Pro-Ceips newspaper launched by her consultant

Since the prototype edition of The Beaufort County News appeared two weeks ago, the newspaper's origins have been a mystery.

The paper listed as its publisher Liz Craig, a Walterboro woman who until Thursday claimed sole credit for starting it.

In fact, the newspaper was started by one of South Carolina's best-known and most controversial political operatives, Rod Shealy, who also is state Sen. Catherine Ceips' top political consultant.

Ceips' opponent in Tuesday's Senate District 46 Republican primary, Tom Davis, was slammed in a front-page story in the News' May 23 prototype. The story accused Davis of waging an "unrelenting assault" on Ceips.

The story went on to say that Ceips has "for the most part been successful explaining away the criticism" and dealing with Davis' "non-stop barrage."

Shealy, who didn't return a dozen calls made over several days from The Beaufort Gazette, finally acknowledged Thursday that the News was the latest addition to his chain of small weeklies in South Carolina. They circulate in suburban Columbia and North Charleston under his umbrella company, 2020 Publications.

Ceips said Thursday morning that she knew nothing about the News.

"I don't know anything about it," she said. "There are so many new newspapers coming out."

Later in the day she called Shealy, she said, and he told her he was in the newspaper business.

"Quite frankly," Ceips said, "I'm glad there's another newspaper. I believe in competition. I sometimes have a hard time getting stories out when it comes to serious things."

She also took exception to questions raised by The Gazette about how the News could cover the Senate race even-handedly given her connections to Shealy.

Like many other Republican politicians in South Carolina, Ceips has relied on Shealy for years during election campaigns. Ceips' most recent campaign expense report shows payments to Shealy totaling $28,644.

Shealy is no stranger to hardball politics.

In 1992, he was convicted of violating state campaign laws by not reporting a $5,000 campaign contribution, according to The (Columbia) State newspaper.

The misdemeanor charges came after Shealy used the money to hire a black man to run in a Lowcountry race, hoping it would prompt white Republicans to head to the polls and defeat the black challenger.

It was a move meant to help his sister's campaign for lieutenant governor, according to The State. Shealy was fined $500.

Davis, Ceips' opponent, called the News another campaign ploy by Ceips' camp.

"This is obviously a publication that was distributed to the people with the expectation that it would be treated as an objective recitation of facts," he said. "The fact that it actually turns out to be an advocacy piece that is written by a political consultant who is engaged in dirty tricks in the past shows something about the Ceips campaign."

Before Shealy acknowledged his role in the News on Thursday, Craig, the woman listed as the publisher, on two occasions denied knowing Shealy or his company, 2020 Publications.

"Who is Rod Shealy?" Craig responded last week when asked whether Shealy was connected with the News. "He has no involvement. This is my paper."

She said she ran a quarterly magazine in Warren County, Ohio, before moving to Walterboro "a couple of months ago."

Craig also seemed surprised when told last week that Shealy's company owns the rights to thebeaufortcountynews.com Web site. 2020 Publications registered the site on April 30, according to records.

On Thursday, Craig refused to answer any questions about the newspaper.

In an e-mailed statement, Shealy said his staff "has obviously been under strict instructions not to discuss business details with competing newspapers. . . ."

He said the publicity is welcome, though, because it might help the News' advertising sales. The prototype edition had several ads. When contacted, the advertisers said they were charged as little as a penny for quarter-page ads.

The News is mailed from Trevett's Mailing Service in Columbia. Douglas Trevett, the owner, said Shealy sends the company "mostly political mailings."

Trevett said he knew of only one more edition of the News that was scheduled to be mailed. Shealy hasn't mentioned any editions beyond that, Trevett said.

Shealy said he started the News because Beaufort County needed a conservative voice.

"As a publisher of a weekly newspaper chain for nearly 20 years -- and recognizing the incredible liberal bias by at least one existing Beaufort County newspaper -- I recently made a business decision to offer a conservative alternative for the residents of Beaufort County - The Beaufort County News - which, in fact, has been very well received by readers," he said.