S.C. GOVERNOR THROWS LONGTIME ADVISORS A CURVEBALL …
This was not “the plan” for S.C. governor Nikki Haley …
Having tried and failed to take out Donald Trump in the 2016 GOP primary – and having tried and failed to take out powerful S.C. Senate president Hugh Leatherman four months later – Haley was supposed to ride out her second term as a lame duck at home. And be on the “outside looking in” nationally.
Her vaunted “national star” had shone its last, it seemed …
The one bright spot? Despite her bad bets, Haley remained in line to take over the Republican Governors Association (RGA) – meaning her political advisors were poised to rake in tons of cash running GOP gubernatorial races across the country.
Not anymore …
Now that Haley has said she will accept Trump’s nomination to become United States’ ambassador to the United Nations – her advisors are officially S.O.L.
Wait … isn’t Haley’s new job (assuming she survives the vetting) vastly more influential than the chairmanship of a partisan governors’ group?
Absolutely … for Haley.
For those seeking to make money off of her, though, it is a dead end.
“Running the RGA is a license to print money,” one Republican consultant told us. “Ambassador to the UN? There’s no money to be made there – and if you try you’re going to wind up getting yourself into a lot of trouble.”
In fact, public frustration with “pay-to-play” government is at an all-time high following the myriad scandals involving former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
That means there will be more of a microscope on self-serving behavior now than ever before.
“It’s a great day for Nikki Haley – but a terrible day for her political clingers,” one veteran Washington, D.C. operative told us.
Chief among those “clingers?” Liberal GOP pollster/ consultant Jon Lerner and longtime Haley confidant Tim Pearson, her former chief of staff and two-time campaign manager (and the guy whose sealed divorce case could make some news in the weeks to come).
(Banner via Travis Bell Photography)