The Shot!

State House candidate says that SCRG is about the privatization of education.

We just received the following letter from Republican State House candidate to Randy Page of SCRG asking him to reveal the true motive of the out-of-state group.

Herndon is running against Sheri Few, who was the darling of SCRG in 2006. They are practically funding her campaign again this year.

Here’s the letter:

To: SCRG
From: David Herndon, Republican for House District 79

Dear sirs,

As you are aware, I am a Republican candidate for the S.C. House of Representatives. I am writing because I am concerned about your involvement in not just this race, but many others across the state as well.

It has been brought to my attention that your special-interest organization has sent out many mailings in many Legislative races in South Carolina. Some of these postcards simply promote candidates, but others are “attack pieces” which aim to discredit Republican office-holders who support public education.

While state law certainly allows special interest groups to endorse whomever you wish, these mailings leave many unanswered questions. First, and most importantly, nowhere in any of these mailings — at least the ones I am aware of — do you disclose the true motives of your group.

It is my understanding the purpose of your organization is to advocate private school vouchers. Strangely, neither your advocacy of vouchers nor your preferred candidates’ support for vouchers is mentioned in any of your mailings.

As a public school parent, I strongly support public education, and I believe your private-school voucher scheme would only drain needed funding away from public school classrooms. However, I view this as an honest difference of opinion, and I certainly believe it is important for elected Representatives to find a common ground with those of other viewpoints. What I do have a problem with is that your organization is not disclosing your true motives. I feel this amounts to misleading voters.

Last month, I wrote to my opponent, Mrs. Few, to express my concern about your involvement in this race. My concerns were based on your previous track record of running negative, deceptive campaigns against Republican office-holders who support education; your attempts to disguise your true motives; and published reports that say much, if not a majority, of your funding comes from out-of-state. (In my opinion, your negative campaign against Bill Cotty in 2006 was perhaps the most negative our community has ever been subjected to.)

My letter still has received no response, so I decided to contact your organization directly.

I am writing you with this public challenge: In the rest of your mailings this election cycle, please level with the voters about your true motive — the privatization of education. The voters deserve honesty. And after all, your group calls itself “South Carolinians for Responsible Government.” I would think the hallmark of anyone claiming to advocate “responsible government” would see the value in being as honest and up front as possible with the voters.

So what do you say, SCRG? Do the voters not deserve to be told the truth about your group’s purpose as you fill up their mailboxes with attack pieces, pictures of pigs and postcards about conservative judges?

I look forward to your response, and I hope you will answer this challenge. The voters deserve as much.

Thank you,

David Herndon

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 1:51 pm and is filed under The Shot. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.