Jake Knotts isn’t a liberal. He’s the longtime former sheriff of Lexington County, SC (the western suburbs of Columbia, the state capital) who, after he left his sheriff-for-life gig, ran for State Senate from Lexington County and won handily. He is a fairly conservative Republican, but like most of the rest of the General Assembly in SC, he loves him some pork (and I don’t mean barbeque).
It’s hard to overstate the arrogance and entitlement of the General Assembly in South Carolina. They still meddle in local affairs to an extent I’ve never seen in the other states I’ve lived in (VA and NC). Up until the 1970s, they effectively held veto power over many functions of local government until a “Home Rule” act was finally passed that freed cities and counties from their bonds. Even so, there are still hundreds of special districts, things like water districts, fire districts, park districts, etc., whose boards are appointed not by localities, but by the state representatives and senators for that area. The executive branch in SC is very weak compared to most other states.
The Republican bigwigs in the General Assembly don’t like Sanford. He’s fought them as hard as he could on pork-barrel spending since he took office. He’s gone over their heads to the people several times to put pressure on them. Right now, I’ll bet, if you drive by the corner of Assembly and Gervais where the Statehouse is, you can hear the sound of the knives being sharpened. This is going to be their payback.
}:-)4
Thanks for your clarification. I’m trying to listen to Carr plus get a lot of other stuff done. The SC political insider did speak of liberals in SC who call themselves Republicans, but I obviously must have misunderstood the part where I thought he lumped Knotts into that category. Sorry. I’m sure that Knotts is the outer, though; Howie Carr mentioned multiple sources for that info.
I’m a longtime Lexington County resident, and Lexington County is a very conservative place. Jakie is my state senator, and Nikki Haley is my state representative. I have no problems with the representation both of them have provided me. Jakie is no liberal. He was in law enforcement, but he wasn’t Lexington County sheriff. That’s Jimmy Metts, who has been in office for more than 30 years.
When this deal about Sanford being missing first hit the news and Jakie was front and center fanning the flames, I told my husband “I betcha Jakie’s getting him back for supporting the woman who ran against Jakie last year.” And, Moose4, you’re right, it’s also payback from the General Assembly for the way he’s fought them ever since he’s been in office. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see him impeached if he doesn’t resign first.
There’s no excuse for Sanford’s behavior, and I’m just sick about this whole situation. I can’t even begin to understand what he was thinking. He had to know his political enemies, both in SC and nationally, had to be watching him like a hawk for any mistake, yet he has an affair with a woman in Argentina?!?!?!
WIS, the NBC affiliate in Columbia, just ran a bit about Jenny Sanford. She ran both of his campaigns for Governor, and I had forgotten all about that. Lord, what a sad situation for them and those precious boys.