RINO crackdown on conservatives extends south of the border
Those of you in Haywood County who have been PNGed by the NCGOP — those of you who
have been threatened with losing your party position for daring to comment on THIS site (or share posts from this site on social media) — take heart. Just south of us in The Palmetto State, RINOs are utilizing similar tactics against conservatives:
Three conservative activists in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina have been asked to vacate their positions with the local “Republican” party because they are supporting a free market conservative over a fiscally liberal incumbent in this fall’s elections.
The activists – Eva Long, Sharon Pollard, and Peggey Bushey – were told earlier this month that their advocacy was in violation of SCGOP rules.
According to SCGOP rule 5.e.5, “should any officer or delegate publicly endorse or financially support a candidate for partisan office other than a duly nominated Republican candidate … they shall immediately vacate their Republican Party office.”
Long, Pollard and Bushey – each of whom are staunch supporters of U.S. president Donald Trump – are openly endorsing the candidacy of conservative libertarian Cameron Ventura in his battle for S.C. House District 68 (map). This seat has been held since July 2012 by Heather Ammons Crawford (below) – one of the most fiscally liberal “Republican” lawmakers in the S.C. House of Representatives.[…]
To be clear: We have no issue with the SCGOP enforcing its rules as it relates to these three activists. The party’s rules are printed in black and white for all to see, and SCGOP executive director Hope Walker is well within her rights to insist that they be enforced. In fact, Walker probably did the classy thing by sending the three activists a letter and offering them the opportunity to step down as opposed to informing them that their positions were vacated.
Still, the optics associated with this dust-up – which was first reported by MyrtleBeachSC.com – are terrible for the party.
Cleaving conservatives for supporting a candidate who actually subscribes to the “less government, lower taxes” mantra the GOP establishment claims to uphold? In defense of a lawmaker who might as well be a Democrat? It just looks terrible …
Hell, it is terrible …
It is a case study in preserving power, not protecting people.
A few months ago, I was listening to local talk radio as I went down I-85 between Spartanburg and Greenville. Turns out, the SC conservatives have it even worse than we do, as much as we complain about our semi-open primary, has a completely open primary that Democrats can vote in. The gist of the discussion was that the SCGOP powers-that-be have resolutely resisted calls to close the primary….sound familiar? Thankfully, the Constitution Party offers something better for NC conservatives and their numbers are steadily growing according to the NC SBOE for the several weeks that they’ve been on the ballot.
When party nominations are corrupted by open or semi-open primaries, enforcing or even having such rules becomes nonsense because primaries do not reflect the will of Republican voters. They can be hijacked by Democrats posing as Republicans.
At least South Carolina still has real runoffs, instead of the joke runoffs promoted in NC by progressive John Hood and foisted upon us by Dallas Woodhouse, Robin Hayes, and Tom Stark working the legislature without the knowledge or consent of any part governing body. The combination or a semi-open primary and the absurd 30% threshold is designed to nominate establishment cronies who may act more like Democrats.
Woodhouse and Hayes are the worst thing that has ever happened to the NCGOP.
What is really needed to get Republicans more influence on who we nominate for our party is to allow local party organizations to get involved in primaries to support the real Republicans running over the fakes. Who can get excited about a 30% nominee when lots of non-Republicans have helped select that nominee.
When only Republicans selected the nominee and it took a real majority to get the nomination, there was a good argument that everyone should fall in line behind them, but not any more.
I’m not saying which counties (you can understand why), but there are local parties with Tea Party-type leadership that are beginning to disregard that particular State POO rule, and they are prepared to tell 1506 Hillsborough Street to go pound sand, if they find out about it.
IMHO if local parties do not fill the leadership void problem in the NCGOP and provide some guidance to the voting public, we may well be doomed as a viable party. For example, I’m having great difficulty recruiting previously active exec. comm. members because they are not willing to be cheerleaders for every candidate with R beside their name. In fact, I’m only serving in a kind of last ditch effort myself.
Personally, I’m quite willing to tell 1506 Hillsborough to pound sand. Unbelievably there continue to be those quite happy to be handcuffed by the POO and relegated to pompom routines; even in the face of a steady stream of duplicitous and harmful atrocities from our leadership.
I can’t stomach much more spinelessness and backroom scheming.
There is a precedent that any party official who wants to endorse in primaries should cite. That is NCGOPe State Chairman Tom Fetzer endorsing the establishment candidate in the 8th Congressional District runoff primary in 2010. Fetzer not only made an endorsement of the runner-up but he severely trashed the frontrunner from the first round. No action was ever taken against Fetzer for that and it sets a precedent that ANY party official should be able to endorse openly in a primary. The same rule was on the books then as exists today.
I would like to see Stark and company try to argue that Fetzer could do it but not any of the “little people”. Hogwash! If this PoO provision no longer applies to the state chairman, it no longer applies to anybody.
In that runoff, the NRCC’s annointed candidate ran 4th in the first round, and it set up a Tea Party conservative as frontrunner and a Mr. Milquetoast moderate who had some name recognition as a former sportscaster as runner-up. The word on the street was that Fetzer, a former failed consultant himself, jumped in the primary as a favor to a consultant buddy. The moderate turned out to be an awful nominee who blew the general election.
Escaped the NC GOP slime about 3. Yrs ago. Moved to SC…. SOUNDS LIKE THE FIGHT WILL CONTINUE. Constitution Party is the answer. SC Tea Party is concentrated in State capital, with only a handful of members in/around N. Chas.
An Unaffiliated candidate is campaigning for one of three contested seats on the Davie County Board of Education.
There are three Republican Party candidates on the ballot.
The Chairman of the Davie County Republican Party signed the petition for the Unaffiliated candidate to run against the Republican Party candidates.
Richard Carter Jr