SOUTH CAROLINA’S MINORITY PARTY GOES TO WAR WITH ITSELF …
When it comes to pure party labeling, Democrats are utterly irrelevant in South Carolina. They hold precisely zero statewide offices, neither of the Palmetto State’s seats in the U.S. Senate, one of seven seats in the U.S. House (the heavily gerrymandered sixth district) and are the overwhelming minority in both chambers of the S.C. General Assembly.
They have no power … well, at least not until you realize the vast majority of “Republicans” in South Carolina are no different than Democrats.
No really … no different.
That gives certain Democratic leaders immense power in the all-influential state legislature, even as their numbers continue to dwindle.
Nevertheless, given the electoral irrelevance that comes with hanging a “D” behind one’s name in the Palmetto State, no one really cares who holds the position of chairman of the S.C. Democratic Party (SCDP).
It’s pretty much pointless … unless of course there’s some big, embarrassing scandal to be uncovered.
Is there? Several SCDP sources tell us “yes.” In fact they say the long knives are already out for newly elected party chairman Trav Robertson, who is described as having “skeletons galore” in his closet.
For those of you who haven’t paid much attention to minority party machinations in South Carolina, congratulations – you’ve conserved valuable mental energy. Unfortunately for us, part of our job is keeping tabs on such things.
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What do we know? That there is an ongoing civil war between “Obama Democrats” (i.e. black Democrats) and “Old School Democrats” (i.e. white Democrats) that is threatening to tear the party apart and keep it totally irrelevant for the foreseeable future.
We also know this war is ramping up in intensity at the very moment when “Republicans” would appear to be at their most vulnerable on a whole host of different fronts.
Here’s the deal: White Democrats ran South Carolina for decades – much in the same way white “Republicans” are running it now (i.e. taxing and spending and producing very little in the way of positive outcomes). Now white Dems are virtually extinct, though, having either switched parties or seen their districts gerrymandered for the expressed purpose of electing black Democrats.
Robertson, who is white, enters his new role with a target on his back. And several of his own party “faithful” appear more than eager to draw a bead on that target.
Their arrows? Allegations coming out of Oklahoma – where Robertson served as executive director of the state party from July 2011 to January 2015. According to published reports, Robertson was given a “ghost job” with a Cherokee Indian organization while he was serving as the party’s top staffer.
This allegation sounds innocuous enough, but several Palmetto State Democrats have assembled a lengthy dossier on Robertson’s tenure in Oklahoma that they are pushing to multiple media outlets in the hopes of generating some scandal.
“There’s what happened and then there’s the cover-up,” a source familiar with the allegations told us.
Hmmmm …
The dossier also includes several allegations of a personal nature that we’re choosing to bypass entirely as they have absolutely nothing to do with Robertson’s job.
This website’s founding editor Will Folks went head-to-head with Robertson back in 2006 when he was serving as an advisor to then-S.C. Treasurer Grady Patterson. We’ve always liked him on a personal level, and have been impressed with his political skill set.
We don’t believe that he (or anyone) is capable of reversing the SCDP’s flagging electoral fortunes, but we do believe he will be a capable leader for the party … assuming he gets the chance.
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