IS IT TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE FOR MATT MOORE?
S.C. “Republican” party chairman Matt Moore said this week he would support his party’s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.
“I officially support the Republican Party’s nominee, Donald Trump,” Moore told The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier. “I also support the Republican ticket and will encourage voters to vote Republican straight ticket.”
Yeah … we wonder how hard those words were for Moore to muster.
Moore’s endorsement doesn’t seem to be deterring his rapidly-expanding list of critics – who accuse him of being in league with liberal “Republican” lobbyist Warren Tompkins, a top advisor to the failed presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
“Matt Moore has been in the tank for Rubio all along,” one South Carolina Trump backer told us. “We don’t want his endorsement. We already won South Carolina without him.”
Moore – who is not seeking another term as chairman – has repeatedly denied any allegiance to Tompkins. Still, his name was repeatedly invoked during recent discussions regarding how to deny Trump the delegates he need to capture the nomination.
Trump backers clearly aren’t happy with him, but Moore’s real enemy at the moment appears to be the neo-Confederate political empire of veteran GOP consultant Richard Quinn.
Quinn and his political allies – including scandal-scarred S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson – are livid with Moore for refusing to politicize Wilson’s ongoing battle with first circuit solicitor David Pascoe. He’s the special prosecutor Wilson previously appointed to investigate corruption at the S.C. State House – a probe the attorney general is now clumsily attempting to obstruct.
This coalition of opposition could spell real trouble for Moore – particularly as his enemies are reportedly preparing to request a new independent audit of the party’s finances as well as his own personal financial information.
“He keeps saying he has no connections,” one Moore critic told us. “We’re going to give him a chance to prove that – under oath.”
Moore declined to respond to our requests for comment, but a source close to the party told us the SCGOP is already independently audited and that Moore has “nothing to hide.”
Guess we’re going to find out soon if that’s true …
UPDATE: Well, well … shortly after this story ran we were literally besieged with calls from Trump backers who told us they supported Moore. In fact one South Carolina-based Trump consultant bristled at the notion that someone affiliated with the presumptive nominee’s campaign would criticize the chairman. “Matt Moore has been extremely helpful,” the advisor told us. “He’s done everything we’ve asked of him.”