WHO IS WINNING THE PALMETTO JUDICIAL WAR? DEPENDS WHO YOU ASK …
The upcoming battle for control of the S.C. Supreme Court is all the rage in Columbia, S.C. right now … which is probably the only time a duel between a pair of liberal geriatrics will be thusly described.
Editorially, we’ve washed our hands of the race between current chief justice Jean Toal and challenger Costa Pleicones, an associate justice on the court. Why? Because the two candidates are virtually indistinguishable in their left-of-center ideologies (which is probably why both are being backed by monied left-of-center special interests).
Typical South Carolina, in other words …
But just because we don’t care who wins doesn’t mean we haven’t been covering the race closely … (here, here and here). Speaking of we have obtained (hot off of the presses) both sides’ latest “whip counts” in this race.
Wait … “whip counts?”
Is this some sort of BDSM exercise? Lamentably no …
“Whip count” refers to the current choice (or lack thereof) of the 170 members of the S.C. General Assembly – who will decide the outcome of this race. You see in the Palmetto State, the most corrupt legislative branch in America not only elects judges – it chooses the candidates, one of the most ethically challenged exercises we’ve ever witnessed.
To win election, a judge (any judge, not just a Supreme Court justice) needs to get 86 votes – assuming all members of the legislature cast their ballot.
According to Pleicones supporters, he has 16 votes in the State Senate (with another six Senators leaning his way) and 51 votes in the S.C. House (with another 14 leaning his way). For those of you educated in South Carolina public schools, that’s a grand total of 87 votes – assuming all of the “leaners” break his way.
Pleicones supporters say in addition to the “leaners,” there are ten pure undecided votes in the State Senate and eight in the S.C. House – leaving Toal with the support of only ten Senators and 41 House members – and another four Senators and ten House members leaning her way.
Uh-oh …
According to the whip count provided by Toal backers, those numbers are “pure fiction.”
“She has thirty-five votes in the Senate,” one Toal supporter told FITS, “and over 100 total.”
Wow … somebody is going to wake up the morning after this election with some serious egg on their face.
10 comments
Throw that poo you monkey’s!
This is better than going to Riverbanks!
BRAVO!
Does anybody really give a shit about these “whips” and their vote counts? These clowns, as well as the pages for the representatives and the senators, are all a bunch of self-serving power hungry assholes who want nothing more than to be elected to public office and revel in the power and prestige of the office. As well as the salary, benefits, and future business that holding elective office affords.
I’ll go one step further. I was in a law school with a bunch of rich assholes and entitled children of elected officials. The sole purpose of many of these in law school was to get elected to higher office or continue the legal dynasties of their families. Contributing to the public good and serving the oppressed and all of the other bullshit (central tenets of the sorry ass Charleston Law School as well) has and will always remain secondary at best. Bob Coble’s kid comes to mind. As does Bobby Harrell’s kid.
Few of my fellow students were decent people. There were exceptions. Todd Ellis was one of the nicest people I met in law school. He, and others, were the exceptions.
Sorry for straying from the topic. I think Jean Toal is an absolute disgrace. A fucking drunk who bent the rules to get out of a DUI or two. A liar who said she wouldn’t run again for Chief Justice, and then couldn’t step away from all of that power.
And don’t get me started on that hideous denim shirt collection she has. Maybe they will posthumously display that collection somewhere in the bowels of the Supreme Court.
“egg on their face”
Too bad, I was hoping that something a little more processed would smack them right between the eyes
“cockroaches” @ the State House? …… Yes, there are cockroaches in Columbia, SC. Observe them on the Roach Cam
http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/cams/usc-roach-cam.html
Wow … somebody is going to wake up the morning after this election with some serious egg on their face.
Odds are pretty good that someone will wake up the morning after the election with serious damage on the passenger side of *her* car.
Let you lawmakers know how you feel! Sign the petition here!:
http://www.change.org/petitions/restore-the-integrity-of-our-supreme-court-elect-costa-pleicones
One prominent Toal supporter scoffed at the Pleicones numbers saying, “We have over 50 votes in the Senate alone! This thing is so over”. He then looked anxiously at his cell phone as he walked away muttering.
Courson is serving his last term and will go out in disgrace. His own neighbors are telling him what a dumb ass he is for claiming he is voting for Toal. His years of service are over in this neighborhood if he votes for Toal. He is one dumb ass.
Did Toal really use tax payer money to create a law clerk position for Bobby Harrell’s son? I’m told that she arranged for him to be the only paid law clerk to “assist” a retired judge, and that no other retired judges have law clerks.