Alvin Greene

Alvin Michael Greene (born August 30, 1977) is an American political candidate from the state of South Carolina.

Officials noted that similar tactics had been used in the past, including in a 1990 primary in South Carolina.

Greene denied the assertion that he was a Republican plant.

Vic Rawl's campaign issued a press release that election forensics analyst Dr. Walter Mebane had "performed second-digit Benford's law tests on the precinct returns from the Senate race" and found improbable vote patterns.

Dr. Michael Miller reportedly found a significant difference in the vote percentages in absentee voters and Election Day voters, indicating a corrupted count.

Some commentators raised questions about the source of Greene's funding for the $10,440 filing fee.

Federal and state law requires a candidate to pay a filing fee out of his own pocket.

Greene claimed that he paid the filing fee by saving two years of his service pay.

However, Greene qualified to be represented by a public defender in his obscenity case.

Former state Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian told NPR that this revelation raised doubts about whether Greene could have afforded the filing fee.

He also previously served in the South Carolina Air National Guard from 1995 to 2002, on active duty with the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence specialist from July 2002 to September 2005 and with the Army National Guard for seven months prior to joining the Army.

During Greene's time in the Air Force, he received numerous poor evaluations from his superiors.

The evaluations stated that Greene was an ineffective leader who was disorganized, made costly errors, and could not clearly express his thoughts.

Greene received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of South Carolina in 2000.

Greene served as a unit supply specialist in the U.S. Army from February 2007 to August 2009.

Greene said that he originally got the idea to run for office in 2008 when he was stationed in Korea.

Greene received an honorable but involuntary discharge from the Army in 2009 after a 13-year career.

For his military service, Greene received the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, the Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Korea Defense Service Medal, the Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon and the Air Force Training Ribbon.

He was the Democratic Party's nominee in the 2010 United States Senate election in South Carolina, and was defeated by incumbent Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, 61.48% to 27.65%.

Greene is the first African-American to be nominated for U.S. Senate by a major party in South Carolina.

Greene is notable for the suspicions among members of his own party regarding the legitimacy of his 2010 primary victory, for his "strange, well-documented behavior on the campaign trail", for the intense media attention he received, and for pursuing his 2010 Senate bid despite having been indicted.

On June 8, 2010, he won the South Carolina Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, receiving 100,362 (59%) votes out of 170,215 votes cast; 69,853 (41%) went to Vic Rawl.

Greene's victory over Rawl, a Charleston County councilmember and former state legislator, was described as an upset.

At the time of his Senate campaign, Greene was unemployed and living with and caring for his father in Manning, South Carolina.

Greene won the primary despite very limited campaigning and campaign spending and despite having no website and no yard signs.

Voter turnout in most counties was in the range of 20–30%.

After Greene was declared the winner and Rawl congratulated him on his win, Democratic officials began to voice opposition and to raise questions about Greene and his campaign.

He did not attend the state Democratic party convention, did not file legally required forms with the Secretary of the Senate or Federal Election Commission, and attempted to pay his $10,440 filing fee with a personal check, rather than a check from a campaign account.

Though his primary victory baffled many, some explanations have been offered.

South Carolina State Senator Robert Ford claimed that the surname "Greene" is common among African-Americans, and suggested that fact may have caused African-American voters to identify with him.

Some, including House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, speculated that Greene was a Republican plant and called for an investigation into the primary.

In response to an official protest filed by Rawl, the executive committee of the South Carolina Democratic Party conducted a formal hearing on June 17, 2010, to assess the legitimacy of the primary election results.

Greene neither attended nor sent a representative to the hearing.

The executive committee of the South Carolina Democratic Party voted 55 to 10 to reject Rawl's request for a new Senate primary, finding insufficient evidence of impropriety to disturb the primary election result.

On June 27, 2010, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the 5th Circuit Solicitor's office announced that they were investigating Greene's finances.

On the same day, it emerged that Greene's public defender had been replaced by a private attorney.

On July 9, 2010, Greene was cleared of wrongdoing after a state criminal probe determined Greene had indeed paid the filing fee from his own personal funds.

He also ran for the state legislature in a February 2011 special election, receiving 37 votes.

Greene was born in Florence, South Carolina.

His father, James Greene Sr., is a retired teacher from the Clemson Extension program, a barber, and a nightclub owner "who wanted blacks to play a bigger role in politics and entertainment".