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Friday, March 29, 2024 - 01:51 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

What happened the other night at the Pickens County GOP Convention was more proof of why so many people don’t want to get involved in politics,

There was plenty of “posturing” for control and grandstanding to be viewed by all.

I assisted Weldon Clark in checking people in and giving out the ballots. I was told the list we had was an official list and that no one was to enter the auditorium unless they were on the official list. There were officers standing at the entrance to the auditorium who were told not to allow anyone in unless they had the proper credential … which was the manila envelope with the ballot enclosed. This was to ensure integrity in the balloting process.

 

I take my job very seriously. When the leader of the Pickens County GOP tells me this is the official list and not to allow anyone in that isn’t on the list  … then that is what I do.

When someone, whom I have never met, and do not know, comes up to me and hands me a new list and says THIS is the list we should be using … I am from the “STATE.” And please note, she had no credentials to show me. I was, with good reason, suspicious. Twenty minutes after we had already started checking people in, this stranger approaches me and says she has the correct list???

I immediately notified Phillip Bowers of this “new” list forced on the student volunteers sitting at the check-in desk even though I had plainly told them I needed to check with Phillip Bowers first. They made those impressionable students take the list! Phillip Bowers had told me not to use any list other than the original as that is the list that he had verified. So I went back to the table and informed the students helping with the register what I was told to continue with the original list.

It was noted that several people who were not on the original list were trying to pay their $20 at the desk. That is a fact. So how did they get registered through the SC State GOP without having paid their fee? In the future, I think it is imperative that everyone have to show their registration card, their photo ID, and their receipt showing when they paid their fee before being given a ballot.

It is a fact that history has shown when you register to become a delegate at the Pickens County convention you should be going through the Pickens County GOP leadership NOT the state GOP. This is the elephant in the room so to speak. Why is the state allowed to register people instead of going through the county? It needs to be one or the other – not both! Why wasn’t Phillip Bowers notified ahead of time by the state of those delegates Neal Collins says were properly registered by the SC State GOP?

My opinion is that this was a coup attempt by people who are trying to take the Republican Party in a different direction – a direction to the left, not right. These people have frequently referred to the Republican Conservative Constitutional Christians as “extremists,” “tea party

type,” “scrooges,” “Timothy McVeighs.” This is not how you go about uniting a party by labeling people who simply are taxed enough already and want to follow the GOP Platform and the US Constitution.

There is no doubt in my mind that this was, in my opinion, a progressive coup of trying to put in new leadership that would push one of the most Conservative counties in SC in a new …” progressive” direction.

To be frank, it is my opinion all this was political games and grandstanding and the intent is to take over the Pickens County GOP and place in people who follow Lindsey Graham type politics.

All of this would not have happened if Neal Collins had followed the procedure that the other 155 people followed by contacting Phillip Bowers and registering to be a delegate.

As it stands now…all Neal Collins and his followers have accomplished is splintering the Pickens County GOP party and adding fuel to flames. And sadly this will make more people NOT want to get involved in politics due to the divisive schemes and sneaky tactics being used by our elected officials to try and pull one over by bypassing procedures that have been in place for decades. They call it the “Good Ole Boy” system in SC for a reason and that was quite evident and on display at the convention.

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