SC ATTORNEY GENERAL: “RULE OF LAW SHOULD APPLY TO EVERYONE”
S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson took a firm stand in the fight against public corruption this week – formally appealing a dubious decision reached earlier this month by a lower court jduge in the case of embattled S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell.
Two weeks ago, S.C. Circuit Court judge Casey Manning ruled that Harrell’s public corruption case could only be heard by the S.C. House Ethics Committee – a legislative cover-up panel which is comprised of members subject to the direct authority of the Speaker.
In other words Manning did exactly what he did two years ago when compelling evidence of criminal activity involving S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley was uncovered – he sent the evidence to a jury of the governor’s peers (who returned predictable results).
Manning’s ruling in the Harrell matter came despite S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson making it clear his probe had uncovered likely criminal activity beyond what has already been alleged in public complaints against the powerful Speaker.
This week, Wilson fired back … formally appealing Manning’s ruling to the S.C. Supreme Court and calling for expedited hearings.
Not only that, Wilson filed a petition for supersedeas – which for those of you educated in government run schools is a Middle English word derived from the Latin supersedere, meaning “you shall refrain.” In other words, Wilson is asking the court to suspend Manning’s ruling (i.e. refrain from allowing it to be enforced) as it ponders its own judgment.
“The rule of law should apply equally to everyone, without privilege or immunity for anyone,” Wilson wrote in his petition. ““The lower court’s order is unprecedented in American law and unsupported by any known legal authority. The order interferes with, impedes, and stops dead in its tracks an ongoing criminal investigation of public corruption by a State Grand Jury properly impaneled.”
He’s right … in fact Manning was the judge who signed off on the order impaneling this very grand jury (although that was before he was allegedly blackmailed by operatives working for Harrell).
Yeah … welcome to South Carolina, people.
This isn’t the first time Wilson has fired back in this case. Last week in an interview he told us he would contest the ruling, arguing the issue was “about the public – and the public’s trust in government.”
“I am not going to take Judge Manning’s order as the final determination on what this office or the grand jury will do,” he said. “This is not the final determination.”
Wilson’s only problem? The “final determination” – at least in the state court system – rests with a woman who owes her position to Harrell’s aggressive legislative lobbying. In fact were it not for Harrell’s self-interested lobbying effort, S.C. Chief Justice Jean Toal would likely have been defeated in her February legislative election.
To view the documents filed by Wilson’s office this week, click on the links below …
72 comments
Cue Bobby, err anonymous in 5, 4, 3………..
Blah blah blah Scooter blah blah…
Think he will actually “actualize” justice?
“Just us” justice, perhaps.
Great, clear line. Thanks, Smirks
Ya know…….there are some campaign spots running for the Graham campaign that tout the efforts of Lindsey’s work for expansion of our ports.
Well according to this article here about the influx of HEROIN into the United States…..
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/20/nyregion/new-york-is-a-hub-in-a-surging-heroin-trade.html?_r=0
…we wonder how both Harrell (State Farm) and Wilson (NSA tips) would be viewed along with Graham for allowing a certain percentage of heroin transit to come through the port of Charleston..? Since Fitsnews does not report FBI ops on a regular basis….how do we know how ethical “insurance rates” are for certain intermodal carriers..!?
What type of Sherlock does it take to confirm certain GPS points that a truck makes on a weekly basis..?
….or certain deposits into campaign accounts….
Anyone else noticed is OBSESSED w/ this case, while Obama’s World, and his cover is falling apart…???
Dumb@$$ media like FITS is why the country is in such a mess….
I told you it would collapse on Obama…I am 100% right…
I am 100% right…
100% right-leaning nutjob?
GT/ back again/ party on party people/ time 2 begin …
yeah its not like the collapse of the economy, the bailouts, two wars happened under another administration or anything you half wit twit. You and Sandi Morals could breed and poof..the dumbest half wit ever born would pop out of her rusty nether regions
If Alan wants something done, he better be talking with the feds. If he’s looking for something to happen within our state borders, he’s got another thing coming.
Or actually file CRIMINAL charges!
LMAO!! The feds? LMAO!!
What a clown! I can hear the phone call now:
dingalingaling…
Hello…(Eric Holder)
This is FITNEWS.Please send the feds.
No! Joe Wilson called Barack a liar and I am busy indicting Chinese hackers HOWEVER don’t think Barack hasn’t noticed your good work on behalf of the Democrat Party!….(Eric Holder) :-)
Suck a dick, dick.
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce went after an ‘anonymous’ blogger that made apparently false and libelous allegations on The Sun News online forums/blogs under the s/n “Elmer Fudd”. TSN apparently on the advice of its attorney, ‘outed’ this bloggers ISP address to the courts.
Mark Kelley just won a $600,000 award from a jury in Horry County from The Sun News and a reporter that he sued for Libel for apparently false allegations made against him by TSN and the reporter in regards to the MBACC and campaign contributions, DESPITE a ruling from the judge that he is a PUBLIC figure.
lalalalalalala!!! It appears the party is just beginning! SUCK ON THAT !!
Who cares?
Harrell is still a pig shit. HAHAHAHAAHAHAAA!!!!
He knows how bad it is.. I don’t doubt he realizes he can bark loud enough to wake the dead, and he’ll never get a chance to bite… but he’ll look good pulling at his leash.
Toal will do the same thing she told Manning to do only circuitless and the House will scream with adorance, “Let Our Bobby Go! The City of Columbia will have a BIG parade and Bobby and Alan will lead, old friends they are, they are the same. I really don’t know but its early Tuesday morning and Alan had to send it to Toal just to be done with it; do you understand?; to save face; you cannot be a politician in SC and not be corrupt, not in good ole South Crackalackie. Speaking of Rock Stars, hows Twinkie doing?
Glad Alan isn’t backing down. I wasn’t sure about him when he was first elected, but he’s been a pleasant surprise.
Bobby Harrell has become so smelly and putrid, he didn’t have the option of ignoring him any longer. Not and saving face, anyhow.
What will convince me Alan is truly honest and above board, is when he pursues (and gets convictions) criminal charges against The Lexington Crime Ring, The Columbia-Richland Crime Ring, and The Lott Family. Then and only then will he have achieved credibility as an honest AG in my book.
Bobby didn’t send me my minimum wage check for supporting him on FITS so I am not going to rant about Scooter anymore. I’m heading back to my old job at Yogurt Mountain.
Are you speaking to yourself again?
Tea party candidates want Harrell out, by Rudolph Bell
The Greenville News
May 14, 2014
A group of nine says if elected, they’d vote to remove the speaker from his post.
Nine tea party activists running for South Carolina House seats in Greenville, Pickens and Anderson counties said Wednesday they’d vote to remove embattled Speaker Bobby Harrell of Charleston if elected.
The candidates blasted Harrell during a joint press conference at County Square two days after a judge ordered the shutdown of investigations by the State Law Enforcement Division and the state grand jury into potential misuse of campaign money by Harrell.
Circuit Judge Casey Manning said a committee of House members is the proper body for investigating ethics complaints against sitting House members and the committee can forward potential criminal activity to the attorney general. Attorney General Alan Wilson has promised to appeal the ruling to the South Carolina Supreme Court.
At the press conference, Jonathon Hill, who’s running against Rep. Don Bowen of Anderson, said Harrell led the campaign for state lawmakers to re-elect Jean Toal as chief justice of the Supreme Court, “the very court which will now rule on who may investigate the speaker for corruption.”
“The speaker of the House has too much power,” he charged.
Harrell spokesman Greg Foster couldn’t be reached for comment following the late-afternoon press conference.
Hill and the other activists — eight of them challenging incumbents in the June 10 Republican primary and one running for an open seat — said South Carolina judges should no longer be picked by state lawmakers.
Instead, judges should be appointed by the governor and confirmed by lawmakers or elected directly by voters, the candidates said.
They also said an independent commission should investigate alleged ethics breaches by lawmakers instead of lawmakers themselves.
One of the incumbents being challenged, Rep. Tommy Stringer of Greer, said he’d be the “first one” to ask Harrell to resign if it was proven the speaker committed a crime.
“I don’t know either way because I haven’t seen any proof. You sort of operate on the assumption that you’re not guilty until proven so.”
Stringer also said that some of the tea party activists want Republicans to nominate their candidates at closed conventions instead of in open primaries and oppose giving Greenville County voters the chance to decide whether to raise the sales tax 1 percent to pay for road improvements.
“Do they have a vision for South Carolina other than not letting citizens vote?” Stringer asked.
Both Stringer and Rep. Dan Hamilton of Taylors, another of the incumbents being challenged, said they support ethics reform legislation currently under consideration.
Other candidates at the press conference were Joshua Cook (running for District 17 against Mike Burns), Justin Alexander (running for District 20 against Hamilton), Stephen Mauriello (running for District 21 against Phyllis Henderson), Bang Hall and Gary Titcomb (running for District 24 against Bruce Bannister), Valerie Wade (running for District 18 against Stringer), Michelle Wiles (running for District 4 against David Hiott) and Harley Staton (running for the District 5 seat being vacated by Phil Owens).
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/14/tea-party-candidates-want-harrell/9110465/
While FITS Fiddles with his Ding-Dong….look at Rome…
White House Refuses to Say if Obama Took Pay Cut — As Promised…
Media outrage over Clinton health questions…
Stocks tumble amid Fed rate talk…
KERRY: If We’re Wrong on Climate Change, ‘What’s Worst That Can Happen?’
Gov. Brown: ‘Humanity on collision course with nature’… .
Wages stagnant
Obama wants to ‘lock up’ foes…
VA Whistleblower Says He’s Been Demoted, Bullied…
Dollar Decline: RussiaChina to Expand Payments in National Currencies…
Labor Dept: USA needs MORE foreign workers…
Obama Causes Huge Traffic Jam After He Stops To Play Catch…
NYT Jill Overpaid, Self-Pitying…
University Rejects anti-Gay Marriage Student Group…
Speeding tickets in NYC reach $600…
Now Hiring, All Shifts!
I’ll be right there you DUMBA$$, as soon as I get the gizz outta my mustache.
Leave the gizz, it looks goo d on you Mr. Tango.
From your posts last week, are we to gather that you get jealous when Fits fiddles with his ding-dong, rather than letting you fiddle with it?
If Tango be fiddling with anyone’s Ding-Dong other than mine, he best be sure I’m there to watch and take pictures. Otherwise I’ll go all Loreena Bobbitt on his ass.
Uhhhhh… OK. Thank you for sharing with us, gay monkey dude. That was educational and informative.
1. Why should Jean Toal care about anything other than her ‘legacy’? This is her mandatory last term, right? So, who knows…
2. Will Alan Wilson put his money where his mouth is and file the criminal charges he should have filed back then against Trikki now?
Tuesday afternoon. Harrell still opposed to ethics reform.
In that photo, why does Wilson remind me of the Koala at the zoo?
Six Days ago Contempt of Court ….”The attorney general has not yet filed an appeal. He may wait as long as he can so he can continue to defy Manning’s order to halt his investigation and not run the risk that the Supreme Court also would order him to stop.” …”Once Wilson files an appeal, he is under the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction.”
NOW: uh uh uh Scooter
Today: …”South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has appealed a ruling involving House Speaker Bobby Harrell to the State Supreme Court. Wilson is appealing a ruling by Circuit Judge Casey Manning, who has ruled a State Grand Jury considering the allegations was improperly empaneled.” ….IMPROPERLY EMPANELED.
1. Six days ago…..”Wilson may wait as long as he can so he can continue to defy Manning’s order to halt his investigation” OR………OR……OR……
2. Today……”Wilson has appealed a ruling involving House Speaker Bobby Harrell to the State Supreme Court.”
Those two statements by AG Wilson are six days apart, I’d say what Harrell is dealing with is a two-headed monster.
uh uh uh …..I’m not going to appeal…….uh uh uh….no wait…..uh uh uh ….I’m going to appeal……uh uh uh…. no wait……
That’s what the taxpayers of South Carolina are paying for, dumb legal advice.
Guess what, the Supreme Court is not going to overturn an IMPROPERLY EMPANALED GRAND JURY.
NEWS FLASH: “Wilson is asking the court to suspend Manning’s ruling (i.e. refrain from allowing it to be enforced) as it ponders its own judgment.” …Really? ….Really?……..Really?….hahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!…..more wasting of taxpayers $$$$$$dollars on hideous legal advice.
Not only that, Wilson filed a petition a hideous supersedeas – which for those of you educated in government run schools is a Middle English word derived from the Latin hideous supersedere, meaning “hideously ugly or disgusting to look at.”
Manning is apparently making some people nervous. Now it is “allegedly” blackmailed?
Interesting.
Check your US Postal mail box. We sent you something.
Wonder how much time Bobby will serve? Hey Bobby, how’s that ass on a stick thing working for you?
You do know that there is no real jail time for any of the allegations? At most there is a minimum fine…
for the civil crimes..
for the civil crimes..
Based on my research @ westlaw, Harrell could do 10 to 20.
“Ass on a stick.” Thats funny.
There are going to be several dozen amicus curiae briefs filed with the CORUPT SC Supreme Court making it clear that the Harrell is a criminal and that Manning is entwined in collusion with criminal activity. Jean Toal, take notice. We will have your head if you side with Harrell. You will be stripped of everything you own. The People of South Carolina rule, not you – not Harrell – not any of these corrupt lawmakers. Rule in favor of Harrell, and tens of thousands will come after you. You and your cronies are grossly outnumbered. The majority of voters want Harrell in prison. And by God’s almighty hand with his warriors, it will be.
Bye Bye Harrell, Manning, and the House of Representatives. You Lose. More are coming to insure that you are all removed, and jailed if necessary.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald – As special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel, Fitzgerald was the federal prosecutor in charge of the investigation of the Valerie Plame Affair, which led to the prosecution and conviction in 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff Scooter Libby for perjury.
As a federal prosecutor, Fitzgerald led a number of high-profile investigations, including ones that led to convictions of Illinois Governors Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan, media mogul Conrad Black, several aides to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in the Hired Truck Program, and Chicago detective and torturer Jon Burge.
Fitzgerald could have had almost the entire Bush Administration in jail, but he stopped with Scooter Libby.
He overcharged Blago so ridiculously, he lost all the important charges the first time around and had to retry to get conviction on the serious charges.
Fitzgerald – the most overrated US Attorney in history.
Your misconceptions are noted.
The entire nation seemed determined not to see Bush perp walked out of the oval office…. hell, Obama gave him a medal of freedom.
I wonder if Bush is still working on his Mars mission plan in his spare time.
Fitsnews should be renamed Anonymous & Scooter News.
That’s almost all there is here, like unending of rolls of toilet paper in the green trees.
Juvenile and tiresome, it ruins the site for most other thoughtful people.
You obviously do not have a life. Sad … sad indeed.
Yes, you should go start your own site and show Sic Willie how it’s done.
I believe Alan CANNOT file criminal charges after having been enjoined from doing so, because Manning’s court order is absolute. Were he to present particulars, they would be immediately shut down. The Feds may not do anything, because a couple of prominent Democrats are involved, too – something that receives little press.
Well,heres your chance “Scoop”
NAME THEM!
Do your own homework, clod. I’ll give you a hint, even so – they both live in Orangeburg County.
What a damn joke.
Just some DUMBASS Republican implying that somehow some “Democrats” had something to do with the activities of House Speaker Bobby Harrell,a REPUBLICAN.
Par for the course here.
The only “joke,” here, is the person who is so in love with Democrats that he looks the other way. I will release the names, soon, on my own blog, unless The State or Will beat me to it, thank you very much, you lazy piece.
Oh c’mon “Bo” dont keep us waiting!
Not only the names. But your evidence.We are all waiting with baited breath about these two”Orangeburg Democrats” involved with Bobby Harrell.
‰ OK.. one of them is you. ‰
Speaking for myself – a scorched-earth liberal – *any* Democrat that comes up as dirty as a Republican, *is* a Republican, and there’s no punishment too harsh for a politician who has violated his public trust.
This may shock you, but I agree with you completely, except that you write more like a 1890’s liberal. I have had so many people I used to trust, Republican and Democrat betray my trust that I could just write about that and have an 11-hundred pager. Friendship is one thing, but no friend is worth my soul.
Corruption seems to be so abundant in SC – so bad that party platform is totally obscured. As a liberal, corruption aside, I find Republican mainstream offensive, and Democrats as a rule, lazy and without spine.
The only thing I aspire to is reporting facts and my editorial view. Life has forced me to become a member of the whatever-works party.
whatever works
——-
I’m still in the camp that believes that if you’re passionate enough about being human, you can make it work.
The only “joke,” here, is the person who is so in love with Democrats that he looks the other way. I will release the names, soon, on my own blog, unless The State or Will beat me to it, thank you very much, you lazy piece.
SLED’s cyber lab has been tracking your every move for weeks.
Nawwwww …. Manning would be taken in cuffs.
Entirely possible. And sad to see. I knew him in college.
Everyone is getting caught up in the craziness… even people that at one time seemed to know better.
With Toal. He did exactly what she told him to do.
“She,” …….in her own mind….
HARRELL FIRES BACK AT AG WILSON
“Harrell fired back Tuesday, saying that Wilson should appoint a special prosecutor to look into what he calls the attorney general’s own potential Ethics Act violations. The Post and Courier reported in April that Wilson had accepted thousands in over-the-limit campaign contributions and that amendments to his campaign finance reports showed dozens of previously undisclosed donors. Wilson’s campaign has been amending reports and returning contributions that were over the limit, including a lobbyist’s contribution.”
WHAT HARRELL SAID ABOUT WILSON: …”If he actually believes what he wrote in this filing, then he himself is guilty of over 30 criminal violations, including accepting money from lobbyists, accepting money above the legal limit and failing to report a number of items,” Harrell said. “He ought to have a special prosecutor take a look at this.”
BAM! …BA-BAM!….BA-BA-BA-BAM!….
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140520/PC1603/140529949
Harrell’s shenanigans ain’t working, dumbass. Btw, did you see the truck driving around Charleston during rush hour with the LARGE anti-Harrell signs upon it? It was yesterday. Looks like your fellow demon Bob the Knob is really becoming quite notorious for being a douche bag criminal.