After first ignoring then dragging their feet on the criminal investigation of Lt. Governor Ken Ard for more than a year, the Republican Party dispatched the entire messy matter on one day. Ard resigned from his post the morning of March 9^th, was indicted by the grand jury at 1pm and pleaded guilty at 3pm. By Saturday, the SC GOP leadership had elevated Sen. Glenn McConnell from Senate pro tem to Lt. Governor as required by the state constitution. During Ard’s sentencing hearing, tearful character witnesses including a judge who referred to the 45 year old Ard as a “young man” pleaded for leniency and were successful, Ard was convicted of multiple counts of ethics violations but received no jail time, instead he was placed on 5 years probation, given a fine and community service.

The former lieutenant governor was indicted for reporting $162,500 in fake campaign contributions to give the impression that he was enjoying widespread support in the days leading up to the election. Ard spent much of the fake campaign contributions on personal items like clothes for his family, i Pads, football tickets and family vacations. Ard even charged the campaign for travel to Washington D.C. to meet with Senator Graham, at a time when Graham was in the Upstate. Ard’s sloppy book keeping dates back to his days as a Florence County Councilman, who was late paying his property and vehicle taxes. Ard didn’t even register to vote until he was 40 years old. When the Republican Party tapped Ard as their nominee for the second highest office in our state, they apparently weren’t troubled by Ard’s lack of participation in the electoral process or his difficulty keeping his tax and campaign records up to date. All of these behaviors were well known to them but overlooked. Ard’s opponent in the race for Lt. Governor was attorney Ashley Cooper, a political veteran, who vowed to forgo his pay until the state was on firmer financial footing. There is no question which candidate was better prepared for this office and who had the better track record on election finances. But in their arrogance, the South Carolina Republican Party was hoping voters wouldn’t bother to vet or even research the candidates, they were betting on the power of the R behind their name on the ballot and they won again.

But the matter of Ken Ard-the Gomer Pyle of politics-has riled up some conservatives. Beth Padgett had this to say about Ard on Sunday http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20120318/OPINION/303180007/Problem-too-big-ignore Never thought I would say it but “right on Beth.”

The Greenville Journal’s Charles Sowell focused on the Republican’s one party dominance in his article in the March 16^th edition but wimped out by seeking out Dave Woodward, (a Clemson University political science professor who’s as far to the right as Dr. Bob Jones) for advice on the effect the demise of the 2 party system in South Carolina has had on our state. Woodward creates a false equivalency when he equates Ard’s criminality with events under Democratic rule in South Carolina. There seems to be some precedence in the SC Republican Party in selecting morally loose candidates. Examples include Charlie Sharpe former agriculture commissioner who was indicted for cockfighting and former state treasurer Thomas Ravenel indicted on federal cocaine charges and sent to federal prison.

In today’s Greenville News Chad Connelly chairman of the SC Republican Party talks about the moral virtues of the GOP and speaks of holding our elected officials to a higher standard. He says Republicans have chosen “the path of forgiveness,” I’ll buy in but only if the Republican Party is equally forgiving and gracious of Democratic elected officials who fail. Actions speak louder than words and in the race for lieutenant governor of South Carolina in 2010, the Democrats clearly had the better candidate and now we know that for sure.