Self-serving whining.That's what greeted Sunday's readers of the P & C as they read its interview with former State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, smartly splashed all over the front page for maximum publicity.
Let Thomas speak for himself:
A first-time user? Is he kidding? Not addictive? Really? Didn't get a break? Wasn't the amount he was charged with holding reduced from 400 to 100 grams?"Ravenel remains angry that he has to go to prison at all. If the case had been pursued in state court rather than at the federal level, he and his legal team contend he probably would have gotten a slap on the wrist and no incarceration time at all."
"I think what happened to me is that I went through a midlife crisis."
"[He] began running with the drug crowd because they were young."
"Contrary to public opinion, [cocaine]'s not that addictive," he said."He knows that he did wrong by using drugs while in elected office but says he deserved a break from federal Judge Joe Anderson."
"A first-time drug user should not go to prison," said Ravenel.
"His habit was mostly recreational, he says, buying sporadically and saving it for party times, although he said the frequency of his use increased."
Believe it or not, this whiner is so arrogant that he plans to run for office again in the future.
UPDATE:
Either The State's reporter asked more pointed questions in Columbia Wednesday than the P & C's, or The State was more interested in printing details (provided by Tom himself) of his usage:
He said the first time he used cocaine was during a trip to the Bahamas when he was 18 and a rising senior at St. Andrews High School.
At The Citadel, Ravenel used “a couple of times.”
Then, “I went 15 years without doing it” until a 1999 vacation in Aruba.
He told investigators he did not use again until a 2002 New Year’s Eve party.
By the spring of 2005, when he was in his downward spiral, Ravenel began hosting and attending parties in his Charleston mansion district where cocaine was common.
“Here, have a little bump,” he said other users would tell him. “Next thing you know, it’s ‘Do you have a bump?’ Then, ‘Let’s go buy a bump.’ That’s how it happened.
Does this mean we have the whole story now?
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3 comments:
The scions of so many old Charleston families just ain't what they used to be...or are they?
Thomas is the same arrogant SOB that his Father is. To even think that he should run for public office is assinine. To even think that he was untouchable when he knew a year before that he was a target should the level of stupidity that reigns freely in the Ravenel family. He got a deal....he is going to Federal prison while most folks that do this crap go to general population. He wants the worst job to show there was no favortism....what is that washing the golf balls????
Do you think you can actually use "The State" to keep "The P&C" honest???!!!! You gotta be kidding!! LOL
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