Gov. Sanford called me Wednesday to complain about a certain op-ed piece that ran on our pages that day, and to level certain accusations at the author.
His substantial problem with the column was that he regarded it as unfair. His vote against the Violence Against Women Act was one of many, and all part of his attempt to draw attention to the fact that these programs were being financed out of Social Security — something those who voted for the bills were happy to ignore. He also noted that, contrary to his critic’s assertion that he would “Cut taxes above all else,” he actually voted against a tax cut in 1998, and was one of only a handful of Republicans to do so (the other GOP members from South Carolina voted for it).
Beyond that, he challenged the provenance of the essay itself. He maintained that not only was contributor Ross Shealy the son of Lexington County Republican political operative Rod Shealy Sr., but that he didn’t actually write the piece himself: "That’s his Dad writing," said the governor. "I think it’s important that you know that."
Well, I appreciated the heads-up, but I suspected that the governor was mistaken on this one. For one thing, I thought the piece (while it may or may not have been entirely fair to the governor) was well-written. (And it did present a defensible view of the governor — that he has a strong aversion to spending taxes, and a stong affinity for cutting them.) And while nothing that Shealy pere has written in the past has particularly engraved itself upon my memory, I don’t recall having the thought "That’s well-written!" when reading anything purported to be by him.
For his part, when I reached him a couple of days later in an effort to reassure myself that we had not committed a fraud upon the readers, Mr. Shealy — Ross, that is — said, "Yeah, I wrote it."
This made sense to me, because although Rod Shealy and the governor may not see eye to eye, it seemed unlikely that a Republican — even a maverick Republican — would want to take that kind of chance against a popular governor of his own party. Stranger things have happened, of course, but I just really think the governor’s barking up the wrong tree.
Of course, maybe I’m just being gullible here, but Mr. Ross Shealy was pretty convincing. I believe his beef is his own. As he put it, "This governor really leaves a bad taste in my mouth." Which would help to explain why the only other time I can remember running an op-ed by this author, it also targeted Mr. Sanford for heavy criticism.
"On the political spectrum, I’m nowhere close to my brother or my Dad," he said. "I’m just not politically affiliated in any way. I don’t agree with them."
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The most extraordinary thing about this piece is that our governor is faced with an endless list of tasks: the urgent need to do political fence-mending, finally showing leadership on education, gov’t restructuring, or a whole host of other issues, and he takes the time to personally pick up the phone and complain about some bad press? And not even bad press, but a bad opinion piece??
Does he pick up the phone like that to call legislators and lobby for his issues? Does he even call reporters or editorial writers to lobby for his platform, policies or issues? Every time I read about him calling reporters or ed writers, he’s always talking about himself.
If only he showed the same passion for other people and their well-being. Now that would be leadership.
Well, in fairness to the governor, I should point out that he DOES call to promote his positions on issues — and he does so very politely and patiently.
This call was much like those. It wasn’t so much that the governor was whining. His manner was of one who was essentially saying, “I don’t think you would have run that piece if you had understood the following…”
And his points about his voting record were well taken — although I don’t think they impeached the Shealy piece to the point that I wouldn’t have run it. The governor had his take on his record, and Mr. Shealy had a different one.
Where the governor was wrong, I believe — unless I’m just being completely naive and misjudging Mr. Shealy — was in saying that Mr. Shealy the Younger was not the author.
Brad, I enjoyed your recent op-ed and continue to enjoy reading your blog. I recently emailed to you two press releases regarding something very innovative that we are working on at Beaufort High School. Beaufort High School has been chosen as one of only seven high schools across the U.S. to help develop a new health sciences curriculum that will be part of a national four-year high school program of instruction. The idea is to encourage more high school students to consider healthcare careers. There are severe shortages in many healthcare facilities and, as the population ages and “baby boomers” retire, the shortages are predicted to reach a crisis in some communities. And Beaufort is the home to many of those new retirees. Anyway, just wanted you to be aware of what the public system was doing down here, promoting a healthcare cluster, being innovative. And this tribute coming from an avowed Sanfordite, no less! Say hello to Cindi and the gang for me.
Brad,
You state, “Although Rod Shealy and the governor may not see eye to eye, it seemed unlikely that a Republican — even a maverick Republican — would want to take that kind of chance against a popular governor of his own party.”
If I’m not mistaken, someone recently pointed out to me that Rod Shealy is running the campaign of Governor Sanford’s challenger Oscar Lovelace.
Perhaps there is more truth to the Governor’s statement than you give credit for.