The Greenville County GOP held its first bi-monthly meeting of its new two-year term this past Monday at the Hughes Main Library. After the approval of a resolution on Monday night, however, the party will now meet quarterly rather than bi-monthly.
For decades, the party met on the first Monday of every even month. In the first meeting of the 2021 term, members of the MYSCGOP wing of the party managed to get a resolution passed to require monthly meetings.
Soon after that meeting, the newly elected chair Jennifer Black resigned under pressure. Jeff Davis, the leader of the MYSCGOP wing, was elected chair in her place. During the next two years, on several occasions the meetings were held in the back yard of the party's headquarters building on Wade Hampton Boulevard, the purchase of which had been arranged by Davis. Attendees had to bring their own chairs.
In 2023, Yvonne Julian was elected chair and Davis was elected to be the state executive committeeman. During the Julian administration the party ceased meeting outdoors and returned to meeting at rented halls, such as the Hilton and, on several occasions, at Mauldin First Baptist Church.
The party also returned to its traditional bi-monthly meeting schedule. At the bi-annual convention held in April, Davis and Julian switched places, Davis being elected chairman again and Julian being chosen to represent Greenville on the state party's executive committee. Mike Voaden was elected first vice-chair.
One executive committeeman during Monday night's meeting suggested that the quarterly meetings be held in person with the option of remote participation by Zoom for those who could not or did not wish to attend in person, at which point Davis suggested holding the meetings in-person at the headquarters and allowing anyone who wanted to attend by Zoom to do so.
The inside of the headquarters building can hold only a fraction of the total body of the executive committee members. And, if the meetings were again held in-person in the backyard, the standing-room only crowd at Monday night's meeting in the library's meeting room would be hard-pressed to fit into the backyard. Also, hosting outdoor meetings during the colder months could serve to hinder in-person attendance.
Davis said that he would rather spend money on social gatherings than on paying the Hilton to host the party's meetings.
During Monday's meeting, Davis announced that there would be a special called Zoom meeting of the party later in the month. At the very end of the evening's meeting, one member of the party's executive committee offered a resolution to require all meetings of the party, even special called meetings, to be held in person unless extraordinary circumstances exist.
In her resolution she expressed concern that holding virtual meetings would serve to limit engagement and accessibility for members who are less familiar with technology and would “reduce the ability to to ensure secure and verifiable participation.”
During the brief discussion period on the resolution, another member of the executive body expressed criticism of the resolution, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, there's always going to be those who do not want to move ahead and move forward and use the technology that's available to us. . . They used to be referred to as Luddites.” The resolution was voted down.
Earlier during the meeting, Davis wanted to assure the attendees of his commitment to openness. “We are committed to what Trump called 'radical transparency.' We will provide everybody every piece of information we do. We are not ashamed of anything we do.” He said that the state party hides everything, but that “Greenville is the shining light on the hill.”
Also during the meeting, other vacancies were filled by acclimation. The only contested race was for the position of secretary. Scott Geer eked out a narrow win against current secretary Angie Fisher by a vote of 55 to 53.
