So there is a great story about to come out in The (Charleston, SC) Post and Courier who basically claims that the country businessman John Warren, state representative Kirkman Finlay and I am part of a conspiracy to sink the candidacy of judge of the circuit court of SC DeAndrea Benjamin
Benjamin is one of three candidates running for a seat on the state appeals court, the second highest court in South Carolina.
I’ve heard these claims before …
Six months ago, my news outlet published a story about the criminal escapes of an accused murderer, Benjamin, released on bail. I criticized your decision to let that person go back to the streets, just as I criticized other judges for doing the same thing.
I believe that excessive and unjustified judicial clemency is a serious problem in South Carolina, and in addition the murderer accused of Benjamin freed a child hostage and almost killed two sheriff deputies in Lexington County – which is where I live with my wife and our six (soon to be seven) children.
Benjamin’s release of this accused criminal in my backyard bothered me a lot … especially considering how the growing violence in downtown Columbia, SC (her husband’s city) was one of the reasons why I decided to move my family and my business there to Lexington county seven years ago.
After publishing this story last August, I soon learned that Benjamin – the wife of the mayor of Columbia, SC Steve Benjamin – has some incredibly powerful friends. Friends who did not like to be criticized.
In fact, some of your powerful friends are also my friends. Some of them are my lawyers. Others are among my advertisers. So when I started getting calls about this problem (again, more than six months ago) I spoke to them very frankly about the subject.
First, I told them I didn’t have a dog in this fight. FITSNews has not endorsed any of the candidates in Benjamin’s legal dispute – nor does it plan to do so. I don’t believe lawmakers have any business choosing judges, period … And my website has published dozens of stories over the years documenting why this happens. The process is notoriously corruptible and has produced a Judicial Branch subject to the whims of powerful lawyer-legislators.
Second, I offered them my microphone. I told my friends that I would be happy to publish any information they wish to provide regarding my criticisms of Judge Benjamin’s judicial clemency. In fact, I specifically (and repeatedly) offered them the opportunity to publish letters to the editor or opinion columns on FITSNews explaining why they believed my criticism to be unfair. That offer – which I recently reiterated last week – is still up, by the way.
Third, I reminded them of the reason for my criticism – not because someone proposed it to me, but because I felt that Judge Benjamin’s decisions endangered my home community.
Unfortunately, none of Benjamin’s supporters ever accepted my offer … but some individuals supported his candidacy did decide to leak information that ostensibly exonerates her to the Post and Courier.
Specifically, they claimed that Benjamin freed the accused from murder because prosecutors took too long to bring his case to trial. If correct, that would certainly be a fair point – one that I would have loved to hear from Benjamin’s supporters when I offered them my microphone six months ago.
Does that justify your decision? Eh …
Of course, that was not the only information that was leaked to the Post and Courier.
A lawmaker told the newspaper that I was “willing” to attack Benjamin because Representative Finlay carried a decade-long grudge against her husband – who defeated him in the 2010 mayoral race in Columbia, SC.
Someone also told the newspaper that I was seeking revenge on Benjamin because she was the judge who accepted my guilty plea in a major domestic violence case in 2005. Frankly, I had forgotten who the judge was at that hearing nearly two decades ago … and as I told the Post and Courier news reporter, what difference would it make, since all she did was accept the guilty plea?
In addition, I was accused of being on the payroll of Warren – a future candidate for governor who weighed in the judicial election against Judge Benjamin. And yes, the theory is that I was chasing Judge Benjamin as a way of weakening her husband – who was appointed as a candidate for Democratic governor.
(Steve Benjamin, incidentally, is close to the current South Carolina governor Henry McMaster and your network – the former wretched political consultant empire Richard Quinn)
So, to recap … I am accused of unfairly criticizing Benjamin because I was pressured to do so politically, because I was hungry for revenge and because I was being paid in connection with the 2022 governor race.
Devilish, am I not?
Yes now. This is the real reason why you are reading about these claims: Judge Benjamin is losing in his legislative election. Badly, according to some of my legislative sources. And this flurry of attacks against me (and Warren and Finlay) is Ave Maria’s effort to try to turn the tide in its favor.
Will it work? We’ll see. And if that happens … I will be happy to show my cap to those who came after me for their own political gain. Good for them. Same. To like Thom Yorke once sang: “It’s just business”. I get it.
Until then … is this the behavior of a candidate who knows he has the necessary votes to win an election? Or … is it despair?
Because it reeks of despair to me …
Well … although Benjamin’s sponsors have hit on me in a rival publication, guess what: my microphone is still open to them – and will always be. Because that’s how my medium works.
It is my job to criticize those in power when I find it necessary, but it is also my job to share their perspectives on that criticism … which I am always willing to do, no matter how many shots they give me.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: FITSNews)
Will Folks is the editor of the news medium you are currently reading.
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