve been a lot of money for voters to swallow. But then again, “voters” were never aware of it. 
Sheri Few may have lost her runoff election, but she won the distinction of being the GOP primary candidate in House District 79 who took the most cash from Howard Rich and associates: 51% of her campaign was bankrolled by SC's biggest special interest.
UPDATE 7/20/08: According to the Aiken Standard, Scott Singer has returned all but $3,000 of the funds sent to his campaign by Howard Rich, noting that he did not feel comfortable getting so much money from a single source. 
If you ever wanted to know what lawmakers were thinking when they passed a certain bill, a good place to start is a little blurb they call the “Whereas Clause.” Most of the time, the “Whereas Clause” is right at the beginning of the bill. Usually [...]
...Gervais found this old post from about two and a half years ago. Enjoy!
