Widescale Corruption Scandal Rocks South Carolina’s GOP Statehouse

Just over a month ago, South Carolina’s republican Speaker of the House, Bobby Harrell, was indicted on multiple criminal charges, including misconduct in office, misuse of power, using campaign donations for personal gain and falsifying financial reports. The nine count criminal indictment against Harrell appears to be just the tip of the iceberg.

According to the Post and Courier, state and federal investigators have now widened the probe to include several other lawmakers. Authorities are looking into allegations that range from elected officials selling votes, to state lawmakers funneling money from South Carolina’s budget into their own pockets.

A large part of the investigation involves a PAC which was directly connected to Harrell, known as The Palmetto Leadership Council. According to Ashley Landess, President of the SC Policy Council, which first raised concerns with the state’s attorney general over improper conduct by Harrell:

“There was rumored to be a big operating account into which money was funneled that was not related to the PAC and not used in elections. The concern was that perhaps there was a great deal of big money coming from corporations … and the nature of the expenses may have benefited the speaker.”

One part of the investigation involves accusations that money from that secret account was used to “sway” lawmakers votes in the election of a Supreme Court Justice, Jean Toal. According to South Carolina’s Post and Courier, State Representative Jenny Horne, an outspoken supporter of Toal, is said to be one of the lawmakers under investigation in connection with those allegations.

Born of corruption, why would anyone expect this SCOTUS majority to be anything but corrupt?

Not even bothering to pretend anymore

The Supreme Court has always been a political institution. It has a history of making horrendous decisions. But this Supreme Court majority has a record of overreach and politicization that is so transparent and so unethical and so intellectually dishonest that it calls to mind a paraphrase of the old Lily Tomlin line about a corporate monopoly: They don't care, they don't have to.

This Court majority was empaneled after members of it and the previous majority overturned a presidential election, brought to power the man who received fewer votes than his opponent in the decisive electoral state, and did so by turning on its head that Court majority's supposed judicial philosophy. That decision was so corrupt and challenged so many of that Court majority's supposedly basic beliefs that the profoundly cynical written opinion specifically quarantined it from being used as precedent in future decisions. It was blatantly depraved partisan politics.

That the new Chief Justice and the other new Justice who were brought to the Court as a direct consequence of that infamous decision would join with the remaining members who made that decision to render a series of further decisions that are also corrupt and blatantly political should not come as a surprise. These justices operate with a wink and a nod. They do not look at the evidence and arguments before making conclusions, they start with conclusions, and then cherry-pick or concoct whatever evidence and arguments can be used to support them. Sort of. Because these justices don't care that their political machinations are so transparent and so dishonest. They don't have to. They don't even respect their own institution enough to care that because of them what was always the most respected branch of the federal government now is held in almost as much contempt as the other branches.

This Supreme Court majority is at war with women, with minorities, with workers, and with anyone who isn't a member of the white, male, theocratic social and economic elite. With demographic shifts rapidly transforming the electorate, it is only a matter of time before this Court majority's already minority constituency is relegated to the political fringe. This Court majority is the last bastion of that political fringe, and its decisions certainly eventually will be overturned. History will remember these justices as it remembers the justices that ruled in Dred Scott. Disgust. Disdain. Outrage. Infamy.

For now, real people will continue to suffer from the blatantly dishonest politicization of this Supreme Court majority. For now, the very functioning of democracy and republic will be undermined and put at risk by the blatantly dishonest politicization of this Supreme Court majority. The older members of this Court majority know very well how they brought the rest of this Court majority to the Court. The newer members of this Court majority know very well how they came to be members of the Court. The corruption of this Court majority started with the corrupt decision that created it. They know it. They know that many others know it. They don't care. They don't have to.

Corrupt Judge Tries To Protect GOP Governor Walker By Ordering Incriminating Evidence Destroyed

On Tuesday May 6, 2014, Federal Judge Rudolph Randa ordered a halt to the investigation into Scott Walker’s campaign finance dealings. Randa, who has close ties to the Walker administration, took that order a step further by demanding that prosecutors destroy all the evidence they had collected during the investigation.

Attorneys for the Walker administration asked Randa to halt the investigation, claiming that authorities examining and collecting evidence of illegal activity is a violation of their right to free speech. The judge ruled in support of this ridiculous notion, basically saying that illegal acts should be protected from the process of investigation, under the guise of free speech.

Randa, who was appointed by George W. Bush and is an adviser to the extreme right-wing Federalist Society, received a harsh reprimand from the 7th Circuit US Court of Appeals, who placed a stay on the judge’s ruling, less than 24 hours after it was handed it down. The three judge panel halted the order to destroy the evidence, saying it “effectively prevents appellate review.”

Randa reissued his order on Thursday, May 8, a move which blocks any further investigation into Walker’s illegal activities. The order does not reinstate his ruling that evidence in the case must be destroyed. The most absurd line from Randa’s latest ruling is this:

“As other histories tell us, attempts to purify the public square lead to places like the Guillotine and the Gulag.”

So what he’s saying here is that we should not attempt to stop illegal activity, because something bad could happen if we do? That is a frightening statement coming from a person who is appointed to oversee justice.

In addition to the state investigation, there is an ongoing federal investigation into Walker’s illegal activities. An earlier investigation led to the conviction of a half dozen members of Walker’s former administration.

Walker and his accomplices have attempted every possible tactic in order to squirm out of providing documents or testimony to investigating officers. Getting the case in front of a right wing judge with close ties to one of Walker’s lead attorneys, might have been luck of the draw, but it’s doubtful. Former US attorney Steven M. Biskupic, who was appointed by the George W. Bush administration, is leading the legal team for the Walker administration. Biskupic’s wife just happens to work for judge Randa.

Even more questionable, Randa scheduled sessions to hear motions related to the case, but then cancelled both, before handing his ruling without ever having heard the arguments.

In spite of the massive amount of corruption in the state of Wisconsin, the citizens continue to demand that the truth be known. The decision of the appeals court panel will allow the investigation into Walker’s money laundering and illegal campaign finance activities to continue, as much as Walker and his corrupt group of co-conspirators don’t want that to happen.

REVEALED: Christie officials put pension cash into fund that backed donor’s companies

This past weekend, Pando has been reporting on the rapidly growing scandal over New Jersey handing millions of dollars of public pension money to VC firm General Catalyst after a partner in the firm, Charles Baker, made a sizable donation to governor Chris Christie’s state party. The story, which involves state and federal pay-to-play rules, is made all the more explosive by the fact that Baker is currently a Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts.

Today, however, comes potentially the most interesting twist yet. Pando has discovered evidence appearing to show that the specific General Catalyst investment fund into which the Christie administration moved public money later became a key investor in a pair of companies at which Baker himself sits on the board.

In other words, we already knew that Baker donated money to Chris Christie, after which New Jersey moved millions of dollars in public money to a VC firm for which Baker serves as a partner. Now we know that the specific fund which received the NJ pension investment later made an investment in companies on whose board Baker serves. (See below for timeline.)

Read more