Tommie Reece and Wyatt Milar off the Ballot in Greenville County
Democrat complaints against Republicans in Florence County resulted in another court decision that impacted candidates across the Palmetto State. In Greenville County, two senate candidates who have hundreds of signs on display in Senate Districts Five and Six were notified that they are no longer official candidates. Although their names will appear on the ballots and many absentee ballots have already been cast, County Director of Elections Conway Belangia said their votes will not be counted.
Wyatt Mylar was facing Tom Corbin and Amanda Somers in Senate District Five that covers most of northern Greenville County and part of northeastern Spartanburg County. Mylar, a business owner who is seeking public office the first time, has not announced whether he would attempt a petition candidacy as many have indicated they will do.
Reece, a long-term school board member for District Seventeen, has been hit with a double “whammy.” Had she remained on the ballot in the Republican primary and lost to incumbent Mike Fair or challenger Chris Sullivan, she could have filed to continue on the Greenville County School Board in July. Now she must decide which office she wants most. It is not legal for her to be on the ballot for two offices at the same time. If she is able to get 5 percent of the eligible voters in Senate District Six to sign her petition, she can be on the ballot as an independent candidate. As a petition candidate, Reece would be able to campaign openly for Democrat support and oppose the winner of the Republican primary in the November General Election, or she can run for reelection to the school board, but not both.
In Senate District Five, Amanda Somers now has only one opponent and a double chance to win the senate seat held by Phil Shoopman and before that Lewis Vaughn and the late J. Verne Smith. She could win the Republican primary, or should she lose, she has a pending lawsuit against the South Carolina Republican Party that could be decided in her favor by a liberal judge to overturn the election and give her the office even though she lost the election.
“This is a sad day for South Carolina voters,” said Chad Connelly, S. C. GOP Chairman. “The Supreme Court has injected itself into the political parties’ once exclusive right to choose their own candidates. Instead of seeing the law as the legislature intended, the court created a ‘Frankenstein’ – a set of technical rules that defy common sense and ignore the instructions of the state’s own ethics committee. In the process, the court has disenfranchised thousands of South Carolina voters.”
Candidates and voters are disappointed that Governor Nikki Haley has not stepped in and attempted to remedy the deplorable situation the court has created. It may be that she is busy defending herself from ethics charges by some of the same RINO’s (Republicans in name only) who triggered the court actions that eliminated primary opposition to several RINO’s who hold key legislative leadership positions.
Governor Nikki Haley said Monday on WORD Radio that she could do nthing to force the legislature to correct problems that would allow candidates removed back on the primary ballots. She cited the court ruling in the Haley vs McConnell case as the decision that prevents her from taking needed action. She insisted that she would take action if she had authority to do so.
Third District Congressman Jeff Duncan, who represents Oconee County where there are no longer any primary challengers to incumbents and no candidate for the open office of Sheriff, issued a strong statement:
“A few weeks ago, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a ruling that caused many candidates running for office to be thrown off the ballot. Yesterday the Supreme Court issued another ruling that impacted even more candidates. To make matters worse, the ruling didn’t impact everyone equally since incumbents have a different filing process.
“While my race for United States Congress was not affected because it’s a federal position and the ruling only applied to state races, I still felt the need to speak up.
“The South Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling means there are no longer any contested Republican Primary Races in Oconee County. Across the Third District and across the state, literally hundreds of candidates no longer have a chance to run for office.
“The law is supposed to exist to protect the rights of the people, but instead the court has taken away the people’s rights.
“What has happened to South Carolina is deplorable. Through a technicality, the court has denied hundreds of people the right to run for office and has essentially denied hundreds of thousands the right to participate in a free and fair election. You deserve better, and I’m disgusted that such injustice has taken place in our state.
“As I said before, this is a state issue that involves the state court and a state law. While I don’t have the power to solve this problem in the halls of Congress, I wanted you to know what’s going on, and encourage you to contact your State Representative and Senator before the General Assembly adjourns on Friday. Let them know how you feel, and ask them how they plan to solve this problem.
“I’m continuing to look into this issue as a concerned South Carolinian who believes that we need to do whatever we can to protect the electoral process.”
The reaction of Juliette Kozak in Pickens County is somewhat typical of the citizen reaction to the gross injustice in Columbia.
“I have been denied my right to vote for Pro-Life candidate Rex Rice against incumbent Larry Martin who wants the taxpayers to pay for abortion in the cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother by taking Rex Rice with over 200 others off the ballot. This sets the example for other states to use the same dirty tactic to keep the incumbents in office.”
RINO Hunt and other conservative groups have combined forces to help conservative challengers kicked off the ballot to organize and collect signatures to run as independent candidates in November.
