The Other Brooks Brothers and Their Sister, Too. — “Suddenly-relevant”

Tenth Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams (covering Anderson and Oconee Counties) is facing opposition this year from a former prosecutor named Sarah Drawdy.

I’ve seen Adams in the news prosecuting some high-profile cases, but until a friend told me I needed to appreciate the entertainment value this race could bring, I never would have thought about it.

Apparently, at least from Drawdy’s side, this is sure to be an ol’ fashioned cat fight like Krystle Carrington and Alexis Carrigton Colby (except this really won’t be anything like that because we’re talking about Oconee and Anderson Counties in South Carolina, not Dynasty).

I wasn’t familiar with Drawdy, but I understand her maiden name was Sarah Ganss which may be familiar to those of you in the Upstate. I was told she did the morning news in the mid to late 90s for WROQ Rock 101 and was also the editor for the conservative The Times Examiner newspaper during the same time.

In any event, while Drawdy seems to be launching a negative campaign right out of the gate (which some are attributing to Adams defeating Drawdy’s old boss Druanne White), Anderson’s daily newspaper, the Independent Mail, may be in blatant violation of SC campaign ethics laws.

The independentmail.com has a list of blogs officially connected with the paper, and they cover a variety of topics. They include Clemson sports, cars, life after college, motherhood, economic development, college life, food, religion, politics, and of course there’s a place for the paper’s editors to sound off.

The most interesting blog though is called “On the Campaign Trail.” According to the blog’s description, “Sarah Drawdy is running for 10th Circuit Solicitor. She agreed to blog about the experiences — good, bad and downright ridiculous — of being a full-time political candidate.“

You know we’re all “Rah. Rah,” 1st Amendment types here, but this is different. While we all believe that Mrs. Drawdy should be able to say what she thinks and run her campaign as she wants, blogging for a newspaper is different than blogging on her campaign or personal site.

Think about it of a minute. What is the purpose of a newspaper? It doesn’t exist so much to inform as it does to make money, and it makes money by selling ads.

Whether it’s a print version or an on-line version, newspapers survive by charging people to sell goods and services through that publication. This includes political candidates. If Catherine Ceips wants to run an ad in the Beaufort Gazette, she’ll have to pay for it. Likewise, if Chrissy Adams wants to buy ad space with the Independent Mail or on independentmail.com, she’ll have to pay.

Why then is Mrs. Drawdy getting what is in essence free promotional space with a for-profit media outlet? At the very least, shouldn’t Mrs. Drawdy have to report that as an “in-kind” donation to her campaign? Then how long would it be before the Independent Mail reached its contribution limit?

I’m not an attorney, and I don’t plan on needing one, but doesn’t the Anderson newspaper’s treatment of that race seem like it pushes the envelope of ethics laws?

At the same time, as an attorney, especially one who aspires to becoming her judicial circuit’s chief prosecutor, wouldn’t you think that Mrs. Drawdy would want to stay away from even the appearance of impropriety?

– Mary Claire Forrester

I first wrote about Senator Glenn McConnell’s Spending Caps Study Committee in January when the Municipal Association, the Association of Counties, and the State Employees’ Association were begging Senators not to limit their ability to spend.

After all, if spending was limited, government might shrink. The horror.

Well, like so many ideas, this one has evolved and even gotten the state’s chief economist Dr. Bill Gillespie on board.

Instead of spending limits, which Senator McConnell hoped to get through S.718, the committee is leaning toward revenue caps to limit the amount of money government can take in to its coffers.

Of course it will be interesting to see what some of the committee members decide to do as the smoke settles. Folks like Senator Larry Martin, who are likely to support the state limits, may not be as likely to back the local limits and instead buckle under the pressure of local government and bureaucratic special interests as they already did.

So now as S.718 morphs in to another vehicle to shrink government and return money to South Carolinians, we can be sure of one thing this election year. Senator McConnell gets it. You don’t ask for the vote while you ask for more taxes and spending. I wonder who else will benefit from that wisdom.

The folks over at FITSNews did a good job of detailing this yesterday after the Senate Spending Caps Study Committee meeting, and I’d suggest giving that a read if you haven’t already.

– Wilson Charles