Tag: Jake Knotts

Election 2012 Review

Election 2012 is now history and we correctly predicted President Barack Obama would be returned to office for four more years.

This was an obvious pick from various polling data over the last week of the race, but the overall results on the national level demonstrated once again that American voters cannot be taken for granted.

Challenger Mitt Romney ran on the economy and the number one concern of voters in exit polling interviews was the economy, yet incumbent Obama was re-elected and it wasn’t as close as we anticipated. In fact, it could be called a landslide in the electoral vote column.

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Our Election 2012 Predictions

As polls open for Election 2012, we thought it would be interesting to take a shot at predicting the outcome of some of the more difficult and contentious races around the state.

For this we chose two SC House races on the coast where only petition candidates are on the ballot, two contentious SC Senate races in the midlands, the new 7th Congressional District race and the one for that White House in D.C.

These are not endorsements nor are they preferences on our part. They are merely our best guess on who will win tomorrow. Yell at our picks if you wish.

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The Internet Sweepstakes Café Conundrum

The Internet Sweepstakes Café Conundrum

The conundrum now engulfing the internet sweepstakes cafe issue around the state has had intricate twists and turns in the last several months.

Several key legislators told us recently that SLED chief Mark Keel was lobbying General Assembly members to close the “loophole” in the state law on gambling that allows sweepstakes games at food stores and fast food restaurants. The same loophole is being used by internet sweepstakes café operators to justify their business model.

After the General Assembly failed to act on any change in the law, Keel, using an opinion by Attorney General Alan Wilson, began raiding internet sweepstakes cafes and confiscating the computers on which the games were being played.

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The Politics of the Internet Sweepstakes Raids in South Carolina

The Politics of Internet Sweepstakes Raids

Politics and intrigue too often inject themselves into what should be relatively straightforward issues in South Carolina. This has been especially true recently in government agendas related to internet sweepstakes cafes.

We have been reading recently of what is called the ‘Lexington Ring’ in blogs. Assertions have been made that this so-called cabal of law enforcement officials, magistrates and state legislators is conspiring to allow illegal video poker operations in the midlands.

“Make no mistake none of this is about video gambling. It is, all about assisting petition candidate Katrina Shealy in defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Jake Knotts in the November general election.”

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Katrina Shealy, That Dog Won't Hunt

Katrina Shealy: I Swear I Did!

“The Defendant (Shealy) has already shown a propensity for saying things which are untrue, even under oath.”

The election contest for Senate District 23 is going to be nothing if not entertaining this year. Challenger Katrina Shealy who is opposing incumbent Sen. Jake Knotts, with the help of Gov. Nikki Haley, has become embroiled in a new legal challenge.

Shealy was one of the many Republican candidates left off the ballot after she failed to file her candidacy papers properly. The state Republican Party executive committee attempted to put her name back on the primary ballot after a special hearing in May. The S.C. Election Commission, however, refused to ignore a S.C. Supreme Court ruling by which Shealy was declared ineligible.

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First Shot Fired Against Jake Knotts

First Shot Fired Against Jake Knotts

The first shot in what promises to be a vicious fall campaign was fired today when a story on Sen. Jake Knotts appeared in a Columbia newspaper hinting the incumbent District 23 senator may be considering retirement after his next four year term.

I have been in the news business long enough to recognize a planted story when I see one and this one has all the earmarks. It seems like a not so subtle attempt for Gov. Nikki Haley to weigh in on Knotts to the advantage of her best friend and Knotts’ opponent Katrina Shealy.

Shealy will have to be a petition candidate in the fall because she failed to file her candidacy forms properly during the March filing period. Therefore, she needs to build awareness for her candidacy because she won’t be the nominee of a party on the ballot and benefit from all the straight party voters.

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Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment Repealed

Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment Repealed

Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment, “Thou shall not speak ill of any Republican,” died in Lexington, South Carolina on Monday night. The party’s executive committee approved a resolution that GOP Party officers may now support non-Republican candidates in the upcoming November general election.

The resolution only formalized what has been going on in Lexington County and around South Carolina for months. Speaking ill of other Republicans has become the sport of this election season.

A second resolution to try and run incumbent Sen. Jake Knotts out of the party failed, but demonstrates the political infighting currently rampant within the party. Knotts is expected to be opposed in the fall by petition candidate Katrina Shealy, best friend of Gov. Nikki Haley. Knotts is the Republican nominee. Shealy will have the support of the state’s nominal top Republican office holder.

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Lexington GOP Knottso Smart

Lexington GOP Knottso Smart

The most foolish thing I have seen in this year’s election cycle so far is a resolution “regarding” Sen. Jake Knotts proposed by the leadership of the Lexington County Republican Party.

The resolution proposes to censure Knotts and kick him out of the Republican Party. Why? Essentially, for being smarter than his opponents.
Included in its whereases are statements that Knotts: “orchestrated a lawsuit that took advantage of a deeply flawed and contradictory law concerning the filing of a “Statement of Economic Interests,” and “selfishly abused the law in order to eliminate his opposition from the ballot for the June 12, 2012 GOP primary.”

It is well known that Sen. Knotts and Gov. Nikki Haley don’t have much use for each other. Haley’s BFF Katrina Shealy filed to run against Knotts in the Republican primary for his Senate seat.

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Nikki Haley Overrules S.C. Supreme Court

By a vote of 26-0, an SCGOP Executive Committee placed Katrina Shealy back on the June 12th primary ballot for Senate District 23.

Shealy was the fourth of five candidates whose protests were heard by the committee. She was the only one successful in reversing a former decision about her certification for the ballot.

The entire candidate filing controversy has been pinned to Shealy’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Jakie Knotts who, reportedly, had someone challenge Shealy’s filing in a lawsuit heard by the S.C. Supreme Court with original jurisdiction of the case.

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