Sheheen continues to cozy up to personal injury lawyer special interests
Columbia, SC – August 9, 2010 – Vince Sheheen will be in Charleston tonight cozying up the “dynamic duo” of trial lawyer special interests – personal injury lawyers and back pain specialists.
The groups will be hosting a fundraiser tonight in Charleston at the exclusive Oak Steakhouse in Charleston. Attending such anti-business fundraisers is becoming somewhat of a pattern for Sheheen, as he just trekked to Washington, DC to schmooze with key supporters of Obamacare and the failed stimulus legislation.
Attorneys have been responsible for more than a third of Sheheen’s campaign contributions. But in terms of Sheheen’s personal wealth, he is still refusing to disclose his sources of income – other than to say they come from his law firm.
Sheheen has offered excuse after excuse as to why he won’t be more transparent with that income. While South Carolina law doesn’t require him to do so, were he to seek a federal office, any client that he made more than $5,000 representing would have to be disclosed.
What South Carolinians do know, however, is that Sheheen has a clear record during his time as a career politician of being pro-plaintiff and anti-business. In 2004 and 2005, he voted to weaken key bills dealing with legal reforms to make our state more competitive for business (H3744 and S83).
While Sheheen has had time to play buddy-buddy with anti-job donors and activists, he hasn’t had time to answer questions about actual positions he would take as governor.
Just yesterday, his campaign said that questions about what Sheheen would do about illegal immigration and implementing Obamacare at a state level were “distractions.”
“Vince Sheheen is a trial lawyer who refuses to take a stand on issues important to South Carolina, and who is afraid to show the public the clients he represents,” SCGOP Chairman Karen Floyd said. “It isn’t surprising to see a tactic like this from a career politician from a family of career politicians – but we are not going to let him off the hook that easily. Who would Vince Sheheen represent as governor? The small businesses and the hardworking South Carolinians who work there, or the trial lawyers who make a living off of them?”