Nikki Haley denies activity allegation

South Carolina accompaniment Rep. Nikki Haley denied an accusation by a bourgeois blogger that the two had affianced in an activity several years ago, insisting that the allegation was aimed at derailing her rapidly-rising attack for governor.

"I accept been 100 percent affectionate to my bedmate throughout our 13 years of marriage," Haley said in a account appear to a bounded television station. "This affirmation adjoin me is actually and absolutely false."

She acclaimed that the timing of the "disgraceful smear" -- beneath than a anniversary afterwards a poll showed her arch the acreage in a June 8 primary -- was suspicious; "It is absolutely artlessly South Carolina backroom at its worst."

Haley, a ancient protege of ashamed Gov. Mark Sanford, had been benumbed top of backward -- benefiting from endorsements from South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford and above Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Given that rise, the allegations by Will Folks, who writes the Faith in the Sound (FITS) blog and is a affiliate of the Washington Column Political Blog Network, landed with a addled bang in the Palmetto Accompaniment this morning.

"Several years ago, above-mentioned to my marriage, I had an inappropriate concrete accord with Nikki," Folks wrote on his blog. "That's it."

Folks, a above Sanford columnist aide, said he absitively to appear advanced with the declared activity because Haley's political enemies were able to accomplish it public.

"This arrangement of agents has fabricated it abundantly bright that in the action of 'taking down' Rep. Haley, they will aswell stop at annihilation to abase me, abort my ancestors and yield a ample block out of the believability this website has managed to aggregate for itself," wrote Folks.

Folks did agenda in the blog column that he believes Haley "would a lot of consistently beforehand the ethics I accept in." He added that he would not be accouterment added data or interviews about the relationship, but that's absurd to amuse the media. Haley has been affiliated back 1996, but because Folks is accouterment little in the way of a time frame, its cryptic whether or not the accord occurred while she was married.

"It is what it is, and abreast from the Haley ancestors -- Michael, Nikki, Rena and Nalin -- I feel no charge to apologize or explain myself to anyone," Folks wrote. "People are human. We accomplish mistakes. And as I accept abstruse from experience, the key to activity isn't the mistakes we make, it's how we accept to handle them."

Aside from Haley, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, Rep. Gresham Barrett and accompaniment Attorney General Henry McMaster are active to alter Sanford in the June 8 primary.

South Carolina GOP Chairwoman Karen Floyd stood by Haley on Monday. While emphasizing her neutrality, Floyd alleged the allegations unfair.

"South Carolinians deserve a college akin of political address than this, and they bluntly deserve a columnist band that focuses on real, absolute issues rather than on internet rumor mongering," Floyd said. "No applicant deserves to accept to avert themselves from these kinds of attacks, and South Carolinians are bluntly annoyed of getting fed unfounded gossip."