Kelly Payne Relationship Revealed – What Does It Matter?

Today, media outlets are reporting the sexually explicit emails of a relationship between Kelly Payne (candidate for Sup. Education) and Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom.

I for one am sick and tired of the media and public deeming the private lives of citizens, public or not, fair game.  Lets be real people, what the hell does it matter that Kelly Payne and Richard Eckstrom had a relationship!  Are we going to start announcing everyone’s affair to the mass public for us to oooh and ahhh over?

What is wrong with them expressing their sexual desires for each other?

How often do you share with your significant others your sexual desires via email or text message?

The person responsible for leaking these emails accomplished one thing and one thing only.  They have potentially ruined the careers of these individuals.  Payne’s teaching career will probably will come to a close because her private sexual messages were revealed to the public.  She could have returned to teaching had she lost her bid to be Superintendent of Education.  Now she will not be able to.

We don’t know what the repercussions for Eckstrom will be.  We have heard rumors of candidates jumping into this race and they will probably hurry to it now this so called “scandal” has been revealed.

Politics aside, the individual who hacked her emails is officially a criminal and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Our advice, don’t forget to change your passwords!

Oh The Irony

I was playing with some new software on the Mac today, iLife 2009.  It has a new facial recognition feature that allows you to tag a face and it tries to match the characteristics to locate all pictures of that individual.

From time to time, you confirm the pictures as it tries to enhance itself for better identification.

The irony,  I just tagged a photo of Governor Mark Sanford and looked to see how many pictures I found of the governor.

Lo and behold, I found Bill Clinton.

Prudence Called for in Time of Crisis

PRESS RELEASE
JULY 3, 2009

Today, State Representative Tommy Stringer issued the following statement:

As an elected representative in the South Carolina House, I am please to learn that the SLED review of Gov. Sanford’s finances has not discovered evidence that he misused public funds during his various personal trips.

I have been reluctant to join in the chorus demanding Gov. Sanford’s resignation. Please note that my reluctance should not be taken as an approval of his personal actions.

We should remember that he is the elected head of the executive branch of our state government.  He was elected by the people, not by the Legislature. If he has committed an impeachable offense, then it is a matter for the Legislature to address. If he has not, then it should be his decision to resign based on what he perceives to be in the best interests of the people of South Carolina and for his family.

He has served the state well for six years as Governor and before that in Congress. Some people have not agreed with his stance on various issues. I have been a strong supporter of his desire to reform state government, but I have not agreed with him on every issue either.

His public and personal actions have forced South Carolinians to determine the true meanings of confession, contrition and redemption. We are also forced to determine whether his personal moral failure invalidates the service that he has rendered to the people of South Carolina. These are hard deliberations that should be done in a prudent manner, not in a media generated frenzy.

SLED Claims Sanford is Clear

According to SLED’s investigation of Sanford’s travels, they have declared that their is not any evidence of criminal activities made by the governor.

Director Lloyd said that if there is any information provided that justifies a criminal investigation, then it will be further reviewed.  He stated that this was not a criminal investigation, but a review.

Lloyd also states that this was a state sponsored business trip that state business was conducted on.  The governor can choose to do what he wants in his personal time.  It is no different than a state employee seeing a ball game after spending the day in conferences.

This is the same argument we made the other day.

Questions still linger as to whether or not he should resign or if he will be impeached.  Only time will tell.

Senator Knotts… Sic em boy… Sic Sanford

It is well known in South Carolina that Governor Sanford has his enemies.  The General Assembly has worked against him multiple times to stop his reform initiatives and efforts to reduce spending in the state.

Did I mention that the General Assembly is a Republican Majority?  Sounds like the US Congress of old.  Anyway…

Senator Knotts, one of Sanford’s greatest arch-enemies, took to the airwaves of CNN today to continue to blast Sanford.

Listening to Knotts interview just turned my stomach upside down at times and at others, I fell out of my chair laughing so hard over a few of his statements.  Including the following:

“I’m a watchdog for the taxpayers money…”

Let’s see how good of a watchdog he is:

• Senator Knotts violated his pledge for no new taxes that he made during his 2008 campaign.
• Knotts voted against an alternative budget that did not accept the stimulus monies.
• In 2007, it was found that Knotts was paying membership dues out of campaign monies.
• Voted for H. 3567 Cigarette Tax Increase in 2008
• Vote to table an amendment that eliminates the competitive grants program (Amend. 45 on H. 3620).

But lets take a look at something Knotts is calling for.

He is accusing Sanford of using taxpayer money to fund a rendezvous with his mistress.

“Taxpayers paid for him to rendezvous with his mistress down in South America, is non-excusable…..

…I can’t explain to my people how the governor can take money and rendezvous with his mistress and when he gets caught, pay it back.  It’s like a bank robber saying hey give me your money and if they happen to catch him, I’ll pay it back and everything will be ok”

Granted, we don’t know how much if any was used.  My issue with this is how many other state business trips ended with a night on the town, in a strip club, at a casino.  We know this happens in business across America.  And I’m not just talking about Sanford.  What about the legislators who have been traveling across the country on different studies and such.

Just like Sanford’s other adversaries, they immediately draw a comparison to the worst case scenario.  I immediately reminded of the stimulus debate:

You know, if you don’t take stimulus money, teachers will lose their jobs.

Oh, now that we have the money, you are still loosing your job.

What about Obama’s Broadway show.  How much money did that cost the taxpayers to fly Air Force One, the Presidential caravan, and everything else it takes to transport the President to Manhattan for a night on the town.

The fact of the matter is, this is common practice.  He was in Argentina on state business, secured jobs for South Carolinians, then enjoyed a night on the town.

One last parting thought……

If it is illegal to have sex on the taxpayer’s dime, then a whole hell of a lot of you are in trouble.

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