BUT … WHY?
|| By FITSNEWS || As we reported last week, S.C. governor Nikki Haley has nominated former lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Eleanor Kitzman as her choice to lead the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC).
Well, technically the SCDHEC board has nominated Kitzman … but the order to do so came directly from the governor. Had it been up to the board, they would have likely gone another route – choosing a nominee endorsed by outgoing agency director Catherine Templeton.
Templeton “had an eminently credible candidate lined up” to take the position, sources tell FITS, but Haley wanted Kitzman. And as we’ve seen in the past, the SCDHEC board does the governor’s bidding … even if it results in disastrous consequences for the state.
But who are we to question Haley’s judgment when it comes to political appointments?
You know … aside from Lillian Koller at the S.C. Department of Social Services, Abraham Turner at the S.C. Department of Workforce, Jim Etter at the S.C. Department of Revenue and Robert St. Onge of the S.C. Department of Transportation or Kela Thomas of the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.
All of those agency heads resigned amid scandal during the governor’s first term in office …
Anyway …
A former campaign contributor and close personal confidant of Haley, Kitzman raised Haley boatloads of money in Texas after spending just six months at the head of the S.C. Budget and Control Board (SCBCB) in 2011.
The former car insurance executive – who was Haley’s second choice for that position – had a stormy six-month tenure at the agency (including this infamous exchange with former S.C. House ways and means chairman Danny Cooper).
She was also criticized for spending taxpayer money on unnecessary remodeling projects.
In 2010, she ran for lieutenant governor but finished last in a four-way race with only 14.7 percent of the vote.
She was also let go by Texas Gov. Rick Perry after less than two years on the job – never winning confirmation from the state’s Senate.
Why not?
“She has ignored a lot of rules,” one GOP State Senator told The Austin Statesman.
After being let go by Perry, Kitzman was hired in December 2013 by New York based Starr Investment Holdings, but she apparently didn’t last long in that position either.
According to our sources, the state’s business community is making noise about Kitzman “getting fired from four jobs in four years.” Meanwhile FITS has spoken with several State Senators – Democrats and “Republicans” – who have expressed concerns over Kitzman’s resume.
“I fail to see how this is the best qualified person to carry on the reforms at this agency,” one Senator told FITS.
Another Senator told us they viewed Kitzman’s nomination as a “step backward” for SCDHEC.
Kitzman is the second high-profile appointment made by Haley in recent months to raise eyebrows … and not in a good way.
The governor’s choice of former Clemson University bureaucrat Susan Alford to lead her embattled welfare agency was also panned – especially after she announced Alford would be assisted by another six-figure bureaucrat in her new job.
Both Alford and Kitzman must be confirmed by the S.C. Senate.
63 comments
From The State’s story on this:
“Following a private meeting, the eight-member DHEC board voted to appoint Kitzman. Board member Clarence Batts was the lone member not supporting Kitzman. He abstained. Monday’s vote occurred via conference call, with only board chairman Allen Amsler and member Kenyon Wells attending the meeting in Columbia.
Amsler refused comment on why DHEC moved so rapidly to appoint Kitzman and why the board did not conduct a detailed search, as it did before picking Templeton in 2012 after several months of deliberations. Templeton beat 250 candidates for the post.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2015/01/12/3924044_former-sc-insurance-commissioner.html?sp=/99/205/&rh=1#storylink=cpy“.
It’s obvious that DHEC a de facto cabinet agency. The only thing the Board does is provide a layer of insulation for the governor when the shit hits the fan. This confirmation hearing should be interesting.
because I don’t believe Templeton resigned the way Will states, I heard she was forced out. So if the governor forces you out, she surely has a replacement ready.
Was Templeton absorbing too much of the spotlight and casting a shadow on the Gov.?
When Haley appointed Kissman and Marshmello Adams to run the Budget and Control Board, It became known as the “Bitch Controlled Board! Unholy Haley is known for her incompetent, unqualified appointments. Just look at the above list Killer Koller, Atemyham Turner, Otter Etter, Karenot Thomas, No St. Onge. I would also throw in Markeitup Keel, for his failure and inaction in the illegal “Lexington Ring” debacle!
During Kissmans reign of terror, at the “Bitch Controlled Board” many long serving employees, previously recognized for outstanding, excellent service were unceremoneously “axed”, riffed, and savaged by Marshmello at Kissman’s direction. Others left voluntarily rather than have their careers sullied by the likes of Haley, Kissman and marshmello!
It is no wonder that Kissman was never confirmed by the Texas Senate and subsequently fired by Governor Perry! Her hasty departure from SC and the “Bitch Controlled Bd.” was followed by many rumors unbecoming a professional, moral or ethical manager, just the kind Haley loves to appoint! A fund raiser, a yes person, a lap dog, non professional, incompetent “alley cat”, TOTALLY UNQUALIFIED/UNPREPARED TO MANAGE DHEC !!!!
There is one low life upstate Senator who will be extrmely happy to see the “bitch” return! I’m sure there will be many meetings.
Maybe she will get what will mellow her out?
She sounds perfect for the job!
The SCDHEC Board is obviously the most corrupt and corrupted board we have ever had in this state.
— thanks to Mark Sanford leaving 600+ board and commission vacancies/overdue appointments when he left office, giving Haley the opportunity to pack board after board with people getting payoffs for support – special license tags appear to be the most coveted possession in this state; let’s do away with them and interest in appointments would abate – rather than knowing a rat’s ass about what the agency they were appointed to.
THIS is the fucking SCGOP.
exactly what i heard happened……and those folks voted him in the senate. unbelievable.
No! No! No! This is the worst possible choice. Her time at Insurance was tragic. When she left the staff brought cakes, balloons and had a real party. Ask the people at BCB what she was like. Ask her staff in Texas or any of the other jobs she’s washed out of in the last few years. This woman is a menace. And she is far from a “strong manager.” She’s just a mean bitch with well placed friends.
Truer words….
What are you talking about?
“getting fired from four jobs in four years.” means she’s PERFECTLY qualified for a gov’t job.
Only under a Haley administration!
Oh, how I wish that were the case.
I think UnHoly Haley owes the “Bitch”! It seems to me Will Folks once wrote that Kitzman, more commonly referred to as “the Bitch”, had intimate knowledge of his and UnHoly Haley’s affair and intended to call her as a witness, should they end up in Court! Fired and run off from EVERY position she has held and appointed by UnHoly again, it must be “HUSH” money, to keep “the Bitch” quiet!
I always wondered, if UnHoly was innocent and had not been involved in an affair with Folks, why she NEVER sued? I ‘d heard about their affair back in 2007, when UnHoly was a nobody, no reason to make it up! I guess the taxpayer is forking over the “hush money” for UnHoly again!
I know a few people in state, they’d pretty much confirm everything you’ve said.
I know many who would!
What are you talking about?
Press Release from Eleanor Kitzman
To all of those who pissed on my back as I was leaving the State of South Carolina let it be known throughout the Gypsy Queen’s Kingdom – I’mmm Baaack – payback is going to be hell
There will be blood in the halls
There will be blood in the streets
There will be blood on the walls
Not a creature stirring will be able to save their balls
This short but to the point Press Release has been approved by the Gypsy Queen and the GQ welcomes Bloody Eleanor and her Bitch Blade back to her Kingdom
Roll on Gypsy Queen Dooh Nibor, dammit, roll on
Run out of South Carolina. Run out of Texas. Fired from a private position.
“Hey Nikki, help a sister out…I need a job…”
Give it 12-18 months, and when DHEC is in even further disarray, and that’s saying something, she’ll either get run off again, or resign “for personal reasons” so she and Haley can save face.
Kitzman is just not a nice person. And yes, the story about the employees having a party at the DOI when she left is 100% true.
Just a bad choice…for any job.
“Kitzman is just not a nice person”???
What a friggin understatement!!!!!
Like Hitler, Osama, and members of ISIS are “just not nice people”!!!!
She is, as coined, by employees at B&C BD and Dept. of Insurance “a bloody BITCH”!
LOL. I was trying to be diplomatic. Really don’t know why…
Haven’t been on this site long..eh?
true that – in further disarray…..don’t believe everything you hear/read from the templeton camp
Haley has had some bad luck with her appointees. One would think lessons would have been learned. This will end up being her biggest mistake ever. Our only hope for a decently run DHEC is rejection of her confirmation by the Senate. Kitzman has demonstrated over and over again how poor her management skills are. How many jobs has she had in the last 10 years? By my count it averages about one per year. That ought to tell you something. And her people skills are nonexistent. No employee likes or respects her. They fear her deliberate meanness and unpredictability. DHEC’s countdown starts now.
Self inflicted “bad luck” by appointing unprepared, unqualified, feckless people, who could help her husband with military promotions, who had a personal aircraft she could use, or raise money for her!
DHEC has been on the countdown for 4 years already.
Is Eleanor married?
Not that I’m aware of!
Like sleeping with the Devil!
Not likely. Even the devil has SOME standards…
As a lovely lively lady once said to (but fortunately not of) me, “I may not have morals, but I do have standards.”
Kitzman has no standards, morals, or soul!!
Right Senator.
She doesn’t even have Templeton’s ass and tits…this is not a good replacement.
She probably doesn’t hold her liquor as well though, so odds are you might have an easier time getting her to put out.
A senator may be able to answer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ag4nkSh7Q
One has to wonder why the governor has picked this arrogant skank who is incapable of doing anything for very long? Incompetent doesn’t even start to describe the bitch.
Nice story, Will. Thanks!
Shut up fag.
I like her fashion taste. Wearing your kill is en vogue.
A leopard does NOT change it’s spots. Kitzman has been unable to hold a job, has alienated every employee she has been involved with, is despise and hated by most.
She is a skank among skanks! Feckless to her responsibilities; but, she is Ohaley’s bitch!
Yea, but the bitch killed a leopard, skinned it, and then threw it around her shoulders without washing it….that’s gotta count for something.
Absolutely…covers the fishy smell!
We can use more Xena types.
HALEY IS A GD IDIOT!
The people who voted for her should be banished to TEXAS, where all the money came from that convinced the fools to vote for this crook.
This is about the dumbest move Nikki has made yet. I try to defend Gov Haley because overall she is better than the Democrats being in charge, but really. This was not a smart move.
In what way is she better?
What do you suppose her role will be at DHEC?
Does she have a mission or is this simply a paycheck to her?
Will she be engaged within the agency or above it all and engaged in “higher” political matters?
Probably spend most of her time in the Senate office building. Use to hang out there all the time, leaving Marshmello girl A-Damns in charge!
Will she have a similar henchwoman at DHEC?
there is no longer a mission at DHEC…went down the drain when Haley took control…..
Nobody has mentioned her qualifications. What makes her qualified to lead DHEC?
And is she a lawyer?
Apparently so.
http://www.wistv.com/story/27841858/new-dhec-director-has-generated-heavy-criticism
“In a letter, Cooper ripped Kitzman for . . . making public comments about not taking advice from middle-aged white men.”
Hey, then she can’t be all bad!
Well, if she’s a lawyer she has vast experience in dealing with muck, and getting right down in it and rolling around. That’s a good DHEC qualification.
When did qualifications matter?
She is a haley confidant and fund raiser!
Only qualification needed by Haley!
A car insurance executive running a massive Health and Environmental agency????? ROFLMFAO!!!!!! …… Haley needs her head examined. This pick is simply ludicrous!
Do not knock it before you know for sure what will happen.
I for one think the health of SC residents will be vastly improved by the new carpeting to come to DHEC main office once she’s installed.
And what better way to control the environment than from a dark cherry wood finish desk and new desk chair with the finest Corinthian leather?
At least this one will be HQ’d out of Columbia, not commuting from Charleston whenever … Though I doubt she’ll ever put in a full 40 a week.
Bloody Eleanor!! She doesn’t smile.
Just a horrible choice. I don’t know how the Governor can do it. She must have something on the Gov.
It appears that she just woke up from having her brains screwed out. “Let me count, this makes how many times I’ve had this experience.. well, this makes one, two…….”