leak again… »
« more leak…
South Carolina circus…

Posted on Wednesday 2 June 2010


By FITSNews || Just when it seemed the Will Folks-Nikki Haley affair story had died down, along comes S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford to Haley’s, um, “rescue.”  After a calm Memorial Day weekend, Sanford reignited the smoldering scandal on Tuesday when he told reporters that he didn’t believe Folks’ claim to have engaged in an “inappropriate physical relationship” with the front-running GOP candidate.

Instant headlines ensued. From the Associated Press:
    South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says an allegation against a Republican gubernatorial candidate by a Columbia blogger who also was his first press secretary is an evil brand of politics as usual.

    Sanford said Tuesday he doesn’t believe blogger Will Folks’s claim that he had an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki Haley.

    Sanford, who saw his political prospects destroyed after disappearing for days last year and admitting to an affair with an Argentine woman, says it’s the silly season in politics with primaries next Tuesday.
Wow … way to go, Sanford. Just when “Haley-gate” had dropped off the front page …

As it stands now, Folks has presented just enough evidence – including text messages that hint at a cover-up by the Haley campaign as well as phone logs showing dozens of late night calls between him and Haley – to lend plausibility to his initial claim.  Of course, he hasn’t produced anything capable of sinking the Haley ship (which, it should be noted, he has spent the better part of three years promoting on this website). At least not yet.

So … what happens next? Who knows …
Surely there’s something better to think about than the oil leak/spill. Even South Carolina had gone quiet for a few days. There have been no new releases of information about the Nikki Haley/Will Folks affair for days. But, leave it to Mark Sanford to begin filling in the empty space. Looking back on 2009, not a great year as years go, there were a few light moments. John Edwards made it abundantly clear that we had dodged a bullet when he faded from the presidential race. But Mark Sanford gave us our finest moment of all on that front. He was a Governor, the Chairman of the Republican Governors organization. He was a presidential hopeful. Then he cast it all to the wind – and sealed his fate with a couple of television interviews that etched his place as one of the master fools in all of history. Now, he’s weighing in on the Nikki Haley sex-capade story. The interesting thing here is that Nikki Haley is supported by Mark Sanford, his former wife, Jenny Sanford, her accusing blogger [and presumed afairee] Will Folks [former spokesperson for Mark Sanford], and, of course, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party – all conservative Republicans. With that as background, comes this new report:
WLXT News19
by Tony Santaella
06/02/2010

Columbia, SC [WLTX] – Another man has come forward to say he had an inappropriate sexual encounter with the Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Nikki Haley. Larry Marchant told News19 and several other media outlets Wednesday that he and Haley were together in June of 2008 while the two attended an event in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Marchant worked as a campaign aide for Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Andre Bauer. Bauer asked for and received Marchant’s resignation. A campaign spokesperson says Bauer became aware of a certain situation several days ago and decided to take action.

News19 contacted Haley’s campaign about this latest accusation, and Campaign Manager Tim Pearson released the following statement.
    "This is a false and outrageous desperate attack from a losing candidate’s paid campaign consultant in the final week of the race. As Nikki Haley rises in the polls, the good old boys in Columbia see their taxpayer-funded fraternity party coming crumbling down, and they will say or do anything to hold onto their power. This is South Carolina politics at its worst. the people of our state deserve better, and when Nikki Haley is governor, they’ll get it."

It’s hard to imagine any rational explanation for any of this. Why would Will Folks or Larry Marchant make up such stories? But then, why would either one go public with the stories themselves? It hardly advances the reputation of either one of them. And why would Governor Sanford weigh in with an opinion, being that his endorsement carries so little weight given his own indiscretions? What would he know of Nikki Haley’s sexual  life anyway? The South! You got to love us…

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.