South Carolina State Senator Larry Grooms’ gubernatorial campaign has been fraught with problems pretty much from the beginning.  The issues haven’t been so much on credentials – Grooms is a business friendly conservative – but with organization.

I’ve labeled Grooms “The Stepford Candidate” for being a tool of the Richard Quinn Consulting group as a means to hurt the campaign of the only other conservative in the race, State Rep. Nikki Haley.

On November 8, I wrote that Grooms’ campaign manager, Quinn associate Chris Sullivan had been dropped and that Grooms’ organization had contacted a New Jersey consulting firm to run the campaign.

I was recently handed – literally – documents from someone in Maryland that not only confirm the above, but provided some details. The day before the latter post appeared, Grooms did, in fact, meet with a representative of Kush and Associates, a prominent New Jersey political consulting firm that managed Republican Chris Christie’s 2008 upset victory over New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.

Kush provided Grooms with a proposal for raising funds to shore up a very shallow campaign war chest and even recommended he remove the person(s) that replaced Sullivan.  Apparently, Kush thought the replacements weren’t as on top of things as they should be and that the inexperience was hurting Grooms’ run.

In November “Grooms had to loan himself in excess of $250,000 in the last election campaign reporting period to augment a rather dismal fundraising take of only about $70,000.”  The money Grooms gave his campaign was a “secured loan,” but It turns out he didn’t intend for it to be spent.  The loaned funds were to make his bank account look fatter than it really was. I don’t contend there is anything wrong with this.  It’s just a cosmetic effort to help legitimize the candidacy and inspire donors – not unlike “seeding” the tip jar.

Kush had also recommended that Grooms transfer over $90,000 in his State Senate campaign account to use for his run for governor.  But Larry Grooms is ALSO running to retain his Senate seat while seeking the governor’s office and will need that money to maintain that campaign – his safe bet. [Reader corrected]

Grooms didn’t hire Kush and Associates and now there are indications that his campaign for governor will end.  There are mumblings and online speculation that Grooms will, instead, run for the First Congressional District seat being vacated by long-term Representative Henry Brown.  But that race is getting even more crowded than the one for governor and Grooms, though popular in Berkeley County, would likely end up being another below-the-fold entry for Congress as he was for governor.

My analysis is that Grooms will stay the State Senate.  That’s not a bad thing.  The General Assembly needs guys like Larry Grooms.