A Scorecard (Of Sorts) of SC Conservative Infighting

Maybe it’s the heat. Or all the rain we’ve been having. Or maybe it’s just that it’s summer and people are a little bored. Or maybe these people actually don’t like each other. Whatever the reason, in the last few weeks some conservatives in South Carolina have not been getting along so well.

It all started when Karen Martin, founder of the Spartanburg Tea Party, blasted Harry Kibler on her blog.  Martin criticized Kibler for working with the South Carolina Policy Council (SCPC) to hold State Sen. Shane Martin (R- Spartanburg) accountable for votes that may have been a conflict of interest.

Two notes:

1. Saying “it all started when...” is probably not quite accurate. Some of the feuds recounted here have no doubt been brewing for some time.

2. Patch and TheNerve.com, the media arm of the South Carolina Policy Council, have a content-sharing agreement.

Karen Martin’s criticism of Kibler, the founder of RinoHunt.net, is notable because the two were formerly simpatico, having worked together on Operation Lost Vote, the very successful effort to get candidates who were thrown off the ballot last summer back on via petition.

In her diatribe, Karen Martin seemed to take a shot at the Republican Liberty Council (RLC). Martin says she meant no insult, but the RLC still responded at length, reiterating its support for Sen. Martin.

Sen. Martin has not discussed any of this publicly.

As this dispute was dying down another one cropped up.

A point of emphasis for the SCPC has been to push state legislators to disclose their sources of income. South Carolina is the only state that doesn’t require legislators to do so. At the SCPC’s prompting, some legislatures did disclose, but most did not. So, Ashley Landess, SCPC’s president, has kept up the pressure.

One of the blessings (and curses) of living in the social media era is the immediacy with which someone can respond to a criticism. Landess has used it to call out legislators and be a longtime critic of House Speaker Bobby Harrell (an argument could be made that she played a large role in getting SLED to investigate him).

But last week an anonymous blog called GOPWrite.com took to Twitter and accused Landess (and SCPC) of being a hypocrite for demanding legislators disclose their income while keeping SCPC’s donors anonymous. SCPC is a non-profit corporation. A few people (again via Twitter) took note of the irony of an anonymous blog accusing an organization of not being transparent.

Eventually a pair of consultants, David Carter and Thomas Higgs, fired back at Landess. Landess promptly accused GOP consultant Wesley Donehue of being behind GOPWrite.com, which he denied.

Then things got testy. Carter accused one of Landess’ defenders, Talbert Black, of having once had a restraining order filed against him and posted the public record to his Twitter account. In fact, it was Black who filed the restraining order, not the other way around. Carter has since apologized to Black.

A snippet of the exchange can be viewed here. It went on for a while.

If this sounds like a cyber version of a playground fight, you wouldn’t be the only one to make that observation.

For the record, when asked, Carter, Higgs and Donehue all denied involvement in GOPWrite.com and agreed that it needs to cease being anonymous if it’s to be a credible critic of Landess and SCPC.

It’s important to note that none of the people involved in these spats actually hold office or have an official capacity in the party. So, what does it all mean? Will all this bickering have any impact at the polls or on policy? Probably not. It will probably be forgotten in a few months.

Nevertheless, it still must be noted that in the past few months GOP chairs in the two largest counties—Greenville and Charleston—resigned suddenly rather than deal with internal bickering.

But perhaps the most telling point of all? Democrats have so little impact on government at the moment that Republicans are arguing with themselves rather than their opposition.

Still, there is no doubt many in the GOP who would prefer that whatever disagreements exist among party members be dealt with in private.

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