Dawson Never Left “Whites Only” Country Club

By fitsnews • on January 12, 2010

Talk about a head fake … or rather two head fakes.

It turns out former SCGOP Chairman Katon Dawson never really resigned his membership in a “whites only” South Carolina country club – he just pretended to resign while he ran for chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2008.

Accordingly, Dawson never technically “rejoined” the club in 2009, as he has been privately telling supporters.

Sources familiar with the club’s financial records tell FITS that Dawson actually paid his membership dues at the Forest Lake Country Club in Columbia, S.C. throughout the RNC campaign – and as a result was never removed from the club’s membership rolls.

“He paid in advance for the duration of his leave,” one of the sources told FITS. “He has never not been a member of Forest Lake.”

Another source said Dawson paid five months worth of dues in advance.

In September of 2008, Dawson publicly resigned his 12-year membership in the club – or so everyone thought.

In a letter to its members, Dawson urged the club to consider changing its policy of refusing to admit blacks – a prohibition which is nowhere in the Forest Lake by-laws but appears in a deed to the property on which the club sits.

“We have a responsibility to expeditiously make right this longstanding wrong,” Dawson wrote at the time.

Of course, Dawson only made his decision after reporters at The (Columbia S.C.) State newspaper had uncovered proof of his membership at the club and were preparing to publish a story about it. Also, the auto parts salesman turned political consultant quickly changed his tune after he was defeated last January by former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele in his quest to lead the RNC.

Subsequent investigations by FITS revealed that S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster – the current GOP gubernatorial front-runner – and Republican first Congressional District candidate Carroll A. Campbell III were (and are) also members of the club.

So is State Sen. John Courson.

Current USC Board of Trustees member William C. Hubbard (who is up for reelection in 2010) was also a member of the club, but resigned in 2008 to seek a leadership position with the American Bar Association.

Here are screen shots of McMaster’s and Campbell’s names appearing in the 2008 club directory.

FITS also uncovered Dawson and McMaster’s memberships in several other “whites only” social clubs.

Comments

By Crash on January 12th, 2010 at 10:49 am

Although I am not a fan of either, file this under, Who gives a sh*t. Seriously Will, big fan of the site but report the news, dont try to create some where none exists.

By fitsnews on January 12th, 2010 at 10:56 am

Dude … racial stuff = hits.

On top of that Katon is perpetually begging for it.

-FITS

By EM on January 12th, 2010 at 10:58 am

Forest Lake Country Club is a very nice place to enjoy yourself. You should not be able to hold office if you belong to that club. You shouldn’t hold office or be in a position of making laws for all of the citizens if you are in any club that excludes people. Its a choice…

By Crash on January 12th, 2010 at 11:22 am

Good points.

By Just a good ole boy on January 12th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

FITS, it sounds as if your jealous they won’t even let you in the parking lot much less be guest of a member. But then again I guess you have no problem giving the welfare gorilla race a free pass on its race based members only clubs…

By Ynotfirst on January 12th, 2010 at 12:14 pm

discriminatory liars

By bill on January 12th, 2010 at 12:17 pm

Katon is the personification of the GOP problem.

All words, all money, all talk.

And all bullshit

By fitsnews on January 12th, 2010 at 12:28 pm

Good Ole Boy-

We’ve already addressed the status quo’s “Bushwood Defense.”

http://www.fitsnews.com/2008/12/31/were-not-getting-into-bushwood/

What else you got?

-FITS

By SnakeMD on January 12th, 2010 at 12:35 pm

The late Terry Rosen, jazz musician was playing a wedding gig at Forest Lake years ago and during the band’s break he slipped into the dinning room and prepared himself a dinner plate. One of the elder members asked him to remove himself since the club did not allow Jews in the dinning room. Terry and his band packed their sh*# and the matrade kindly announced that Mr. Rosen had taken ill and had to excuse himself form the evenings festivities. Ah, such a genteel place for all to gather.

By kool kat on January 12th, 2010 at 12:41 pm

I say we remove the confederate flag from the statehouse and put it on top of Forest Lake Country Club, just above the Nazi flag.

By Commonman on January 12th, 2010 at 1:15 pm

I am offended because they do not allow middle class rednecks.

By Been there, done that on January 12th, 2010 at 1:29 pm

I love how so many who comment on this page does such a “good job” checking their facts before posting. Or rather, they just buy into all of the heresay that is out there.

For one, I am not a member of Forest Lake Club, nor am I in the process of becoming one.

Second, you are right, Will, there is no provision in the by-laws that prevents anyone who is not white or not Christian from becoming a member. I have heard (never seen nor attempted to look up) that the deed does place a restriction on the ethnicity of members, but the lawyers for the club have said that if that provision were breached then there would be no negative repercusions.

Third, I am sure that there are some older/elderly members who would prefer that it stay all white. But, they are OLD. OK, there may be some younger ones, too, but that is more a symptom of upbringing, not an underlying culture of FLC.

In truth, most of the members of Forest lake would have no problem, and would even welcome, a more diverse membership. The problem is that they are not going to be held to the fire by popular opinion until they do so. Augusta National ran into the same problem a few years ago. Feminists were up in arms about their membership practices and demanding the immediate admittance for a female.

I have it on good authority that Forest Lake is happy to entertain all membership applicants, so long as they follow their application process. Just because they do not have a black member does not mean that they do not allow it, but rather probably means that no one has approached a member about going through the application process. And it is just that, a process. If the world is going to be more fair and equitable about who is a member of which club, then it needs to be fair as to who has to follow the process — everyone.

Finally, the world is becoming more educated with each generation. My grandparents generation (born in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s) were brought up by parents and grandparents who were not far removed from the days of slavery. My parents generation (the baby boomers) lived through the civil rights movement and desegregation. My generation and those before and after me, are benefiting every day from a better understanding of this world that we live in.

Don’t judge a group by the ignorant, but rather by the majority, and the majority of members at Forest Lake don’t think that it should be exclusively white.

By Journey1 on January 12th, 2010 at 1:51 pm

“The welfare gorilla race”, really? And U ask why “those” people want and need their own orgs. I hope good ole boy is old so he will not be a part of society much longer.The world will be better off without his “kind.”

By Make it up as you go. on January 12th, 2010 at 1:57 pm

I think we should require every single organization maintain a membership proportionally identical ethnically, religously, and genderwise to the entire country.

While we are at it, we should require all professional organizations to not exclude anyone based on profession, and so on…

The world will love us then.

By SnakeMD on January 12th, 2010 at 2:15 pm

Thanks for the post Been There.

The problem is that there is a “9 year” waiting list at the F.L. Club. Yes, “9 year.” They only allow so many members and the open spots get taken up by the children and grandkids coming of age. This is the way other old Southern clubs operate such as yacht clubs, etc. The by-laws require 20 letters of recommendation from members in good standing.

So, if you had person of color who would “fit” in, it would take a whole lot of politicking to get the petitions in. The culture of these clubs are basically harmless. The clubs were/are used to introduce their debutants into genteel southern society. Even up until the late 1990’s The State newspaper ran the African American “debutant” cotillion pictures without ever mentioning the word “debutant.” The word “debutant” was only used for the white girl pictures. The old lady who wrote the society page is no longer there and the A.M. girls are now recognized as such in their own circle. The old lady pulled this off for years and The State never caught the omission.

How long can the Confederate jasmine remain on the vine?

By Reginald on January 12th, 2010 at 3:38 pm

OMG. Another republican liar. What’s the world coming to? Next thing ya know someone will accuse Mark Mgwire of using steroids.

By Toyota Kawaski on January 12th, 2010 at 3:59 pm

Did Man-d write this? Seems like some of her non story BS

By Richaqrd on January 12th, 2010 at 4:11 pm

FITS, it sounds as if your jealous

Typical redneck stupidity! This should be “you’re” NOT “your”. Your shows possession, while you’re is a contraction for you are. Guess they do not teach grammar at your Klan meetings!

By FITSNews on January 12th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

We are jealous! We wanted in Bushwood!!!

By Old Bike Dude on January 12th, 2010 at 8:49 pm

Hmmm I wonder if I could organize a series of Paintball attacks and geocache tournaments for this joint?

By The Man on January 12th, 2010 at 10:40 pm

We should just Bomb the Place. Put a bunch of craters all over Greens.

By w on January 12th, 2010 at 10:42 pm

Katon is truly a royal piece of shit. Period.

By Been there, done that on January 12th, 2010 at 10:47 pm

SnakeMD-

I don’t know which by-laws you’ve been reading, but they’re not Forest Lake’s.

The last I checked, anyone wanting to become a member needs to be sponsored by three participating members and receive letters of recomendation from an additional six house members.

And yes, I checked. Did you?

The issue here is not with a golf club, but the fact that Katon Dawson has once again turned out to be a big fat liar. Go figure…

By GoCocks80 on January 13th, 2010 at 10:10 am

All you zero’s who are “Hatin’ on Katon” are just jealous of his success. Give it a rest Will. Report “real” news (which by the way, there is very little) instead of your bullshit made up stories. You are the 21st century bathroom wall.

By The old man on January 13th, 2010 at 10:41 am

SnakeMD; That old lady did not write those articles. The clubs write their own and submit them for publication. They have done that for decades. Perhaps those writing the articles for the African American girls did not want to be called debutants. I could understand that.

By SnakeMD on January 13th, 2010 at 5:07 pm

Been there, done that-
I called a friend of mine who was on the “voting” committee at FLC for many years and he verbally told me about “20″ was needed, so I guess he exaggerated form your 6+3 = 9. He did say there was about a 9 year waiting list that would nullify the letters if several on the “committee” didn’t approve of them. Trust me, it is not like applying for a credit card and you get one if your score is correct. I do know for a fact, that “legacy” applicants get in without letters or a waiting list. The deck is definitely marked. But, it is a private social club, so why shouldn’t you be able to choose–instead of; “guess who is coming to dinner?”

By drop the "whites only" on January 13th, 2010 at 10:08 pm

SnakeMD…everything you said in the last post is completely false. If you have a problem with forest lake, go ahead and say that but don’t make up lies. I am a member and nothing you wrote is true. “Been there, done that” is absolutely correct in his/her post. If anyone regardless of color or “heritage” wants go get in, they all go through the same process except family members are on a shorter waiting list. Done. Making up lies to spread an agenda is just stupid and makes you look ignorant. I was one of your so called “legacy” applicants and I did not get in without letters or waiting. You’re such a dumbass.

Also, the “whites only” comments….ridiculous but it does work at generating hits. Fits..you have the bylaws, please cut and paste where it says “whites only” for membership. It certainly isn’t in mine.

By SnakeMD on January 14th, 2010 at 5:37 pm

I have absolutely no problem with FL. I have many business associates and friends who are members and they are all truly fine folks. I am a member of a similar country club in NC that dates to the late 1800’s. (exact same set-up) I only moved here several years ago. The number 20 was dropped to me over drinks at Diane’s on Devine. So, maybe my source was a little soused. I hear there is great bar tender at FL, too. Sounds like you might have been an “illegitimate legacy” and needed a letter of verification. My cousin recently was accepted with no waiting, so to say that everything I say is false is simply a defensive outburst on your part. So, if you are a member why don’t you tell me who told the late Terry Rosin, jazz musician, that Jews were not allowed in the dining room and asked him to leave. And that my friend, is a fact.