Rep. Jim Clyburn levels accusations of GOP conspiracy in primaries

Congressman Jim Clyburn continues to lash out at U.S. senatorial candidate Alvin Greene, who won the Democratic primary to run against Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC). Democrats are disowning him, calling him a Republican “plant.” Clyburn said on CNN yesterday:

I saw in the Democratic primary elephant dung all over the place.

This afternoon on MSNBC, Clyburn added to his accusations : 

They were running my opponent’s campaign; Alvin Greene’s campaign; and Ben Frasier, down in the first congressional district’s–the only federal campaigns on the ballot. All three of those were being run out of the same shop, and that shop was Joe Wilson’s campaign manager and former staffer on his congressional staff.

However, both current and former campaign managers for Wilson deny involvement in Greene’s campaign. A statement from Wilson’s office explains:

Joe Wilson’s campaign manager is Dustin Olson. Dustin has never met Mr. Greene, Mr. Frasier or Mr. Clyburn’s primary opponent for that matter. Olson has one client in South Carolina, that’s Joe Wilson.

In an article on The Hill blog, Wilson’s former campaign manager, Preston Grisham, calls Clyburn’s claims, “laughable.” Grisham left Wilson’s staff in 2009 to start his own consulting firm, Stonewall Strategies. While Grisham says he had never heard of Alvin Greene until after the elections last Tuesday, he did acknowledge that Clyburn’s primary opponent, Gregory Brown, was a client of his firm. This link led Clyburn to draw connections to Wilson, whom Clyburn censured this year for yelling out, “You lie!” at President Barack Obama during a joint session of Congress.

Greene did not file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission prior to the election.

First District Congressman Henry Brown is leaving his seat in Washington and running for Berkeley County Supervisor. However, the incumbent did not want to step aside, and in the June 8 primary, only two votes separated Congressman Brown from current County Supervisor Dan Davis. On Charleston affiliate WTMA, Brown and Davis debated before the June 22 run-off. Brown is running on his experience.

We worked hard for this district, not just in Congress, but in state legislature. Also, I served on City Council in Hanahan. I know the issues and I’m certainly ready to go to work. I didn’t intend just to quit, when I left Congress, just like when I left the state legislature to go to Congress.

Brown and Davis both received 40 percent of the vote. Davis, who had been a Brown supporter in the past, says he was disappointed when he found out Brown was running against him. [Read more...]