POLITICAL FALLOUT SHOULD BE MINOR IN "PHONEY FRED"

SCPols.com – A SUPPLEMENT TO CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS MAGAZINE [LINK]

Posted Wednesday, September 12, 2007

By - John Boyanoski

Pundits believe the controversy over an anti-Fred Thompson site that has links to South Carolina won't last long.

Media outlets have been buzzing over a site that was shut down this week that denounced former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., as a "phony." The site was connected to Wesley Donehue, who has been on the payroll of the presidential campaign of former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Donehue is also a business associate with two of Romney's top South Carolina advisers.

However, while this may be the first major controversy of the 2008 campaign in South Carolina, it likely won't have a major bearing down the road.

"I think this will be relatively short-lived," said David Woodard, a Clemson University political science professor. "In this media-fragmented environment, things get out of hand more quickly than they did in the past."

Taft Matney, a Greenville-based Republican political consultant, said the story won't factor much into state politics either even though the controversy has been tied to Warren Tompkins, one of the state's pre-eminent political pundits.

"It's great fodder for talking heads today," Matney said. "But in the grand scheme of things, it's not much more than a story to break up the monotony of a presidential campaign season that still has another year to go."

Romney and his campaign leaders said they did not authorize the site and did not know anything about http://www.phoneyfred.com until they got calls from the media this week.

The site was hosted by a company in Utah and had links to Under the Power Lines, a political consulting site run Tompkins', a former executive director of the state Republican Party. He is one of the state's most recognized political leaders, and served as President Bush's Southeast regional director during the 2000 campaign.

Thompson's campaign fired back saying, "today's half-baked cover-up attempt by the Romney campaign does not even pass the laugh test."

Matney said (this) should be expected.

"There will be a lot of puffing from every campaign -- with candidates and their staffs denouncing the action -- but I'm sure that with another 14 months before all of the dust settles, there will be bigger 'scandals' than this," Matney said.

John Boyanoski can be reached at jboyanoski@scpols.com.

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"CONSERVATIVES IN ACTION" ON WOIC RADIO

This is audio from The "Dangerous Doug Kendall Show" on WOIC-AM in Columbia, SC broadcast on September 8, 2007.

The audio is available for download by clicking HERE.

The interview with “Conservatives In Action” spokesman Taft Matney discusses Greenville County, SC’s hospitality tax implementation and the group’s thoughts on the tax’s funded projects.

The clip also mentions Greenville County Council Vice Chair and Finance Committee Chair Judy Gilstrap’s published comments in THE GREENVILLE NEWS. According to the paper, “When asked what Trout’s proposal would have done, committee chair Judy Gilstrap told GreenvilleOnline.com Tuesday, ‘I didn’t study it that carefully.’”

The clip also mentions pending General Assembly legislation limiting government spending.

COUNCIL REJECTS MORE OVERSIGHT OF RESTAURANT TAX

New tax revenue earmarked for parks, tourism
FROM: THE GREENVILLE (S.C.) NEWS
POSTED WENDESDAY, September 5, 2007

By Ben Szobody

STAFF WRITER
bszobody@greenvillenews.com

County Council ignored the request of conservative activists Tuesday night for more oversight of the way it uses a new restaurant tax to fund parks and tourism improvements, ratifying instead a short
set of "guidelines" drafted by county staff.

Taft Matney, who videotaped the proceedings and said he represented Conservatives in Action, told the council that the group had dropped a lawsuit against the county over the use of its new "hospitality tax" because taxpayers would have paid for the dispute on both sides, through donations to his group and taxpayer-supported county attorneys.

As a compromise, Matney said Councilman Tony Trout proposed a "comprehensive approach" to tracking the tax money, reporting its use and establishing penalties when the rules are breached.

However, Matney said a county staffer told the council's Finance Committee last week that the document was unnecessary because another proposal dealt with the same issues.

Matney said that was "misleading," and that the version on the floor before council Tuesday provided "minimal" oversight.

It filled just over one page.

When asked what Trout's proposal would have done, committee chair Judy Gilstrap told GreenvilleOnline.com Tuesday, "I didn't study it that carefully."

"I just wanted a simple procedure for setting forth how we handle the hospitality tax," Gilstrap said. "The hospitality tax was set up under an ordinance. We don't need another ordinance."

She said the approach mirrors how hotel tax money is handled.

Former council candidate Robert "Butch" Taylor also objected to the use of the money, saying half the parks projects were designed to satisfy council egos instead of real needs.

The council approved the two percent tax on restaurant food -- the biggest new county tax in 13 years -- last year, and it went into effect in April.

It will generate an estimated $6.75 million a year and help fund trails along the
Reedy River, community centers in low-income areas and tourism attractions such as a downtown
cultural district.

No one on council responded to Matney's claims in Tuesday's meeting, although Trout moved to send the matter back to committee to "put some teeth in it."

His motion was defeated with only two audible votes in favor -- his own and that of Lottie Gibson.

Councilman Joe Dill asked for an explanation, but got none.

"What's the issue?" Dill said, but no one responded. "This has been working for a long time. Or is there not an issue? Go ahead then."

He then joined the council majority in approving the guidelines before them.

Trout and Gibson could be heard voting "no."