Alvin Greene

Alvin Greene Indicted On Obscenity Charges

Rachel Slajda | August 13, 2010, 2:22PM

Alvin Greene

South Carolina Senate candidate Alvin Greene (D) has been indicted by a grand jury on two charges relating to an incident last November in which he allegedly showed porn to a college student.

Greene was indicted on one felony count of disseminating obscenity and one misdemeanor count of "communicating an obscene message to another person without consent."

You can read the indictment here.

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Alvin Greene

State Panel Clears Alvin Greene: 'He Did Nothing Wrong'

Jillian Rayfield | July 12, 2010, 12:15PM

Alvin Greene

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has found that Democratic Senate nominee Alvin Greene had the means to pay the $10,440 filing fee to run for office, and will also not face additional criminal charges for requesting a public defender in his obscenity trial.

SLED was investigating Greene, who won the Democratic nomination June 8 without campaigning, amid questions over how he could qualify for a taxpayer-funded attorney but still manage to pay his rather large filing fee.

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Alvin Greene

State Agency Investigating Alvin Greene's Finances

Rachel Slajda | June 28, 2010, 12:03PM

SC-SEN candidate Alvin Greene (D)

The State reports today that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division -- a state agency with subpoena power -- is investigating Senate candidate Alvin Greene's finances.

Investigators will focus on how Greene, an unemployed veteran, came up with the $10,440 filing fee to run for the office. Greene won the Democratic nomination earlier this month without campaigning.

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Alvin Greene

Alvin Greene: I Am The Next Time Magazine Man Of The Year

Justin Elliott | June 17, 2010, 9:23AM

SC-SEN candidate Alvin Greene (D)

Ten days of constant and often mocking media coverage has done nothing to damage the self-esteem of South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Alvin Greene -- just the opposite.

Time catches up with Greene at his Manning, South Carolina, home as he begins to show signs of megalomania:

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Alvin Greene

CREW Calls For Investigation Of South Carolina Primary Shenanigans

Christina Bellantoni | June 15, 2010, 2:55PM

SC Sen candidate Alvin Greene (D)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today joined Democrats calling for a state criminal investigation into the mysterious candidacy of Senate nominee Alvin Greene. Greene (D-SC) was able to capture 59 percent of the vote and win the party nomination last Tuesday despite having never campaigned. CREW also filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over alleged reporting violations by Greene and two other no-name Democratic candidates in South Carolina.

CREW and others have said the investigation should focus on how Greene came up with the more than $10,000 filing fee. Officials with the watchdog group asked South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster (R) to investigate whether Greene was "induced" to run in a violation of state law. That's an echo of the calls from the state Democratic Party and House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who has suggested Greene's candidacy was part of some sort of conspiracy.

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South Carolina

GOP Operative Hired By S.C. Democrat: There's No Plot Here!

Christina Bellantoni | June 15, 2010, 10:23AM

Preston Grisham (inset), former aide to Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)

The Republican consultant at the heart of accusations of mischief in the South Carolina Democratic primary said in an interview he worked for a Democratic candidate because he opposed higher taxes and seemed qualified to serve in Congress.

Preston Grisham, a longtime campaign operative for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), said his new firm Stonewall Strategies was just getting its first clients together when Gregory Brown gave him a call out of the blue to ask for some help with his primary campaign against House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC). Though the nearly $24,000 in payments (the largest expense for the Brown campaign) are listed as for "marketing," both Grisham and Brown said Stonewall did initial polling and helped Brown set up his Web site. (It was housed here last week but now is a dead link.)

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Alvin Greene

CNN Anchor To Alvin Greene: Are You 'Mentally Sound?' (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | June 14, 2010, 5:04PM

Alvin Greene

The Alvin Greene interviews just keep getting weirder, as the interviewers become increasingly desperate to get something -- anything -- out of the Democratic nominee for Senate in South Carolina.

Over the weekend, CNN's Don Lemon asked Greene if he was "mentally sound" and "impaired by anything" during the interview.

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SC-GOV

Clyburn Says All Three Dem Candidates He Thinks Are 'Plants' Hired GOP Firm (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | June 14, 2010, 5:02PM

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC)

We've been keeping a close eye on the accusations and rumors coming out of South Carolina in recent days following a very strange Democratic primary. It's far from clear whether any of the mysterious candidates who performed better than expected for being little known were "plants" or part of any larger plot.

Today House Majority Whip James Clyburn accused all three candidates he's already suggested were "plants" of hiring Stonewall Strategies, a firm run by former aide to Rep. Joe Wilson. On MSNBC today charged that Democratic candidates Gregory Brown, Ben Frasier in SC-01 and Alvin Greene in the Senate race had employed Stonewall. Preston Grisham, who runs Stonewall, flatly denied the charge in an interview.

Clyburn (D-SC) has spent the last several days suggesting that something was amiss during Tuesday's primary, during which Frasier and Greene prevailed despite a lack of campaigning and no recognition from the state Democratic party.

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Alvin Greene

The Alvin Greene Story: No One Heard Of Vic Rawl, Either

Rachel Slajda | June 14, 2010, 12:34PM

Vic Rawl (D-SC)

Alvin Greene, as you probably know, didn't do any campaigning before getting nearly 60% of the vote in the South Carolina Democratic primary for Senate. He didn't have yard signs or a web site, and he didn't attend the state party's big political events, including the convention and the Galivants Ferry Stump.

His opponent, Vic Rawl, did campaign, and now he's alleging possible wrongdoing in the primary and protesting the results.

But something that's been all but ignored over the past week is the fact that, for all his campaigning, Rawl had no more name recognition than Greene.

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South Carolina

Vic Rawl Files Protest Of Alvin Greene's Primary Win In SC

Ben Frumin | June 14, 2010, 12:30PM

SC Sen candidate Alvin Greene (D) and primary opponent Vic Rawl

South Carolina Judge Vic Rawl -- who was beaten badly by the unheard of Alvin Greene in last week's South Carolina Democratic Senate primary -- announced today that he's filed a protest of the election results with the state party.

"We have filed this protest not for my personal or political gain, but on behalf of the people of South Carolina," Rawl said in the statement. "There is a cloud over Tuesday's election. There is a cloud over South Carolina, that affects all of our people, Democrats and Republicans, white and African-American alike."

Since Greene's surprising victory last week, the unemployed Army vet has made the cable news rounds -- and has come across as thoroughly not ready for prime time. Watch the highlights. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) has gone so far as to suggest that Greene may be a "plant."

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South Carolina

Clyburn's Dem Challenger Denies He's A 'Plant' -- But Hired GOP Rep.'s Aide

Christina Bellantoni and Justin Elliott | June 11, 2010, 12:43PM

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and SC congressional candidate Gregory Brown (D)

A Democratic primary challenger in South Carolina who has been accused of being a "plant" hired for his Congressional campaign a GOP consultant who as recently as late last year was the campaign manager for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), according to campaign finance reports.

Businessman Gregory Brown says he challenged Rep. James Clyburn, the highest-ranking African American in Congress, in the Democratic primary on Tuesday because he's worried about the state's poverty rates and failing schools. Clyburn (D-SC) charged this week that Brown is such a political novice that he must be a "plant."

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Alvin Greene

DSCC Chair Won't Discuss Greene Mystery, Says It's State Party Matter

Christina Bellantoni | June 10, 2010, 5:31PM

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)

The chairman of the Senate Democrats' campaign arm would say little about allegations surrounding Alvin Greene's mysterious Senate candidacy in South Carolina, telling reporters today it is a matter for the state party to handle.

Asked by TPM about Greene and the South Carolina Democrats' call for him to step aside at a briefing today, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) put both hands out in protest. He dodged several questions about charges from Rep. James Clyburn and the state party that Greene may not be a legitimate candidate, saying the "appropriate officials" are looking into it. He wouldn't answer a TPM question about whether he supports the state party, which is calling for Greene to step aside despite winning the primary Tuesday night.

The bottom line is that Democrats recognize it's not going to be a competitive race to challenge Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), regardless of the candidate chosen as his rival. Menendez said the party is "not engaged there" and that it is "not a place that I am focused on."

"I will allow the South Carolina Democratic Party and Congressman Clyburn, who I serve with and I know can be tenacious, to continue to pursue it and we will look at," Menendez said.

Alvin Greene

Clyburn Alleges Conspiracy To Plant Candidates In Three Dem Primaries In S.C.

Christina Bellantoni | June 10, 2010, 1:06PM

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC)

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn has called for a U.S. Attorney investigation into the mysterious candidacy of Democratic Senate nominee Alvin Greene because he thinks the mischief goes far beyond one wacky race. Clyburn (D-SC), Congress' highest ranking African American, told TPM in an interview today he believes at least two other Democratic candidates on Tuesday's primary ballot were planted by people with deep pockets and nefarious motives.

"The party's choice in the 1st Congressional district lost. The party's choice for U.S. Senate lost. Sounds like a pattern to me," Clyburn told TPM. He said Greene was one of three Democratic candidates in three separate races whom the state party didn't back or even recognize. All three candidates are African American.

One is Gregory Brown, who ran unsuccessfully against Clyburn in the 6th Congressional district. Another is Ben Frasier, who prevailed against state party-favored candidate Robert Burton in the 1st district. Greene, Brown and Frasier have something else in common -- they haven't filed any campaign finance reports with the Federal Elections Commission.

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South Carolina

Greene's Filing Fee Check Featured Hand-Scrawled 'Alvin M. Greene For Senate' (PICTURE)

Justin Elliott | June 10, 2010, 11:33AM

SC-SEN candidate Alvin Greene (D)

In March, unemployed veteran Alvin Greene showed up at the Democratic party headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina, to register as a candidate for U.S. Senate. To pay the filing fee, he was bearing a personal check for $10,440 -- which he has insisted all along was his own money. But party Chairwoman Carol Fowler turned him away, saying he needed a campaign check.

TPMmuckraker has obtained from the party the "campaign" check that Greene, the man now being called a "plant" by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), returned with several hours later. It is distinguished as a campaign check by the words "Alvin M. Greene for Senate" scribbled in pen in the upper left hand corner.

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South Carolina

Charge: Greene Showed Porn To Student In University Computer Lab

Justin Elliott | June 10, 2010, 10:01AM

SC-SEN Democratic Nominee Alvin Greene

Yesterday we flagged the report that Alvin Greene, the mystery candidate for Senate in South Carolina who won the Democratic nomination Tuesday, was arrested on a felony obscenity charge back in November.

Now the AP has provided some new details on the episode at University of South Carolina that led to the charges of "disseminating, procuring or promoting obscenity":

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South Carolina

Alvin Greene Did Not File Forms With FEC

Justin Elliott | June 10, 2010, 8:55AM

SC-SEN candidate Alvin Greene (D)

One of the enduring mysteries of the Alvin Greene Senate candidacy down in South Carolina is that Greene, an unemployed veteran who registered his candidacy with the Democratic party in March, never filed any paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

But sometime in the last three or four days, Greene's name did show up on the FEC database -- but not because he had filed a statement of organization for a campaign committee, as federal candidates typically do. (Greene apparently raised no money for his successful primary bid.)

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