An Open Letter to Tea Partiers Statewide

Fellow Tea Partiers,

On Thursday, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision to kick about 100 candidates off the ballot for the June primary. I’m not going to re-hash how this happened, suffice to say that the filing rules were changed in a way that favored incumbents and confused their challengers.

Everyone is outraged, and rightly so, but what should we do? What I am going to say may surprise you, but I believe it is the truth. Please hear me out.

Frankly, we need to accept the fact that we can’t win this ground back before the June primary. Realistically speaking, all the political rallies you and I can muster are not going to make up for lost time.

Borrowing Michael Porter’s words, “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do,” so I would like to propose three things not to do:

1. Don’t give up. This is a time to refocus; this is NOT a time to retreat.
2. Don’t take their bait. Guess what? Larry Martin—Larry Martin of all people—is making like he’s all outraged over this and is going to change the law to get the candidates put back on the ballot. Senator Martin is one of those incumbents who was favored by this rule, and his challenger, Rex Rice, was kicked off the ballot. What he knows, but won’t tell you is, it won’t do any good this year, because the ballots have already been mailed! Those of you who plan to make a big stink in Columbia over this issue are to be commended for your intentions, but at the end of the day, I’m afraid it will prove to be a diversion and a waste your time and energy. Don’t take their bait.
3. Don’t let the remaining candidates down. Let’s refocus on those candidates who are still on the ballot. But wait, we can’t turn our backs on these candidates whose rights are being violated! Look at it this way: these candidates that got kicked off the primary ballot now have a six-month head start on a petition candidacy in the November election. It isn’t over. This fiasco is sure to be a big subject on the campaign trail, and I feel confident that one way or another you’re gonna see all of these guys on the ballot in November.

So who will be on the ballot in June? You can see the full list here, but I would like to mention three specifically:

• Anderson: Riley Harvell, running against incumbent RINO Billy O’Dell
• Greenville: Jim Lee, running against incumbent RINO David Thomas
• Greenville: Chris Sullivan, running against incumbent RINO Mike Fair

Jon Corzine once said, “the only thing really worth [anything] is ‘hustle.” I think he’s right.

When it comes to political activism, there’s the fun stuff—the big, public, exciting rallies—and there’s the not-fun stuff, which is the day-to-day grunt work of political campaigning. Knocking on doors, putting out signs, making phone calls. That boring stuff that gets people elected.

Guys, time is running out. We have 5 short weeks, and we’re gonna have to hustle. Conservatives like Riley Harvell, Jim Lee, and Chris Sullivan face uphill battles against entrenched Senate RINOs. THEY NEED YOUR HELP. Please don’t abandon these guys who are putting it all on the line to to Columbia for us to make SC the freest state in the nation!

Sincerely,

Jonathon Hill

P.S. This is a good illustration of why having good GOP chairmen matters. It was their job to make sure the candidates knew the rules, and to help them comply in a timely manner. Dan Harvell did this here in Anderson County, and not one of our candidates were kicked off the ballot.