WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Palmetto State bloggers find success in political scandals

Palmetto State bloggers find success in political scandals

By Ben Hoover - bio | email

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - The headlines are flashy and funny, but are they factual? Political blogs in the capitol city are having a field day with South Carolina politicians and people are taking notice.

In April, FITSNews had 450,000 page views. Two months later when Governor Mark Sanford announced his affair, that number shot up to 1.1 million.

Will Folks runs FITSNews. On his site, you get a little bit celebrity gossip and a whole lot of Palmetto State politics, or an "unfortunate, backwards, redneck reality TV show," according to Folks.

"It's a joke," said Folks of South Carolina's political system. "I mean it's the most corrupt, inefficient, totally unproductive system in the 50 states."

Folks has a sharp tongue for politicians and at times, sounds a lot like a politician himself.

"Look at the structure of this government, it hasn't changed since 1895," said Folks.

If he sounds a bit like Sanford, then you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that he used to work for him as his press secretary until quitting after a criminal domestic violence arrest.

Folks says he still gets hounded about that, but according to him, "I don't care what any critic says. I could care less."

He also doesn't care about critics that say his posts at times are less fact and more fiction.

Folks admits to posting rumors and says he doesn't have an issue with that. He also doesn't agree with people who call his work tabloid journalism.

"People can describe it however they want to describe it. I know one thing: I drive the debate," boasted Folks. "I drive the debate."

Driving the debate across town is Wes Wolfe, the blogger behind Wolfe Reports. Wolfe also admits to posting rumors.

"Everybody posts rumors about politicians, that's the coin of the realm," said Wolfe.

Wolfe says bloggers aren't held to the same journalistic standards as TV or newspaper reporters.

"You can run with something that you know to be true without having to nail it to the wall," said Wolfe.

That can cut both ways. In the cut-throat blogging world, rumors fly everywhere. Wolfe is rumored to have ties to GOP strategists Warren Tompkins and Terry Sullivan -- a charge he denies.

"I've never even met Warren Tompkins," said Wolfe. "I've never talked to him. I would not know what he looked like if I saw him on the street."

Similar rumors dog fellow blogger Adam Fogle of The Palmetto Scoop. He works for a mail-order company owned by the powerful Republican strategist Richard Quinn. He also denies being influenced by his bosses.

"No, no," said Fogle. "The blog is entirely done by me."

"I don't think it's dangerous because at the end of the day people will think what they want to think," said Fogle.

In the end, blogging is still a business for these three men, but Wolfe and Fogle say they make enough for spending money.

Folks says he makes enough to make a living. He has advertisements on his site. His critics claim he is paid for the articles he posts, but that's something he flatly denies.

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