http://66.225.205.104/JR20100712b.mp3
Alvin Greene, the unlikely Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, has surmounted one more hurdle in his quest for public office. South Carolina state police have cleared him of any wrongdoing in an investigation of his campaign finances. People were immediately suspicious of Alvin Greene's victory in the June primary. He hadn't raised any money or run a visible campaign, but still beat a former South Carolina judge. Despite being unemployed, he managed to pay the $10,400 filing fee to run for Senate. Then it was discovered Greene was granted a public defender last fall in a felony charge. So how did he pay that filing fee? Greene says he saved his paychecks from the military before he was discharged. The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division has now investigated that claim and determined it's true. "I aspired to run for office, ever since I was a child I knew that I wanted to follow politics," says Greene. "I thought I would start out locally and work my way up but it just so happened to work out this way and I'm taking advantage of this opportunity to make things better and get this country moving forward again." Now Greene is the South Carolina Democratic Party's nominee to unseat Republican Senator Jim DeMint. This Sunday, Greene says he will deliver his first campaign speech at a Baptist church in Manning, where he lives. Greene says a local chapter of NAACP extended that invitation, but he has no other plans for campaign rallies, fundraisers or speeches. "Nothing formal, nothing in particular," says Greene. "But I've been doing a lot of interviews and getting the message out myself - at least as much as I can. I think the rest of that will take care of itself." Greene has been profiled in many major publications, but he wishes the media would focus more on his campaign issues of improving education and creating jobs rather than his pending felony charge for showing obscene photos to a college student. Greene has recently obtained a private attorney to represent him in that case.