GOP official arrested for 'robo-calls' 12/16/2008 11:36 PM
By KAREN DAILY Staff writer
State agents have arrested Aiken County GOP treasurer Ginny Allen on allegations she orchestrated a number of automated phone calls the day before the state's primary, falsely claiming ties to Sen. Greg Ryberg.
Virginia Allen, 47, of the 100 block of Driftwood Circle in Aiken, is charged with six counts of making unsolicited consumer phone calls. She was booked at the Aiken County detention center Monday and let out on her own personal recognizance.
Allen is accused of paying to have political "robo-calls" made to Aiken County residents in early June without properly disclosing the person behind the calls, according to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents.
Allen said she could not discuss the charges or the case in detail.
"I'm consulting with an attorney, and I'm working with SLED," she said.
Investigators say she manipulated the caller ID to reflect the number of "REI, Incorporated," a business owned and operated by Ryberg but did not have the senator's verbal or written consent to do so. The day after the June 9 calls were made, Ryberg contacted state agents to investigate the political tactics he called "desperate."
The calls endorsed Ryberg for the District 24 Senate seat and Aiken County Councilman Scott Singer for the S.C. House District 81 seat. Ryberg handily beat North Augusta City Councilman Jason Whinghter in that race, but Singer later lost in a run-off with Tom Young.
All of the men deny any knowledge or involvement in the calling scheme.
The benefactor of the calls seems to be still unclear to some, said Aiken County GOP chairman Dennis Saylor.
"It looks more like a personal loss for her than a gain for anybody," Saylor said after hearing of the arrest on Tuesday.
He said the GOP did not endorse any specific candidate in the primary and knew nothing of the calls until after they were made and received.
"It had nothing to do with the party. If it pans out that she did it, it was done on her own," he said.
GOP Board members will discuss her appointment as treasurer to determine what action, if any, will be taken against her. He said members are allowed to participate in political races, although they are not permitted to use their name or association with the Aiken County GOP.
Allen volunteered with Jason Whinghter's campaign.
Whinghter said she and a couple of other key volunteers outlined how to do things during the campaign and whom to talk to; however, Whinghter said Allen wasn't directly involved in the campaigning, per se.
"I'm pretty disappointed. ... It looks like I'm tied into this," he said. "I'm mad and disappointed. I certainly wouldn't have run a campaign this way."
Regarding a previous political gaffe made by Allen in 2004, Whinghter said he'd known her a long time and thought she had moved beyond what happened.
In September 2004, Allen, while working as the director of operations for Sen. Jim DeMint's U.S. Senate campaign, was responding to an e-mail request from the SCRA Rainbow Alliance when she inadvertently sent the Rainbow Alliance chairwoman an e-mail intended for someone within the DeMint campaign.
Allen wrote that the chairwoman was a "dike."
Allen stayed on with the campaign but received a written reprimand from DeMint.
"When people are helping you ... I thought the time had passed long enough ago that (her mistake in the DeMint campaign) was not as much of an issue," Whinghter said. "I thought she had gotten things straight."
The most recent allegations against Allen accuse her of paying more than $300 by credit card to an out-of-state vendor, which is why Singer said he would be surprised to learn she acted alone in the scheme.
"As I said at the time I had nothing to do with the calls and was looking forward to the person or persons being brought to justice," he said. "I am glad an arrest was made and I think that person needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law ... and I hope and am confident they will bring all parties forward."
He said he believes the calls impacted the race.
The phone message encouraged residents to vote for Ryberg and Singer but also stated that District 81 incumbent Skipper Perry, who didn't seek re-election, didn't "team" with Ryberg, a claim both Ryberg and Perry later took issue with.
"That gets Skipper's people upset and gets them mad at Scott Singer since (I'm) getting all the accolades in this call," Singer said. "And if you don't like Greg Ryberg, you won't like Scott Singer then either."
He said Ryberg's race against Whinghter was not as tight and, therefore, any repercussions in Ryberg's race did not have the same impact as those in his much tighter race.
"Do I think it hurt? Yes. I think it did," Singer said. "But it's not something folks won't eventually get over based on deeds and actions; it's not irreparable damage."
Making unsolicited consumer phone calls is a misdemeanor punishable up to 30 days in jail and/or fines.
Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com.
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Posted by: Change We Can Believe In On: Monday, December 22, 2008 9:21 AM
Comment Title: My President is Black
If you racists right-wingers would have just elected Bill Clyburn and other honest Democrats who have fought against these kinds of dirty campaign tactics for years, you would not be in this boat. It's funny that now you are using it on each other. The republican party's chickens are coming home to roost. BTW, the title of this comment is an actual song. Your sons and daughters probably have on their iPods. That's something you listen to music with...nevermind. Either way, ethics in America are going to start being respected on January 20.
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Posted by: On: Sunday, December 21, 2008 8:04 AM
Comment Title: Waste of Time
Why did SLED waste their time on a class A misdemeanor case? This has misuse of government resources written all over it. Another example of Ryberg indirectly stealing money from the state government
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Posted by: Lilith On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 8:17 PM
Comment Title:
I'm sure she thought she was doing the Lords work.
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 7:53 PM
Comment Title: Thank You SLED
Thank you SLED. She has been playing dirty politics for a long time. Life is a circle and the evil you do to others will come back on you, as in this case.
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Posted by: fence On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:54 PM
Comment Title:
I see now the morons are out posting non-founded accusations. I guess she is responsible for Global Warming and bad roads. This is a joke and Singers comment shows he needs to be behind that Junk Yard fence like those old cars.
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Posted by: Gina On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:49 PM
Comment Title:
She looks like a nasty piece of work. Glad they caught her. She should be forced to publicly apologize to Scott Singer. We're stuck with a State senator who won't do as good a job as Singer because of this woman's dirty tricks.
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Posted by: Ralph On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:45 PM
Comment Title:
The Kaolin Kronicle Kooks got caught. Finally. Scott Singer would have won if it wasn't for their dirty tricks.
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:38 PM
Comment Title: PRINCEALBERTINACAN
Stupid waste of taxpayers money and law enforcement. How much did this cost our state and how many hours did SLED spend on this. This is nothing but a mistake or not much more than a prank phone call.
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:24 PM
Comment Title: Allen has made mistakes before!
This is a crime and way to go SLED for taking action to restore people's faith in the system! I have to wonder if Tom Young would have won if this had been discovered sooner? I think some dirty politics has gone on here and I am glad that Greg Ryberg & Scott Singer will be cleared of any foulplay, they have done a lot for Aiken and should be thanked- So Thank You!
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 10:52 AM
Comment Title: RE: Ryberg's Word
If this is so, then why is he re-elected? It's not that I disagree with you, but we are the good people to run for office? It always appears that under qualified candidates with big egos run for office. Ryberg and his pal Sanford certainly never impressed me.
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 9:16 AM
Comment Title: Ryberg's Word
If this case hinges on the word of Senator Greg Ryberg, there is no case. Most anyone who is anyone in Columbia can tell you this man has no integrity and is not credible. He's as crooked as a snake. SLED director Reggie Lloyd should know better than to go along with this Ryberg garbage.
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 8:44 AM
Comment Title: Crazy Arrest
Can't believe they would make a false arrest like this. No where else in the State, except Aiken, would you see such foolishness. Law enforcement in the other 45 counties concentrate on real crimes and protecting the safety and security of its citizens.
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 8:07 AM
Comment Title: SLED Resources
Why are we wasting SLED resources on something that is nothing more than a citation?
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 8:01 AM
Comment Title: Political Campaigns
Political campaigns in Aiken are nothing compared to other cities in the United States. Try running for office in New York City or Boston!
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 7:59 AM
Comment Title: Senator Greg Ryberg
Senator Grey Ryberg is such a jerk!
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 7:01 AM
Comment Title: One down . . . How many more to go?
Congrats to the police for getting to the bottom of this one! I think some supporters on Tom Young's campaign need to appologize to Scott Singer and his supports for their attacks relating to the phone calls. Aiken has had enough dirty politics and good ole boy/girl tacktics and these calls were an example of how low we should never go, again!
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Posted by: An Easy Whiskey Victim On: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:54 AM
Comment Title: What else could she know?
Given the booking, maybe the Police need to find out if she is also behind the terrible accusations and insults on Easy Whiskey and Kaolin Kronicle. The Edgefield Observer was looking for the people behind those blogspots not only because of the falsehoods they posted, but also for harboring the identity of people who were admitting to harrassment and other legal violations in their comments on the sites.
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