Sliced, diced and fried
primary candidates,
just for you
By Brad Warthen
Editorial Page Editor
‘AW, GEE, PA! Candidate endorsement interview vignettes for Sunday dinner again?”
Listen, you apathetic little ingrates — this is what I’ve been doing all week, and I’ve been doing it for you, so this is what we have. Shut up, sit down and eat!
Please.
Monday, 5:30 p.m. Northwest Richland County needs full-time representation, says William Malinowski, and that’s why he should be chosen over two other Republicans for County Council. He’s retired after 31 years as an FBI agent dealing with “real-life” situations. “I did it. I was out there, I met people face to face in the trenches,” he says. He would exact impact fees from developers to build an infrastructure fund, and tame growth with a “master plan.”
Tuesday, noon. On the Lexington side of Columbiana, Art Guerry wants his old job back. After 12 years on County Council, he was ousted by John Carrigg. Mr. Guerry says he now agrees with his opponent, who said in 1994 that 12 years was long enough.
1:30 p.m. S.C. Sen. Tommy Moore would “make every school in South Carolina the best choice.” As governor, the Democrat
would seek to raise the cigarette tax to fund Medicaid. He takes pride in bringing conflicting parties together on divisive issues. But if he has a fire in the belly for this race, I couldn’t see the smoke. Maybe I’m wrong. See the video clip at my blog (be warned that it takes a while to load), and see what you think.
4 p.m. “You can improve education by throwing money at it,” said Moore rival
Dennis Aughtry. Where will it come from? He insists that casino gambling would do away with all of South Carolina’s problems, from unemployment to property taxes. “I don’t want to sound like it’s the end-all and be-all,” he said. “But frankly, it is.”
5 p.m. “I’m not going to say right now that I’m absolutely going
to do this, or I’m absolutely not going to do that,” said Jim Holcombe, seeking the same job as Mr. Malinowski. That’s good. A councilman should have an open mind. But he should have something to say about such major issues as how to pay for the regional bus system. He was more interested in school District 5. I agree that it’s “a great system if we don’t let a small group” drag it down. But it doesn’t have much to do with Richland County Council.
Wednesday, 10 a.m. “I am, literally, the average person,” said Republican Kerry Wood, who wants to be state schools superintendent. The programmer from Leesville would do away with textbooks and replace them with laptops. Kids would have less to lug around. He also wants smaller classrooms. He said the money for that is already there: “I hear about waste all the time.”
11 a.m. Challenger Mike Campbell, son of the late governor, avoids mentioning incumbent Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer. He will acknowledge this big difference, though: “He is pleased with the office in its current form. I want to see it restructured” so that the lieutenant is on the same team as the governor. “It’s not the lieutenant governor’s job to go up there and fight the governor. That’s crazy.”
12:30 p.m. Having sold his Upstate business and moved to the
beach, Bill McKown is also running for a job that should be appointed by the governor: secretary of state. The Surfside councilman said the big difference between him and incumbent Mark Hammond is that “I don’t need this job.” He said he’s running because the position needs someone with business experience, while Mr. Hammond has “never signed the front of a check; he’s always signed the back…”
1:30 p.m. Folks had told Karen Floyd there was no way we would endorse her. Why? Because the
governor has broken with convention to anoint her, over her four Republican rivals, for superintendent of education, and the governor has only one education “reform” plan — tax credits for private school tuition. But that’s just one of 68 ideas on Mrs. Floyd’s platform, so for more than two hours, she really put her heart into trying to win our support. She was smart, charming, energetic, sincere and sent ideas just chasing each other across the table. Ironically, a bigger problem than “choice” might be her lack of investment in the PACT and the Education Accountability Act, which together constitute the main theme of actual school reform in South Carolina. But she is suspicious of anything presented as a panacea. She prefers “crumbling the cookie piece by piece” to embracing any one, big approach. Because of that, there’s more to her than the two main issues. That makes this one complicated.
3:30 p.m. This one’s easy. Bill Banning, prime advocate for regional cooperation when he was on Lexington County Council, came in and gave us reasons why he should get the seat back from Joe Owens, who refused to do so.
Thursday, 10 a.m. Republican Ken Clark, one of the most articulate education
advocates in the S.C. House, was threatened with strong primary opposition when he fought tax credits. What he got was Kit Spires, who gives confusing answers on the issue. He says he wants to lower property taxes because “that’s what the most of the people are interested in.” But he can’t say which tax plan before the Legislature he favors, because he hasn’t had time to find out about them.
11:30 a.m. Perpetual coroner candidate Alvin Portee is making changes. He’s a Democrat again, and he wants Paul Livingston’s seat on Richland County Council. Mr. Livingston is running on his record: He’s proudest of his advocacy of neighborhood improvement, and his role in bringing civility back to the council.
1:30-ish. “I’m serious about it,” Republican Sen. Greg Ryberg says. Don’t doubt
him. He’s put $2 million of his own money into his bid to be state treasurer. He says the job requires a business background such as his, which is why it is another office that would be better filled by appointment. “I think getting the most votes doesn’t get you the qualifications,” which is why the state missed out on millions in investment opportunities in the 1990s. “That being said, I certainly want the most votes.” He smiled at that, but believe him — he’s serious.
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