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Days after relaunching their results-challenged jihad against the fiscally conservative wing of their “supermajority,” so-called Republican leaders in the South Carolina House of Representatives are now going after one of the chamber’s top social conservative leaders.
Embattled S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith is trying to oust social conservative leader John McCravy from the ranks of House “Republicans,” mirroring a tactic employed two years ago against members of the fiscally conservative S.C. Freedom Caucus.
In addition to trying to have McCravy booted from the House GOP caucus, Smith is also reportedly orchestrating a mass walkout of the S.C. Family Caucus – a group of social conservative lawmakers led by the Greenwood Republican. Sources familiar with the situation say Smith and at least a dozen other lawmakers are planning to withdraw from the group – which had seen its ranks swell earlier this year.
Not only that, Smith turned loose his latest political attack committee – the so-called “S.C. Growth and Freedom Alliance” – on McCravy, accusing him of “opposing jobs” and “opposing conservatives” at the S.C. State House. The attacks failed to reference specific votes cast by McCravy in connection with these assertions, however.
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“This garbage was sent to my district today by a shady group called ‘S.C. Growth and Freedom Alliance,'” McCravy wrote on his Facebook page, referring to the ads. “This is the same group that regularly attacks Freedom Caucus members (a group of Republicans who split off from the S.C. House Republican Caucus). These sleazy PACs don’t have to disclose their donors, but we can maybe guess where they might get their money?”
According to McCravy, the negative messages “were sent to my constituents as a warning to me that I have offended some powerful people with access to lots of money.”
Who are those “powerful people,” though?
The Growth and Freedom Alliance is advised by former mainstream media reporter and gubernatorial spokesman Joel Sawyer. Like the ill-fated “Palmetto Truth Project” – which spent seven figures trying (and failing) to take out Freedom Caucus members during the last election cycle – its donors are not disclosed.
Who is funding these organizations? That’s a good question… but the “Republican” leaders directing both groups are in the pocket of the Palmetto State’s über-liberal trial lawyer lobby, which has been frantically seeking to kill comprehensive lawsuit reform at the S.C. State House this year.
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What prompted Smith’s decision to target McCravy? According to our sources, the speaker – who is in danger of losing his job after the botched rollout of a controversial tax plan – is angry over a recent escalation in pro-life activism in the Palmetto State.
As FITSNews reported last week, a national pro-life group – Students for Life Action – has been aggressively calling out Smith and S.C. House judiciary chairman Weston Newton for their refusal to advance H. 3457, a.k.a. the ‘Human Life Protection Act.’ The bill would ban all abortions in South Carolina, extending the current six-week ban to the moment there is a “clinically diagnosable pregnancy.” It would also rescind exceptions for rape, incest and fetal anomalies.
Smith is a sponsor of the bill, but his caucus leader – state representative Davey Hiott – has made it clear the legislation is not going to be brought to the floor for debate. Hiott added that pro-life advocates should “recognize the hearts and minds of the lives we have already saved and focus additional legislative efforts on supporting mothers and making adoption easier and less expensive.”
Students for Life held multiple events in Smith’s Sumter County House district last week – and even distributed literature at his church earlier this week. Similar events were held in Newton’s Beaufort County district – including a church visit. Smith and Newton reportedly blame McCravy – the lead sponsor of the bill – for stoking the fires of the pro-life movement against them.
Their response?
“They are trying to push him out of caucus,” a source familiar with the situation told us.
Count on FITSNews to keep our audience apprised on the latest developments as a new front is clearly opening in the ongoing SCGOP civil war…
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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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1 comment
Good for Murrell.