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Posted Tuesday, March 2

Gresham Barrett, Robert Bolchoz speak to Greenville Republican Women

Gresham Barrett video
Robert Bolchoz video
Photo gallery 1
Photo gallery 2

Gresham Barrett

Robert Bulchoz

Rep. Gresham Barrett, candidate for governor, and Robert Bolchoz, candidate for attorney general, spoke to the Greenville County Republican Women’s Club Feb. 25 at their monthly Poinsett Club luncheon.
Gresham Barrett
Barrett said he believes in God, the sanctity of life and that elected leaders must do everything in their power to protect that life, that innovation, not taxation is the way to solve energy problems, and that South Carolina should be the nation’s leader when it comes to energy independence. Barrett said he believes in the Second Amendment, the U.S. Constitution and the South Carolina Constitution.
Barrett pledged to not raise taxes to pay for government in South Carolina and said that medical decisions are best left to patients and their doctors, not to bureaucrats in Washington.
Barrett said his political mentor is the late Gov. Carroll Campbell (1987-1995). Barrett called for comprehensive tax reform that encourages business growth and business and industries to come to South Carolina. H said he would restructure the Department of Commerce and hire on a performance basis a director of business recruitment and development from a nationwide search. Barrett would update incentive packages to bring business and industry to the state.
He said that no child should leave the third grade who is not reading at or above third grade reading level, and he intends to make sure a greater percentage of education money makes it into the classroom. All options must be on the table: homeschooling, Christian schools and public schools.
Barrett defended his second TARP vote near the end of President George Bush’s term, saying that the President, secretary of the treasury, financier Warren Buffet and others told him that the banking system was on the verge of collapse.
“I believe with all my heart that we averted a major catastrophe,” Barrett said, adding though that the TARP plan has not been implemented like it should have been. “Nobody has done more as a United States Congressman to ensure that those funds are returned to the taxpayer and paid in full” than he has.
Barrett as voted the fourth most conservative member of the House. He is100 percent pro-life, 100 percent National Rifle Association (NRA), a Friend of the Taxpayers, and was given a 98 percent rating by American Conservative Union.
For more information, visit his campaign website at www.GreshamBarrett.com
Robert Bolchoz
Robert Bolchoz was chief of staff under Attorney Gen. Charlie Condon for three years and served as deputy solicitor in Charleston and has worked in the private sector.
The attorney general’s No. 1 job is to be the state’s chief prosecutor. Bolchoz has prosecuted almost 1,000 criminal cases in his career – murderers, rapists, armed robbers, drug traffickers, “but more importantly,” he said, a Congressman’s son, lawyers, doctors, and four Catholic priests (and Bolchoz grew up Catholic).
“The attorney general must not only know how to prosecute a criminal case, but has to have the nerve to prosecute a criminal case,” Bolchoz said, adding that “I have the nerve to do the right thing” on behalf of citizens of South Carolina.
Bolchoz said that to combat South Carolina’s gang problem he would concentrate on mandatory jail terms for felony possession of firearms, comprehensive reform of the criminal code so all citizens know what the crimes and what the sentences are, and to combat the growing illegal alien problem.
Bolchoz said the attorney general is the state’s chief securities commissioner and that he has managed brokers and financial advisers and worked in and understands the financial markets.
Kathy Davis is president of the Greenville County Republican Women, and Pamela Sowell, program director, introduced the speakers.

Posted 2:15 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 30

Leighton Lord, Christina Jeffrey speak to GCRWC Jan. 28

More photos by Andrea Pisarcik

By Thomas C. Hanson
Christina Jeffrey, a candidate for the fourth district U.S. congressional seat, and Leighton Lord, a candidate for South Carolina attorney general, spoke to the Greenville County Republican Women (GCRW) meeting at the Poinsett Club Jan. 28.
Dr. Jeffrey, a lecturer at Wofford College, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the seat held by incumbent Rep. Bob Inglis, said, “I am first and foremost a Christian,” and “I believe that a great country is an important asset” for Christians.
Dr. Jeffrey said she hates tyranny in all its forms and that it is the natural condition of human beings. Tyranny flourishes, she said, when people are ignorant and complacent, when you don’t have the kind of freedoms we have. Our founders gave us incredible tools to keep our freedoms, and if we lose some of them, to get them back.
Leighton Lord said he is an Army brat born in Hawaii and joked that “unlike someone we know, I have a birth certificate.”
Lord referred to an essay written by evangelist Billy Graham, “The Moral Weight of Leadership,” in which Graham wrote, “We must not be tempted . . . to divorce character from leadership.”
Lord worked the Ronald Reagan campaigns in the 1980s. After graduating from the Vanderbilt Law School in 1989, he went to Washington to work for four years as the Republican staff council for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in Washington. In this position, Leighton investigated organized crime, gang violence, child pornography and immigration fraud.
Lord spent two weeks on the Mexican border with border patrol agents, and visited the San Diego district attorney’s office to watch the prosecution of criminal aliens. To learn about organized crime, Lord spent days with mobsters and traveled the country with FBI agents. He learned about gang violence by driving the streets of Los Angeles with law enforcement officers.
He took the knowledge back to Washington to contribute to hearings and help draft legislation to make our country safer.
In 1994, Leighton went to work for Nexsen Pruet, the second largest law firm in South Carolina. Four years ago, Leighton was elected managing partner, which has given him executive experience.
Lord said the attorney general should be the chief legal officer in the state and as such should coordinate solicitors, sheriffs and law enforcement officers and help them do their jobs better. He called for a comprehensive crime bill in South Carolina because the state is No. 1 in violent crime and is in the top five in domestic violence deaths and in the top five in DUI deaths, yet South Carolina imprisons more people per capita than any other state.
The meeting was the first conducted by Kathy Davis, new president of the GCRW.

Posted 8:25 p.m., Friday, Dec. 4

Ken Ard speaks at December meeting
Karen Floyd inducts 2010-2011 officers. Click here for photo gallery.

 

Posted 3:45 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 15

Oct. 22 panel: registration by party in primary elections. Click here for photo gallery.

Bob McLain video
Stephen Brown video
Garry Smith video

Greenville GOP women hear
panel discuss open primary litigation

Greenville County Republican Women at their Oct. 22 luncheon heard Bob McLain, program director at WORD Radio, attorney Stephen Brown and state Rep. Garry Smith discuss the lawsuit the Greenville GOP will file in federal court against South Carolina to end the state’s open primary system.
In an open primary, one party can organize its voters to vote in another party’s primary and help choose the candidate they most agree with or that they think their party can most easily defeat. In an open primary, moderates and independents can vote in either party, which can dilute the vote of a particular party and lead to a nominee who does not represent the views of his particular party. 
The Greenville County Republican Executive Committee voted unanimously Oct. 5 to pursue the litigation and retained the services of Brown and Todd Kincannon to act as its attorneys.
McLain, host of the Bob McLain Program that airs Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m., served as the master of ceremonies for the discussion. He said that a similar lawsuit is being filed by the Democrat Party in Mississippi.
Stephen Brown said he has been actively pushing for registration by party since the mid 1990s when he served as chairman of the Greenville County Republican Party. At that time supporters of a closed primary could not get the state GOP executive committee to agree with them.
Later they succeeded in getting a resolution passed at the state GOP convention calling on the state legislature to require registration by party, but the GOP controlled legislature has refused to act, hence the decision to file a lawsuit to force the legislature to change the law.
The concept is a constitutional issue, Brown said, citing that we have a right to associate with the people we choose and select the candidates we want to represent us. An open primary is not unconstitutional on its face, Brown said, but there must be a reasonable alternative for the party to freely associate and nominate its candidates, such as in a convention.
State election laws, however, mandate that if political parties nominate candidates in convention they must do so with 75 percent of the vote. The state legislature passed this law to keep parties from circumventing its open primary law. The constitutional challenge is that this is an impediment to freely associate and choose our candidates and that the state has unreasonably placed this barrier upon us by requiring this 75 percent vote.
Attorney Samuel Harms, the previous chairman of the Greenville County Republican Party, filed the original lawsuit earlier this year.
Garry Smith, representative for South Carolina District 27, is sponsoring House Bill 3140 in the House of Representatives to require registration by party.
Joining Rep. Smith in sponsoring the bill are fellow Reps. Dan Hamilton, Wendy Nanney, Eric Bedingfield, James Harrison, Bill Wylie, M.A. Pitts, James Merrill and Speaker Bobby Harrell.
Rep. Smith said that in 1903 registration by party was the law, however, a 1947 decision by the Fourth Circuit Court in Rice v. Elmore struck down efforts to limit primaries to white people. At that time the Democrat Party disenfranchised blacks through poll taxes and other means.

Posted 6:15 p.m., Monday, Sept. 21

Sen. Jim DeMint speaks to the Greenville County Republican Women's Club Sept. 21. Click here for photo gallery.

Sen. Jim DeMint Videos
Part One: Christian Values
Part Two: Democrat Hypocrisy
Part Three: The Golden Goose
Part Four: Competing Worldviews

Rep. Bob Inglis, challenger Trey Gowdy (solicitor), Gov. Mark Sanford speak
at Aug. 27 meeting (photo gallery)

Dr. David Woodard,
Clemson Political Science Professor,
It Kids students
speak at July 23 Meeting

Dr. David Woodard
It Kids group
with Teacher Kelly Payne

Click here for photos.

Kelly Payne, civics teacher at Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, and It Kids students Carson Tolar and Rachel Brown spoke to the Greenville County Republican Women’s Club July 23.
Ms. Payne organized It Kids to engage young people in current issues in their communities and the state house. She has invited state and local officials and members of the media to speak to her students.
Ms. Payne introduced the student speakers. Carson Tolar told the group that when he got involved in politics he “realized there are a bunch of people who say one thing and do another” and that really bothered him.
So, after investigating who these suspects were, he saw that “there were these people called Elephants and there were these people called Donkeys, and I soon realized that one is called a Donkey for a very apparent reason, and I decided I would fit in more likely with Elephants, also known as the GOP.”
Through various state leaders who have spoken to It Kids, Carson said he learned that “you don’t have to be the smartest guy in your class. You don’t have to be the strongest guy. You just have to do what the people want you to do and stick to it, and if you do that you will do fine in life.”
Rachel Brown said that the two guest speakers who really inspired her are Jim Davenport of the Associated Press and Dawndy Mercer-Plank of  (WISTV).
Davenport encouraged Rachel to follow her dreams and told her that working in the media is tough. Ms. Mercer-Plank made it possible for Rachel to have an internship at the television station this year.
You can join the It Kids group on Facebook at www.facebook.com.

Woodard tells Republican women: “We will never surrender!”

David Woodard, professor of political science at Clemson and consultant to Republican candidates, told the Greenville County Republican Women July 23 that “principles beat accommodation every time, and they are the core of who we are.”
The topic of his address was “Hope in Time of Despair.”
Dr. Woodard cited liberal journalists writing that the conservative movement is dying, and conservative commentators wondering about the future of the Republican Party. He mentioned the deaths of conservative leaders Milton Friedman, who died in 2006, Rev. Jerry Falwell, who died in 2007, William F. Buckley, who died in 2008, and Richard John Newhouse, who died in 2009.
Bush legacy
Woodard said that we are left with the legacy of George W. Bush. With the exception of Supreme Court nominees, his stance on the culture wars, and tax cutting policies, “the last Bush presidency was really quite liberal by many standards,” more akin to a Nixon or Rockefeller presidency than the Ronald Reagan presidency.
President Bush gave us No Child Left Behind, large federal deficits, Medicare drug benefits, and the Iraq War, which resulted in military victories abroad but political defeat at home.
Republicans are a minority party in Washington. We hold less governorships than we have in years, and we are a minority in state legislatures. We face Democrats not just in an election year, but in a census year. Undocumented aliens can vote in large numbers, he said.
In just the first six months of the Obama administration, we have experienced the largest expansion of government probably since President Franklin Roosevelt, Woodard said.
Standing on principles
Woodard has his summer students read A Man for All Seasons. In it, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey asks Sir Thomas More, “How can you as councilor of England obstruct these measures for the sake of your own private conscience?
More replied: “I believe when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for their public duties they lead their country by a short route to chaos.”
Democrats-lite
Woodard went on to say that the Republican Party from 1954 to 1994 was “a minority party of accommodation. We believed in deficits but smaller deficits than the Democrats. We believed in regulations, but less regulations than the Democrats. We believed in strong defense, but not enough to confront the Soviet Union, and we lost every time because we were Democrats-lite.”
 In 1980, the party changed the game with a candidate who believed in tax cuts, doing away with regulation, and had this policy for the Cold War: “We win. They lose.“
William F. Buckley
William F. Buckley told Woodard in 1988 after Buckley spoke at Clemson that “it was the character of the American people, not their leaders, that brought communism down.”
Buckley broke onto the American scene in 1951 when, as a graduate of Yale University, he wrote a book God and Man at Yale. “It was a scandal of a book about religion professors at Yale who did not believe in God, economics professors who hated capitalism, and political science professors who wanted revolution.”
Buckley launched National Review magazine in 1955, a time when the fortunes of the conservative movement were at an all-time low. Sen. Robert Taft had died, and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who was the most prominent spokesman against communism at the time, had been discredited. Conservative ideas were mostly in conspiracy theories, retention of the gold standard and abolition of income tax.
Buckley saw it differently and began his magazine by criticizing President Dwight Eisenhower for accommodating liberal ideas at home and abroad, seeking to contain communism, and not confront it.
Buckley had a saying, “When you believe something, stand there.”
“His magazine became a critique of the welfare state and the secularization of America,” Woodard said. “It talked about the virtue of a free society with lower taxes, the need for strong defense, the punishment of criminals.”
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman, who wrote for National Review, was the economic adviser to Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election.
“Friedman critiqued the welfare state,” Woodartor said and tore apart John Maynard Keynes.” Friedman said that “free markets make free individuals.”
Friedman favored tax cuts during recessions, less regulations and school vouchers. He was confident that if the government would leave us alone we could solve inflation, deficits and even problems like pollution.
When President Richard Nixon imposed wage and price controls in August 1971, Friedman left the White House. He considered this to be President Nixon’s worst disaster, even more than Watergate.
In an address to student radicals at the University of Chicago in the 1960s, Friedman said: “Your objective is the same as mine – greater intellectual freedom. The difference is, I know how to achieve it, and you don’t.”
“This is the kind of confidence we need in principles,” Woodard said. “Because Friedman stuck to his principles, he was proven right.”
Richard John Newhouse
Richard John Newhouse advised President George Bush on stem cells, and in August 2001, President Bush said no federal funds would be used for experimentation on embryonic stem cells. The Democrats “went apoplectic as they are prone to do,” Woodard said.
In 2007 a Japanese researcher discovered that you could get stem cells from a simple skin biopsy, and the debate went away.
“The Bush policy was freely vindicated, but you probably didn’t hear about it,” Woodard said.
In his 1994 book The Naked Public Square, Newhouse wrote, “Culture is the root of politics, and religion is the root of culture.”
Winston Churchill
Woodard closed by citing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s leadership in rejecting appeasement and rallying his nation with his principles to stand alone and fight against Nazi Germany.
Woodard said: “I think it is time for us to stand up and go tell Carol Fowler [chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party] and [S.C. Reps.] John Spratt and Jim Clyburn and [Massachusetts Rep.] Barney Frank and [N.Y. Sen.] Chuck Shumer, and Barrack Hussein Obama, that we will never surrender.”
Questions and answers
In response to a question on the impact of health care reform, Woodard said: “I think it is the most fearful thing we can have. One of the great ironies will be that the post war babies who inherited the greatest country on the earth, but went on sort of a free love morality, will become the victims of that ethic. They embraced abortions as teenagers, and will find out that that same ethic is euthanasia when they are seniors…. When you get that ethic of convenient life in government, they will begin to ration and do away with people.”
Why political parties revive
“Parties revive themselves not because they are doing so great, but because the other guys start doing terrible,” Woodard said. “What is invigorating us is our fear of what Barrack Obama is going to do to the country.”
Gov. Sarah Palin
Woodard commented on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: “I defend Sarah Palin. I admire this woman. I think she has wonderful values, and she was constantly harassed.
“Democrats called Democrats in Alaska to take her out…. I support her quitting. She has half a million dollars in legal bills. She could not even give an interview without them suing her by saying she was wasting taxpayers dollars.
“I’d like to have her come here for a fund-raiser. I’d pay to go see her. The best thing in American politics is to be underestimated. That is what the press is doing with Sarah Palin.
“I remember when there was a guy named Ronald Reagan, who they said was nothing more than a B-grade movie actor. They found out, and they may find out again.”
Dr. Woodard is a political scientist who serves as a consultant for Republican candidates. Successful candidates include the following: Bob Inglis for Congress, 1992; Lindsey Graham for Congress, 1994 and 1996; Jim DeMint for Congress, 1998; Bob Peeler for Lieutenant Governor, 1994; George W. Bush for President, 2000; Gresham Barrett for Congress, 2002; and Jim DeMint for Senate, 2004.
Woodard is the author or co-author of several books, including The Conservative Tradition in America (2003), The New Southern Politics (2006) and The America That Reagan Built (2006). His latest book is Why We Whisper: Losing Our Right to Say Its Wrong, published in 2008. He co-authored this book with Sen. Jim DeMint. He currently is completing a book titled The Rise of Morality Politics in the United States to be published by University of Toronto Press.

GCRWC conducts annual
Americanism program June 25



Videos
Bill Connor address
Sharon Cochran sings America the Beautiful

The Greenville County Republican Women’s Club conducted its annual Americanism program at its monthly luncheon meeting June 25 at the Poinsett Club.
Geri Warren is president of the club. Member Patty Stoner chaired the event, which featured an address by Master Sgt. Ken Gause, Col. Bob Davis speaking about the Wounded Warrior Project and the main address by Lt. Col. Bill Connor, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Air Force JROTC cadets from Southside High School presented and retired the colors.
Junior ROTC in Greenville Schools
Gause, aerospace science instructor at Southside High School, spoke about the Junior ROTC program in Greenville schools and some of the awards his cadets have received and opportunities that have been presented to them.
The goal of the Air Force ROTC program is to instill values of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment in high school students.
Wounded Warrior Project
Col. Bob Davis, husband of Kathy Davis, the club’s first vice president, spoke about the Wounded Warrior Project.
According to the Wounded Warrior Project, more than 30,000 troops have been injured in recent conflicts, many of them suffering traumatic brain injuries, amputations and severe burns. Wounded Warrior Project provides services and programs to ease their burdens and aid in their transition back to civilian life.
Thousands of Wounded Warrior backpacks have been delivered to the hospital bedsides. They contain comfort items such as a tee shirt, shorts, toiletries, a phone card, CD player and more. For more information visit their web site at www.woundedwarriorproject.org.
Main address
Connor, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, and a candidate for lieutenant governor, began by referring to what Col. Bob Davis said earlier in the program about how important Psalm 91 was to soldiers in the past. It is sometimes referred to as the Warrior Psalm.
As teams got together to pray before going out on missions, Connor would read this psalm to them as a means of strength and protection.
“I believe God gave us this psalm for protection and blessing during battle. Everyone got involved with these prayers voluntarily before missions, including our Muslim interpreters. We prayed in Jesus’ name before we went out, and He provided incredible protection. I believe completely in the power of prayer.” Many came to know God while serving in the military in Afghanistan, Connor said.
[Psalm 91:5-10 says: “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.]
Connor said the young troops in Afghanistan, average age about 20 or 21, gave him great hope for the future, and that he sees the same commitment in the Young Republicans he meets around the state.
“We have a great generation behind us,” he said.
Connor’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all career Army officers. His great-grandfather was the son of a Confederate veteran in South Carolina.
While in Afghanistan during the Taliban spring-summer offensive in 2006, Connor set up units to keep the Taliban from killing police officers.
“I saw the strength of American troops,” he said. “Our free system in America, which rewards hard work, ingenuity and initiative, produces these incredible young men and women who made this mission work. He noted that he saw the same type of heroes today that the nation saw in World War II.
Connor spoke of two South Carolina National Guard soldiers he knew who were killed in action in the southern region of Aghanistan that are exemplary of the troops serving there.
Sgt. Edward Philpot, based out of Mullins, S.C., was killed Oct. 30, 2007, leaving behind a wife and three daughters. “He loved his wife and their three daughters immensely, and they were his foundation of enduring love and support,” Connor read from his book, Articles From War: the Writings of Lt. Col. Bill Connor, J.D.
Sgt. Philpot was a born-again Christian, and his strength and motivation were tied to his relationship with Jesus Christ. He always participated in group prayers before going on missions and faithfully read his Bible.
Staff Sgt. James Bullard of Marion, S.C., was killed by enemy fire when he got out of his vehicle to lay suppressive fire on enemy positions to assist his gunner. Connor said that he truly followed our Lord’s admonition that greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends.
Staff Sgt. Philpot had just gone on leave before being killed and had about three months left in his tour of duty. While on leave, he returned home and saw his wife Amber give birth to their son, Hayden. She gave birth early though she had been expected to give birth after her husband returned to Afghanistan. Philpot regularly listened to taped sermons he received from his small Baptist Church in Marion.
Connor was awarded the Bronze Star for his efforts and leadership in Afghanistan. His book can be ordered from www.billconnoronline.com. Proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Christian schools in South Carolina.
Connor lives in Orangeburg with his wife Susan and their children Peyton, Brenna and Will. He is an attorney and also serves as the chairman of the board of Orangeburg Christian Academy. Bill and his family regularly worship at Christ Church of the Carolinas in Columbia.
Republican Creed
Col. Bob Browning, USMC (Ret), read the Republican Creed:
I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon.
If I can seek opportunity, not security, I want to take the calculated risk to dream and build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for dole. I prefer the challenges of life to guaranteed security, the thrill of fulfillment to the state of calm utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence, nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master, save my God.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid. To think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations; to face the whole world boldly and say, "I am a free American."
Program agenda
Patriotic music was played by Glenn Christianson on the piano, and soloist Sharon Cochran sang the National Anthem and “America the Beautiful.” Captain Pam Sowell of the Army Nurse Corps Reserve, and a member of the club, led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Liz Seman, County Council district 24 and a member of the club, spoke about a press conference the previous day on Truth in Spending legislation that would place city and county government transactions online and make records available to the public free of charge.

May 28 Meeting

Jeff Schilz of Governor's Office discusses the stimulus debate, and members of the Greenville Planning Department talk about the proposed Future Land Use Map for the county. View photo gallery.

Norman Wright
Planning Department

Jeff Schilz
Governor's Office

Ambassador David Wilkins speaks at April 23 meeting

Click here to watch video.

David Wilkins, U.S. ambassador to Canada from 2005 to 2009, spoke to the Greenville County Republican Women at the Poinsett Club April 23.
Wilkins, a Greenville native and speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1994 to 2005, quipped that the first newspaper headline he and his wife, Susan, saw when they arrived in Ottawa was, “Bush Appoints Southern Redneck Who Knows Nothing About Us.”
Wilkins traveled to every Canadian province and territory, and met the premier of each province, but mainly he met the Canadian people. The United States is Canada’s only neighbor, and 90 percent of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S.-Canadian border.
The United States and Canada have the largest trading relationship the world has ever known, and Canada supplies the United States with more oil than any other country in the world.
When the Wilkinses arrived in Canada, relations between the two nations were tense. One big issue was a tariff the United States had placed on Canadian lumber. (About one third of U.S houses are built with Canadian timber.) In March 2006 President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper discussed the issue, and three months later it was resolved. We now have “an incredibly solid relationship” with the country and its government, Wilkins said, crediting the two leaders.
Canadians are huge supporters of the War on Terror, and Wilkins visited Canadian troops in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Christmas 2007.
Wilkins noted that Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, offended Canadians this month when she falsely asserted that 9-11 terrorists had entered the United States from Canada.
Wilkins told President Bush in December that he wanted to serve until the day the president left office and not a day after. “More and more every day, I am glad I did not serve a day after that.” Wilkins said he saw from his post as ambassador in Canada “the positive impact that the United States has on the world every single day, and the respect we have.”
Susan Wilkins started a women’s Bible study that met on Wednesdays at the ambassador’s residence, and she served as honorary patron of the Habitat for Humanity annual gala in Ottawa.
Susan was unable to attend because of illness, but she wrote this to the club: “My favorite thing about being in Canada was watching my husband grow more and more comfortable in his role as ambassador, and when we left he was truly beloved by all who came in contact with him.”

Karen Floyd and Rick Beltram speak at March 26 meeting

The Greenville County Republican Women heard from Karen Floyd and Rick Beltram, candidates for state Republican Party chairman, at their March 26 luncheon at the Poinsett Club. The group heard from Kevin Hall, also a candidate, at their Feb. 26 meeting.
The office of chairman is open because the current chairman, Katon Dawson, is not seeking reelection. Delegates to the May 16 Republican state convention will elect the next chairman.

Greg Shorey and Kevin Hall speak at Feb. 26 meeting
Greg Shorey, Greenville County Republican chairman from 1952 until 1954 and SC GOP chairman from 1956 to 1962, presented the case for the importance of registering by party at our Feb. 26 meeting.
Greg was president of the Young Republicans at Boston University in the 1947-48 school year. He was the South Carolina campaign chairman for Eisenhower for President in 1952 and again in 1956.

Kevin Hall was the second speaker. Kevin is a candidate for chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. He hopes to fill the vacancy created after Katon Dawson’s resignation. Kevin has worked as a grassroots activist in the Republican Party since 1980 when, as a 15-year old, he volunteered for Ronald Reagan’s primary and general election campaign. Click here for photo gallery. Click here for photo gallery.

Click here to watch video of Greg Shorey

Click here to watch video of Kevin Hall.

Ashley Landess and Rep. Nikki Haley discuss
transparency and accountability in government at January meeting

Ashley Landess
Nikki Haley

Click here to watch video of Ashley Landess

Ashley Haley, president of the South Carolina Policy Council, and Rep. Nikki Haley, talked about their efforts to improve transparency and accountability in South Carolina government during their presentation to the Greenville County Women's Club Jan. 22.

The South Carolina Policy Council is a non-partisan public policy research organization located in Columbia. Their web site is www.scpolicycouncil.com Haley said that the philosophy of the Policy Council is "limited government, free enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility." The Policy Council has bee a major force outside government for urging recorded votes by elected officials.

Click here to watch video of Rep. Nikki Haley

Rep. Haley is an outspoken voice for added accountability and transparency in the legislature. She sponsored a bill that passed the legislature this session that requires a recorded vote on most issues, and only one House member can request and receive a recorded vote on any issue. Rep. Haley said that lawmakers have a lot of pressure on them, but they should be held accountable by their constituents and pressured to do the right thing. "We belong to you," she said. "Don't feel bad about questioning us." From article by Bob Dill, Times Examiner.

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Photo galleries



Sen. Jim DeMint
Sept. 21
Dr. David Woodard
Clemson Political Science Professor
It Kids




Americanism Program June 25
Jeff Schilz of Governor's Office and
Greenville Planning Department May 28


Ambassador David Wilkins
April 23

Karen Floyd & Rick Beltram March 26

Feb. 26
Greg Shorey
Kevin Hall



Jan. 22
Rep. Nikki Haley
Ashley Landess

Dec. 11
Dr. Brent Nelsen
Dr. Raymond Sauer

Oct. 23 auction
Sept. 25
Glenn McCall, Cindy Costa, Warren Mowry, Allen Klump
Aug. 28
Tony Beam, Rebecca Steen, Rick Freeman, Julie Hershey
July 24
Dick Jensen, Taylor Hall,
Eric Bedingfield, Liz Seman, Alan Kay

June 26
Americanism Program
Incumbents and challengers May 22 meeting

Incumbents and challengers April 24 meeting

Bob McLain, WORD Radio,
Feb. 28 meeting

Photo galleries 2007

Installation of new officers: Dec. 6, 2007 meeting.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE): Aug. 23, 2007 meeting

Glenn McCall, second vice chair, South Carolina GOP, July 26 meeting


June 28 meeting on Americanism
Bob McAlister, political communicator, May 24 meeting
Rep. Duncan Hunter, April 13 meeting

Jason Miller from Gov. Mark Sanford's office, and Councilman Butch Kirven, March 22 meeting
Mitt Romney, Feb. 22 meeting
Katon Dawson, state GOP chairman, Jan. 25 meeting