August 13, 2014
Dear Governor Haley,
I write today to demand honesty and accountability for the people of South Carolina.
Two years ago, weak cybersecurity measures at the Department of Revenue allowed a malicious email to open a hole for a hacker to steal our citizen’s most private financial information. The people of our state demanded answers, and received no response, just a secret report. Less than one year ago, I wrote to you on the October anniversary about the safety and security of the people’s information to ask for answers regarding ongoing activities by Experian, and received no response.
Now, reports of an alarming nature have made headlines recently detailing an additional hacking at the credit-monitoring agency you handpicked to provide services to the people of South Carolina. CNN and TV stations here in South Carolina reported that not only was Experian hacked, but they also have been selling personal information of their members to third parties. So it’s time to demand answers once again.
After the Department of Revenue was hacked under your watch, the people of South Carolina were essentially forced to sign up for credit monitoring with Experian, the company which received a no-bid contract from you to handle credit monitoring. Now they are seemingly at risk once again because they trusted that the government had done its due diligence in securing the contract and negotiating the terms.
Leadership is about honesty and trust. When your Department of Revenue was hacked and you covered it up for 16 days, you broke the people’s trust. When you pushed through a no-bid contract with Experian, with no conditions to safeguard the people’s most personal information further, you broke the people’s trust. Every day you refuse to make public the secret report on what happened rather than being open with your constituents – you break the people’s trust. And as our citizens’ information is at risk yet from another breach, we have to read about it in the news once again before the people of South Carolina hear it from you.
South Carolinians deserve to know whether the contract you negotiated allows Experian to sell their personal information to third parties. They deserve to know if they are at further risk from the subsequent hacking of the company. Most importantly: the people deserve to hear about these events straight from their Governor and they deserve real answers instead of having to rely on passing reports in the news.
Because honest leadership is also about accountability– about putting our people first, and always being on their side. At every step in this hacking crisis, from the initial delay in informing the people to still refusing to release the final report on what happened, your administration has chosen to operate in secret and you have failed the most basic test of leadership. That is unacceptable. The people of South Carolina deserve much better.
This latest development in the Department of a Revenue hacking scandal is just the latest example in the long pattern of secrecy in your administration and it is beyond disappointing. The people of South Carolina deserve a governor they can trust.
I have written to the CEO of Experian asking for a full accounting of who in South Carolina is at risk due to the additional hacking. I have also requested clarification on the terms under which they are allowed to sell our people’s most personal information to share with the public so they are fully aware of where things stand.
I hope that you will not stand in the way of transparency and honesty any further as we continue to restore the broken trust and damage of the Department of Revenue hacking scandal.
Sincerely,
Vincent Sheheen
(Editor’s Note: The above communication is a letter from one candidate for elected office to another. It does not necessarily reflect the editorial position of FITSNews.com. To submit your letter, news release, email blast, media advisory or issues statement for publication, click here).
44 comments
YES! Got a comment in before Nikki Haley’s Ultimate Superman and status quo defender delux, Sandi Morales
After his surprise filing Saturday, Ervin is self-financing his run at first. Ervin said he has cashed out his 401(k) and IRA to pay for the race and put $108,000 into his coffers. He said he’s looking for donors.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/01/3361444/gop-challenger-tom-ervin-calls.html#storylink=cpy
How does Ervin’s “$108,000” turn into, “Ervin, a Greenville attorney and radio-station owner, will have laid out as much money — $3.5 million”? He calls Haley a liar?
http://www.thestate.com/2014/08/11/3613901/petition-candidate-for-sc-governor.html
Where is Lois Lerner when you need her? Apparently he had only raised $62,000 from donors thru June? :-)
Now look at this yo-yo, that’s the way you do it
You post those comments for miss Haley
That ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it
Money for nothin’ and your drinks for free
Now that ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it
Lemme tell ya, this gal ain’t dumb
Maybe get a blister on her little finger
Maybe carpal tunnel makes her numb
She’s gotta bash on that Tom Ervin
Take some swipes at Vincent Sheheen
She’s gotta link them to Barack Obama
She’s gotta keep Nikki’s campaign clean
Will Folks called me a SOCIALIST and I ain’t been the same
Threatened to guit the BLOG in an attempt to hide my SHAME
When I figured out I had no where else to go
I pulled my head out of my SORRY ass and decided to show
Posting 24/7 on FITS is my life
Lost my full-time job and I have no wife
When the library door opens you will find Smirks in line
Typing away on taxpayer keyboards, hung over on Boones Farm wine
lol… How cute.
Sheheen doesn’t need to grand stand.
He needs to run one advertisement constantly.
In it, all he has to do is just list every single evil thing Haley has done since she was elected Governor. Plus, tell everyone that her business before running for office was running a clothing store for Strippers in Lexington. He’d have to talk very fast to list them all. Maybe several ads just to continue the list.
LMAO!!! ‘grand strand’!! I like that.
Haley just needs to run an ad of Sheheen with Obama and a picture of the $10,000 check Kathryn Williams (Ervin–Williams wife) apparently wrote Vincent Sheheen shortly before the 2010 election.
Who in the fuck is running these campaigns? Weirdo ads and rambling ‘Dear Governor’ letters/faxes from the candidates to the governor.
You REALLY love me!! Awww, shucks!
‘traitor’ Tommy apparently loves himself….
.”
The ad buy means Ervin, a Greenville attorney and radio-station owner, will have laid out as much money — $3.5 million — as Republican incumbent Gov. Nikki Haley and Democratic challenger Vincent Sheheen had spent together through June 30.
“This introduces South Carolinians to Tom Ervin and his common-sense solutions for a more inclusive economy, tough ethics reform and a quality education for every child,” Ervin campaign spokesman Christian Hertenstein said.
Ervin, a self-proclaimed “independent Republican” who is considered a long shot after entering the race in March, has self-financed much of his campaign so far.
All but $62,000 of the $1.5 million collected by Ervin’s campaign through June has come from personal loans. His wife, Kathryn Williams, runs a successful personal injury and worker’s compensation law practice.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/08/11/3613901/petition-candidate-for-sc-governor.html#storylink=cpy
Must be nice to be RICH. What an ego.For 2% of the vote.
Nikki’s done, unless voter tampering.
2% Ervin-Williams ain’t got a chance but I do feel for the guy.
Spending several MILLION $$$ apparently to buy love/respect from his wife and because the old lady don’t like Haley (race,religion???) has got to be a rough way to live.
Damn Girl you are workin overtime for your boos Haley on this thread aren’t you!
Not sure if you meant to say “boss” or “boo.” I’m going with “boo” because it’s way funnier.
What would be the “payoff” for Ervin-Williams to spend several MILLION $$$ of their own money on a campaign that has NO chance of winning and is at 2% in the polls? These people ain’t stupid. The voters should ask what is in it for them?
Night all. Gonna watch the movie Goodfella’s tonight. Get back with you in the morning. ;-0
Did you say, “apparently wrote” You have posted here about these alleged contributions too many times to count. Is this more of your big talk that you cannot back up?
Posted a link several times. Do your own fuckin homework.
Nikki’s done unless voter tampering.
Okay, I will play nice….
WILLIAMS, KATHRYN
Lawyers & LobbyistsSOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY-OPERATIONS ACCTGREENVILLE, SC$30,00010/29/2010WILLIAMS, KATHRYN
Lawyers & LobbyistsSOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY-OPERATIONS ACCTGREENVILLE, SC$10,00010/29/2010WILLIAMS, KATHRYN
Lawyers & LobbyistsSOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY-OPERATIONS ACCTGREENVILLE, SC$6,50010/20/2010WILLIAMS, KATHRYN
Lawyers & LobbyistsSOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY-CAMPAIGN ACCTGREENVILLE, SC$3,50010/20/2010
WILLIAMS, KATHRYN
Lawyers & LobbyistsSHEHEEN, VINCENTGREENVILLE, SC$3,50010/12/2010
Still searching records…will get back with you…my original ‘link’ on the campaign contributions was from thestate….
Public records apparently show his wife gave the SC Democrat Party $50,000 in 2010. $10,000 to Sheheen shortly before the 2010 governor’s election.
http://www.thestate.com/2014/0…
I guess contact ‘thestate’ if you have questions about the donations they reported.
Public records I accessed were at the following site:
http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor_details.phtml?&c=118220&s=SC&y=2010&summary=0&so=a&p=5#sorttable
Apparently ‘thestate” has corrected the original story…
“… but his wife, attorney Kathryn Williams, has contributed to candidates in both parties – including $4,500 to Sheheen’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign and $50,000 to the S.C. Democratic Party that same year, according to state records. ”
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/11/3382365/tom-ervin-jumps-out-of-gop-governors.html#storylink=cpy
I stand corrected. ‘thestate’ has reported that Kathryn Williams contributed $4500.00 to Democrat Vincent Sheheen NOT $10,000.00.
$50,000 to the S.C. Democratic Party in 2010. Did that put her in the Top 20 of contributors to the S.C. Democratic Party in 2010?
I was asked earlier what happens if no one gets a majority of votes cast for Governor
I drew a blank – I don’t ever recall an election for SC Governor when this was a reasonable possibility
Does the candidate with the highest number of votes win or will there be a runoff between the top two if no one gets a majority
I tried to goggle but could not find an answer
No runoff.
— and this information can be found where, please?
“clothing store for Strippers”?
More leather, less Spandex? Does having more zippers increase the tease?
Yea, that statement struck me as slightly odd too..clothing stores for strippers seem similar in concept to tits on a bull.
Does that mean that her and Michael’s alleged late night visits to the strip clubs was business development?
I think he’s been using John Boehner’s tanning bed.
John Boehner has Edward’s tanning bed now. Of course he has to pay the Obamacare taxes on it now.
You caught that ‘Edwards’ as well. :-)
Illegal edit.
lol…
Too bad Sheheen resorts to stunts like this letter. With an incompetent incumbent running for reelection plus two other credible candidates in the mix, he has a real shot if he starts running a serious campaign
GrandTango was most pleased that the breach occurred, that his personal information was stolen, as well of that of his family and the citizens of SC. He saw leadership in Haley waiting so long to inform us of this terrible act and admired the governor for her fake attempt at getting tough. As a Tea Bagger, he of course enjoyed the money spent on Experian and believes the government is finally working for him by providing credit monitoring. Now hopefully this “blogger” is enjoying the fact his personal information is being sold to third parties.
He’s basically pretending no one was harmed by the breach, which is a massive joke.
Did you know the network that was hacked was monitored by the State Information Technology division? The same group that is now monitoring the servers and networks of more agencies by order of Trikki. The agency has to pay for the privilege of making themselves vulnerable to a hack.
On that note, last week Gov. Nikki Haley said at a news conference that South Carolina Department of Revenue director Jim Etter would resign, effective Dec. 31. Etter had reportedly declined the offer of free breach-detection services from the state’s IT department.
http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-and-breaches/how-south-carolina-failed-to-spot-hack-attack/d/d-id/1107515?
This one is all on DoR, bro.
A news release by Trikki that supports her position and you expect the actual truth. Where were all the servers, firewall, and data located? One guess and it was not DOR.
Where were all the servers, firewall, and data located? One guess and it was not DOR.
State IT doesn’t manage every state agency’s servers, routers, firewalls, storage, etc. Various agencies have their own IT groups and manage things in house. My understanding is that DoR is (or at least was at the time this happened) like this too.
If they were offering free monitoring, it sounds like DoR would be required to allow it for them to do it, or even set something up on their end for it to even be done. Most likely SIT would’ve installed a monitoring server of some kind specifically for them.
Nikki’s handling of the whole thing was terrible and I think she made a lot of excuses as to why things weren’t set up like they should’ve been, but it looks like most of those decisions were made under one agency. If State IT fucked something up, though, I’d love to see some evidence of it.
One crook to another.
If Sherlyn Chopra is a Sikh, then there is a greater awareness why willie busted a nut with her kissing cousin
http://www.egotastic.com/2014/08/sherlyn-chopra-first-indian-hottie-nekkid-in-playboy-playboy-tv-free-for-one-week-to-celebrate/
Nikki Haley will never release that information. She has aspirations of higher office. Haley lies even we she believes she is speaking the truth.
Vince, save this shit for ads and for debates.
Nikki’s done unless voter tampering.
Good points all. Haley must go.