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Thursday, March 28, 2024 - 09:21 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Challengers Filed Economic Interest Statements On Time

No Greenville County Republicans were disqualified by the State Supreme Court ruling Wednesday, May 2nd that ordered South Carolina political parties to remove as many as 100 candidates from June primary ballots.

The number of candidates impacted was an estimate. The confusion and turmoil caused by the decision, five weeks before party primaries, added to the arguments of those who have been urging the General Assembly to change current election laws and get government out of the selection of candidates by political parties.

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled to enforce a law passed by the legislature to protect incumbents, since it impacts only challengers.

Greenville County Republican Party Chairman Betty Poe said in an interview Friday that the state party has confirmed that all Greenville County GOP candidates met the legal requirements.

Challengers of two senior state senators targeted by RINO Hunt for defeat were disqualified by the unexpected court decision.

Pickens County Republican Party officials failed to inform former State Representative Rex Rice that he should file his statement of economic interest at the same time he filed with the party to challenge Sen. Larry Martin. Instead, he said he was told to file on line, which he did on April 9th. Martin filed a day later. Under the law Rice is disqualified and Martin is qualified.

Katrina Shealy who was challenging Sen. Jake Knotts was disqualified by the court action. She has announced that she will run as an independent Conservative.

It is a political fact that the harsh decision by the court protects the endangered senior incumbent senators who appointed them to the bench. It is seen by many as a the ultimate power play by the Democrat/RINO dominated “good old boy” system that has controlled South Carolina government and deceived the people for decades.

In Spartanburg County, Republican Kerry Wood filed in the Republican primary to challenge incumbent Democrat Senator Glenn Reese. Filing closed at noon on March 30. Wood said he filed at 11:52 pm on that date and filed his economic interest form at 12:30 pm the same day. He was removed from the ballot.

As the week ended, there was talk of changing the law to allow the challengers to re-file. That is given little hope of passage, since such a bill would require the support of some of the incumbents affected in order to get out of committee.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Larry Martin announced Friday that he will call an emergency meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, May 8, for the purpose of discussing and passing legislation aimed at allowing candidates affected by the recent Supreme Court decision back onto primary ballots.

Even if Martin’s proposal does not become law, it gives him cover from a likely backlash. His only Republican opponent, Rex Rice, was eliminated from the ballot by the court decision.

 

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