Bidness as usual in Lexington County

CNN's Peter Hamby has background on the $2000 consulting deal Nikki Haley had in 2008 (never mind the money now for benefit later from these guys). Politico's Ben Smith calls it "the first clean hit landing" on the GOP frontrunner:

Haley was hired as a consultant by Robert Ferrell, the southeast region business development manager for Wilbur Smith Associates.

Ferrell told CNN that Haley, a state representative from Lexington County, entered into "a business relationship" with the firm in 2007 or 2008. Their relationship extends back to when the two served together on the Lexington Chamber of Commerce board of directors, he said.

"I knew her to be a connected person who had access to a lot of folks and information, and in my business, that sort of information is critical to get ahead," Ferrell told CNN. "If she would hear about things that were going on, primarily county-type stuff, or developers who were getting ready to do stuff, she would give us a heads up, and we would see where it went."

He said Haley no longer does work for the company. Haley, who has made transparency in government a central plank of her campaign, has not elaborated on what specific kind of work she did for the engineering firm.

Ferrell said he has made a practice of hiring well-connected people to keep the company apprised of potential business prospects. But he stressed that Haley "was not a lobbyist" and did not tip the firm off to forthcoming state contracts.

"She was simply a contact person who had access to information through the normal course of her business and contacts," Ferrell said. "Periodically we will retain people who have connections to certain parts of the industry that we do business with. They give us leads. They help us with things."

Haley told The State newspaper Friday that she recused herself from votes involving the company.