EMBATTLED HOUSE SPEAKER RUNS CAMPAIGN AD ON BEHALF OF ETHICS COMMITTEE MEMBER
What’s a good way to make sure you’re never held accountable for breaking the law? Bribe the judges …
That’s pretty much what’s happening in corrupt as hell South Carolina, where a political action committee affiliated with S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell recently paid for a campaign advertisement on behalf of a state lawmaker who will soon be investigating Harrell’s campaign finance scandal.
That’s integrity, people … South Carolina-style.
Harrell’s Palmetto Leadership Council – a political action committee – ran a mailing in Richland County recently with the goal of bolstering the sagging reelection prospects of S.C. Rep. Joan Brady (RINO-Columbia). Brady is currently facing an especially strong reelection challenge from Democrat Beth Bernstein, a proponent of ethics reform.
The Brady-Bernstein race is expected to be very close … and a mailing like this could give Brady the edge she needs to stave off Bernstein’s challenge.
First, let’s take a look at the piece …
(Click to enlarge)
Hmmmmm …
Brady, of course, is a sitting member of the infamous S.C. House Ethics Committee – which earlier this year voted to clear Gov. Nikki Haley of multiple ethics violations despite overwhelming evidence attesting to the governor’s guilt.
That shameful whitewash is expected to be followed very soon by another “see no evil, hear no evil” charade … which we suppose is what happens when politicians are allowed to police each other. Hell, the chairman of this committee, Rep. Roland Smith (RINO-Aiken), recently stated that he “couldn’t afford” to even talk about the allegations against Harrell … let alone investigate them.
What a sham … and in Brady’s case, the impropriety is even more galling considering the fact that she is receiving a financial lifeline from Harrell’s PAC at a time when her political career hangs in the balance.
Government watchdog groups have announced they will be filing a complaint against Harrell immediately following the November elections regarding more than $325,000 worth of dubious self-payments made from his campaign account. In fact Harrell has already effectively admitted his guilt – returning more than $23,000 of these ill-gotten reimbursements to his campaign account.
When that complaint is filed, Brady’s committee will be tasked with conducting a secret investigation of Harrell.
Does anyone think for a second that Brady could be counted on to rule impartially in such a case?
Of course not …
“This is a perfect example of why we need to get rid of the Senate and House Ethics Committees,” Bernstein said. “It’s just one big game of ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ at the State House. I am surprised that Representative Brady does not recognize the impropriety of accepting such support.”
We are too … surprised that is. Both Harrell and Brady should be ashamed of themselves.
The House Ethics committee already shredded its accountability during the Haley scandal, but now one of its members appears to be profiting as a result of the Harrell scandal. That’s downright despicable … not to mention the most compelling evidence yet attesting to the fact that state lawmakers have absolutely no business whatsoever policing themselves.
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38 comments
Joan Brady….what a crook.
Oh really? And you don’t think that lawyer’s are crooks? Give me a break! Bernstein is the crook. And Bernstein has nothing to offer the state of SC. Except as a trial lawyer fighting to get drunk drivers off!
Brady=Haley, she is a stupid ugly bitch!
I’ve never heard of Brady. Apparently she has accompished nothing in the State House but it is pathetic that even a lightweight like her is getting in on the “pay for play.” SC will remain the #50 state with these losers and crooks making our laws.
Joan has accomplished many things as a House Representative. Why don’t you find out the truth before spouting off? She is certainly not a lightweight! Please get your facts straight before your tongue loosens. You look like a fool!
Name something Brady has accomplished? Heck, even just one thing. I did a quick search and found nothing.
As far as me looking like a fool, your girlfriend Joan looks like an old, raggedy clown. Since you care so much for her, you should advise her that it’s better to age gracefully than to alter yourself into a scary Halloween mask.
Haha.. What a response! I expected nothing less of you! And for you to assume that I or Joan Brady is a lesbian is outright hilarious! Get a life. I’m entitled to my opinion just as you and the other paid hacks are!
Nice deflection. As I suspected, Brady has accomplished nothing. Excuse me, other than driving a seven year old jaguar.
Joan Brady – Nikki Haley lap dog.
go steinberger !!!
Vote Beth.
Please!! Vote Beth??? What does she offer? A trial lawyer who is backed by more trial lawyers! We don’t need more lawyers in office! We need real people that truly care about South Carolina! VOTE BRADY!
Yawn.
I’ve known Joan Brady for 15 years. She only cares about herself and will say anything to get elected. Last year she was a Newt Gingrich endorsing Tea bagger. This year she’s a liberal. Give me a break. Politicians like her make me sick. I’ve never voted for a Democrat but this year my family will be voting for her opponent, Beth Bernstein.
Joan Brady – #1 fan of the plastic surgery & cosmetics industries.
Not so much of a fan of SC ethics reform
You should be so ashamed of yourself, but I’m sure your not! To talk about how someone looks and then post your own idiotic comment about Joan Brady is low. I’m sure your not perfect, so why would you go so low? Is it jealousy? Probably. Joan Brady has more class in her pinkie than you have in your whole being!
Joan Brady has a face full of plastic and a record full of shit. Vote her out.
Will: I have told you and told you. This ethics committee is run like my judiciary discipline system. We do what is in my best political interest. My friends are rewarded and my enemies are punished. This works great for me. I don’t know why you insist on thinking this type system should be abolished. Grow up will you? This is the way it is here. If you don’t like it, go elsewhere. SO ORDERED!
And you know this because…its legal and was disclosed properly! Egads…..Watson…you solved the crime!
Another violation of…absolutely nothing. I think you have got him this time Sherlock.
Hey by the way…is today we see the Horry County federal indictments? or is today Lexington county? I get confused.
Watch out Bigfoot…FITS on the prowl.
Jeffy01 (errr Joan),
Look out!!! The point of this article is flying right over your head.
The problem in SC is that such “back scratching” is legal and Jaguar Joan has no problem diving right in the game.
If she CAN’T see what is wrong with this type of support – SHE SHOULD BE GONE. If she CAN see what is wrong and still accepts this kind of support – SHE SHOULD BE GONE!
On top of this unethical behavior, Jaguar Joan has other ethics issues. For instance:
Jaguar Joan uses her campaign donations as her personal piggy bank. Her spending is far beyond the customary items I have seen from other candidates. She has a full internet provider bill, her entire cell phone bill, tons of gas bills, meals at the high end eatery Cafe Caturra, Starbucks coffee, and more.
It appears that she treats her campaign donations as personal income. What makes this appearance even worse is that Brady has no other career or job other than her job as a legislator (which was intended to be a part-time job). She is professional politician, always has been other than her brief stint as a tv personality, great combination.
This situation makes her vulnerable to those groups that she receives donations from for her campaign. In essence, they are paying her phone bill, her gas for her Jaguar, her internet service to her home in a gated community and her meals. She makes $10,800 as a legislator. How does she afford such a high standard of living on such meager income? Does this situation make her beholden to the groups she receives her “pay” from? Ethics rules that enable this type of situation must be changed.
If the current ethics rules sustain this type of behavior then, in her eight years as a lawmaker, I would have expected Brady to lead changes to these rules as a member of the Ethics Committee. She has not done so. In fact, to the contrary, her spending reveals she has taken advantage of them. I would have rather Brady focused her energy on cleaning up the loopholes enabling corruption instead of a “sexting” bill.
Jaguar Joan, the professional politician, must go!!!
What would be really funny is if you knew the truth about Brady and her campaign! She does not spend a dime of her contributions on herself or her bills. What are you, an idiot? To sum it up, the person who wrote this was probably paid by Beth Bernstein. This is the only way she can even hope to get elected,(by starting lies and having someone post them). What about if Bernstein took all the money she paid for her tv ads and put it into a food bank, where hungry children can eat! What about her refusal to do a one on one debate with Joan Brady! I guess she knows better. She couldn’t answer questions at the Sierra forum, and she surely couldn’t stand up to Joan’s intelligence with a one on one! You people make me sick, talking about someone that has never said a harm word against her opponent! Joan Brady has fought a clean campaign, unlike Bernstein who keeps trying to make up things to get ahead. She will never ever be my pick for district 78!
And how would you know what Joan’s bills are? Stalking again? I see that you make it your business to try to invade peoples privacy and lives. Got nothing better to do? Your pityful. And you need help. Seriously. Joan drives a 7 yr old car. She works hard and always has. If she has money saved up to live the way she chooses, thats her business! I think your pathetic and jealous and I bet I know who you really are! You will never be as classy or smart as Joan Brady! She has respect, dignity and honor. Unlike you, that spurts off at the mouth about things you have no idea about! Lies, is all you know. That speaks volumes about YOU! Where Joan Brady eats, shops, spends is not your business or anyone elses. So keep following her, maybe one day you’ll get a real life. Because you obviously don’t have one now!
How do I know what Brady’s campaign bills are? Because she is required by ethics laws to disclose them. Anyone can review them online. It is a part of the current ethics laws. It is your right as a citizen to know them; however, I understand that anyone related to Brady would not understand those concepts.
FACT #1: Jaguar Joan’s campaign expenditures, which include such things as frequent dinners at Cafe Caturra for as much as $200, are all there for everyone to see. Having a little Chardonnay on your donors dime? That is all fine with Jaguar Joan. Maybe you were there enjoying those copious amounts of wine flowing yourself.
FACT#2: I have followed this race and found that Bernstein has criticized Jaguar Joan for her record as a legislator and her conduct as member on the Ethics Committee.
FACT: Those are not personal attacks. Jaguar Joan, on the other hand, has lied about the true nature of Bernstein’s occupation. Jaguar Joan has gone back to the tire old GOP playbook on campaigning and tried desperately to cast Bernstein as a trial lawyer. While she works in a business where other lawyers do criminal defense, she has never been a criminal defense attorney. Bernstein also has the endorsement of Sheriff Leon Lott, which is interesting considering your diatribes about being soft on crime. Jag Joan has attacked her family practice, which has nothing to do with the campaign or the job sought.
Jag Joan is an eight year incumbent, and it very revealing that she cannot stand on her own record and must send her minions like GOP Chair Chad Connelly to trespass onto Bernstein’s property and disparage her and her 10 employees personally.
You do not see Courson or Finley attacking their opponents with this hokey liberal trial lawyer bit while those two republicans are actually running against self-proclaimed trial lawyers. Why? because it is a ridiculous, merit-less position.
FACT#3: The current legislature is comprised of less than 25% lawyers. Some do not even practice law. You say Lawyer are “job killers.” the current unemployment rate in SC is 9.1%.
Please explain how lawyers caused one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
FACT#4: Jaguar Joan is on the Ethics Committee. Jaguar Joan has accepted thousands of dollars of campaign support from a fellow member of the legislature. This legislator paid for the mailing of thousands of mailers in support of Jag Joan and contributed the max allowed personally. (Does that not make him the largest single donor for her campaign? no one else has done a mailer for her) That fellow member will be under investigation by the Ethics Committee. If re-elected, Jaguar Joan will be investigating the single biggest donor to her campaign.
What is ironic is that Jag Joan has started the dialogue about what campaign contributions mean to the candidates by insinuating that some underlying conspiracy exits among the lawyers to wreck the state because lawyers have contributed to Bernstein’s campaign.
While I enjoy the challenge of “connecting the dots” in a good piece conspiracy theory fiction, unfortunately, the facts contained in “Fact#4” regarding Jag Joan and her campaign funding above leave little to the imagination. Brady is professional politician on the take.
In closing, I find it amusing and ironic that you, the Brady minion, who has responded to nearly every remark to this article, says candidates pay people to reply. You are genius.
Thanks again, Beth
Jaguar Joan, that’s pretty good. But I prefer Joan “my face doesn’t move” Brady.
no…I get the point. I certainly commend Will for pointing it out. However…its the same law that WIll and his buddies use to promote thier friends and agendas.
I should think that anyone on the ethics committee that got money from Harrell would have to recuse themselves (to be ethical) and let someone without that issue sit in judgement, ethically speaking.
How about the full body massage that Bernstein is getting from the Trial lawyers and Chief Masseuses, Dick Harpootlian and Joel Lourie? Not to mention a certain unethical blogger who is supposed to be a Republican. It’s pretty obvious, Slick Willy, that you are in cahoots with the Democrats. How hard are they scratching your back?
So true! Bernstein has no idea what she is doing! She is just enjoying being a play toy in the lawyers pockets! We don’t need more attorneys in office! And Bernstein is playing dirty, making up bull**** lies about her opponent!
Joan Brady endorsed by The State Newspaper.
Beth Bernstein endorsed by FitsNews.
This is all that needs to be said.
It’s so simple now choosing among candidates.
Vote against anyone Harrell supports or endorses.
First of all, its well known that Beth Bernstein pays people to write these derogatory statements against Joan Brady! She even posts the Fits news articles on her facebook page. Its Bernstein that couldn’t answer the questions at the Sierra club forum! And its Bernstein that is starting all the false stories about Brady. Bernstein also lies about being a trial lawyer, defending drunk drivers! Running for any office should not be about how a person looks! It should have never gotten to the point where a grown woman (supposedly) fights down and dirty like the male polititions. Where has honesty and dignity and courtesy gone? It is an honor and a privilege to serve in any capacity for our state, and Beth Bernstein has made it all about cutting down her opponent! Thats not what we need in the HOUSE! Bernstein, take yourself out of this race before you get really embarrassed! You don’t have a quarter of the class that Joan Brady has and you never will.
Dear Sheila Desroches,
Methinks you protest too much.
You are very … um … persistent, Sheila. Now I understand why Trikki Nikki gave Brady an “A” on her report card.
How about a Haley/Brady ticket for SC in 2014?!
@ Sheila what are you Joan Brady’s girlfriend.
Thanks Beth
Is it so hard to believe that someone besides Beth would be offended by the mindless adulation you seem to be giving this woman. It is people like you who declare one candidate a saint and the other a demon that makes these evil people confident that they can fleece the public. why not? their followers will defend them no matter what they do and crucify their opponents in the process. There are probably some real complaints you might have against Bernstein. I really hadn’t made a choice until now. I would never vote for Brady if you are indicative of the type of followers she cultivates.
Will, when you told The State you weren’t going to disclose detailed information, you gave away your credibility on the issue of transparency. Set the example or shut up on the matter.
But some of us who know better know it’s not about reform. It’s all about power for you.