COLUMBIA (AP) -- South Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Nikki Haley met with business leaders, a week after calling the state Chamber of Commerce a fan of bailouts and corporate welfare.
Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey said the meeting Thursday in Columbia was unrelated to the state Chamber of Commerce's decision to stick with an earlier endorsement of her opponent, Democrat Vincent Sheheen.
Attorney General Henry McMaster says more than 50 people attended the first of five meetings he put together so people who had backed his campaign could hear from her directly.
A Sheheen spokesman says the closed meeting is an example of Haley's hypocrisy in her key issue, transparency.
But McMaster says participants suggested the media be barred. He says it was a rare, frank exchange about economic issues.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWACH