Status quo ‘Republicans‘ in the South Carolina House of Representatives launched their latest broadside against the conservative wing of the party this week – attempting to disqualify one of the leaders of the S.C. Freedom Caucus from future service in the S.C. General Assembly.

The drama went down on Tuesday when GOP leaders attempted to amend a bill (H. 4561) which would allow candidates and public officials to defray the costs of “dependent care” by using their campaign funds. In other words, elected officials and candidates for office could use campaign contributions to pay for the care or supervision of immediate family members “for whom (they) have a direct caregiving responsibility.”

As this bill was being debated, state representatives Heath Sessions and Brandon Guffey introduced language which would have amended the state’s code of laws as follows …

(A) A member of the General Assembly or an individual with whom he is associated or business with which he is associated must not provide any assistance, directly or indirectly, to another candidate in furtherance of his candidacy for the General Assembly for compensation or anything of value. This prohibition does not apply to a member of the General Assembly who makes a public appearance of support for another candidate for the General Assembly, so long as no compensation or anything of value is offered or given in exchange for the assistance.

(B) If a member of the General Assembly or an individual with whom he is associated or business with which he is associated has previously provided any assistance, directly or indirectly, to a candidate in violation of subsection (A) and that candidate becomes a member of the General Assembly, the member who provided assistance must abstain from voting on legislation in which the former candidate sponsors or cosponsors and must comply with the recusal requirements of Section 8-13-700(B) for the duration of the two-year legislative session.

(C) In addition to any other available remedy at law, a person who violates this section must pay in the state’s General Fund the fair market value of the services provided in violation of this section.

Dubbed the “RJ May” bill, the language is targeted at state representative RJ May III – a political consultant who advises members of the Freedom Caucus. May’s company, Ivory Tusk Consulting, is running the campaigns of several Freedom Caucus members – as well as several candidates challenging members of the GOP establishment.

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The amendment seeking to take May out was ultimately ruled non-germane by S.C. House speaker pro tempore Tommy Pope – but not after considerable debate. During that discussion, uniparty leaders Micah Caskey and Gil Gatch led the charge to pass the amendment.

According to May, the latest effort by the establishment to oust him was eerily reminiscent of the politics of U.S. president Joe Biden.

“Yesterday’s actions by liberal ‘Republicans’ represent the last gasps of a dying uniparty attempting to appease their special interests and lobbyists overlords,” May said. “These RINO hacks are deathly afraid of their voting records being exposed and will do anything to cling to power. So, it’s no surprise they took a page out of the Biden playbook and attempted to weaponize government against conservatives.”

To recap: The emergence of the Freedom Caucus constitutes the first true test of uniparty dominance in South Carolina – a state which has continued to fall behind its regional peers despite massive new investments in its unaccountable, antiquated bureaucracies and crony capitalist subsidies.

From 1878-1994, generations of corrupt, self-serving white Democrats bore exclusive blame for the myriad problems plaguing the Palmetto State. Since 2001, however, legislative power has been held exclusively by white “Republicans” – many of whom simply flipped parties (albeit not governing philosophies) as a means of maintaining their power.

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Select black leaders have been invited to participate in the ongoing graft and corruption – creating a self-serving, self-perpetuating (and results-challenged) uniparty oligarchy.

Since obtaining their numerical supermajority following the 2022 elections, House GOP leaders have done everything in their power to neuter the conservative wing of their party. That includes last year’s decision by GOP establishment leaders to kick conservative Republicans out of their caucus after they declined to sign a “loyalty oath” to the establishment. It also includes recent efforts to bribe challengers to run against Freedom Caucus members in the upcoming 2024 primary election – as well as a controversial new rules change intended to silence dissent on the floor of the S.C. House by putting the power over amendments to bills exclusively in the hands of GOP and Democratic House leaders.

Count on this media outlet to keep tabs on the latest developments in this ongoing Republican civil war …

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven (soon to be eight) children.

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