EMBATTLED GOVERNOR ALLEGEDLY MISINFORMED BY KEY ADVISORS …
S.C. governor Henry McMaster’s decision to stick with embattled political advisor Richard Quinn has been described as either “loyal or stupid – or maybe both.”
Seriously … at this point it’s abundantly clear Quinn is in serious trouble. On a host of fronts.
It’s also abundantly clear McMaster doesn’t seem to care. Like, at all.
But what if it isn’t loyalty. Or stupidity. Or both. What if it’s actually “neither?”
What if McMaster – who has never been regarded as the sharpest tool in the shed – has been making poor choices on the basis of incomplete information and bad advice from his top staffers?
After all, his gubernatorial office is littered with disciplines of Quinn’s neo-Confederate consulting firm – “The Quinndom” – and he continues to take advice from Quinn himself, man at the heart of the ongoing #ProbeGate.
It would make sense, then, that the Palmetto State’s new governor probably isn’t getting accurate information from his top advisors regarding #ProbeGate – the ongoing criminal investigation into corruption in state government that has drawn a bead on Quinn and his allies.
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Is this what’s happening? According to our sources, “yes.”
Specifically, we’re told McMaster’s fateful decision to stand behind Quinn following a damning indictment of suspended S.C. Senator John Courson – a longtime client of “The Quinndom” – was made without McMaster having full knowledge of the facts of the case.
That’s no excuse for his decision, but it does help explain it.
It would also help explain his ill-considered decision a year ago (as lieutenant governor) to stand behind S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson during the latter’s infamous meltdown press conference – part of an unsuccessful attempt to obstruct this investigation.
Anyway, we’re told McMaster may have been explicitly misled as to the seriousness of the allegations leveled by special prosecutor David Pascoe against Courson.
“I was there – he asked what was happening with the (Courson) indictment and was lied to,” a source close to the governor told us. “He was told it was no big deal, that it was a witch hunt by the solicitor and that there was no truth to the charges.”
That’s clearly not the case at this point …
We believe McMaster is loyal. And we respect that – up to a point.
We also believe loyalty – in this case – could be easily preyed upon by those who desperately need McMaster to remain in their corner (even after they ridiculed him a year ago for the decision that ultimately landed him in the governor’s office).
Ironic, isn’t it?
More importantly, we believe the unspooling Quinn scandal is beginning to impact McMaster’s ability to govern effectively, which is obviously a much bigger deal than any political consequences that may befall him.
The bottom line here is simple: At this point, it should be abundantly clear to anyone paying attention – and hopefully McMaster, too – that the time to disavow the Quinns is at hand. The longer he waits to do so, the worse it looks for him.
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