The Race for the Fightin’ Fourth – Part 1

This is the first segment in a series of interviews for known candidates that are entering the 4th District Congressional Race.  No portion of this article or the following articles in this series represents an endorsement made by Gary Coats or The Conservativist.

I had the privlidge to sit down with Congressman Bob Inglis on Monday, January 26th after his morning campaign event in Spartanburg.  Congressman Inglis was very generous with his time and his answers, allowing me to see deeper inside the mind we have often criticized.

Bob Inglis is a resident of Greenville County’s north side in Traveler’s Rest.  Originally from Bluffton, SC, he ended up in the 4th after attending Duke University and the University of Virginia Law School.  Bob is married to Mary Ann and has 5 children between the ages of 11 and 22.

Upon sitting down with the incumbent from Traveler’s Rest, my mind began racing in a variety of directions as to where to start the interview, so, I began with the obvious question.  Where do we, as Republicans, go from here?

Congressman Inglis stated that Republicans need to begin solving problems.  That is a strength of a Republican, a stregth of our party.  Our problem solving needs to improve the underlying programs already in place.  Inglis also stated that the tone of conservatism needed to remain positive and transformative and not turn to an angry and reactionary mind set.

We have often criticized Inglis on energy, so we took a second to look a little deeper into this policy.  When asked Inglis gave us a rhetorical question:

“What is conservative about spilling my waste on to your property?”

Inglis believes that the strength of free markets will solve our energy problems, with a few addendums.

First of all, he states that there is no accountabilty for emissions that are polutting your property.  If we can find a way to attach a cost to the waste bi-product on coal, nuclear energy immediately becomes a viable and profittable solution.  He stated that coal is cheaper until it is cleaner and the clean coal initiative is a big government program.

I immediately followed by asking if this is where cap-and-trade came into the picture?

Inglis’ response:

“Cap-and-Trade is the largest tax increase in the world.  It will not work.”

So what does Inglis propose?

“Eliminate the payroll tax and replace it with a carbon tax. By eliminating the 12.4% cost of the payroll tax and implementing carbon taxes, the cost to the government would be net neutral. “

Let’s look at it like this.  I would love to keep that 6.2% tax in my paycheck and the companies paying the match would have that money to give to its employee’s, invest in captial projects, create jobs.  Brilliant!  Here is a link to the article here.

And finally, we talked about the bailouts.

The congressman believes that the initial bailout of the banks was necessary.  He believes that the banking system had to remain operational to prevent another depression.  Inglis states:

“I could not be the next Herbert Hoover.”

He goes on to further state that we, the people are at fault for this as well.  We have been living on borrowed money and not saving has hurt the people.  We were encouraged by former President Bush after 9/11 to spend.

On the auto bailout, he points to Greer, SC and BMW.  He said a bailout to the big 3 would not solve the problem.  They must change the way they do business, and that means working with UAW to change that model.  BMW has proved that it is possible to build cars for a profit in Greer, SC.

On President Obama’s stimulus package.  He said he would be voting against it.  There was very little stimulus and many long term project and government programs that expanded the size of the government.

Synopsis:
Inglis impressed me the other day.  In the 30-45 minutes that we talked, I saw a side of Inglis I hadn’t seen before.  It was a very personable and logical individual and he took the time to explain why.  He doesn’t always get to do that in town hall meetings with out being chastised.  If he can do that throughout the campaign season, he may be able to turn some of the neigh sayers in his favor.

The Continuing Battle For Spartanburg Delegation Chair

I had the privilige of talking to several individuals tonight concerning the race for chairman of the delegation this past Monday.  Needless to say, this will not be the last story as more continues to develop.

I had spoke with Steve Parker and he explained his logic leading up to the meeting this past Monday.  He stated that his objective was for the chair to be from the older group of officials and the vice-chair be one of the officials just winning their first term into public office.

Steve spent the past week lobbying for Littlejohn to be chair and was trying to position himself to be vice-chair.  As we all know, Steve got the losing end of the deal there as he was not even nominated.  We did learn that one senator offered to go ahead and nominate after Kelly & Millwood were nominated.  Parker stated that he told him not to worry about it, the numbers are not there.

Then there is Shane Martin.  Our sources have indicated that he was not even lobbying for the position and was happy to support Littlejohn.  Matter of fact, it appears he is still willing to support him.

Lee Bright is the next question.  As he showed up a little late, he started the questioning of the votes from the beginning.  He in fact mentioned that the vote may should be weighted.  He also told the Herald Journal that he was going to look into this further.

Lee Bright may be the lone ranger in this crowd.  It appears that he will do what he feels is right no matter the cost.  It will be interesting to watch this one develop.

Our sources indicate that he (Bright) has made contact with Senate lawyers and it is believed that the vote was supposed to be weighted.  We have heard from one source that they may push to accept the original vote for Chair, but take the weighted vote for vice chair, making Joey Millwood the vice chairman instead of Keith Kelly.

And here is the logic on the weighted votes.  The biggest argument here is that if a count were always the method for procedural votes, then the house members would always out weight the senate members.  By using the weighted votes, they (Senators) can then have an equal voice.

There is still the question of whether or not Bright’s votes counted.  There is an argument between the two factions that since Bright was not sworn in, his vote did not count.  The other side of the argument is that this ceremony was not an official ceremony.  The official ceremony is scheduled to be in Columbia in the next month or so.

Some may say what is the big deal, it is just a title with no real authority.  What does matter is the possible corruption in the process.  This is what is trying to be eliminated from our government; thru transparency issues, etc.  What is truly happening then if this is the case for a delegation chairmanship.

Either way, we have not heard the last of this.  We’ll keep you informed on the latest developments.

Division In Spartanburg

As we mentioned in an earlier post, the division in the county delegation is apparent already.  And it’s not across party lines either.

First:
I would like to share with you the vote weight scale for the county.  It is based on population amounts and is distributed to make a sum of 100.  This becomes key.  You will see in the video below where a last minute decision was made to ensure the desired outcome.

District	Member	Vote Weight
SD 11	Glenn Reese	17.893
SD 12	Lee Bright	17.310
SD 13	Shane Martin	13.791
HD 34	Mike Forrester	6.510
HD 36	Rita Allison	6.457
HD 32	Derham Cole Jr.	6.425
HD 38	Joey Millwood	6.403
HD 37	Steve Parker	6.356
HD 31	Harold Mitchell	6.230
HD 35	Keith Kelly	6.217
HD 33	Lanny Littlejohn	4.972
SD 14	Harvey Peeler	1.006
HD 42	Mike Anthony	.430

Second:
View the picture below.  This is taken before the vote and it shows where each candidate remained seated for the rest of the meeting.  Note the 2 nameplates at the center of the platform and exiting House Speaker Pro Tempore Doug Smith.

The Vote for Chair(s)
It went down in style.  Below you will find the video of the event but here’s the quick vote count.  Littlejohn wins the vote based on a decision by Doug Smith that supposedly for procedural matters, vote count is the preferred method instead of a weighted vote.  The video shows some hesitation in the decision process. Kelly wins the vote using the same procedure determined from the previous vote.

Littlejohn

Member	Chairman		Vice-Chairman
	Martin	Kelly	Millwood
Lee Bright		Y		Y
Mike Forrester	Y		Y
Harold Mitchell	Y		Y
Mike Anthony	Y		Y
Glenn Reese		Y		Y
Keith Kelly	Y		Y
Lanny Littlejohn	Y		Y
Derham Cole	Y		Y
Rita Allison	Y		Y
Shane Martin		Y		Y
Harvey Peeler	Y		Y
Joey Millwood		Y		Y
Steve Parker	Y			Y
Total Votes	9	4	8	5
Weighted Vote	44.603	55.397	38.247	61.753

One question that leads me to believe that the division exists is based on the following question:

Why did half of the group expect it to be a weighted vote and the other half a count?

Two of eldest members of the group, Reese and Littlejohn, were on two different pages as to how the vote was counted.  This isn’t the first time that they witnessed the county delegation chairmanship proceedings.

And what caused the chair(s) to coincidentally be set up at the center of the stage?  There appears to be a rat afloat and we hope to get an answer.

Here is the video:

A Riff in Spartanburg Delegation

It appears there is division in the county delegation just one week after the election.

The vote for chair went to Littlejohn (9) Shane Martin (4). We have learned that although by the numbers Littlejohn won, Martin won by a weighted vote. All 3 senators and Joey Millwood carried more weight than the other 9 voting members. I’ll get details later.

The same question could be posed for the vice chairmanship. Kelly gained 8 votes and Millwood 5. Again the three senators plus two house members voted for Millwood.

The question to raise is whether or not this vote was conducted accordingly by Doug Smith, exiting House Pro Temp.

If not, it appears that Doug Smith was not done with politics and left his exiting mark on the Spartanburg County Delegation.

Election Day Nightmare

Turn out in Spartanburg county is at its largest ever. Three hour waits at most precints and one precint only utilizing a quarter of it’s voting capability.

New electronic voter sign in process seems to be main culprit of backup. Many voters are being left frustrated at the polls while others are leaving.

The one thing we don’t understand, it has been known for months that this would be one of the largest turnouts ever, why in the hell wasn’t the election commission more prepared.

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