Is South Carolina Ready For A Democratic Party Take-Over?

We've been talking about convicted cocaine dealer/ex-Treasurer of South Carolina Tom Ravenel ® and how he is hoping to pivot from ex-con and BRAVO sit com/reality show star to anti-Lindsey Graham general election Senate candidate in November. If he does, he's likely to throw the election to the Democratic candidate. You don't think so? Progressive outsider Jay Stamper has had the Democratic nomination all to himself until Ravenel made it public he was going to run. At that point, the Democratic state Party Establishment got behind hopeless conservative state Senator Brad Hutto who is hoping that Ravenel can deliver the Senate seat to him.

There's a similar dynamic-- minus the cocaine bust-- playing out in the South Carolina gubernatorial race in which ex-Blue Dog-turned Republican Tom Ervin has withdrawn from the GOP primary and is running as an independent against incumbent Gov, Nikki Haley and Establishment Democrat Vince Sheheen. He can probably draw enough votes away from Haley, who is widely disliked by South Carolina voters, to deliver the race to Sheheen, a conservative. Haley's approval rating was only 42%-- with a 49% unfavorable and when voters were asked if the election were held now, only 44% said they would vote to reelect her, as opposed to 46% who would vote to elect Sheheen. With Ervin in the mix, she's cooked.

Tom Ervin, a former Greenville lawmaker and judge, said Friday that he has withdrawn from the Republican primary for governor and will run as a petition candidate in the November election.

Tom Ervin, a former Greenville lawmaker and judge, said Friday that he has withdrawn from the Republican primary for governor and will run as a petition candidate in the November election.

Ervin, a 62-year-old attorney and radio station owner, said he needs more time to share his message and could not accomplish that in the short span before the primary.

“I believe South Carolina is ready for fresh new leadership and ready for a governor who cares about our people and not selfish political ambition,” he said. “Both (Republican Gov.) Nikki Haley and (Democratic challenger) Vince Sheheen are career politicians. I’m a small business owner who will serve as governor and then return home to run my business.”

He said he started gathering signatures of registered voters to have his name added to the November ballot as a “Republican petition candidate.”

"I look forward to offering my vision for South Carolina as a Republican in the general election," he said.

When he joined the race late last month, political experts gave Ervin little shot of unseating Haley, whose popularity has grown in the party since her 2010 election. The governor has $4.3 million to spend.

Ervin has loaned his campaign $420,181, according to state records. He had $271,172 on hand after spending money on a consultant and automated robocalls.

He started a six-figure radio ad campaign this week introducing himself to voters.

Ervin was a Democrat before switching to the Republican Party for a unsuccessful run in the 2005 special election to succeed House Speaker David Wilkins, who had been named the U.S. ambassador to Canada. Ervin has said he became a Republican because he’s pro-life and a born-again Christian.

He has donated to GOP candidates in recent years, but his wife, attorney Kathryn Williams, has contributed to candidates in both parties-- including $4,500 to Sheheen’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign and $50,000 to the S.C. Democratic Party that same year, according to state records.

Ervin said Friday that he believes his being a “fiscal and social conservative with an independent streak” could sway voters.

“I’m running to reform state government and to restore executive competence, honesty and accountability – especially as it relates to protecting our most vulnerable children in harm’s way,” Ervin said.

Ervin gave a good clue to the kind of campaign he'll be running against Haley in his announcement statement Friday: "Four years ago, Nikki Haley promised us transparency and accountability when she became governor. Sadly, Governor Haley has broken those promises. Instead, Haley has delivered four years of missteps, mistakes, scandals and cover-ups – none more disturbing than the ongoing investigation of Governor Haley's cabinet appointee and their gross negligence in failing to protect the children under their watch at DSS. The Bible says we will be judged by how we treat the least of those among us. That means doing everything within our power to right the wrongs being done to our children at risk. Under her watch, Nikki Haley has turned a blind eye to the plight of our children at greatest risk. It is time for Governor Haley to relieve her appointee at DSS for gross incompetence and mismanagement."

Can you imagine the GOP losing both the Senate and gubernatorial races in November? Here's his new radio ad, which is absolutely saturating the airwaves now:

Will BRAVO Spawn A Monster This November… In Charleston?

No one knows if South Carolina Republican-turned-Libertarian Thomas Ravenel is floating trial balloons about running for Senate this year-- against his nemesis Lindsey Graham-- as a publicity stunt for his new BRAVO TV show, Southern Charm or if his participation in the shocking TV show is a publicity stunt for his Senate run. But this week the Post and Courier broke the story-- for those who didn't watch the first episode of the bizarre Charleston-based reality-sit-com-- that Ravenel may take on Lindsey Graham as an independent candidate.

For those who haven't been following the Ravenel saga, let's sum it up in a paragraph. His father, Arthur, a vicious racist Dixiecrat and self-styled "aristocrat," who switched to the GOP in the '60s was the congressman from Charleston from 1987-1995-- and he's the Ravenel the iconic Cooper River bridge is named for. His son Tom ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004, spent almost $3 million and came in third in the GOP primary. Two years later he was elected state Treasurer and served for 6 months before being busted for selling coke. He went to a fancy "rehab" center for wealthy Republican drug addicts and was given much reduced charges-- the 500 grams he was arrested with suddenly and very conveniently became "less than 100 grams" and after he ratted out some of his suppliers-- and he was sentenced to 10 months in a Club Fed-- where he played bocci-- instead of the 20 years he should have gotten. If you watch the BRAVO show, you have already come to see what a charming and utterly despicable sociopath he is. Since being released, he's been arrested in the Hamptons for driving "drunk" (i.e.- high on coke).

Stephanie Barna, writing for the Cahrleston City Paper echoed the fears of many in her city as Southern Charm was about to launch this week offering that, for many Charlestonians, it "represents all that is base and vile in the world. Charleston will become the laughingstock of the country-- as if South Carolina isn't already a laughingstock for things much worse than man sluts. You know, things like institutionalized racism and homophobia, high rates of illiteracy, poverty, teenage pregnancy, AIDS, etc."

Now, for those like me, seeing Thomas Ravenel in his natural habitat is fascinating stuff. This is a guy who truly is from the local elite-- a French Huguenot with a family name that dates back centuries. The big bridge is named for his dad Arthur Ravenel for god sakes. And about his dad. I kind of miss old Cousin Arthur, a former politician who served in Congress, ran for governor, and took a seat on the county school board at age 79. He gave the City Paper plenty of fodder for years. We dedicated entire issues to his Cuzway, the bridge's nickname during the project stage. We called him out when he famously referred to the NAACP as the National Association for Retarded People during the Confederate flag flap.

And because he is the son of Cousin Arthur, we shouldn't be surprised that T-Rav is an attention whore who loves stirring up controversy and saying shit like he did in last week's City Paper. Father and son share a mischievous twinkle in their eyes. They like to challenge and charm people. They like attention, which is why we caught a glimpse of the senior Ravenel in the preview episode. That's right. Cousin Arthur makes an appearance in Southern Charm, and for that, I will watch. I mean, you could put these two guys in a sitcom, they are such characters.

Ravenel, who, as a Libertarian is now pro-gay equality, harbors a lot of antipathy for the closeted Lindsey Graham and told the press that if Graham wins the 5-way primary in June, he'll run against him as an independent, possibly siphoning off enough anti-Graham Republican votes in November to throw the race to progressive Democrat Jay Stamper. "If Lindsey wins the nomination, I will probably throw my hat into the ring," he said on Tuesday.

South Carolina political scientists were quick to downplay Ravenel's odds of success, given his federal cocaine charge and guilty plea that drove him from office in 2007.

"I don't think he has a chance in hell," said College of Charleston political scientist Kendra Stewart.

Stewart said some voters can be forgiving, citing how coastal 1st Congressional District Republicans responded to now-U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford's marital affair and Appalachian Trail hike story while governor.

The difference, she said, was that Sanford asked for forgiveness and was contrite-- helping him win his former seat in Congress last year.

In Ravenel's case, she said, he hasn't been as repentant. He also was pushed from office for drug use.

"I think a drug scandal is a lot harder to overcome than a marital scandal," Stewart said. "Especially in other areas of the state."

Much of Southern Charm, seen on the Bravo network, claims to show the lives of rich young men and women living in Charleston. Parts of Monday's broadcast focused on Ravenel's efforts to mix his playboy persona and efforts to rehabilitate his image toward a political campaign.

"It's just television; it's entertainment," Ravenel said of the first hour of the series that was shown Monday. He added that he felt he was portrayed accurately.

He also let on Tuesday that other Charleston residents earlier had dropped out of the project, and that his siblings had pressured him to get out as well.

"(The network) said they wouldn't have a show without me; I was the only Charlestonian in it," he said of his decision to honor his commitment to the project and stay on.

Ravenel said he would self-finance his campaign if it does materialize, and would seek donations. His conviction does not prohibit seeking federal office.

Before exploring Thomas' lovely Charleston pied-à-terre, please consider contributing Jay Stamper's grassroots Senate campaign… just in case.

Republican Coke Freak Thomas Ravenel Reinvents Himself As A BRAVO! Reality TV Star

It was Samuel Johnson who, in 1775, coined the phrase "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." They didn't have reality TV back then. Do you remember Thomas Ravenel, the Republican wing nut who was elected Treasurer of South Carolina, the head of Rudy Giuliani's ill-fated South Carolina presidential campaign and the last Tea Party opponent for Lindsey Graham-- all before he was caught selling coke. He's the son of racist former congressman Arthur Ravenel, a Dixiecrat who joined the GOP in the early 1960s and represented the Charleston based first district currently held by Mark Sanford. Now there's a BRAVO! "reality show" debuting next month about Charleston and Tom Ravenel, who's out of prison, is one of the stars. I'm not making this up. Here's the BRAVO! blurb:

New series Southern Charm goes behind the walls of Charleston, South Carolina's most aristocratic families to reveal a world of exclusivity, money and scandal that goes back generations. The fast-paced, drama-filled docu-series follows six Charleston singles, Craig Conover, Cameran Eubanks, Jenna King, Thomas Ravenel, Shepard “Shep” Rose, and Whitney Sudler-Smith, struggling with the constraints of this tight-knit, posh society. The cast, some descendants of Vice Presidents and four-term Senators, and others from "new money," is comprised of Southern bachelors who suffer from "Peter Pan Syndrome" by refusing to settle down; and the women in their lives who challenge them to grow up. Viewers will see them launch political careers, build businesses, break hearts, and chase true love-- all while struggling to preserve their family names. Because in Charleston, you're only as good as your last garden party and one social screw-up can taint generations to come.

Hard to imagine anyone would look at Ravenel's record and refer to it as a "social screw-up." A Citadel graduate, he was fined for finance fraud by the FEC after running for the Senate in 2004. He was forced to resign as State Treasurer after he was caught dealing coke, for which he was sentenced to 10 months in prison, and served 6. This past summer, the 50 year old Ravenel was arrested for "drunk" driving-- high on coke-- in the Hamptons while getting a blow job as he tooled down the Montauk Highway in an SUV.

In 2012 he backed Ron Paul for president and now he's reinvented himself as a Libertarian… and still wants to run against Lindsey Graham! But everything depends on how well the polo-playing Ravenel does on Southern Charm now.

"I will bitch slap you in a second," he tells one of the other show members on a rainy night.

He also is seen sitting in a doctor's office when he's asked to take a paternity test.

"I think may need something stronger than the tea here," he says when told someone in the cast is pregnant.

Now this next video-- fascinating… and it tells you everything you'll ever need to know about the delusional, carefully-contructed little world of Thomas Ravenel… and his parasitic class of hereditary Southern gentlemen.