Larry Sypolt, a long shot candidate for mayor of Columbia, S.C., is dropping out of the race and endorsing incumbent Steve Benjamin, sources tell FITS.
Sypolt was not immediately available for comment – but his campaign confirmed he is appearing alongside Benjamin at a 1:00 p.m. press conference in downtown Columbia to make the announcement.
A former analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Sypolt has been one of Benjamin’s most aggressive critics – particularly on the issue of public safety. Why has he all of a sudden decided to “embrace (Benjamin’s) vision for keeping Columbia safe?”
(His campaign’s words, not ours …)
It’s sure as hell not because the city is any safer …
Oh well, we’re sure taxpayers will be subsidizing the answer just as soon as Benjamin gets reelected next week.
UPDATE: Benjamin has named Sypolt chairman of his task force on public safety. Phase one of the sellout.
43 comments
I smell some new business…or some campaign debt being paid off.
Exactly, or T-Bone has some major dirt on him.
The “endorsement” makes ZERO sense.
I would imagine a position in T-Bones staff. Probably Deputy Mayor over public safety.
Head honcho for the 5 Points Posse……
SOP – does that mean Sypolt has PTSD?
Skinny, nerdy looking, white guy, not from around here, former member of the Po po – had no chance at all of winning and he probably just realized it.
Why the endorsement though?
Looking for a new job in law enforcement?
Probably something along those lines….doesn’t make him a man of character in my mind, but he probably doesn’t care about that…lol
If Larry was that spineless, he didn’t deserve to be mayor.
Sypolt was a shill for the Lott Family from the start. He talked about the changes needed at CPD while endorsing turning it over to Lott. Where have we heard that garbage before. Lott Family cronies such as Randy Scott and his butt buddy Santiago are what have driven that department even further into the ground than Charlie Austin could have hoped to do.
Thank you for that clarification. I had no idea Sypolt and Lott were butt buddies, therefore by extension obviously T-Bone.
It must be nice having controlled opposition, especially when it comes to getting more white vote as we all know how blacks are voting.
Really though, it’s not like anyone was going to beat T-Bone anyway, but this is just that special little cherry on top of the shit pie.
You are seeing clearly, ?. Also, I noted that according to The State, Sypolt and T-bone are having their news conference (I guess to announce this) at CPD headquarters. How appropriate!!!!
Well, they sure as hell aren’t going to have it at Five Points.
Sypolt buys Lott lifts for his boots.
Here’s some of the points he ran on:
“Empty storefronts and offices illustrate the recent downturn in our economy.”
So one has to assume he made this a point because it’s a current problem.
What does he do? He endorses the guy it’s been getting worse under…lol
“As your Mayor, I will ensure consistent, experienced leadership to tackle the growing drug and gang problems.”
So has that been solved by T-Bone? Because I’m have to assume Sypolt thinks so, hence the “endorsement”.
“We need to stop the policy of closed-door sessions and hurried votes that impeded the rights of the people of Columbia.”
So that one’s bee solved too, justifying Sypolt’s endorsement?
Oh yea, maybe not. He “endorsement” isn’t worth a pile of turds.
What a chump.
Looks like they will merge the RCSD with the CPD. Really does not make any sense because you have two funding operations, RC Council and CoC’s strong Mayor. If they would incorporate RC as the new COC then we will see some real change for the better. A Metro Police Department would be at the expense of the RCSD. Even though “sheriff” in each county is mandated by the state constitution, if we get a strong mayor, expect the RC Sheriff to lose most of the department to a new Metro Police Department. Without term limits, it really sets up a showdown between the RCSD and the Mayor’s CPD.
That’s not going to happen.
Hope it doesn’t. Whats Columbia/Richland County rated nationally for crime? 5th! Hell, “sheriff-shorty” can’t handle what he’s got.
According to The State today, Sypolt wanted to allocate more money to Columbia Pride weekend. Maybe he felt by throwing his support to Scott, he had a better chance of getting it? But, truthfully for whatever his reasons for dropping out, he had as much chance as a snowball in August here of getting elected. Just glad I don’t live in the fucked up Richland County/City of Columbia (tax/spend) guvment.
Remember, folks: Don’t be out on the road after election day.
Hopefully this time the DUI will involve a very sturdy tree instead of some poor woman going to work.
Do you have any evidence whatsoever that Mr. Benjamin was drinking? If so, I want to see it.
FITS posted pictures of Benjamin drinking on the night in question.
No. He posted one photograph of Mr. Benjamin having a drink of clear liquid at a bar, taken by an unknown source. That is not evidence, at least in any meaningful way. The sad fact is, most folks here believe what they want to believe, irrespective of what the facts actually are.
Is Jay Elliott on the Benjamin reelection team?
Spoken like a typical DUI attorney scum. What chapter of the “How to Beat a DUI” by Reese Joy did you read that from?
“most folks here believe what they want to believe, irrespective of what facts actually are”
I am not a folk but I am an old white bastard and I believe you are full of shit and that’s a fact
No one here is buying the bullshit you are trying to peddle. His own people/supporters said he “wasn’t drinking to excess” and the bar tender admitted watching him consume grey goose vodka but wouldn’t speculate on how much.
He was talking on his cell phone while pulling out 3 hours and 40 minutes after his 2am festivities at the Tap Room…having left his lights off as well.
It doesn’t take a genius to put 2 and 2 together, but it does take a moron to try to convince everyone here that it equals five, so congrats to you.
If it stands at a bar like a duck and has a glass of a liquid at the bar like a duck, you’d have me believe it was a swan at a Baptist Sunday school party?
There were numerous folks who said he had been drinking and his own staff said he had “…not been drinking excessively…”. It was 2 freaking o’clock in the morning and he was leaving a bar – what do you think he had been doing all night, handing out temperance flyers?
I don’t care if he had an adult beverage – I have one once in a while (only one cause two makes me fall asleep…). But add a few drinks, a cell phone and an over hyped sense of self importance and you get a T-Bone.
Without a BAC or field sobriety test, we’ll never know. The fact that T-bone had Tandy ousted for wanting to do his own investigation speaks volumes.
You’re a disgrace to rational thinkers named Jay.
Boozingit up! Then a few hours later he t-boned a lady. Hence “T-bone Benjamin!”
Very disappointing. He should have thrown his support to Moe. What a jerk.
The 18 votes he had locked up probably won’t make much difference with Lillian still involved in the process…
Maybe he will get the Chief of Police Job!
99.9% of Columbia woke up this morning, saw this in the paper and said, “Who the fuck is Larry Sypolt?”
One has to wonder why Larry chose the CPD HQ? Have promises been made to Larry? Or is Larry just a political whore looking for public adoration? There maybe answers after the election.
Sypolt was just a sycophant recruited as insurance to split the white vote in case Moe ran a close race The Benjamin camp got news last week that his poll numbers looked very good and Sypolt’s role as the white vote splitter was no longer needed. So now he’s become a worshipful alcolyte in the emperor’s court…amazing what a prayer breakfast can do!
Benjamin needs to ditch the cowboy boots. He looks like a rodeo clown.
Seems apropos with him riding the tax cattle to victory though.
Sellout… Correct!! Sypolt scammed both,
you and I but we both know he will not get away with it!! I will use my personal funds
to ensure this truth gets out, and my guess
is my old friend Will Folks will do the same!!
An ape is an ape, a varlet’s a varlet,
Though clothed in silk, or clothed in scarlet.
(Spanish proverb)
Obliviously he was a plant by the Benjamin campaign. Too many coincidences such as quick endorsement, Marchant, etc.