Katon Dawson, the former chair of the S.C. Republican Party, wants Gov. Mark Sanford to fork over part of his enormous stash. As of the last reporting period, the Governor, who is term-limited, has $1.68 million in the bank, and can’t use it for himself unless he decided to make a run for federal office.
“This is a catastrophic event that we will have to get over,” Dawson told CNN. “Whenever you have a public official who falls so publicly from grace in a manner that is as indefensible as this, it takes the donors and puts a huge question mark up.”
Dawson, who is in the tank to Howard Rich, should know that Sanford will probably dispose of his cash to the 501(c)3 groups that back his “school choice” proposals, like South Carolinians for Responsible Government’s foundation. Also, there is nothing stopping Sanford allies, like those who set up a myriad of 501(c)4 groups, to create a number of 501(c)3 groups to take his cash and use it for their policy aims.
A while back, a number of sites reported the allegation that Katon Dawson had bought an SUV for the S.C. Republican Party. The SCGOP never really responded, and neither did Dawson, during his run for the RNC chairmanship. It turns out that the state Republican Party is the proud owner of a 2005 GMC Yukon SUV, black in color.
According to sources close to law enforcement, former SCGOP executive director Jay W. Ragley was caught speeding in the state party’s SUV on the way to an event in Newberry County in April of this year. He was pulled over, it was told, on I-26, but after showing that the SUV was owned by the state Republican Party, was allowed to go on to his destination without a ticket.
For what it is worth, we have been provided with the SUV’s license plate and its VIN number, but we are not going to cause the state party the sort of problems that would happen in the event that those were published. However, if Ragley continues his plan of douchebaggery, we may reconsider our decision.
As Katon Dawson’s chairmanship of the S.C. Republican Party draws to a close, it is a good idea to consider what happened last week concerning the departure of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter from the Republican Party and, as CNN’s Peter Hamby wrote about, what that shows about the internal divisions within the SCGOP.
There is U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, de facto leader of the hardcore conservative wing of the GOP (especially in the Senate), and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has made a national reputation for working with moderates to achieve compromise on legislation. DeMint backs former Club for Growth president Pat Toomey for Specter’s seat. Graham blames the Club for some of the GOP’s current problems.
This split between two powerful S.C. Republican senators is but one public outgrowth of the factioning of the SCGOP during Dawson’s reign.
Let us not forget the one that is in the newspapers everyday: the constant tug-of-war between Gov. Mark Sanford and the leadership in the General Assembly. One would think that the man who calls himself the leader of Palmetto State Republicans would have pulled out all the stops to fix the problems and bridge the gap between the Governor’s Mansion and the State House. Instead, he allowed the fighting to continue, impacting the ability to get conservative legislation passed and signed into law.
He also stood back (and, by his interview with Howard Rich, tacitly endorsed in 2008) Sanford’s cannibalistic attempt to take out veteran state legislators in the Republican primaries, not once but twice.
Is the state Republican Party really better off than it was in 2002? If one looks at wins and losses versus Democrats, it could appear that way. But, how long will it take for the Party to recover from the divides of the past several years?
Following the November elections, the S.C. Republican Party sported over $100,000 in debt, but, just before S.C. politico Karen Floyd is expected to assume the chairmanship, the party cleared out its remaining obligations, according to the April federal disclosure report.
It also meant a fine month for Starboard Communications, which was owed the lion’s share of the party’s outstanding debt.
The S.C. Democratic Party’s federal report has yet to show up online, and the same holds true for its state operations account.
SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY
Federal account (April 2009)
Contributions: $94,005.82
Expenditures: $144,288.82
Cash on Hand: $58,825.31
Notable contributions
2009.03.16 | Graham for Senate, $33,500
2009.03.16 | Edward Sellers, $5,000
2009.03.24 | Graham for Senate, $10,000
2009.03.24 | Roger Milliken, $5,000
Notable expenditures
Schedule B
2009.03.17 | Starboard Communications (FEA slate mailings), $29,000
2009.03.27 | Starboard Communications (FEA slate mailings), $15,000
2009.03.27 | Starboard Communications (postage and printing), $16,110.20
2009.03.27 | The Philips Group (finance consulting), $2,000
2009.03.31 | Starboard Communications (FEA slate mailings), $40,217.31
Schedule H4
2009.03.17 | Mail Marketing Strategies (copies), $630
Jeffery Sewell, S.C. political consultant and noted RINO hunter, recently sent out an email advertising his access to the S.C. Election Commission voter file. In the subject, he writes, “Complete ‘08 SCEC file complete with appendeges e.g. no dead, felons etc blah blah…buy from me or pay twice the price…available right now.”
Now, Sewell has been kind to this site in the past, which surely means Wolfe Reports will join the number of recently axed sites from his news aggregator. That is fine. It is only a matter of time until we piss off nearly everyone and find ourselves begging for money for cheap beer like the rest of the homeless in Five Points.
However, how does a guy who has taken pride in going after “Republicans In Name Only” offer his voter file to Democrats? One of the email addresses listed is Jay Parmley, executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party. Not only that, but Parmley is a member of the RISE SC Facebook group. RISE SC, as you may recall, is totally opposed to school choice, which Sewell says he favors and in which movement he has been involved.
But, that is not all. He has also offered the list to Rick Beltram, chairman of the Spartanburg County Republican Party. It should not take most people long to wonder why a guy who says he is a supporter of Karen Floyd and says she will be the next S.C. Republican Party chairman would be offering his list to one of her opponents.
And, still, there is more. He also offered it to people he called RINOs in the past, like S.C. operatives Rod Shealy and Wesley Donehue. What is not known is if the other people on the listing, like SCGOP chairman Katon Dawson, Richard Quinn & Associates’ Rick Quinn, McAllister Communications‘ Dave Wilson and Starboard Communications‘ Mike Green are considered to be in the same camp as the others, or just open to cut rate voter file access.
Either way, there are more things afoot in S.C. politics than anyone could even imagine.
Wonkette, the nation’s premier political satire source on the Internet, has stumbled upon the crazy-as-a-sack-of-weasels atmosphere of S.C. politics before, but today the Palmetto State struck twice.
Mark Sanford Is Queen Of Welfare Queens
Southern Slave Owner Plotting Hit On Michael Steele
For political junkies, or people who get off on hands-on data mining, checking out disclosure reports by state political parties, and elected officials, can be an interesting way to spend an hour. Below are notable expenditures and and contributions to the S.C. Republican Party and the S.C. Democratic Party.
One of the most interesting revelations is the fact that, as of the last reporting period, the SCGOP has a debt of $128,352.76. The chairman of the Republican Party, Katon Dawson, made much hay about how he paid off the $300,000 of debt the party had when he took over. Currently, it looks like he will leave the party with debt, as well.
SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY
Federal account
Disbursements of note
12.12.08, Greenville Jet Center (Greenville, SC), air fare, $3,434
01.12.09, Charlotte International Airport (Charlotte, NC), parking, $40
01.23.09, Mail Marketing Strategies (Columbia, SC), printing, $567
01.27.09, Capital Hilton (Washington, DC), lodging/meeting space, $8,976.80
01.28.09, Mail Marketing Strategies (Columbia, SC), printing, $284.57
Debts and obligations
n/a, Starboard Communications (Lexington, SC), slate mail printing and postage, $104,217.31
n/a, Alltel (Charlotte, NC), telephone, $23,231.69
n/a, Diamond Graphics (Lexington, SC), printing/Lindsey Graham sticker, $903.76
Notable contributions
12.09.08., Flour Corp. PAC (Washington, DC), $5,000
State account
Disbursements of note
11.07.08, Premier Resorts (North Myrtle Beach, SC), event expense, $10,000
11.07.08, Wachovia Mastercard (Atlanta, GA), travel, $1,990.99
11.21.08, ViaNovo LP (Austin, TX), research, $15,000
12.22.08, American Express (Phoenix, AZ), travel/air fare, $1,727.83
Notable contributions
11.03.08, Ira Brody (Rye, NY), $25,000
11.06.08, Georgia Republican Party (Atlanta, GA), $50,000
DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Federal account
Spending on the presidential inauguration
11.26.08, Fort Myer Officers’ Club (Fort Myer, VA), inaugural ball, $10,000
01.02.09, The Skipp Pearson Foundation (Columbia, SC), inaugural entertainment, $3,000
01.13.09, The Skipp Pearson Foundation (Columbia, SC), inaugural entertainment, $3,000
01.13.09, Fort Myer Officers’ Club (Fort Myer, VA), inaugural ball, $79,635
01.16.09, RPS, parking, $8
01.16.09, US Airways (Arlington, VA), air fare, $331.50
01.16.09, US Airways (Arlington, VA), air fare, $268.70
01.16.09, USPS (Columbia, SC), inaugural ball postage, $232.05
01.16.09, Printglobe (Austin, TX), inaugural ball supplies, $325
01.16.09, Smokey Weiner and the Hot Links (Isle of Palms, SC), inaugural event entertainment, $500
01.17.09, Fort Myer Officers’ Club (Fort Myer, VA), inaugural ball, $10,400
01.20.09, The Monocle (Washington, DC), inaugural reception, $5,300
01.30.09, Fort Myer Officers’ Club (Fort Myer, VA), inaugural ball, $3,374.80
above may not include all expenditures
Transfers
11.25.08, DNC (Washington, DC), $71,000
12.18.08, DNC (Washington, DC), $2,450
12.23.08, Obama for America (Chicago, IL), $18,000
12.31.08, DNC Services Corp. (Washington, DC), $5,481.50
In all due respect to Chairman Dawson, painting the scene in 2002 as some sort of low-water mark for S.C. Republicans is absurd. Yes, Dick Harpootlian was a badass as chairman of the S.C. Democratic Party. Yes, the SCGOP had a large debt. But, really, even spin has its limits. And, while you may not think so, the preceding is actually an objective view of the matter. As someone who saw the whole blood and guts up close, the Democrats got damn lucky in 1998. As I have said before, they practically Forrest Gump-ed their way into control of state government. It was obvious it was not going to last, no matter who was in control of either state party.
The next era of the S.C. Republican Party started on Saturday when party chairman Katon Dawson, on the heels of his loss in the RNC chairman’s race, announced he would not seek another term.
As of right now, the only two announced candidates are Columbia attorney Kevin Hall and Spartanburg County GOP chairman Rick Beltram. As was tweeted by a number of Republican operatives and activists, representatives for Beltram were passing out fliers for him.
On interesting development over the course of the day was efforts underway to push RNC committeeman Glenn McCall into the race. After the Dawson announcement, Adam Piper tweeted to fellow Richard Quinn and Associates employee Adam Fogle, “@palmettoscoop let’s draft glenmccall for sc gop chairman #tcot #sctweets.” Roughly an hour later, Piper tweeted, “Just heard people are going draft glenn mccall for scgop chair #sctweets #tcot.”
McCall won election to the Republican National Committee last year, and was recruited by Dawson for the post. A Web address to get McCall to run for chair, DraftMcCall.com, was registered and went active on Saturday. The site is registered to a Gaffney address under “SC for McCall,” while the administrative and tech contacts are located at a Northeast Columbia residence. As of Saturday evening, the address redirects browsers to an online petition.
Also, a “Draft Glenn McCall SCGOP Chair” Facebook group sprouted up, which as of this time has 31 members, including Piper, Fogle, GOP operative Somer Grasser and Rep. Carl Gullick.
An initial reaction from the Democratic side indicates a preference for Beltram.
“Democrats for Rick Beltram (or Karen Floyd),” Rep. Boyd Brown tweeted. “I don’t have a crystal ball, but both of those sound good for the SCDP.”
After the departure of former Mike Huckabee campaign director Chip Saltsman, and after some significant horsetrading on the floor of the Capital Hilton, Michael Steele became the new chairman of the Republican National Committee today.
The vote, 91 out of 168 ballots, came on the sixth round of voting. SCGOP chairman Katon Dawson made it to the final round, but went into the sixth ballot trailing by 10 votes and could not make up the difference.
RNC Chairman Mike Duncan, after seeing his support slip, was the first to pull out of the race, followed by former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis, who was in the lower level of voting on each ballot, pulled out after the fifth round.
The first two rounds of voting were basically similar, with Steele performing better than some observers believed. The GOPAC director and former Maryland lieutenant governor had been under pressure in the past few weeks because of the perception among some in the party that he was too moderate. Duncan held his own, garnering 52 votes and first place in the first round, and tying with Steele at 48 in the second round.
While the third ballot was cast and counted, Wonkette founder Ana Marie Cox tweeted from the event that the rumor was Duncan would lose his support in the third round, though that conventional wisdom was countered by a GOP insider. Republican Internet strategist and blogger Patrick Ruffini, a little after 1 p.m., tweeted that the race was effectively down from five men to three.
Indeed, Duncan did remain in, but he lost four more votes and Steele jumped into first place with 51. Dawson picked up five, but remained in third behind Duncan. Anuzis, holding tight at 24 votes, became the topic of speculation as The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder tweeted that the Michigan GOP chairman could make a deal with Steele. Cox, though, tweeted that such a move wouldn’t happen because it made too much sense. Again, she relayed a remark made at the event that Duncan was done.
Before the fourth ballot, Duncan stepped up to the podium and withdrew his name from consideration. With Steele and Dawson about halfway to the Promised Land, and Steele with a 17-vote lead, Duncan’s 44 votes were set up to be a potential game-changer. As the votes were being cast, the race largely came down to Steele and Dawson, with Anuzis and Blackwell bringing up the rear.
Dawson was the big winner after the fourth round, gaining 28 votes and leaping past Steele, holding a 62-60 advantage. S.C. politcal consultant and staffer to Rep. Gresham Barrett, B.J. Boling, tweeted that Duncan would be voting for Dawson. Cox surmised that if Blackwell dropped out, which looked increasingly possible after not picking up any votes, his social conservative backers would go to Dawson and effectively decide the race.
“Anuzis [who holds 31 votes] can stop the all-white country club guy from winning if he really wants to,” Cox tweeted. “Not that I’m encouraging him.”
As of the 3 p.m. reconvening of the meeting, Blackwell stepped out of the race. Blackwell tossed his support to Steele, influenced, he said, by the Good Book. If Steele pulled his total number of votes, then he would be sitting pretty at 75, just 10 shy of the winning total. Boling did not believe it would make a difference, and that followers of Blackwell would still move into the Dawson camp.
The move to Dawson didn’t happen, but the move to Steele did. He pulled 19 more votes on the fifth ballot, pulling within just six votes of taking the chairmanship. Dawson came in second with 69, and Anuzis, pulling just 20, went in front of the committee shortly after the vote to drop out of the race. He did not publicly pick either Steele or Dawson, which leaves the door open for his supporters. But, Dawson still needed 16 of the 20 to win on the sixth round of voting.
Cox tweeted that Anuzis told RNC members that he was never interested in making a deal for the chairmanship, but that it was unlikely that his supporters would back Dawson in the final vote. S.C. consultant Wesley Donehue was of the same mind, tweeting that there was “No doubt at all that Anuzis voters will go to Steele.”
And, they did, with Steele picking up 12 of the Anuzis backers.
Enjoying significant support among his native South Carolinians, Dawson was rumored as far back as fall 2007 to be running for RNC chair, but only officially kicked off his effort in late summer of last year.
Recently-elected RNC committeeman Glenn McCall put Dawson’s name in nomination, saying, “The Lord has put great mentors into my life, and Katon is no exception. I know his heart — he’s a great man, and he has turned our party around with a lot of hard work. I feel that the things we need from a chairman, that inspire voters…we can raise funds, but if we don’t have inspired voters, it’s all for naught. Katon has done those things, so the things that we need in a new chairman of the party, someone that can inspire voters, someone that can rebuild the grassroots operation — like Katon has done in South Carolina — someone that can work very hard, which you do every day, to protect our Republican brand, hold our elected officials accountable, and he does that with a very simple statement at how he’s brought coalitions together in South Carolina. Some of you may think that its really easy, because it’s South Carolina, but it’s not. We have coalitions in every state, all across the country. In South Carolina, Katon has been able to bring those coalitions together….”
McCall continued, “If you look at his record, and that’s what it is all about, we’re not like the Democrats, we’re about experience and accomplishments, and that’s what we need in our next chairman. Out of all the candidates, great candidates, he’s the only one that has the experience to actually, and the accomplishments — proven accomplishments, to move our party forward.”
As the vote drew closer, Dawson was under increasing heat for not only his 12-year membership in the all-white, elite Forest Lake Country Club, but also his comments at a West Forum event at USC in 2003 in which he said he was inspired to get involved in politics because of the desegregation of A.C. Flora High School. Additionally, some were pointing to his participation with the Camellia Ball, one of a number of exclusive, and usually all-white, debutante balls in the Columbia area.
Dawson counted on the support of black RNC members like McCall and N.C. committeewoman Ada Fisher to blunt the accusation that he was racially insensitive. However, it did not stop Democrats, and Republicans supporting other candidates, from spreading these stories across the Internet.
In the coming days, it will be determined whether having to defend his background harmed Dawson enough to where he could not take the win.
