Thompson to spend Saturday in S.C.

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson will make two stops in S.C. Saturday. The former U.S. senator from Tennessee will appear in the Lowcountry.

Below are details of his visit.

Saturday

10:45 a.m. Thompson visits The Land of the Sky Gun Show in Ladson at the Exchange Park Fairgrounds.

12:30 p.m. Meet and greet at Sticky Fingers at 1200 N. Main Street in Summerville.

 

Comments

[DemoTaker]

My good friend, the Georgetown Democrat, shared this with me in reference to a response from SCRG President Randy Page to Jamie Sanderson's letter in the Georgetown Times and The Sun News recently. Mr. Sanderson wrote a letter in response as well, but that's posted at the Georgetown County Democratic Party's blog. Here's Georgetown Democrat's:

Randy Page, the head lobbyist for the voucher group South Carolinians for Responsible Government, must take the good folks of Georgetown for fools. In his recent letter to the Georgetown Times, Page claims to have opened SCRG’s books to public scrutiny. He implies that because he files the financial disclosures for SCRG’s Political Action Committee on a quarterly basis, his organization is transparent.

What Page doesn’t say (because he cannot say it) is that SCRG is not bankrolled from out-of-state. The trivial amount of funds in SCRG’s Political Action Committee is a pittance when compared to SCRG’s actual operating budget.

SCRG received over $1.3 million in funding in 2005, according to tax records. Last year, over $3 million was funneled to the group, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

However, their PAC 2006Q3 ($2,048) and 2006Q4 ($32,710) reports a drastic drop in funds (hint).

In other words, Randy Page thinks he can claim “transparency” by disclosing where less than 5% of SCRG’s funds come from. Boy, I sure hope his car windshield is more transparent than that.

So where does all the mysterious voucher money come from? That’s the dirty little secret Randy Page and SCRG Chairman Tom Swatzel don’t want you to know. Because they want you to think their voucher agenda is a South Carolina, grass roots idea.

Fortunately, SCRG isn’t very good at keeping secrets.

SCRG’s earliest tax return, from 2004, features what appears to be a patent error: the fledgling group’s phone number is listed as 847-657-7251.

As you may realize, that isn’t a South Carolina telephone listing. It was the phone number for U.S. Term Limits, an organization belonging to New York millionaire libertarian Howard Rich. Whoops -- so much for being a “South Carolina” idea.

SCRG’s first president, Todd McCauley, was a field representative of U.S. Term Limits whose work for Howard Rich’s libertarian initiatives around the country eventually led him to the Palmetto State. Randy Page took the reins when McCauley was caught forging letters to the editor of the State Newspaper. So much for being “grassroots.”

In 2006, Rich spent over $160,000 funding South Carolina legislative candidates, Democratic and Republican, who would buy into his extremist, anti-public school ideology. At least three of these candidates received over 90% of their funds from outside South Carolina, and Howard Rich became the single biggest individual donor in the state. From New York City.

The point is this: Randy Page and Tom Swatzel can spend millions of Howard Rich’s New York dollars trying to convince us that their group isn’t just a Howard Rich puppet group. I would simply advise them that it didn’t work for Rich’s other failed puppet groups, “Missourians In Charge,” “Montanans in Action” and “Oklahomans for Good Government.”

Bottom line: Here in real-world South Carolina, most folks, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, don’t want public money diverted to private schools. And Randy Page’s dubious claims of transparency are no substitute for the grass-roots support he so sorely lacks.

And yes, here are the sources:

SCRG’s tax returns: foundationcenter.org
SCRG’s 2006 funds: SC secretary of State Website

[Kevin Reeds]

These Federal candidates share little or nothing in common with us - and would head a regime that is destroying the culture and people of South Carolina. It's time to depart from this failed "union" - and leave it to its inevitable demise. All empires fall - and Washington, DC shall be no different.

[Cap Fendig]

Term Limits Candidate

My name is Cap Fendig and I am a Republican 2008 Presidential Candidate from Georgia where I am an elected offical, currently serving my 2nd term.
In 2000, the American voters put the Republican Party in charge of Congress and the White House to implement legislation on issues significant to the American people. They accomplished nothing. In 2004, the American voters put the Democrats in charge of Congress and they have accomplished nothing. Why is Congress, both parties, so disconnected from the expectations of the majority of Americans? The same can be said for most of the Republican candidates. I believe I represent a majority viewpoint where voters want term limits for Congress. Our Founding Fathers meant for everyday citizens to go to Washington with a sense of limited time and focus to accomplish the people's business then come home. They never meant for Washington to become the home of the career politician who is obligated to special interests, and has no sense of urgency to accomplish needful legislation. That is why I propose term limits and there needs to be one Presidential candidate who is willing to speak for many American voters. See electcap.us Join me for a better America and let us, we the people, still make America what we want it to be. Thanks, Cap Fendig