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Friday, March 29, 2024 - 05:11 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Nikki Haley, Trey Gowdy Exceed Own Expectations

Election---NikkiKelly626No one predicted that six-term Congressman Bob Inglis after spending gobs of money on television and radio ads, knocking on hundreds of doors and holding dozens of discussion meets, would only be able to  scrape up 29 percent of the vote in the district he once “owned.” Inglis only won 3 precincts in Greenville County and none in either Spartanburg or Union County.

It is ironic that the advice given to Inglis by Taxpayer Association President and local business operator Robert G. “Butch” Taylor six years ago in Inglis’s living room and apparently ignored was used by Trey Gowdy to attract voters.

Inglis had asked a group of community leaders to advise him as to whether he should run for Congress again after six terms and a break punctuated by a run against Sen. Fritz Hollings for the U. S. Senate.

Most of the invited guests were encouraging and diplomatic. Taylor, however, drew a “line in the sand.”  He listed several things and said if you do this, I will support you, if you do not, I will not support you.

Taylor’s list was something like the following and I have heard Trey Gowdy using the same words during his campaign. Whether he got them from Taylor, I have no way of knowing. I never recall hearing Rep. Inglis recite the list.

“If you are to earn my support,” Taylor said, “you must apply these rules to every bill that comes before you for a vote:

“Is it necessary? Is it constitutional? Is it affordable?”

It is remarkable that the correct answer to those three questions could make such a difference in an election, but it certainly was a factor.

Third District Congressman Gresham Barrett faired slightly better than his colleague Bob Inglis, but his defeat by Nikki R. Haley for the Republican nomination for Governor of South Carolina was just as dramatic.

Haley tromped Barrett by taking 65 percent of the vote to Barrett’s 35 percent.

Both Inglis and Barrett had gone against the wishes of the majority of their constituents and bowed to pressure by the President and Congressional leaders to vote for the TARP.

Both Inglis and Barrett will join the ranks of the unemployed in January 2011, when their current term of office ends. They are both honorable, dedicated family men who in many instances served their constituents well, but lost favor when the people back home became distrustful of Washington, D.C. and began holding their elected representatives accountable.

The other runoff races were not close. County Councilman and business owner Ken Ard defeated popular Gulf War Veteran Bill Connor with a vote of 61 percent to 39 percent and became the Republican nominee for Lt. Governor.

Likewise, Alan Wilson Defeated Leighton Lord by a vote of 60 percent to 40 percent.

In a closer race, Dr. Mick Zais won over Elizabeth Moffly with 54 percent to 46 percent of the vote to become the GOP nominee for Superintendent of Education.

In a race that has national historical significance, State Rep. Tim Scott defeated the son of the legendary Sen. Strom Thurmond by a large margin. Scott is set to be the first Black Republican Congressman since a young football player from Oklahoma voluntarily retired from Congress and became a minister of the Gospel. Scott is both a social and fiscal conservative with a sterling pro-business and pro-life record in both the South Carolina House of Representatives and the Charleston County Council.

In the Third Congressional District, Jeff Duncan squeaked by Richard Cash with 51 percent to 49 for Cash.

 

 

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