Jeremy Walters says he's all twerked up. Hes a Fort Millcarpenter and chairman of the York County Libertarian Party. And hes twerked up because he feels like no one listened to him when he tried to get two Charleston candidates booted from the ballot before an election earlier this month. Hed filed a lawsuit in September, and now he hopes it can somehow overturn the election of Charleston Democratic Sen. Marlon Kimpson. <\/p>\n
Walters accuses Kimpson, a Mt. Pleasant lawyer and now state senator, of putting the wrong year on an income disclosure form called a statement of economic interest (SEI) when he filed as a candidate. Kimpson, and his Republican opponent Billy Shuman, put the year 2013 on the form instead of 2012, Walters argued in a Sept. 26 lawsuit he filed without an attorney. The libertarian candidate in that race, Alex Thornton, filed the form correctly, Walters says. Those dates match with what the State Ethics Commission has on file for the three candidates. <\/p>\n
Although Walters wants Kimpsons election thrown out, he admits it doesnt seem likely. But he says the lawsuit is the only way to bring attention to what the Libertarian sees as a larger problem of powerful elites bending the law to their favor. <\/p>\n
What else am I supposed to do? says Walters. Theyre violating the law. No one will do anything about it because they police themselves. Theres nobody to watch over these people. So this is my whole point of filing the lawsuit ... to prove that these people can do whatever they want. <\/p>\n
Whether anyone violated the law would likely be up to whoever hears Walters lawsuit if it doesnt get dismissed. Walters says so far no one has responded to the suit. They think its a joke, he says. <\/p>\n
The crux of the matter is this: last year, scores of non-incumbent candidates were kicked off ballots in elections throughout the state after a lawsuit challenged whether one candidate, Katrina Shealy, who was running for Senate, had improperly filed her SEI by only filing electronically and not also in person as the law required. A court ruled Shealy hadnt filed properly, and the penalty was that her name be removed from the ballot. It had implications for hundreds of other candidates. Incumbents were immune from the filing rule. (Incidentally, Shealy ran as a petition candidate by gathering enough signatures to get on the ballot in the general election and won her election against Jake Knotts, who is largely believed to have been behind the original lawsuit.) <\/p>\n
Lawmakers quickly fixed the technical glitch in the paperwork-filing law during the last legislative session so technicalities in the way SEI forms are handled in the future wont result in such drastic consequences. But Kimpsons election was the last in South Carolina to take place before the amended law went into effect, says Chris Whitmire, spokesman for the S.C. Elections Commission. <\/p>\n
Cathy Hazelwood, the deputy director and attorney for the State Ethics Commission, says she frequently sees similar instances of candidates putting 2013 on the SEI form instead of 2012. <\/p>\n
Theres a least one mistake on every single daily report, she says. For us, would it be a deal breaker? No. Hazelwood says she sends e-mails asking candidates to fix the dates so it doesnt become a problem in the future. Kimpsons filing still has the 2013 date. Hazelwood believes it should read 2012, but says many other senators are using a 2013 date rather than 2012 and Senate rules allow them to. <\/p>\n
That bugs Walters who says lawmakers policing themselves makes them unaccountable to citizens like him. He feels a lawsuit is the only way to settle the dispute. <\/p>\n
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See the article here:<\/p>\n
Libertarian activist hopes to overturn Marlon Kimpson\u2019s election<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeremy Walters says he's all twerked up. Hes a Fort Millcarpenter and chairman of the York County Libertarian Party. And hes twerked up because he feels like no one listened to him when he tried to get two Charleston candidates booted from the ballot before an election earlier this month. Continue reading