SCDP: Nikki Haley Hypocrisy Alert

This morning, Nikki Haley showed that her memory has more holes in it than the state’s cyber security did in 2012, and her hypocrisy on accountability knows no bounds.

SHOT:
In a meeting with her cabinet today, the Governor had strong words about passing the buck off to others. [The State’s Adam Beam, 8/20/13]

CHASER:
One year ago, after learning of the hacking, the Governor kept it secret for 2 weeks, before holding almost daily press events full of misinformation and blaming others for the failure. [Post & Courier, 11/12/12]

To this day, the people of South Carolina cannot get the full story on what happened or an apology from Governor Haley. Actions speak louder than words.

With her reelection announcement just six days away, Nikki Haley is working overtime to whitewash some of her biggest failures. But the people of South Carolina remember what really happened. That’s why Haley’s approval rating is still stuck in the 40s, and why she had to call in support from 3 out-of-state governors for her own reelection rally.

BACKGROUND

Governor Haley waited more than 2 weeks to inform 6.4 million consumers and businesses in South Carolina that their tax information had been hacked under her watch. [The State, 1/4/13]

Instead of accepting responsibility and demanding accountability, Governor Haley’s first instinct was to blame everyone else. “When the hacking was first discovered, Gov. Haley’s office waited more than two weeks to inform the public — nearly a lifetime in the age of instantaneous information and online banking. Then they told us the hacking was unpreventable, only to later admit that the Department of Revenue refused an offer by the State Information Office offered to monitor their system. Then we were told that only Social Security numbers were stolen, no business records were stolen, and that the Internet wasn’t used in the hacking attack. All of those claims turned out to be false. Haley’s office also tried to blame the Internal Revenue Service for not requiring states to encrypt Social Security numbers. However, the IRS does encrypt SSNs on its own system — and recommends that other agencies do the same.” [Palmetto Public Record, 1/17/13]

Governor Haley flip-flopped back and forth repeatedly – unable or unwilling to be straight with the public. “As the investigation into the hack into the S.C. Department of Revenue progressed, some of Gov. Nikki Haley’s public statements about the breach necessarily evolved. But concerning the preventability of the hack and whether the state or an employee enabled it, the governor staked out positions at the beginning that she has now fully reversed.”[Post & Courier, 11/12/12]

Governor Haley has repeatedly refused to apologize to the people of South Carolina. “On Monday, the South Carolina Democratic Party released a video calling on Gov. Nikki Haley to apologize to citizens for the Department of Revenue cybersecurity breach last fall.” [Patch, 5/7/13]

South Carolinians still don’t know the full truth of what happened, because it’s buried in a secret report. [The State, 6/5/13]

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Pic: Travis Bell Photography