The Secret Cabal That Controls Columbia: The Power Elite in the Capital City

June 30, 2010

By Free Times Writers

The people on our list are not united in a common goal, nor are they seeking to overthrow the government — at least as far as we know. But they do wield a lot of influence in the Capital City — some of them in politics, some in business, others in the cultural arena or in several areas at once.


Ann Timberlake

Since Ann Timberlake started running the Conservation Voters of South Carolina in 2003, she’s turned it into the Midlands’ central, go-to environmental group. Bringing both political clout and a recognizable public face, the organization is now a virtual juggernaut fighting on behalf of Team Green.
 
Unlike other environmental groups, Timberlake’s organization has a political action committee that contributes to campaigns, and the organization’s endorsements are in high demand by many lawmakers and touted often in press materials. The group’s board has 23 members consisting of Democrats, Republicans and independents and members of other environmental groups such as the S.C. Sierra Club, the Coastal Conservation League and Upstate Forever.

In 2007, Timberlake was largely credited with smacking down a group of well-heeled lobbyists and preventing Barnwell County’s radioactive waste dump from accepting nuclear waste from the rest of the country. She also played a role in making climate change a key issue for presidential candidates when they campaigned in the Palmetto State.

In 2004, her group was also credited with knocking off then-Republican Speaker of the House Rick Quinn (see “The Quinns”) by assisting his GOP opponent and political novice Nathan Ballentine through direct-mail efforts in Quinn’s Midlands district. — Corey Hutchins

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