The First Spitball

If you thought the race for chairman of the Republican National Committee was nasty, just wait till you see how things are done in South Carolina.

The state with the reputation for the nastiest campaigns in country might manage to outdo itself yet …

Still months away, the brewing battle for SCGOP Chairman saw its first anonymous attack this week in the form of an e-mail sent to dozens of party activists – allegedly by the campaign of Spartanburg County GOP Chairman Rick Beltram.

According to one source we spoke with, the e-mail may have even been written by Beltram himself.
Entitled “Eight Reasons Kevin Hall Should Not Be GOP State Chairman,” the e-mail questioned Hall’s qualifications for leading the party, although it provided little documentation for its claims.

Hall – a Columbia attorney – declined to comment on the specific accusations included in the e-mail publicly, saying he first wanted to address the claims on a “point-by-point basis” with the individuals to whom the e-mail was sent.

Hall and Beltram are the only two announced candidates for the position, although several leading party activists are reportedly organizing a movement to draft Spartanburg businesswoman and former GOP statewide candidate Karen Floyd.

Also still up in the air is whether or not current chairman Katon Dawson will seek another term.

As for the origin of the e-mail, one source we spoke with referred to it as “vintage Beltram – right down to its bad grammar.”

“He was at least smart enough to wait until the ‘Draft Karen Floyd’ movement had broken in the press,” the source added. “He just wasn’t smart enough to hide how poorly he writes.”
Whether he wrote the e-mail or not, Beltram can’t deny spreading it around the Palmetto political blogosphere.

Two S.C. bloggers told FITS yesterday that Beltram personally forwarded them the e-mail, inquiring innocently of them whether or not they had seen it.

Hmmm …

The e-mail was roundly condemned by party members.

“Personal attacks are childish and spineless,” said Bobby Smith, Chairman of the Laurens County GOP. “Our desire, whether voter or candidate, should be to engage in healthy debate about values, principles and issues. Anyone who tries to throw sucker punches from behind a blanket of anonymity is not worthy of the Republican brand, much less its support. At this time of moral crisis in our nation, we need real people of character to step up and lead our party. There’s no room for anonymous cowards.”

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