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In the most aggressive pushback yet to the nascent DOGE SC movement, a South Carolina state senator slammed the organization’s founder, Rom Reddy, for allegedly contributing financially to his candidacy in the hopes he would “rubber stamp (DOGE SC’s) agenda.”
The lawmaker – who purported to be “impervious to those types of quid pro quo relationships” – also posted text messages he received from the Isle of Palms businessman, whom he pilloried as “an embattled affluent individual… seemingly seeking revenge on certain people in state government.”
Jeez. Hit dogs holler, right?
Jeff Zell – a newly elected “Republican” from Sumter County – was upset after DOGE SC sent a text blast to his constituents criticizing him for “voting like a liberal” and choosing to “feed the swamp” during last week’s meeting of the S.C. Senate agriculture committee. Zell earned this criticism by voting to advance the nomination of career enviro-bureaucrat Myra Reece as the first permanent director of the newly former S.C. Department of Environmental Services (SCDES).
Reece – who previously worked under woke authoritarian health czar Edward Simmer – was advanced by the committee even thought its chairman, senator Wes Climer, opposed her nomination. She was also advanced despite presiding over a top-heavy bureaucracy loaded to the gills with taxpayer-funded attorneys.
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According to DOGE SC, Reece is a “30-year liberal bureaucrat… a protégé of the woke Edward Simmer and eco-radical Coastal Conservation League.”
“(She) has stacked this department with a cadre of lawyers to go after you and take more of your money,” DOGE SC noted in its text blast to Zell’s constituents.
Zell posted screenshots of the missive – as well as text messages he claims were sent to him by Reddy indicating the DOGE SC founder was displeased with his vote on Reece’s nomination.
“Typically, I don’t respond to unfounded criticism because, as the saying goes, you get dirty when you wrestle a pig in the mud,” Zell wrote on his Facebook page. “However, I have recently become aware that a misguided local group, calling themselves ‘Doge SC Pac’ has sent a mass text out to residents in my district claiming I’m voting like a liberal because I supported Myra Reece for Director of the Department of Environmental Services.”
Zell claimed to have “very justifiable reasons for voting for (Reece), and I stand by those reasons.”
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What were those reasons? Curiously, Zell didn’t list any.
Instead, he ripped Reddy as a “bad actor” – someone who “likely believed his donation would sway my opinions on certain matters, in this case, a governor’s nominee for SCDES.”
After sharing Reddy’s text messages (twice), Zell noted “I haven’t responded because I’m overwhelmed with communications and prioritizing my time for constituents and associations.”
As for DOGE SC supporting a rival against him in 2028, Zell sounded a defiant tone.
“Bring on a primary challenge; they can’t beat me,” Zell concluded. “I promise you, no one they recruit to run against me will work harder or be more honest. They can’t sling enough mud to damage my reputation. I’ll put mine against theirs any day of the week and will win every single time. There’s not enough money in the world that they can spend that change that.”
Reached for comment, Reddy told FITSNews it was unfortunate Zell “chooses to resort to the Democrats way of reacting to a disagreement which is for elected officials to call citizens names and personally attack them.”
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RELATED | ‘SWAMP RATS’ ADVANCE ECO-RADICAL BUREAUCRAT
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“DOGE SC has been clear about their agenda – returning money and power back to the people that has been taken away by the relentless growth in the size and power of government in general and the unelected, unsanctioned all-powerful bureaucrats in particular,” he said. “We do not threaten elected officials. We merely tell them that if they are not supportive of the foundational concept that people’s rights and freedom come from God, then the people will be given the opportunity to rise up and have a choice at the ballot box. That is not a threat. It is a promise.”
FITSNews has reported extensively on the battle over Reece’s nomination – which is being advanced by status quo governor Henry McMaster. In our coverage, we noted how McMaster’s selection of Reece contrasted with president Donald Trump’s pick of Lee Zeldin – an aggressive reformer – to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“Mr. Zell is upset that DOGE SC supports reformers like Lee Zeldin whom President Trump appointed to the EPA,” Reddy told us. “Mr. Zell on the other hand supports a 30-year bureaucrat to lead (SCDES). Mr. Zell frames it as some sort of vendetta I have for her department grabbing coastal private property including mine. The opposite is true. By God’s grace, it is people like me who can afford to stand up to the bullying. The fight is for the relentless number of people who call and tell me how these unelected bureaucrats have used unlawful regulations to take their private property or destroy their business and they cannot afford the legal fees to defend themselves. This fight is for them and for restoring sovereignty to the citizen.”
Will Reddy support a challenger to Zell in the next election?
“I sincerely hope we can provide the citizens of Mr. Zell’s district a better choice next time,” he said. “Someone who will fight for the freedom of the people from the tyranny of government. Again, not a threat but a promise.”
Zell narrowly defeated incumbent Democrat Kevin Johnson in last fall’s general election – receiving 25,609 votes (50.6%) to Johnson’s 24,943 (49.28%). He is not on the ballot again until the spring of 2028.
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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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3 comments
“an embattled affluent individual… seemingly seeking revenge on certain people in state government.”
Where’s the lie, Will?
Reddy told FITSNews it was unfortunate Zell “chooses to resort to the Democrats way of reacting to a disagreement which is for elected officials to call citizens names and personally attack them.”
Haha! Seriously? How clueless do you have to be to say this? You guys are so terrified of Trump. Its embarrassing. A rich poser kissing up to him with a fake organization. And a journalist who is so scared he won’t critically explore a single thing the president is doing.
very brainful of this apparently right wing author to passionately (if not quite so articulately) attack moderate republicans — while in the same breath pointing out the razor thin margin of victory said lawmaker achieved against his democratic opponent in his swing district in the last election
you can just tell by looking at him in the supplied photo, with his glossy eyes and mouth agape (for air) while he poses with his iPhone, that Mr. Folks is a serious and intelligent man.