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South Carolina’s “Republican-“controlled Senate agriculture committee overwhelmingly advanced the nomination of eco-radical bureaucrat Myra Reece as the first head of the newly created S.C. Department of Environmental Services (SCDES).
Only one member of the panel – chairman Wes Climer – opposed Reece’s nomination.
Four “Republican” senators – Stephen Goldfinch, Josh Kimbrell, Roger Nutt and Everett Stubbs – abstained from voting on Reece. Meanwhile six GOP senators – Tom Corbin, Jason Elliott, Mike Gambrell, Danny Verdin, Tom Young and Jeff Zell – voted in favor of her nomination.
Four Democrats – Jeff Graham, Russell Ott, Ed Sutton and Kent Williams – also backed Reece to lead this top-heavy agency, one of two which spun off from the “restructuring” of the former S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC).
Status quo governor Henry McMaster sent two atrocious choices to the Senate to lead the spinoffs – Reece and Edward Simmer, whose bid to lead the S.C. Department of Public Health (SCDPH) has been rejected by the GOP-controlled chamber.
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Both nominations have been aggressively opposed by Rom Reddy, founder of the new DOGE SC organization. According to Reddy, Reece was aligned not only with Simmer but also the über-liberal Coastal Conservation League, an eco-radical organization based in Charleston, S.C.
In a statement issued following the vote, Reddy contrasted McMaster’s selection of Reece with president Donald Trump‘s pick of Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“The contrast couldn’t be clearer: President Trump put a cost-cutting, red tape-slashing reformer Lee Zeldin at the head of the EPA, but our governor made the lazy, swamp choice and tapped a 30-year, power-hungry bureaucrat Myra Reece to lead South Carolina’s environmental agency,” Reddy wrote. “She learned well working for the woke Edward Simmer now nominated to lead the Health agency. The citizen has no chance against these career, unelected bureaucrats.”
In addition to ideological misgivings, several lawmakers also told FITSNews they were concerned Reece was running a top-heavy bureaucracy – essentially defeating the purpose of restructuring these agencies.
“Look at the number of lawyers in the office of general counsel,” one source told us.
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Senators also voiced concern over the agency’s top legislative and public affairs contact, Rupi Grewal.
“Rupi is a problem,” one Senate source told us.
Unfortunately, no “Republicans” did anything about their misgivings – although sources familiar with the Senate budget process indicated finance committee chairman Harvey Peeler is concerned the agency as currently configured is “too top heavy with administrators and lawyers.”
While senators moved the nomination forward, Reddy’s organization issued a scathing rebuke of the lawmakers who backed Reece – calling them “swamp rats.”
“Welcome to the red state governed like a blue state,” Reddy said.
“When these politicians want our votes, they say they’ll stand for freedom but it doesn’t take long for the swamp to seduce them into voting to take our freedom away,” he added. “Only one senator, Wes Climer, had the courage to vote against Myra Reece’s nomination at the committee level. This is disgraceful behavior for a ‘red state.’ Do our senators work for the people? Or are they hopelessly beholden to the bureaucrat-regulatory complex that is stealing our freedoms and putting our businesses out of business?”
Reddy indicated the ten senators who voted for Reece would “be hearing from our DOGESC patriots very soon and in ways you have never experienced before.”
Count on FITSNews to keep our audience apprised of the latest developments as Reece’s nomination heads to the floor of the Senate soon with the agriculture committee’s favorable recommendation…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
It is a little hard to follow the criticism here, based on most of the article using labels like “liberal”, “swamp rat”, etc. Any chance you could do some reporting on the policy concerns here so we can understand your complaints?
This blog is ridiculous. You just ascribe labels to foes with no explanation. She’s an “eco-radical” because why, exactly? She believes in humans impacting climate change?