Haley points to Bauer crew as 2nd man claims affair

Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Nikki Haley said Wednesday that a rival, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, is behind a last-minute attack, raising questions about her marital fidelity in an effort to undermine her campaign.

With less than a week before Tuesday's primary, Bauer's campaign released a press release Wednesday, saying that a Bauer political consultant, Larry Marchant, was asked to leave the campaign for "inappropriate conduct not in keeping with the goals of this campaign."

Marchant, contacted by McClatchy, said the conduct the press release referred to was a one-night sexual encounter that he had with Haley during a June 2008 school-choice convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.

"I disclosed to Andre Bauer several days ago that I had a one-time indiscretion with Nikki Haley," said Marchant, an influential and well-known Statehouse lobbyist whose clients include Blue Cross Blue Shield. "I told him that I didn't want to do anything to discredit his campaign and that I would resign. He thought that that was in the campaign's best interest. He appreciated my straightforwardness."

Haley's campaign denied the claims and said the allegation is proof of how low rival campaigns will go to undermine her candidacy. Recent polls have shown Haley, a state representative from Lexington County, has a double-digit lead over her three rivals, Bauer of Greenville, U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett of Westminster and state Attorney General Henry McMaster of Columbia.

At a Charleston television debate Wednesday, Haley said Bauer was pushing the infidelity story.

"Y'all were fishing the story [Tuesday] night, and you didn't fire him [Tuesday]," Haley said to Bauer. "It was only when no one was taking the story seriously, because he was a paid consultant, that you decided to fire him."

"The minute I found out that there was something wrong ... I said, 'Wait a minute, I don't want to be associated with it,'" Bauer responded. "I haven't gotten involved in anyone else's personal relationship."

A spokesman with the American Legislative Exchange Council confirmed Wednesday that the organization hosted a school-choice conference in Salt Lake City in June 2008. The group would not say who attended the conference. However, two sources told McClatchy Wednesday that Haley and Marchant both attended.

Haley's campaign disclosure forms show nearly $2,200 in reimbursements in July 2008 for an ALEX conference.

Last week, Will Folks, a political blogger and former Gov. Mark Sanford aide, claimed he had an inappropriate physical relationship with Haley in the spring of 2007. Folks has offered telephone records, showing more than 600 phone calls, many long and late at night, with Haley and text messages with Haley's campaign as evidence.

Haley categorically denied the claim, and bloggers and others have claimed a network of political operatives conspired to sink Haley's rising campaign.

Folks, Marchant and Bauer have had business relationships. Long-time Bauer adviser Rod Shealy hired Folks in 2006 to work for former state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel's campaign. Folks said Wednesday that Marchant also hired him to work on school-choice issues, but that work ended in 2005.

The political ties between Folks and Marchant make their claims tougher to believe, said Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon. But Huffmon said the claims cannot be dismissed because of motive. Huffmon thinks the accusations likely will motivate Haley's supporters but could turn off average voters.

"More names with no more proof is certainly going to make it look like Nikki Haley is under attack," Huffmon said. "It's probably going to end up, in the mind of the public, needing a higher level of proof.

"What we have irrefutable evidence of in South Carolina is political incest."

Marchant, who has been paid more than $21,000 by Bauer's campaign for his consulting work in 2010, said he is speaking out because the truth needs to come out. He also said he was upset by Haley's statement last week that she has been 100 percent faithful to her husband during their 13-year marriage.

Marchant said Wednesday: "I had to ask myself the question, when I was watching the press statements going back and forth between Ms. Haley and Mr. Folks, I had to ask myself whether I would be able to look at myself in the mirror every day knowing what I know. If I did not say anything, if I stood on the sideline and watched this happen, could I face myself in the mirror every day? And the answer was no."

Marchant, who made headlines in December when he was charged with driving under the influence, said he told his pregnant wife last week about the one-night encounter with Haley.

Wednesday, his wife, Jennifer Marchant, told The State that she believes her husband.

Marchant said he and Haley have known each other since she first was elected to the House of Representatives in 2004, and the two have worked closely on several issues, including school choice.

He said their encounter happened while Haley was a member of a House insurance subcommittee that Marchant lobbies.