You know, I've been staring at my laptop for the past hour now, wondering what I have to add to the whole Ken Ard saga. All the drama has been laid out, the nasty details revealed (hopefully) and the final act played... Ken is no longer Lt Governor of South Carolina, and we feel safe in saying his political career is over in just over 7 years... From nothing to the 2nd highest ranking elected official in the state - and back down. I guess the best way to add anything to this is to tell about the Ken that I knew, and how it related to the behind the scenes Ken Ard....
Our careers in politics paralleled each other. In 2004, Ken was running for Florence County Council when I decided to run for Congress. I always found it interesting and telling to note the progress of some of the people that were pretty much nothing like me back in the older days... He was more realistic, was well-known in the area, and the money to mount a real campaign when he beat Tom Smith that year..
I'm not sure what Ken made of me back then, but I know he didn't assist me much in my County Council bid in 2006. Dean Fowler and Morris Anderson were much more helpful, and when I became Vice-Chairman under Tommy Phillips for a brief time, Ken quipped 'Do you people realize what you've just done' - from the Convention Chair dais! I didn't take it personally, and eventually we became better allies. We worked together on the Rudy Giuliani campaign in 2007-08. He's taken a lot of heat from conservatives for doing that, but we were right anyway...
There was a very detailed sort of obituary by Corey Hutchins of the Free Times, who originally broke the story of Ken's buying spree after the General Election. It gets a little judgemental in the end, but for the most part, I found it pretty accurate. Here's what I know.. After Ken announced he would be running for Lt. Governor, we met up and discussed the campaign, and his chances... I was more than willing to help in his campaign from here, because I thought he would develop into a good Lt. Governor. I didn't get paid, and I'd text him thoughts on the campaign, and blog what little I could. Sometimes he agreed, sometimes he didn't.
The reason I bring all this up is because it was right about the timing of Ken switching consultants, and about the time of his big money bomb from Florence. I spoke indirectly about his staff around August and September, 2009, when I left for my job in New York. No, I didn't like Robert Cahaly much.. The only time I met him was at the state convention in 2004, and I found him to be like most people did: Arrogant and a tad strange. He didn't say much, but when he did, you wanted to put your first in his mouth. I would have gone with an up and comer like Wes Donehue, but Ken had David Beasley helping him, so I guess that's whose advise he took. The most important thing I can say about this time was I never heard a peep about who was his campaign manager, or who set up this fundraising plan. I was on the outside...
The rest we know all about by now. Could Ken have won without doing this? Sure, but some guys take no chances. In hindsight, this is Ken's biggest flaw, and the cause of his downfall. For someone in his position, things came too easily. His money came from his dad's business, and it gave him the ability to use it to advance in politics. It's funny that having money makes you smarter - no matter how you got it - but that's how it works. We all learn that eventually. It gives you an arrogance that you don't have to follow the rules to a T.
Unfortunately, the proof is all there: the previous ethics fines for not reporting on time, the judgements and liens locally that he had to clear up. Dotting I's and crossing T's is a big part of running a state, and Ken was sloppy and dismissive of what could happen. He spoke to me about what having the kind of money his Dad left him would enable him to do. He had a vision of what South Carolina should be, and enough money to influence it. However, it was the way that influence was managed that killed him. An 'I' was left undotted...
In the movie 'Quiz Show', Ralph Fiennes plays Charles van Doren, a Columbia University professor and member of one of the most famous intellectual families in America. He made a lot of money on the old '21' show, before it was discovered that he was given the answers in advance. Van Doren spoke before a Congressional subcommittee to admit his errors. In it, he says "I have had all the breaks, and I've never made or doen anything... I have flown for too long on borrowed wings." That is Ken Ard in a nutshell. He had talent, good looks, an ability to turn a crowd for him - and a good chunk of money. But he cut corners a lot, and it ended up getting him in the end...
There are a lot of ways a person with money can change a state like South Carolina. Politics isn't always the best way to do it. This is Ken's opportunity to do good in ways maybe he never thought of, and probably on a smaller scale than he hoped. Florence County could always use fixing, but he'll have to do it in other ways than in office. That door is shut - the 'I' has been dotted on that one.
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