
We have a primary election here in South Carolina on Tuesday with some important choices to make. We’ll be choosing party nominees for the next gubernatorial race and we’ll be getting at least two new Congressmen this year since Henry Brown (R-SC01) is retiring and Gresham Barrett (R-SC03) is making a failed run for governor. We may be seeing a bigger turnover than that however. Bob Inglis (R-SC04) isn’t exactly in the greatest reelection shape and some speculate that he could be forced into a run off by one of his primary challengers. Add that to a strong challenge by State Senator Mick Mulvaney (R-Indian Land) to Congressman John Spratt (D-SC05) in November and we could potentially be replacing over half of our state’s Congressional delegation come January.
Now I obviously can’t vote in all of these races, but I’m happy to offer my thoughts on many of them and point out who I would vote for if I could. I make these decisions based on who I think is the best candidate to protect our liberties and freedoms from the tyranny of the powers that be. And so here we go.
York County Council District 1
I don’t typically weigh in on local races because I don’t have the time to analyze the hundreds of races going on in every county and municipality in the Carolinas, but I am going to weigh in one and that is because it is pretty close to my backyard. If you live in York County, or more specifically Fort Mill or Tega Cay, then right now you are being represented on the York County Council by one corrupt SOB. His name is Paul Lindemann. That shouldn’t be a new name for you. We talk about him all the time. Despite the publicity of his malfeasance, he is running for reelection. If you vote for Paul Lindemann you deserve to be flogged, tasered in your groin, and then buried in the sand up to your neck right near a mound of fire ants with honey drizzled over your head. Is that descriptive enough? This man is the living characiture of the stereotypical corrupt politician. Now you may think that Paul is crazy for running again. How could he possibly get reelected? Well he’s got three challengers so his ability to survive in a four way race should not be underestimated. There are plenty of lambs out there who will go to their slaughter on Tuesday to try and install this man for another two years. Don’t let that happen. Give your vote to someone with integrity, honesty, and decency. That someone is Mr. Kyle Boyd.

I have met Kyle Boyd. He is the headmaster at Walnut Grove Christian School and the father of three children. He identifies himself as a fiscal conservative and pledges to be a leader on tax reform and government transparency. We will not be reading stories in The Herald of Kyle Boyd getting DUIs or being a party to a domestic violence dispute, or bouncing $10,000 checks to Winthrop University, or not paying contractors for the work they do on his house. We will not be reading those stories about Kyle Boyd the way we have read them about Paul Lindemann. This is an opportunity to put an overall good guy into our county government so please don’t screw it up this time. Vote for Kyle on Tuesday. It’s really that easy.
South Carolina Congressional District 1

This is the seat currently held by Republican Congressman Henry Brown. Thankfully, he is retiring this year so we will no longer have to worry about him stealing our tax dollars and redistributing it to his district. This has become a huge contest. There are nine Republicans, two Democrats, and four third party candidates running for this seat. On the Republican side there are many good candidates to pick from and if I lived in that district I would have a difficult time making a decision. However, kind of like Highlander, in the end there can be only one. So that being the case, I would again, like in 2008, go with Katherine Jenerette. She is an accomplished woman and mother. She has bravely served this country in our armed forces and I think she has the right ideas to take us forward. Her agenda on lower taxation, lower government spending, and controlled immigration is a positive plan for the nation. I think she would be a responsible representative for the people of the Grand Strand.

On the Democratic ballot I like Col. Robert Burton. He recently retired from military service after spending 32 years in the United States Air Force. Burton has a strong focus on lowering South Carolina’s unemployment rate, one of the highest in the nation, by championing a lower Federal tax rate on small businesses and actively seeking opportunities to bring technology and energy jobs to the state. He also realizes the need to stick it out in Afghanistan. It’s been a long and tiring war on our soldiers and there was plenty of mismanagement of the war by our previous administration, but Burton is correct. We just can’t cut our losses and leave like some in our Congress would like to see. Burton is a common sense man with common sense ideas.
South Carolina Congressional District 3

This is the far western district of the state bordering Georgia and currently held by Republican Congressman Gresham Barrett. As I stated before, he is not seeking reelection and instead decided to lose in the gubernatorial race this year. He voted for the bank bailout, so I’m not too upset about his current political misfortune. There are six Republicans running to succeed him and the one I like is State Representative Jeff Duncan. Duncan has a proven record of fiscal responsibility in our state government. In fact, he is one of the few that can actually make that claim. He has received an “A” rating from the South Carolina Club for Growth whose opinions I take very seriously because they don’t just hand out good grades to anyone. Duncan’s views on reigning in government spending and excessive taxation is precisely the shot in the arm our nation needs. He is the guy we need to send to D.C. We do not want to send State Representative Rex Rice. He not only supported raising the cigarette tax to expand the nanny welfare state in South Carolina, he was a co-sponsor. Duncan good. Rice bad.
South Carolina Congressional District 4
I think this goes without saying. Bob Inglis is in some pretty deep shit and may very well be the next incumbent to get booted in his party primary. Inglis is facing the hostility of a very conservative electorate in his district who are not all that pleased with the direction the Republican Party has been going in. He has also taken some heat for voting to reprimand Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC02) for his infamous “You lie!” outburst to President Obama during this year’s State of the Union address as well as voting against “the Surge” in Iraq in 2007. Furthermore, the man has hit my boiling point over his insistence on us needing to implement a carbon tax over the fraudulent man made global warming scam. In my opinion, there is no need to stop the national political bloodletting here in South Carolina. Give Inglis the boot.

My recommendation is Spartanburg attorney Trey Gowdy. Gowdy is strong advocate of job creation by lessening Federal restrictions on businesses that make it difficult for them to thrive. Of course, he is mortified by the irresponsible spending going on in D.C. otherwise I wouldn’t recommend him. He is also a staunch supporter of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the Constitution meaning he is very much opposed to the recent Federal grab of our health care system and their unconstitutional insurance mandate.
South Carolina State Superintendent

This is a race that doesn’t get talked about much but really should. Public education in this state has a poor reputation and we haven’t seen much improvement. We just keep getting more of the same and Jim Rex has been no different. I like Gary Burgess for this seat. He’s big on school choice and eliminating programs that have not shown any merit. The main reason we spend so much money on education in this country but do not get the bang for our buck is because the vast majority of the money goes to bureaucracy. Burgess wants school spending accounted for. But the real idea that sold me on Burgess is his philosophy on school choice, that the tax dollars should follow the student. My God, how many times have I written about that very same idea on this Web site? Make the school districts compete for the students. With the students comes the money. It is a winning formula and mark my word if Gary Burgess could accomplish that he would be the most successful state superintendent in this country.
South Carolina Governor

And finally we get down to the big one. I have a candidate for both the Republican and Democrat parties. On the Republican side I have been an ardent supporter of State Representative Nikki Haley and despite the calamity that has surrounded her over the past two weeks, I am sticking with Nikki Haley. Accusations are not proof of guilt. It was different with Mark Sanford because there was proof of his indiscretions and he came right out and admitted it. Maybe Nikki Haley has been unfaithful. I don’t know, but what I do know is that there isn’t a single shred of proof out there to support these accusations. If there was we’d have seen it by now. We are innocent until proven guilty in this country. I believe that of all four Republican candidates Nikki Haley has the best ideas to take our state forward. She has a record of fighting for transparency in government and against wasteful spending. Prior to the recession our state budget increased an average of 11% per year for four years and that was with Republicans in control. You know, the party that claims to be for small government? Haley has fought against that kind of government growth and I think she can be a real powerhouse in the governor’s mansion. She has my vote.

On the Democratic ticket I think State Senator Robert Ford is an outstanding choice. Senator Ford took a brave stand last year going public with his support for school choice so that the parents of the poorer children in this state can get those kids out of these failing schools and get them a better education. Ford took a lot of flack from his party and fellow legislators over that stance because his party has been in bed with the teachers union for decades and have been preserving the failing status quo in public education in order to keep the donations coming in. Ford recognized the problem in education and chose to speak out. I also support Ford because of his push to bring back video poker to South Carolina. According to Ford’s estimate it could bring in a billion dollars in revenue for the state and create several thousand jobs, but it’s not just that. I am a grown man and if I want to go to a bar and gamble some of my money on a video poker machine, who in the hell is the State of South Carolina to tell me that I am not allowed to do that? This is an issue of liberty and I said at the beginning of this post that was the primary goal I was looking for in these candidates. Robert Ford fits the bill.
So that’s what I’ve got for Tuesday. Man am I tired after all of that. Vote wisely and good luck to all of the candidates.
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