ALLEGATIONS, COMMITMENTS FLYING …
At 12:00 p.m. EST today, “high noon,” members of the S.C. General Assembly can go public with their commitments in upcoming judicial races – including what is expected to be a contentious race for the S.C. Supreme Court.
It’s the opening bell for all sorts of favor-trading … and vote trading.
We’ve addressed the S.C. Supreme Court race previously, arguing that John Few – chief judge of the S.C. court of appeals – appears most likely to confine his rulings within the scope of the law. The other two judges – Ralph King “Tripp” Anderson (chief judge of the state’s administrative law court) and Bruce Williams (an appeals court judge) – are a bit too activist for our taste.
Lawmakers, oddly, appear to agree with us … as Few is considered the early frontrunner to win the race.
Of course Few has landed in some trouble with the media after he upheld a controversial libel judgment against The (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) Sun News related to its coverage of the infamous – and still unresolved – “Coastal Kickback” scandal.
At least one investigative reporter is digging on this ruling – which involved a case that ensnared numerous current and former state lawmakers in a web of campaign finance intrigue (two of those ex-lawmakers have since been busted on other charges).
“Few is going to have the media against him,” one lawmaker told us this week.
Ruh-roh.
He’ll also have at least one very vocal legislative opponent.
S.C. Senator Katrina Shealy, one of this website’s favorite lawmakers, took to her Facebook page this week to criticize Few and call into question some of the scandals of his past.
“All of the candidates are qualified,” Shealy wrote. “Some candidates have more memorized ‘book knowledge,’ some actually have the temperament to be level headed and some have high morals and outstanding family values. All are not equal.”
Shealy’s reference to “high morals” and “outstanding family values” was clearly a shot across Few’s bow … referencing previous scandals that have upended his bids for the high court.
“I guess legislators will base their decision on whether they choose Julius Caesar or King Solomon to be the next person to sit on the Supreme Court?” Shealy concluded.
Ouch …
This website previously covered allegations about Few’s personal dalliances, but we also noted that these allegations were launched by his political opponents – including those loyal to liberal S.C. Supreme Court justice Kaye Hearn.
Supporters of Hearn – who is hoping to add another liberal justice to the bench in the hopes of advancing additional activist rulings – reportedly attempted to “knee-cap” Few during the legislative screening process.
That effort obviously failed …
Frankly, we don’t care about Few’s personal life. He’s not married, and his “family values” (or lack thereof) are irrelevant to us. All we care about is whether he will be a good judge – and we have no reason to believe he wouldn’t be.
Supremely relevant to us? The inherent corruption of legislative judicial elections – which we have repeatedly exposed and repeatedly called for lawmakers to reform (along with the rest of the state’s notoriously corrupt judicial branch).
Will that ever happen? Don’t hold your breath …
18 comments
“Few is going to have the media against him”
Given the fact that MSM is deader than Willie Nelson’s pecker I am sure Cockroach Few isn’t concerned
https://eagleman6788.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/my-pilot-light-is-out-i-have-outlived-my-pecker/
When Shealy says: ““Some candidates have more memorized ‘book knowledge,’”, it means she’s too stupid to understand what the heck Few says, let alone what he writes.
“One candidate is most qualified.” I fixed it for her.
/// Of course Few has landed in some trouble with the media after he upheld a controversial libel judgment against The (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) Sun News related to its coverage of the infamous – and still unresolved – “Coastal Kickback” scandal. ///
Cue pogo to come in and tell everyone that I invented the whole Coastal Kickback thing, fooled the FBI and IRS into investigating it, and bamboozled TSN and FITSNews into taking it seriously.
” … still unresolved …” is correct.
As for the judgement, it will be appealed further.
I’m not crazy about Shealy, but I’m with her on this. Few can piss up a rope.
(Yeah, Shifty Henry, I know … Few can, but many still try.”
Heh.
Hey! How did I get into this conversation?
A joke was included.
Besides pogo.
“All of the candidates are qualified,” Shealy wrote. “Some candidates have more memorized ‘book knowledge,’ some actually have the temperament to be level headed and some have high morals and outstanding family values. All are not equal.”
Wait, didn’t Shealy vote to keep Jean Toal in office as Chief Justice of SC’s Supreme Court for an additional year or two a while back? Talk about irony!
Can someone tell me what Katrina Shealy has actually done? Besides promote herself?
Can I please get an easier question to answer?
;-)
Libby – More than you! Can you read? Go read the bills she’s passed and her bio..Oh but maybe you can’t read or you would not ask such a stupid question!
Only two states use the legislature to select and vote the members of their state Supreme Court, and SC is one of those. Since we live in a democratic Republic, maybe putting these folks on the ballot in a General election might be a better alternative. It is for sure, having a system of bartering among the legislators, will ensure that we are not getting the best judges our money can buy through our bartering legislative henchmen. Vote for them in an election, and we don’t have to spend that much of our money, through our legislators. Then we could readily identify the assholes that would put a person like Toal on the State Supreme Court, and that might be us.
We operate under the “we always did it this way” syndrome too much in this state and therefore we stay in the state we are in.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091125001555AAC6YhQ
what’s dabo’s brother doing in there
Nobody disputes that Few had an affair with his then-law clerk, Brooke Chapman, which directly ended his marriage. So FITS, disregarding what extramarital sex says about Few’s morals and all that preachy blah blab, what do you think having an affair with his employee/law clerk says about his character? You once described that exact sort of behavior as “a major ethical ‘no-no’.” https://www.fitsnews.com/2013/10/15/sex-lies-and-judges/
That’s because Will is an immoral, wannabe journalistic hack. He spews his libertarian bullshit and faux morality when it suits him. Remember, he purportedly fucked Nikki Haley and lie to his wife about it. That should tell you something about his character/morals or the lack thereof. Any endorsement from Will/Fitsnews is worthless.
Woah nelly, I like FITSY just fine. He generally does a solid job here. I am not a Libertarian but am cool with his perspective. I just want him to get on this story about Few sleeping with his law clerk, which is a major violation of the canons of judicial conduct, which is fair game even if you aren’t concerned with Few’s personal conduct. Few’s heavy drinking does not appear to have impacted his ability to do his job. Banging a law clerk is more than a personal matter. It goes to the heart of what we need in judges and have lacked in Jean Toal – ethics.
And when FITS was asked about the “ethics” of Katrina’s being elected to serve VOTERS and then voting to rip down patriots’ flag WITHOUT their vote
Will and his lemmings said…well uh…the thing is…ah we’d ALSO lie to advance oursel…uh…gosh…guess cons ARE taking good notes !!!
Why don’t you ask why the SC Bar found Few only qualified when it found the other candidates well-qualified? One reason is because he can’t keep his dick in his pants.
Requirements for the job: poor driving skills and excellent drinking skills.