South Carolina Democrats will hold a series of vigils around the state this week to commemorate the one-year anniversary of #SCHacked – the largest state-level security breach in American history.
Last summer, yet-to-be-identified hackers absconded with 3.8 million Social Security numbers, nearly 400,000 debit and credit card numbers and tax info for more than 650,000 businesses. In addition to failing to detect the breach (the federal government notified South Carolina that it had been hacked 44 days after the intrusion began) and waiting more than two weeks to inform the public about what happened – Haley compounded the scandal by lying to the public.
No business tax information was taken, Haley initially claimed. Oops.
There was “nothing that could have been done” to stop the breach, Haley said. Oops.
South Carolina used industry-standard security measures to protect its data. Again … oops.
The governor also entered into a secretive $12 million no-bid contract with Experian – a credit agency that’s currently being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service investigation for selling confidential consumer information to a Vietnamese scammer.
Wow …
Did Haley do anything right in this situation? No … not even a little bit.
Still, “Republicans” looking to insulate the governor from criticism decried the Democrats’ vigils – claiming the party was mocking people of faith and cheapening their “sacred” gatherings.
“S.C. Democrats Mock Religious Observance” blared the headline of GOPWrite.com, a pro-establishment website.
“Many South Carolina voters would already suggest that the Democratic Party was rather godless compared to the values of the Republican Party,” the website’s anonymous authors wrote. “Now South Carolina Democrats are doubling down on the unspoken idea by mocking religious observance.”
Ummm … okay.
“If the SCGOP wants to continue to hide the continued secrecy of the Haley administration by anonymous blog posts, they are underestimating the intelligence of the voters in South Carolina,” SCDP executive director Amanda Loveday said in response to the criticism.
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The “values” of the Republican party:
1) Pray for rain because you cut firefighter funding in your own state:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/report-governor-rick-perry-cut-texas-volunteer-fire-department-funding-by-75/
2) Forgive yourself of your infidelities when you yourself lambasted someone else for theirs:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/mark-sanford-we-can-learn-from-a-god-of-second-chances/2013/02/20/49b2606a-7b6b-11e2-9a75-dab0201670da_blog.html
3) Attempt to dupe religious people into thinking you’re God’s candidate, who specifically told you to run, when several other candidates are claiming the same thing.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-11-07/news/bs-ed-god-politics-20111107_1_god-church-and-state-man-and-one-woman
So what they are really saying is, “We were here first!”
They ALL need to go Dems and Repubs…all!
The chance was missed with Obama and Sanford, we have that mistake for another 2- 31/2 years. let’s not make the same error with Haley and all the rest. They have wonderful retirements they set up for themselves, let’s give them a chance to enjoy these special perks (far better than the working guy) they created for themselves!
EXPERIAN, STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, NELSON MULLINS, AND $100,000.00
“Law firm (Nelson Mullins) tries to clear up confusion about how Experian deal reached”
November 27, 2012
COLUMBIA — Thad Westbrook of Nelson Mullins, a law firm representing the state in the aftermath of a massive cyber breach now says NO competitors were contacted before the state reached a $12 million no-bid contract with Experian.
Attorney Jon Neiditz of Columbia firm Nelson Mullins said the confusion over whether the firm had contacted other credit monitoring companies resulted from an unclear statement made by another attorney, Thad Westbrook.
The Revenue Department reached an initial agreement with Experian just before the breach affecting millions of current and former S.C. taxpayers was first announced publicly on Oct. 26.
The confusion over whether Thad Westbrook of Nelson Mullins ever reached out to Experian competitors began at an Oct. 30 Senate Finance Committee hearing from comments from Nelson Mullins attorney Thad Wetbrook.
Revenue Department Director James Etter, who is resigning effective at the end of this year, correctly told senators that no other companies were contacted besides Experian.
But Nelson Mullins attorney Thad Westbrook immediately followed up and told senators that pricing was obtained from two other firms but Experian had the ability to scale up quickly in an emergency situation.
Weeks after the hearing, Revenue Department spokeswoman Samantha Cheek named the other two companies that Nelson Mullins had obtained estimates from as Citreas and Identity Force.
Obtaining pricing information from Experian competitors and examination did not include reaching out to them.
Neiditz said he had pre-existing pricing information from various cyber security companies and knew Experian could offer the best deal. The leaders of other firms have disputed that assessment.
Neiditz said Monday that Thad Westbrook’s statement during the hearing caused confusion.
“It wasn’t clear,” Neiditz said. “It led to the impression that other companies had been contacted….I mentioned those vendors to him.”
Some senators have expressed concerns about the state’s NO-BID contract with Experian.
Anderson GOP Sen. Kevin Bryant said it’s worrisome that no other companies were approached following the breach.
“This snowball just keeps getting bigger and bigger as time goes by,” Bryant is co-chairman of a new oversight panel tasked with looking into the cyber attack.
Normally, state contracts are struck following a request for proposals from various companies.
The law states “competition as is practicable SHALL be obtained.”
Neiditz recommended Experian to his firm, which then recommended Experian to the state. Nelson Mullins and their attorneys are being paid an estimated $100,000 for its work assisting the state.
…EXPERIAN and two competitors as Thad Westbrook and Cheek said, but NEVER contacted any of them before deciding on Experian.
Neiditz said he first contacted Experian on Oct. 23, three days before the breach was announced.
Etter had told senators during the hearing that Experian was first contacted on Oct. 25.
The Secret Service alerted state officials to the breach on Oct. 10.
“As a result, I don’t think that those business models received full consideration. Neither did other companies.”
The CEOs of Citreas and Identity Force said that their pricing would have been competitive with Experian and their services would have been superior in some ways.
Vendors likely would have been beating down the state’s doors and possibly could have provided a better deal…
Nelson Mullins and their attorneys are being paid an estimated $100,000.00
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20121127/PC16/121129491/
Smirks,
Who do you Democrats pray to Zeus?
If you read enough of his comments, you’d know that he isn’t a Democrat.
I readily admit I have never read any of his comments,I was replying to what he wrote me!
“they are underestimating the intelligence of the voters”
No they aren’t you moron.
good one
Here is what the Democrats believe in:
Days Before Launch, Obamacare Site Crashed with ‘Few Hundred People’ Using It
by ELIZABETH SHELD 22 Oct 2013, 4:23 AM PDT
CONYERS: OBAMACARE ‘VERY SMALL AND MODEST BILL’ COMPARED TO COMING UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
IRS pays illegal immigrants $4.2 billion while stalling tea parties
By Kenric WardPublished October 22, 2013watchdog.orgFacebook265 Twitter69 LinkedIn0
While harrying and stalling tea party groups seeking nonprofit status, the Internal Revenue Service mailed $4.2 billion in child-credit checks to undocumented immigrants.
Critics say midlevel IRS bureaucrats continue to abuse the Additional Child Tax Credit program by dispensing $1,000 checks to families in this country illegally.
Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA) has bagged at least $294,245 since 1998 by loaning her congressional campaign money at interest rates up to 18%–a scheme that effectively funneled campaign contributor donations directly into her personal bank account.
On Sunday, a 60 Minutes investigative report by veteran CBS reporter Steve Kroft and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer revealed how leadership PAC loopholes allow members of Congress to convert campaign cash into lavish lifestyle upgrades for themselves and their family members.(Both Parties)
We get it. You don’t like Democrats. Trust me. We get it.
I feel the same way about the crooked Republicans. It is a shame we have to pick the lesser of two evils!
What Democrats really need to focus on is what two decades of Republican rule has done to this state. We are at or near the bottom in education, income, employment, and health; and near the top in poverty. Problems, Republicans seem to have absolutely no interest in solving, or either don’t consider them problems. After all, they do keep labor costs down.
We made a new list today, by the way. MSN’s top 5 most dangerous states to live in.
http://realestate.msn.com/5-most-dangerous-states-to-live-in#1
We were at the bottom well before two decades ago. We were 49th when our ex
governor was tapped to be Secretary of Education by Bill Clinton
“If the SCGOP wants to continue to hide the continued secrecy of the Haley administration by anonymous blog posts, they are underestimating the intelligence of the voters in South Carolina…”
“Don’t EVER overestimate it for damn sure- Mark Sanford?”