Speaking of Republican women and media…
There was a flurry of excitement earlier in the day when word was going around that Kara Gormley Meador, formerly of WIS, was preparing to run for the Senate against Jake Knotts. As Jack Kuenzie reported:
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – The race for state Senate District 23 was thrown a major curveball Thursday with the announcement from a former WIS anchor and reporter that she intends to enter the race.
Kara Gormley Meador enters an already crowded field of contenders in the form of former Lexington County GOP chair Katrina Shealy and incumbent Sen. Jake Knotts.
Meador says she had been considering the decision for a while and planned on rolling out her campaign on March 1, but rumors began to spread that she was looking to make a run at the seat….
And when I say excitement, I mean excitement. Check this sampling of comments from her Facebook page:
- I am SO PuMpEd! You go Kara! I know you’re gonna win this! I’m your biggest fan!
- Iam in tears…tears of joy. Kara I am so proud of you words in this status could never express it. I have already put you on a prayer list. As I shared with Jim Matthews when he ran: Proverbs 29:2, “When the righteous increase(rule in other versions), the people rejoice, But when a wicked man rules, people groan.” I love you!
- YES!!! YesYesYesYesYesYES!!!! We’re buying property in Lexington County JUST so we can VOTE! GO KARA!!!!
See what I mean? Mitt Romney would kill for a tenth of that enthusiasm for his candidacy. That sort of enthusiasm makes the excitement about Obama in 2008 look like tepid dislike. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever run across that much enthusiasm for anybody. If anyone hurled it at me, I think I’d back away in fright. Fortunately, that’s not likely.
In any case, it was all for naught, as this was reported later in the day by a certain rival news organization:
The Lexington Election Commission says the recent redrawing of state Senate districts means former WIS anchor Kara Gormley Meador can not run for the state Senate seat held by Jake Knotts.
Instead, Meador will be in district 18, held by Sen. Ronnie Cromer. That race is already crowded, with former Lexington County Republican party chairman Rich Bolen saying he plans to run.
Filing for state Senate seats does not open until March…
So I guess Jake has escaped having a tidal wave of enthusiasm wash over him…
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My money is on Jakie
You mean, against Katrina Shealy? That’s who’s running against him, again…
I liked Kara on TV, but her lack of understanding the real electoral situation before announcing her candidacy is so simple minded and ignorant (especially for an “investigative reporter”)! I wouldn’t consider voting for any individual who is that politically naive. She needs to get some basic elected experience preferably in locally elected office. I guess that really isn’t a good suggestion given Trikki Nikki.
Cromer is a good businessman and is a very responsive elected official.
Hi J!
I totally understand where you are coming from. What a dim wit I would be if I didn’t even check my district before moving forward. The crazy thing is, I was aware of redistricting in our state so I checked with the county a handful of times to verify that I did indeed live in District 23. Each time I called and gave my address, the county voter registration office assured me that I resided in District 23. I checked Jake’s legislative website where there is a map of his district listed and sure enough, my street is there in 23. The folks at the voter registration office told me yesterday that they haven’t changed any information over to the new districts yet, because the issue is still in litigation. In hindsight, I should have checked with the election commission too, but I never felt there was a reason to. I’m not passing blame here, the county folks were always super nice and professional.. this is just a weird circumstance that nobody could have ever predicted. For what it’s worth. Blessings!
Nathan Ballentine and the Clemson Carolina game law, now this. Ya’ll got something in the water over there?
I tried to download the updated house and senate districts today from the SC Budget and Control Board, and of course they weren’t posted. I called and spoke to one of the employees and he said “well, we don’t really want those to get distributed yet, because of a lawsuit, and because they might be changed as a result, so we don’t want to cause any confusion.” To which my response was: “How can people know if they want to file a lawsuit, or even if they want to run for office, if they don’t know the district boundaries?” He ended up emailing them to me, and lo and behold, I am now in a different state senate district! My initial impression of the new boundaries is that they are gerrymanderrific! They are not geographically compact at all…
Run, Kara, run. You go, girl!
Well then, if the information has not been made public because it’s still in litigation and not finalized – then maybe Kara will be able to run against Jake! When will it be settled? I agree, Go Kara!
Thanks Kathryn and Scout! Scout..If things stand as they are, I’m out. However, if there are concessions made in the suit, I could be in. I was told that they hope to have everything figured out before filing day which is mid-March. Exactly Silence! Again, in hindsight, I guess I should have called the Election Commission to be sure of the boundaries, but I never considered that the county wasn’t giving me the potential updated version of the lines. When they told me 23..(and I checked a number of times) I assumed that was accurate. If the new districts stand I think a lot of folks will be confused by who their legislators are on voting day. Hopefully Brad and others will help educate everyone on this issue as election day gets closer and the suit comes to a conclusion.
This “confusion” seems kinda fishy to me.
Should it really be this difficult to determine what district you live in? It’s not as though Meador just randomly announced she was running for office without doing any due diligence.
I don’t know that this is “fishy” so much as unnecessarily bureaucratic.
It would seem that from what Kara posted above that she checked with county officials several times to verify what district she lived in and got the same response each time. Therefore, one can assume that the county officials aren’t even aware of what’s going in terms of redistricting.
Ms. Meador – Best of luck, and I hope you DO end up in “ol’ Knocky’s” district so you can replace him!
Cotton Boll.. I think what the county employee told Silence (posted earlier)sums it up. The county doesn’t want to change everything and notify everyone of the new boundaries, only to find that the boundaries change back to the original lines due to the suit. It’s a crazy situation. Lucky me, that this would all happen this year.
It’s in the big guys hands now Silence.. we’ll see how it all shakes out.
Should we expect anything but a major SNAFU from the government? In the real world, people get fired for this kind of incompetence.
@ Kara, Kathryn & Cotton – I bypassed the county and went straight to the SC Budget & Control Board, Office of Research and Statistics.
The Digital Cartography and Precinct Demographics Section is responsible for maintaining maps of record that document the various election districts and voting precincts in South Carolina.
The person I spoke with was very helpful, but I think it’s a bit fishy too that these new districts haven’t been publicized more.
I didn’t know I was changing districts until I got a call from a state senator’s office asking when our next neighborhood meeting was, so that he could come out and meet his new constituents!
I’m not a redistricting/civil rights lawyer, but I’d be willing to work with one to dissect the new districts….
@Silence and Cotton Boll
Bureaucracy is South Carolina’s only export. It is a statewide problem, confirmed to me again this morning by the local (Lexington) po-lice who instructed me to call and call and call again to get anything accomplished. Honest people recognize this for the distraction that it is: it keeps us busy while the crooked cops and crooked judges and politicians (no need for the modifier) work on their schemes and scams.
#Truth
Good morning folks. I checked with an attorney who is working on the redistricting suit. It sounds as if I am out of 23 for good. The suit underway is based on race. The attorney told me that gerrymandering is not illegal, unless there is a racial component. It is another sad truth about our elected officials; they can draw the lines in a way that helps keep them in office. Just one more reason I am for term limits for our legislators. I still have some decisions to make, like whether or not to run in District 18. It’s something that I am strongly considering.