Here is the latest news about
the Upstate Republican Women
Rep. Gresham Barrett, State Sen. David Thomas,
attorney Allen Wilson, Lt. Col. Bill Connor
at Feb. 15 URW Meeting
 |
 |
 |
Sen. David Thomas |
Allen Wilson, Bill Connor, |
Gresham and Natalie Barrett |
Video of Sen. David Thomas
Video of Allen WilsonRep. Gresham Barrett, state Sen. David Thomas and attorney Allen Wilson spoke to the Upstate Republican Women at their monthly meeting Feb. 15 at the Poinsett Club.
Bill Connor, a candidate for lieutenant governor, visited the club to meet members and guests. For more information visit Connor’s web site at www.voteconnor.com.
President Suzette Jordan led the meeting and Vice President Phyllis Foster introduced the speakers.
Gresham Barrett, candidate for governor
Rep. Barrett, a candidate for governor, said the June primary is not going to be a popularity contest but it is going to be about who has a definitive plan for South Carolina.
Rep. Barrett said: “I believe in God (with him all things are possible), the sanctity of life and that we as leaders must do everything we can to protect that life. I believe that innovation not taxation is the way we solve our energy problems, and that South Carolina can be and should be the nation’s leader when it comes to energy independence.”
He went on to say: “I believe in the Second Amendment, the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this great state. I believe in spending the taxpayers’ dollars wisely and I will not raise taxes as governor to pay for the government of South Carolina. I believe your health care decisions are best left to you and your doctor, not some bureaucrat sitting behind a desk in Washington, D.C.
“I believe in hard work, personal freedom, devotion to family and service to country.”
Barrett concluded: “I believe collectively we can take South Carolina to somewhere she has never been before.” For more information visit Rep. Barrett’s web site at www.greshambarrett.com.
David Thomas, candidate for Congress
Sen. David Thomas recounted his financial reform efforts in the South Carolina legislature and committed to pursue similar changes in Washington. He warned that the only way the U.S. Congress can rein in out of control spending is to raise taxes substantially and inflate the money supply, which will bring on massive percent inflation.
A third solution would be to control spending, but, “believe me, the Democrats are not going to talk about controlling spending.”
Sen. Thomas, the son of a Baptist preacher, said he was in church every Sunday and Wednesday, and that his dad and mom taught him right vs. wrong out of the Bible.
Allen Wilson, candidate for attorney general
Allen Wilson said he is a conservative Republican, pro-life, pro-business, favors small government and is a strict constructionist on Constitutional issues. He mentioned his passion for public service, leadership and for prosecution. He and his three brothers are Eagle Scouts, and all are commissioned officers in the military.
Wilson is a veteran of the Iraqi War, where he led soldiers in combat. “I know what it is like to be shot at, and I know what it is like to have to shoot back,” he said. “It is not fun.”
Eighteen sheriffs, some of whom are Democrats, have endorsed Wilson for attorney general. No other sheriff has endorsed any of the other candidates.
Wilson served as a prosecutor in the 11th circuit Solictor’s Office in Lexington. His main goal if elected attorney general is to keep South Carolinians safe. His work experience as a prosecutor has taught him how to lead a prosecution team and manage a criminal docket, duties the attorney general must perform. For more information visit the Allen Wilson campaign site at www.WilsonForAG.com.
Rep. Bob Inglis and Dr. Brent Nelsen speak
to Upstate Republican Women Jan. 19.
 |
|
Rep. Bob Inglis |
Dr. Brent Nelsen |
Rep. Bob Inglis and Dr. Brent Nelsen, candidate for state superintendent of education, speak to the Upstate Republican Women Jan. 19. Click here for photo gallery.
Reps. Nikki Haley and Tim Scott speak
to Upstate Republican Women Dec. 15.
 |
 |
Suzette Jordan and Tim Scott |
Nikki Haley
and Brenda Schoolfield |
Rep. Nikki Haley, candidate for governor, and Rep. Tim Scott, candidate for lieutenant governor, spoke to the Upstate Republican Women Dec. 15. Betty Poe, incoming president of the South Carolina Federation of Repubican Women, installed new officers for 2010-2011. Click here for photo gallery.
David Wilkins, U.S. ambassador to Canada under President George W. Bush, and former Speaker of the South Carolina House, spoke to the Upstate Republican Women Nov. 17.
Click here for photo gallery.David Wilkins speaks on why America must lead from Thomas Hanson on Vimeo.
State Sen. Larry Grooms, a candidate for governor, and Ken Ard, a Florence County Councilman and candidate for lieutenant governor, speak to the Upstate Republican Women Oct. 20. Click here for photo gallery.
Upstate Republican Women at South Carolina Federation of Republican Women convention in Beaufort Oct. 16 to. 18.
Converse Chellis, South Carolina treasurer, speaks to the Upstate Republican Women Sept. 15. Click here for photo gallery.
URW Cut the Pork Barbecue Aug. 25 photo gallery
Rep. Gresham Barrett speaks to the Upstate Republican Women Aug. 18
Click here for photo gallery.
Rep. Gresham Barrett gave a Washington update to the Upstate Republican Women’s Club Aug. 18 in the Poinsett Club. Rep. Barrett noted that the average utility bill for a South Carolina family is $150 a month, but if the Cap and Trade bill passes Congress in its present form and is signed into law those bills will rise to $400. Rep. Barrett said that Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously voted down an amendment by Phil Gingery (R-Ga.) to the health care reform bill that would have mandated that medical decisions be made between you and your doctor, not between you and a government bureaucrat.
Rep. Gresham Barrett comments on Cap and Trade and Health Care from Thomas Hanson on Vimeo.
Rep. Harry Cato, speaker pro tem, addresses URW July 21
Sen. Larry Grooms talks about his campaign for governor
Joyce Smart runs for at large seat on Greenville City Council
In attendance were Sen. David Thomas (candidate for the Fourth District U.S. House seat), Rep. Eric Bedingfield (candidate for re-election), and Dean Allen, candidate for state adjutant general. Click here for photos.
Speaker Pro Tem
District 17 Greenville CountySen. Larry Grooms
City Council CandidateDistrict 37
Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester
Gubernatorial Candidate
Jamie Bach from the Office of the Governor speaks about
the Governor's Budget battles with the General AssemblyJamie Bach speaks to the Upstate Republican Women May 19 about Gov. Mark Sanford's budget battles with the South Carolina General Assembly and urges members to contact their legislators and urge them to support the Governor. The Governor vetoed major portions of the state budget and legislators were considering whether to sustain or override those vetoes. Click here for photo gallery.
Ashley Landess gives spirited address
against accepting stimulus money at April meetingAshley Landess, president of the South Carolina Policy Council, spoke about refusing stimulus money at the April 21 luncheon at the Poinsett Club. Click here for photo gallery.
Henry McMaster tells Upstate GOP women
Abolish parole: No revolving door for criminals
Click here for photo gallery.
Henry McMaster, the South Carolina attorney general, told Upstate Republican Women meeting at the Poinsett Club March 17 that the state legislature is wrestling with budget cuts, and that tax revenues are not coming in as they did previously. He noted that the state’s unemployment rate is second highest in the nation.
McMaster says abolish parole
from Thomas Hanson on Vimeo.
McMaster, an unannounced candidate for governor, wants to abolish parole in South Carolina like in Virginia and other states. Criminals, except for those convicted of committing violent crimes, would have to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence before appearing before the parole board.
Currently a prisoner can go before the parole board after serving 25 percent to one third of his sentence depending on the crime. A sexual predator serving a 10 year sentence can get out after 22 months. McMaster cited an example of family members of a murdered man who appeared before the parole board 22 times to ensure that the murderer was not given parole.
McMaster also proposes a middle court process for non-violent, non-sexual and non-drug crimes to give judges a third option in addition to prison time or probation. The middle court would have a volunteer judge meeting at night. The process would last at least18 months during which time the offender must work, go to school, get a GED, do community service or pay restitution. He or she must then appear in court once a week to explain compliance with demands. The judge could send the offender back to jail for short periods of time if these demands are not met.
McMaster detailed the lawsuit the state has filed against North Carolina for diverting water that flows into South Carolina from the Catawba River.
North Carolina pumps water out of the Catawba and sends it to cities that use it and return it to a water system that does not enter South Carolina. North Carolina refused to listen to repeated requests from various South Carolina officials to change their policies, so South Carolina asked the U.S. Supreme Court to sit as a trial court in this matter. Though the Supreme Court has only done this 137 times since the court was created in 1789, in 2007 it agreed to take the case.
This case could set a precedent for South Carolina’s water battles with Georgia. The City of Savannah is pumping so much water out of the aquifer that extends into South Carolina that salt water is intruding into it affecting water quality in Beaufort and Jasper counties and at Edisto Beach. This case needs funding from the South Carolina Assembly.
Karen Floyd, a candidate for chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, spoke briefly at the close of the meeting. She noted the 82 percent success rate the party has in elections, and that the party needs to continue to be pro-life, support social conservative issues and second amendment gun rights, and be fiscally conservative
Floyd received a Friends of the Taxpayer award when she served as chairman of the Spartanburg county council.
Feb. 16 meeting: Constituents thank Sen. Jim DeMint for fighting
Click here for photo gallery.
When Sen. Jim DeMint dropped by to address the Upstate Republican Women’s luncheon meeting Jan. 16 at the Poinsett Club, he was met with a standing ovation. The visibly moved senator said the standing ovation was like “getting an infusion of energy,” as “Washington is sucking the life out of me.”
The senator went on to say that “a few years ago people would say, why didn’t you do this or why didn’t you do that, now they just grab my arm and say, ‘Thanks for fighting.’ ”
The senator said that the nation’s only hope is that people and groups be informed and activated and start calling their government to account. He goes to talk radio and Fox News to make his case directly to the American people.
During last year’s debate over immigration reform, GOP congressional leaders gave copies of the legislation to talk show hosts and bloggers, which they read, posted on the web and told their listeners what was contained in the bill. In response, millions of angry Americans called or e-mailed their representatives and defeated that bill.
GOP leaders did the same with legislation about earmarks and the offshore drilling moratorium. Sen. DeMint said that this has even helped put a spine in some Republican legislators who were sitting on the sidelines waiting to see which way the wind would blow.
“We can decide which way the wind blows if we let Americans know what is really going on,” he said.
Sen. DeMint said that a lot of people in Washington do not understand that people make the economy work, and that free markets, not the government, create jobs. The President and his advisers have not participated in the private markets, started their own businesses and signed the front of a paycheck.
“I think most Americans understand intuitively that something is wrong, Sen. DeMint said, and “as long as we have people out here who believe, we can turn things around no matter what Washington does.”
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the House Majority Whip, has promised to make Sen. DeMint a project for defeat when he runs for reelection in 2010. “Many think that South Carolina moved to the left in the last election,” Sen. DeMint said. “We need to show them that South Carolina hasn’t.”
Sen. DeMint said that in Mark Sanford, “we have a governor who understands that you cannot spend your way out of problems. You have to set priorities and cut spending and create a good business environment. I think he is pulling a lot of the legislature along with him, some kicking and screaming, but he is out there fighting for what I think is the right cause for Republicans.”
Sen. DeMint asked URW members to go onto his web site at JimDeMint.com and subscribe to his e-mail updates. He wants to counter negative campaign ads in the coming campaign, which he said will accuse him of voting against children, veterans and farmers. With several hundred thousand e-mails, he can have a readership larger than all the newspapers in the state.
Rep. Bob Inglis, who was at the Poinsett Club for another meeting, greeted the Upstate Republican Women, before the senator arrived.
After Sen. DeMint spoke, Samuel Harms, Greenville County GOP chairman, spoke to the group about the Republican county and state conventions and about a lawsuit he is filing on behalf of the party to end South Carolina’s open party primary system that allows members of either party to vote in the other party’s primary elections.
Betty Poe, the Greenville County GOP first vice chair, spoke about precinct reorganization meetings to take place March 2 at 7 p.m. at polling locations.
Kevin Hall, candidate for state GOP chairman, visited the meeting and talked with URW members and guests.
Suzette Jordan, URW president, chaired the meeting.Deb Sofield speaks at Jan. 20 meeting
Deb Sofield, a member of the Commission of Public Works, discussed the Greenville Water System at our Jan. 20 meeting.
The commission had its beginnings in the early part of the 20th century with a group of citizens who were concerned about the need of water in the area. That group later became the Commission of Public Works, of which Deb was the first female member. She was appointed to the commission by Mayor Knox White and was elected to the board in a citywide election in 2007.
The water system owns and protects three water sources made up of 30,000 acres of watershed: the Table Rock and Poinsett reservoirs and Lake Keowee. They provide water to Greenville as well as many of the towns in the surrounding area. They use a process of treating the water, the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) treatment system, that instead of allowing impurities to settle on the bottom of the water source uses air bubbles to float impurities to the surface where they are skimmed off.
The commission is dedicated to protecting our resources and keeps trespassers out of the watersheds. Deb reminded us that the signs that warn people to stay out of the area mean what they say.
The 2009 budget was also presented and approved.
Upstate Women hear from Susan Reynolds, Amy Ryberg-Doyle,
install 2009 officers at Dec. 16 meeting
 |
 |
Kathy Sheppard signed her new book
I Lost My Husband, Not My Mind
 |
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer speaks
to Upstate Republican Women Oct. 21
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said that the state’s current budget shortfall that prompted Gov. Mark Sanford to call the state legislature back into session “makes Republicans remember why we are Republicans.”
At every level of government, Republicans have been elected Republicans who haven’t acted as Republicans. Bauer said he was elected to rule out tax increases and that the South Carolina government already has more money than it needs.
Bauer made these comments to the Upstate Republican Women meeting at the Poinsett Club Oct. 21.
“One thing that always united us as a party since my mother started dragging me to Republican women’s club meetings back when Goldwater was around,” Bauer said, “was that we thought that government could run more efficiently for less dollars.”
It was easy to differentiate between Republicans and Democrats, he said, because Democrats wanted to grow every social program. Republicans argued that there were many things government should not be involved in, that faith-based organizations, family, friends and neighborhoods should help people out when they have problems.
“We have a lot of people who used to be Democrats who are now Republicans,” Bauer said. “We want to be a big tent party, but when we welcome these folks we must be sure we do not give up our essential values just to get new members.”
Bauer said that Gov. Dick Riley (1979-1987) promised that if he got a one cent tax increase he would solve all the education woes, and President Bill Clinton even made him his secretary of education. “I’m going to clue you in on a little secret,” Bauer said. “We are still in the same place we were 30 years ago. That penny hasn’t fixed it. You can spend all the money in the world, but if you do not have discipline, if you do not have structure, if you do not have an authoritative figure in the teacher, you are not going to change that environment,” adding that “when they took God out of the schools you can look at the test scores and see a dramatic decline in what has happened over the years.”
Bauer said that people who receive goods and services from the government ought to give something back, such as those who receive government help for their children should be mandated to attend parent-teacher conferences.
“I can’t read Lyndon Johnson’s mind,” Bauer said. “He is still my second least favorite president, but maybe his intentions were good. Maybe he really thought that mothers who were left by men needed help, and that is understandable, but we are finding six generations deep now of aid to independent mothers that took a family and rewarded them only if the male left. So there were families who wanted to stay together but the financial incentive was to get the man to leave and have more children. So we incentivized bad behavior.”
Bauer said that politicians don’t want to offend anyone, but that we must have backbones to make a change in politics.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told Bauer that when he was lieutenant governor in Arkansas he was basically like the spare tire on your car. It is kept out of the way, in the dark and all pumped up just in case they need you.
Four years ago Gov. Sanford and the legislature helped Bauer with a campaign promise to increase the duties of the lieutenant governor to be more than just a glorified ribbon cutter. Bauer had just lost both his paternal grandparents, and he was offered the Office on Aging, which administers everything from Meals on Wheels to hurricane evacuations and nursing home investigations.
South Carolina is now the fifth largest state for in-migration of seniors. Six states this year modeled South Carolina legislation. Bauer said that people are looking to us and saying, What are they doing in South Carolina?
Bauer has been pushing law enforcement and media to pick up what is called a Silver Alert, like an Amber alert. When a person demonstrates he cannot take care of himself, and if they go missing, we would put out a Silver alert.
Bauer has conducted 13 listening sessions with seniors on how they have been taken advantage of by senior fraud. Bauer said: “We will make the message clear. If you take advantage of seniors in South Carolina we will try to put you in jail.”
Bauer said his 2006 light plane crash was probably the best thing that ever happened to him because it let him experience what it was like to be disabled. “It let me see exactly what it was like to ask others for help,” Bauer said. “A lot of you prayed for me and I appreciate it.”
Bauer was introduced by Vice President Donna Gottshall. Suzette Jordan is president of the club.
Join us for our next luncheon meeting, Monday, March 15 (please note new day) at noon at the Poinsett Club in Downtown Greenville. Our speaker will be Craig Hartman, author of Through Jewish Eyes.
Please RSVP
by noon, Thursday, March 11,
at RSVP@upstaterepublicanwomen.org
Lunch is $15*
Reservations are required.
Officers
Suzette Jordan, president
Phyllis Foster, vice president
Sheri Chavers, secretary
Connie Holmes, treasurer
Brenda Schoolfield,
president ex officio
Links
Greenville County Republican Party
South Carolina Republican Party
South Carolina Federation of Republican Women
National Federation of Republican Women
The Times Examiner
South Carolina Conservative
State of the State Address, Jan. 14: Rep. Wendy Nanney (standing), Cheryl Cowart (left) and Suzette Jordan.
Rep. Nikki Haley (left) with Brenda Schoolfield.
Lenna Neill with Rep. Tim Scott
Attorney Gen. Henry McMaster
and Katie Wiederman
