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Our old friend, Peter McCoy, Republican and friend of the Charleston Tea Party, has been revving up for Halloween early by trying to scare voters.

Actually, he's not saying it himself, because he is a nice guy, and he knows well enough that here in the Lowcountry attacking your opponent is just not the polite thing to do.

So Webmaster at Charleston GOP did McCoy's dirty work.  Or he thinks he did.

This anonymous writer described Peter's opponent, Carol Tempel as (I kid you not):  "...the most liberal candidate for office in the state..." and sends out a challenge to GOP faithful:

All you Conservatives out there need to send questions to [email protected] to ensure that the debate remains on the issues that matter to our state and highlights the major differences between the very conservative McCoy and the very liberal Tempel.

It appears that it's time for the grown-ups in the room to take this silliness down a notch or two.  I can't imagine what the "most liberal" candidate in the state would be like, but she sure isn't someone who is going to come along and snatch your children's education dollars out from under them, for example, by trying to sell you parents a tax deduction that would give you $280 to fund your kids' education while at the same time weakening our public schools.

The "most liberal candidate in the state" wouldn't plan on cutting budgets for teachers, fire fighters and police in order to line the pockets of big corporate interests here in South Carolina.  And she would not support privatizing important government services, so that your taxes are paying for corporations to make profits first, and for those important services, second.

Carol Tempel may not be the "most liberal candidate in the state", but she knows that only by investing in the education of all South Carolina's children will we be able to grow the leaders of tomorrow.  Good education leads to good jobs.  Children who go to good schools, and know that they will be able to go to good colleges or career training programs, will have the confidence to be good citizens.

The poverty and unemployment that continues to wreak havoc on this state can only be turned around by wise investment of our citizens' tax dollars, including making the best use of our federal tax dollars.

I don't really think you would call someone a conservative who would spend money poorly, by protecting the wealth of some, and leaving the rest to fend for themselves.  This path leads to increased dropout rates and crime, greater rates of teen pregnancy, and more lives of poverty and hopelessness.  For those who have worked hard throughout their lives, but have hit a rough patch, McCoy would not offer a safety net, even one that our hard work and tax dollars should have ensured us.

Keeping the money flowing upward is the real scary prospect.  It hasn't worked up till now, and it won't ever work.  Carol Tempel will fight for equal opportunity, so that South Carolina can begin a true and long overdue renewal.

So by all means, all y'all, liberal, conservative and anywhere in between, bring your hard questions to the debate.  Carol Tempel would love to answer those questions.  She is not as scared of having a real exchange of ideas as her opponent appears to be.

The debate will be on Thursday, October 25th, from 7-8, at the James Island Town Hall.

Carol Tempel
Petition Candidate
SC House #115

 
At the Tempel Town Hall, I heard that Tim Scott had also refused to debate his opponent, Bobbie Rose.  When I called his campaign office to confirm this, there was no one there, so I left a message.  I figured they must all be out meeting with Scott's constituents, you know, to let us know what he's done for us over the past two years, and what we would like him to tackle should he get re-elected.  And after all, we know Scott's not in the halls of Congress, as they have just "completed" the shortest work year the House has ever scheduled themselves.  But to be safe, I also sent out an email, asking if this rumor was true.


Surprisingly, I did not get a reply.  So let's assume that Tim Scott really does not plan on debating Bobbie Rose. It's my opinion that, since his hero Jim DeMint faced all those jeers at his first debate back in 2004 when he said unwed mothers should not be allowed to teach, and Sarah Palin had to field all those unfair questions by Katie Couric just four years ago, many of the radical right have opted to be selective about where and with whom they meet.


I may be wrong.


It may be that Tim Scott is busy doing the People's business.


So let's see what Tim Scott has been up to.

Well, he spoke at the Republican National Convention.  
A black man who came up from poverty in South Carolina, he obviously had an important story to tell.  They gave him two minutes.



Way back in April he received the Thomas Jefferson Award.  This is awarded by the International Distributors Foodservice Association.  They honor representatives who fight for "free enterprise".  They do this by analyzing the votes of members of Congress.  You might want to take a peak at the scores for 2009-2010.

At the very same time, Scott received the Defender of Economic Freedom Award from the Club for Growth.  You know these guys; they're the ones who give big dollar support to folks like Tim Scott to cut taxes and regulation, in other words, "defend economic freedom."


Okay, so that was April.  What's he done lately?  Well, as I reported on a few weeks ago, Tim Scott was smiling at the cameras as he received the Standing Up for Seniors Award from the little known but warm-and-fuzzy-sounding fake-grass-roots group RetireSafe.


It's safe to say that there are people that know where Tim Scott is at all times.  They are not us.  Tim Scott reports to those who stand to make lots more money by assuring that he votes against the interest of the average worker, student, or senior.  And then they give him awards for doing it.


They own PAC's, SuperPACS and those other fund-raising groups that are just known by their numbers, that are all ways of allowing big monied interests to give huge amounts to candidates without having to tell anyone who they are.


So I can see why Representative Tim Scott does not want to bother himself with a debate.  Obviously, he is very busy.  And it's okay that he doesn't need to sell himself to us, because, to be frank, we couldn't afford him.
 
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Carol Tempel knows what works and what doesn't.  She has run a successful small business, and she has been a top school administrator right here in Charleston.  Now she wants to put her talents to work for a greater goal -- she wants to change the downward spiral of education, jobs and quality of life in Charleston and in South Carolina.


Her opponent, Peter McCoy, doesn't just follow the Tea Party dictum of cut taxes and services, he doesn't just believe that less government is ALWAYS better government, he has worked in Columbia for nearly two years to cut services to hard working South Carolinians.  His latest scheme is to give back $280 to families with school-aged children and tell them, "Good luck finding a quality education with that."


Carol knows that when public education is done right, it is the best value democracy can offer.  But when our legislators chop at our education funds year after year, we are left with fewer teachers, larger classes, buildings falling into disrepair, school programs that have fallen behind for want of supplies and technology.


Yet Peter McCoy continues to believe that if we just chop a little more off, the problem will fix itself.


It hasn't happened yet, and it's not going to.


So give your support and your vote to Carol Tempel for South Carolina House #115.

Carol Tempel
Petition Candidate
SC House 115
 
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It's not even close to Halloween but South Carolina's Representative in Congress, Tim Scott, is sending out those scary emails.  After letting us know that he wouldn't be allowed (because of those nasty Democrat regulations) to communicate with us before the election, he proceeds to show us exactly why such a rule, even convoluted as he describes it, exists.

The most important message Scott can send out at this time is to, for God's sake, stop those Democrats from getting away with the tax hikes that are going to send us "over the fiscal cliff" at the end of the year.


Well, Bobbie Rose is not afraid of Tim Scott's scary stories.  She knows that it was the Bush tax cuts that "sent us over the cliff" as far as the deficit is concerned, and that it will take job security to bring economic health back to the small businesses here in South Carolina.  Good and necessary government jobs don't just improve our children's education, but put teachers back on the payroll and off the unemployment rolls.  When teachers are back to work, they are able to spend money in their communities.  When small businesses increase earnings, they grow, and when they grow, they hire.


We can move forward, with Federal programs to increase fuel efficiency, to create businesses that innovate and strengthen our environment, rather than continue to support the old dirty fuel corporate interests that get Tim Scott's votes.  Scott would have us believe that regulation is a dirty word, when in fact, keeping our towns and waterways clean and safe through smart regulation is what is really good for business, and for the people of South Carolina.


So those tax hikes that Tim Scott wants us to run from in horror are actually the fuel that the high earners need to give back to create those good government jobs.  That will begin to create the upward spiral that has been stalled by Tea Party fanatics like Scott.


Bobbie Rose is the woman who will fight to get the government working for us again.  Teachers, police, firefighters, roads and bridges, schools, power grids, public transportation; this is what we need here in South Carolina to get us growing again.


We need to say no to the message of fearmongering that Representative Tim Scott sends us, and we need to let Bobbie Rose truly bring jobs back to South Carolina.


Visit Bobbie at:  bobbierose.us and find out how you can help!