Time for South Carolina Republicans to vote!
Primary is battle for soul of GOP
Sanford's shadow seen in many races
By Aaron Gould Sheinin
Knight Ridder
COLUMBIA - Tuesday's primary election amounts to no less than a battle for the soul of the S.C. Republican Party.
Mark Sanford's name will appear only once on the GOP primary ballot, but the incumbent governor and his philosophies will dominate races across the state.
Less spending, limited government and school choice are barometers being used to measure the credentials of Republican candidates. Three separate groups - although critics say they aren't separate at all - have emerged as players this election in selecting and endorsing candidates with whom they agree, and denouncing those with whom they do not.
S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action are aiming to elect candidates that buy into their belief system, which so closely mirrors Sanford's as to have been lifted from his campaign material.
Agree and you are a "true Republican." Oppose them and you are a "RINO" - a Republican in Name Only, the preferred negative label of the new wave.
The organizations and their causes have nearly as much at stake Tuesday as the candidates: Win and see your influence soar and your issues gain traction in a recalcitrant state government.
Lose, and be prepared to embrace obscurity.
The three groups have similar platforms and support, and the cross-pollination of their advocacy of certain candidates projects an image of collaboration.
Their connections and methods have raised legal concerns about campaign funding and have sparked one federal lawsuit.
The story of the groups' rise is partly a coming-of-age tale, as the Republican Party veers toward total domination of the state's political scene, and party an early-warning system: Is the party growing so large it risks eating its own?
Stress fractures
State party chairman Katon Dawson said its not to the point where Republicans have to worry about fractures. But cracks are starting to appear.
"What's happened to us as a party is, once you reach majority status, you quit blocking and tackling," he said. "You've got to start calling the plays."
Dawson said for generations the Republican Party in South Carolina was focused on growth.
After taking over the House of Representatives in 1994, the focus switched to the Senate, which the GOP grabbed in 2000. Now, with comfortable leads in both chambers, plus control of seven of nine statewide offices, the party is less focused on growing than it is on leading the state in its preferred directions.
"When you're in the minority, you really do all get along," Dawson said. "Why? Because you have to. When you're in the majority, you don't have to, and different ideas, different strategies surface and then there's a debate and sometimes the debate is ugly."
The challenge has become picking the direction the party goes. And organizations like Club for Growth and the others want that direction to be of their choosing.
"All were doing is standing up for the basic ideals of the party," said Randy Page, president of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, another activist group.
Beyond choice
SCRG was created three years ago primarily to fight for school choice in the form of tuition tax credits. Sanford is a supporter of the plan to give tax credits to parents to send their children to private school. The governor introduced the plan shortly after taking office after campaigning in 2002 on a plan to give state-funded private school vouchers to parents.
After seeing its signature proposal fail in the Republican-controlled House the past two years, SCRG has focused on selected primaries where incumbent House Republicans face opposition, as well as in the party's education superintendent race.
The organization has paid for radio ads and mail pieces critical of the House incumbents, including Rep. Bill Cotty, R-Richland, all of whom have opposed the tax credit plan. It has also sponsored mail pieces critical of Bob Staton, a Republican education superintendent candidate.
Page and his group insist they are nonpartisan, are not "attacking" candidates and are not involved directly in campaigns. That could jeopardize their status as a nonprofit with the Internal Revenue Service.
But the State Ethics Commission has said the organization meets the threshold of state law in that it tries to "influence the outcome of an election," and is insisting the group file reports disclosing how it spends its money. SCRG has refused and has filed a federal lawsuit, accusing the commission of violating its First Amendment rights. That case is pending.
Page said the group is not trying to attack fellow Republicans.
"When there are differences on policy, I believe it is fair to point those out and to educate the grassroots citizens about differences on policy," Page said.
The chosen ones
The S.C. Club for Growth has no such qualms about announcing its intentions.
"I would not be surprised if Wednesday morning we wake up to some changes of who is elected and who isn't," said Joshua Gross, the Club for Growth's executive director.
Gross said the Club for Growth is supporting challengers in four different races against Republican House incumbents.
The groups are also supporting one incumbent and candidates for five open seats. They have also raised money for Karen Floyd, the choice of all three groups, in her bid for education superintendent.
Gross acknowledges that if the chosen candidates of these organizations do not win Tuesday, the repercussions could be loud.
If they don't score victories, Gross said, "I might be posting resumes."
Conservatives in Action has been responsible for some of the most biting anti-incumbency advertising. Of Cotty, one group mailing says the Northeast Richland lawmaker is "spending like he's got money to burn."
Another says "Figuring out how Rep. Bill Cotty wasted your tax dollars is as easy as following the footprints ..." and goes on to list a series of projects the group says are frivolous.
Cotty faces Sheri Few on Tuesday. Few supports the tuition tax credit program for which SCRG and the others advocate.
Taft Matney, executive director of Conservatives in Action, said his group is not being overtly negative but is trying to point out differences between candidates.
Cotty's "philosophies differ with those of his opponent, Sheri Few, in terms of how they would approach votes," Matney said. "He has never been a friend of really even examining the option of school choice."
Ties that bind
One major thing separates the Club for Growth from South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action. Gross's organization is purely political. The other two label themselves educational and lobbying groups focused on issues, not campaigns.
The practical difference is Club for Growth must file reports detailing where its money comes from and how it is spent.
And while the State Ethics Commission believes the others do, too, thus far neither has, saying the law does not require it.
But there is no denying both are spending big money on the issues and their advertising specifically mentions candidates who disagree with them.
Many of the candidates they support are receiving thousands of dollars in contributions from a group of corporations and individuals around the country who support school choice.
Through corporations set up in New York, Maryland, Texas and Georgia, a New York real estate developer named Howard Rich has contributed nearly $40,000 to Floyd and seven House challengers.
Rich is president of U.S. Term Limits and is a major sponsor of national school choice campaigns. He is also active in the libertarian Cato Institute. Efforts to reach Rich were unsuccessful.
Page, the SCRG president, said people like Howard Rich have no stake in these races other than a strong belief in the issues the candidates support.
Sanford's shadow seen in many races
By Aaron Gould Sheinin
Knight Ridder
COLUMBIA - Tuesday's primary election amounts to no less than a battle for the soul of the S.C. Republican Party.
Mark Sanford's name will appear only once on the GOP primary ballot, but the incumbent governor and his philosophies will dominate races across the state.
Less spending, limited government and school choice are barometers being used to measure the credentials of Republican candidates. Three separate groups - although critics say they aren't separate at all - have emerged as players this election in selecting and endorsing candidates with whom they agree, and denouncing those with whom they do not.
S.C. Club for Growth, South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action are aiming to elect candidates that buy into their belief system, which so closely mirrors Sanford's as to have been lifted from his campaign material.
Agree and you are a "true Republican." Oppose them and you are a "RINO" - a Republican in Name Only, the preferred negative label of the new wave.
The organizations and their causes have nearly as much at stake Tuesday as the candidates: Win and see your influence soar and your issues gain traction in a recalcitrant state government.
Lose, and be prepared to embrace obscurity.
The three groups have similar platforms and support, and the cross-pollination of their advocacy of certain candidates projects an image of collaboration.
Their connections and methods have raised legal concerns about campaign funding and have sparked one federal lawsuit.
The story of the groups' rise is partly a coming-of-age tale, as the Republican Party veers toward total domination of the state's political scene, and party an early-warning system: Is the party growing so large it risks eating its own?
Stress fractures
State party chairman Katon Dawson said its not to the point where Republicans have to worry about fractures. But cracks are starting to appear.
"What's happened to us as a party is, once you reach majority status, you quit blocking and tackling," he said. "You've got to start calling the plays."
Dawson said for generations the Republican Party in South Carolina was focused on growth.
After taking over the House of Representatives in 1994, the focus switched to the Senate, which the GOP grabbed in 2000. Now, with comfortable leads in both chambers, plus control of seven of nine statewide offices, the party is less focused on growing than it is on leading the state in its preferred directions.
"When you're in the minority, you really do all get along," Dawson said. "Why? Because you have to. When you're in the majority, you don't have to, and different ideas, different strategies surface and then there's a debate and sometimes the debate is ugly."
The challenge has become picking the direction the party goes. And organizations like Club for Growth and the others want that direction to be of their choosing.
"All were doing is standing up for the basic ideals of the party," said Randy Page, president of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, another activist group.
Beyond choice
SCRG was created three years ago primarily to fight for school choice in the form of tuition tax credits. Sanford is a supporter of the plan to give tax credits to parents to send their children to private school. The governor introduced the plan shortly after taking office after campaigning in 2002 on a plan to give state-funded private school vouchers to parents.
After seeing its signature proposal fail in the Republican-controlled House the past two years, SCRG has focused on selected primaries where incumbent House Republicans face opposition, as well as in the party's education superintendent race.
The organization has paid for radio ads and mail pieces critical of the House incumbents, including Rep. Bill Cotty, R-Richland, all of whom have opposed the tax credit plan. It has also sponsored mail pieces critical of Bob Staton, a Republican education superintendent candidate.
Page and his group insist they are nonpartisan, are not "attacking" candidates and are not involved directly in campaigns. That could jeopardize their status as a nonprofit with the Internal Revenue Service.
But the State Ethics Commission has said the organization meets the threshold of state law in that it tries to "influence the outcome of an election," and is insisting the group file reports disclosing how it spends its money. SCRG has refused and has filed a federal lawsuit, accusing the commission of violating its First Amendment rights. That case is pending.
Page said the group is not trying to attack fellow Republicans.
"When there are differences on policy, I believe it is fair to point those out and to educate the grassroots citizens about differences on policy," Page said.
The chosen ones
The S.C. Club for Growth has no such qualms about announcing its intentions.
"I would not be surprised if Wednesday morning we wake up to some changes of who is elected and who isn't," said Joshua Gross, the Club for Growth's executive director.
Gross said the Club for Growth is supporting challengers in four different races against Republican House incumbents.
The groups are also supporting one incumbent and candidates for five open seats. They have also raised money for Karen Floyd, the choice of all three groups, in her bid for education superintendent.
Gross acknowledges that if the chosen candidates of these organizations do not win Tuesday, the repercussions could be loud.
If they don't score victories, Gross said, "I might be posting resumes."
Conservatives in Action has been responsible for some of the most biting anti-incumbency advertising. Of Cotty, one group mailing says the Northeast Richland lawmaker is "spending like he's got money to burn."
Another says "Figuring out how Rep. Bill Cotty wasted your tax dollars is as easy as following the footprints ..." and goes on to list a series of projects the group says are frivolous.
Cotty faces Sheri Few on Tuesday. Few supports the tuition tax credit program for which SCRG and the others advocate.
Taft Matney, executive director of Conservatives in Action, said his group is not being overtly negative but is trying to point out differences between candidates.
Cotty's "philosophies differ with those of his opponent, Sheri Few, in terms of how they would approach votes," Matney said. "He has never been a friend of really even examining the option of school choice."
Ties that bind
One major thing separates the Club for Growth from South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives in Action. Gross's organization is purely political. The other two label themselves educational and lobbying groups focused on issues, not campaigns.
The practical difference is Club for Growth must file reports detailing where its money comes from and how it is spent.
And while the State Ethics Commission believes the others do, too, thus far neither has, saying the law does not require it.
But there is no denying both are spending big money on the issues and their advertising specifically mentions candidates who disagree with them.
Many of the candidates they support are receiving thousands of dollars in contributions from a group of corporations and individuals around the country who support school choice.
Through corporations set up in New York, Maryland, Texas and Georgia, a New York real estate developer named Howard Rich has contributed nearly $40,000 to Floyd and seven House challengers.
Rich is president of U.S. Term Limits and is a major sponsor of national school choice campaigns. He is also active in the libertarian Cato Institute. Efforts to reach Rich were unsuccessful.
Page, the SCRG president, said people like Howard Rich have no stake in these races other than a strong belief in the issues the candidates support.
posted by SCGOP at 2:30 AM
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