LAWMAKER MUST PAY $10,000 FINE
S.C. Rep. Kris Crawford (R-Florence) was found guilty this week on four counts of failing to file state income taxes in a timely manner. In addition to the verdict, Crawford was fined $10,000 – but he will not face jail time. It’s not clear how Crawford’s verdict will impact his service in the S.C. House of Representatives, where the physician has served since 2007.
Last March, a judge declared a mistrail in the Crawford case – but S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office chose to continue prosecuting the case.
Despite the lingering charges, Crawford was overwhelmingly elected to a fourth term in the S.C. House last week.
As we noted in our initial coverage of this issue, we believe that political considerations played a primary role in this prosecution. After all, the same catch-all section of the S.C. Code of Laws used to prosecute Crawford could have easily been used to prosecute S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley – who has a lengthy history of tardy tax filings.
Then there’s the much bigger question of how much money Haley earned in 2007 … a cloud which continues to hang over the governor’s national ambitions.
Despite reporting income of roughly $40,300 to the IRS in 2006, Haley and her husband Michael lived in a large, $300,000 home – with Haley tooling around town in a Cadillac SUV wearing expensive clothes, jewelry and lingerie. Last March, it was revealed that Haley’s job application for a fundraising position at Lexington Medical Center included a 2007 income estimate which vastly exceeded the amount of money that Haley reported to the IRS that year.
So yeah … we’d say her issues are a little more worthy of examination.
So what motivated this prosecution? Well, Crawford had been rumored as a possible primary challenger to S.C. Senator Hugh Leatherman this year. The state’s “Godfather of Pork,” Leatherman is one of the most corrupt public officials to ever hold office in South Carolina (which is saying something, believe us). He’s also the most influential politician in the state.
Our guess? He used his considerable influence to take Crawford out …
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35 comments
That makes no sense. Crawford’s defense attorney is a friend and supporter of Leatherman.
I’ve said countless times in this forum. Fits ain’t no fact checker. And he knows nothing of background importance outside of the Columbia Metro area.
He couldn’t find Florence with a damn map, let alone the family, economic, and political alliances.
FITS, what started out to be an article re Crawford quickly turned, as you so often do, moreso about NIKKI than Crawford. That beautiful woman must have given you the BIG MIDDLE FINGER when you probably just wanted a little sniff. Boy, does she play on your little mind 24/7? But make not mistake about it, you have good taste, that GOVERNESS is one good-looking, hot, sexy lady.
She probably gave him a lot more than the middle finger when they were steaming up the windows of the SUV.
My thought exactly. You are a broken record Will. While the Crawford trial was going on you were asleep or watching shiny objects like the Governor.
She is on Hillary’s radar. Make no mistake about it. Any conservative GOP woman who gets close to being the first female POTUS will be shot down using any means possible. These computer hacks are highly suspect when in context as competition to Hillary. Think Palin’s drop from the public eye and a nasty book about here which is in civil litigation. BTW, a Walker/Haley ticket would get some juice if I can help it.
Edit: screw Jeb Bush/Marco Rubio, insert Scott Walker/Nikki Haley for 2016.
Sarah Palin is Dumb.
Nikki Haley is Dumber.
Jesus, Thomas, do you wear tin foil hats everyday or just on weekends?
1) Hillary is involved in the hacking episode?
2) Are you effing Walker, Haley or both? Are you AC/DC?
C’mon Thomas
Let it all out Bo!
Tell it like it is!
Obama is a damn Muslim
Ain’t he?
Go Hilliary Go Girl.
@Marty. I’m on call for Hillary in 2016. Just waiting for the request for assistance.
Looks like it was a slam dunk case this time for Alan Wilson. Jury got the case at 11.30am, ordered lunch and the call went out to lawyers to be back in courtroom before 3pm. When a jury takes less than 3 1/2 hrs (and that includes lunch) Crawford was toast before the judge read them their instructions. Now if the voters of backass Florence will give this guy the boot next time. I doubt they will, he’s a doctor and in Florence Dr. Eddie Floyd (yes the one with the entrance at Wm Brice stadium named after him)pretty much owns that 1 horse 2 stop light town.
Darksied, Did someone from Florence steal your girlfriend or did you get picked on when you were younger by someone from Florence. You seem to have a personal vendetta against this town judging by the “tone” of your words. What progressive city in South Carolina are you from, if I may inqire?
Dumbass Will Folks, it’s “Mistrial” not “Mistrail”. Mistrail is what your old boss said he was on when he was actually in Argentina. And the only reason you say the prosecution here was “politically motivated” is because you suck the balls of any tea party douche that comes along.
I hate to defend Folks, but it’s a freaking typo.
Why think conspiracy, when just plain dishonesty and greed are the answers. Kris Crawford was rightly charged, rightly tried, and rightly convicted for breaking the law. He tried to cheat on his state income taxes and he got caught. End of story.
It is incredibly greedy to want to keep more of the money you earned.
:)
Yes it is “incredibly greedy” or at least hypocritical when other people pay their fair share of the taxes and try to follow the laws made by the legislature that you are a member of–but you don’t.
Or stole?
“Earn?”
All in the eye of the beholder!
If you go to the Bi-Lo parking lot on Fridays, you can get an ObamaPhone for free. On Tuesdays, you get your EBT card (Eat Better Today). On Wednesdays, it’s deal with the social worker from DSS.
Good points both Bon & Romney.
Guilty of being a Sanford lackey in Leatherman’s town…
Is Sanford this LOYAL to the people who made him???…I think we all know the answer to that one…
He has to be BigT, otherwise he is dead meat.
There’s a truckload of evidence that the selection of cases to prosecute by the SC DOR is incredibly politically motivated. Has been for 20 years. Remember when that Charleston idiot Condon was AG?
I agree Johnson. My experience with the SC DOR was a nightmare. Try to get one of the personal tax dudes out there near Dutch Square. Most are about 16, but there are a lot better, reasonable and responsible to the ones at the Museum. They even return calls at the Dutch Square office.
“Mistrail”? —- Fits you are getting just as bad as The State, WLTX,and WIS. They hired Chinese proofreaders, but it didn’t help.
Aw, com’on Shifty, give him a break. It was a typo and it’s Friday. Ever buy a car built on Friday?
Find out who the judge was in this bogus trial and you’ll know just how crooked the case was. A Toalite on the bench will mean that Leatherman got to Toal who picked a judge to hear this trial and do it her way. Now Leatherman owes Toal one. Judges have incredible sway with juries. It is clear Crawford probably did not timely file his tax returns, but hey, this is more the norm and not the exception. Most people who do not file their state tax returns in a timely manner also do not file their Federal returns either. Something smells in this whole mess.
Crawford used a bank tower lawyer from the McNair firm as his primary counsel. Judge was Tommy Cooper from Manning, who gave Crawford a fair trial.
Crawford came off as an arrogant Romney 1%er-not exactly a stretch impersonation for a Repugnant Partier who’s also an MD. The arrogance certainly came naturally.
Will Attorney General Alan Wilson go after Governot Nikki Haley?
No! Republicans don’t eat their own.
Crawford is a republican.
Don’t you idiots think Crawford’s lawyers tried like hell to persuade everyone who’d listen that this was a vendetta perpetrated by Leatherman and the case should be thrown out? Crawford had some very expensive and aggressive lawyers, not some bumbling public defenders. If they couldn’t convince anyone then there must not be even a single smoking ember to keep the Leatherman angle or prosecutorial misconduct theories alive.
Sam’s just like the Repugs, playing the game by the old rules, not knowing life has passed them by. Public defenders these days are the best criminal defense attorneys out there. Check out the experience of the Lexington PD’s office-20 plus year is the rule, not the exception. Florence PD is the same.
Crawford’s lawyers may have been expensive but they certainly weren’t the best.
Normally fits does OK. Missed this one. Guy had opportunity to settle it, but Pee Dee Republican arrogance, like Ard, would not let his ego do it. He dared the AG to prosecute him and the AG had the balls to do it. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. Crawford played poorly, even with a 11-1 mistrial the first time. Got what he deserved. Now let’s see if the House ethics committee has the guts to expel him from the chamber for failing to pay the tax money he eagerly spent and took as a salary.