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by DAVID PASCOE
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Republicans have a supermajority in South Carolina; yet, our state is more liberal than the purple states that border us. John Adams once said, “facts are stubborn things.” Well, the facts prove our State Republican leadership gets its playbook from the Democratic Party.
In 2024, I was one of the only elected officials to endorse conservative Republican JD Chaplin in his campaign against liberal Democrat Gerald Malloy, who blocked every single pro-law enforcement bill in the General Assembly. Malloy was one of the most powerful lawyer-legislators in the state and teamed often with Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to stifle conservative legislation. I met with Republicans in both Houses of the General Assembly and tried to rally them to support the REPUBLICAN nominee. They refused because they either feared Malloy and feared the lawyer-legislators in power who supported him. In my endorsement of Chaplin, I stated that the two-party system in South Carolina is not R vs. D but those who strive to serve others vs. those who strive to serve themselves. Luckily, JD Chaplin beat Gerald Malloy without the help of any Republican leadership in the General Assembly.
In our state, we have witnessed the liberal Republican Party establishment demonize and attempt to defeat conservative fighters because they are members of the Freedom Caucus. They use political consultants (The Swamp Parasites) giving them offices on State House property to attack the Freedom Caucus, the very men and women who exemplify what it means to be a conservative and fight against corruption and cronyism. The leadership in the General Assembly would rather work with liberal Democrats than work together with their fellow Republicans. But here is a coincidental fact – 30% of the General Assembly are lawyer-legislators; less than 10% of Freedom Caucus members are lawyer-legislators.
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Let me tell you the core reason we are a liberal state and why I have enemies: conservatives are not really in charge of South Carolina. The lawyer-legislator uniparty is.
Nearly 30% of the General Assembly are lawyers. They control all of the money, the judiciary, and the most important committees. That is not representative government. That’s a cartel.
When lawyers gain unchecked political power, they do not just write laws. They shape the system to benefit themselves. They design rules that ordinary citizens cannot understand, navigate, or challenge. That is exactly what has happened in South Carolina.
For over 30 years, liberal Republicans have controlled the State House. Liberal control has given us a judicial system dominated by legislative insiders. We have judges effectively chosen by the same lawyers who practice before them. We have legislative privilege routinely abused to delay cases, rearrange court dockets, and keep powerful clients out of trouble.
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What we have is a uniparty. A trial lawyer uniparty. Republicans and Democrats alike who share two things in common: they are lawyers who benefit from controlling the courts, and they cannot stand me because I am about to stand in their way as Attorney General. Their bank accounts cannot afford for me to win.
I have seen this system up close. I spent decades as a prosecutor. I led the State House Corruption Probe that exposed a pay-to-play culture operating at the highest levels of government. That investigation did not make me popular in Columbia. It did, however, make something very clear. Corruption does not thrive in chaos. It thrives in systems designed to protect insiders and punish anyone who challenges them.
The most powerful examples of this system are the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. These Committees are where judicial reform and pro-life legislation go to die. It is where lawyer-legislators protect their influence. It is where bills that threaten legislative control of the courts quietly disappear. This is not about party labels. It is about power. Worst of all, it is often about using public service for personal profit.
Under this system, lawyer-legislators decide which judges are allowed to be considered. And then they walk into courtrooms across South Carolina expecting favorable treatment from the very judges whose careers they control. That is not separation of powers. That is consolidation of power.
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RELATED | BOUGHT AND PAID FOR
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Families lose. Crime victims lose. Small businesses lose. And public trust evaporates.
This system did not develop by accident. It was built deliberately, layer by layer, and it continues because too many elected officials tolerate it. I’ve spent the last five years calling it out, which is the reason self dealing RINOs will stop at nothing to take down my campaign for Attorney General.
Bring. It. On.
The liberal Republicans aren’t winning this battle. As your next Attorney General, I will dismantle the lawyer-legislator uniparty for good, starting with Weston Newton’s stranglehold on this state. And more importantly, I will make it impossible for them to profit from their public service
If South Carolina wants real reform, it has to start by breaking the trial lawyer uniparty’s grip on the judiciary. It has to restore balance. It has to put citizens back ahead of insiders. I did not spend my career prosecuting corruption to stay quiet now. This system can be fixed. But only if we are honest about who really runs it.
Join me in this fight and let’s crush corruption in South Carolina.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
David Pascoe is solicitor for South Carolina’s first judicial circuit, which includes Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties. He is a Republican candidate for attorney general of the Palmetto State.
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17 comments
Counterpoint: All Republicans are RINOs, and they form their own little groups to convince themselves their RINO horn is actually a real, pure, magical unicorn horn that can do no wrong, and it’s the other RINOs that ruin it for everyone. And if people don’t believe that, they’ll just blame it on DINO fossils.
The supposed unicorns never decide to just form their own party to differentiate themselves from the RINOs because, well, uh, you see… uh, reasons…
Do we need more rent free prisons for lawless lawmakers and judges who make rulings that end up either tossed or reverse?
Keep me informed!
What kind of “pro- Law Enforcement” bills are we talking about, specifically?
Many in Law Enforcement constantly whine that we need more and more laws so they don’t have to familiarize themselves with existing laws already on the books, or so they have even more reasons to stop or accost Joe or Jane Average as they try and go about their day.
Many Law Enforcement luminaries have had hissy fits over restoration of rights long ago taken from us, such as “Open Carry” and “Constitutional Carry”. Sorry, but I do not support those types of LE.
Henry McMaster twice vetoed a commonsense measure that would have dropped recent charges for carrying a pistol without a permit against citizens who had been so charged not long before Constitutional Carry passed. These citizens’ only “crime” was carrying without a permit a few months or less before Constitutional Carry passed. Henry vetoed it “because Law Enforcement”.
Is Pascoe going to be another of those, who thinks every arrest needs a conviction and that cops, especially today, never err?
But – yeah, yeah, yeah……
Are we supposed to forget your “investigation” went nowhere, and everyone is still in power? Or that you were a democrat until you wanted statewide office?
It actually resulted in convictions for 5 members of the General Assembly. He also wanted to go further, but the Supreme Court and AG’s office shut him down. I’d recommend you go read the Grand Jury report! May do you some good.
Strange definition of “nowhere.” Bobby Harrell, James Merrill, Richard Quinn Jr., John Courson, and Jim Harrison might have a different take. Funny how “nowhere” came with convictions.
Speaker Harrell and every single committee chair in the South Carolina house under Speaker Harrell has either been indicted, resigned in disgrace, or almost beaten to death by me in a Panama City hotel room.
Strange definition of “nowhere.” Bobby Harrell, James Merrill, Richard Quinn Jr., John Courson, and Jim Harrison might have a different take. Funny how “nowhere” came with convictions. Did you read up on the probe, or are we just outsourcing research to opinion and personal vibe?
How? You’re going to end their influence how? The AG cannot change the judicial selection process. And the AG practices in front of the same judges, so seizing control of the selection process is just doing what the legislature has done. You are right on a lot of issues, but this “me against the system” stuff starts sounding a lot like Nancy Mace.
My question is …. How many Democrats has Pascoe got trials against from the House or Senate?
As a recent retiree & transplant to Myrtle Beach, I agree with you about the liberal GOP in South Carolina!!! While I’m not, at
this early point commiting, but fully support you on this and a few other recent letters you’ve published!!! Thanks for your true Constitutional Conservatism!!! ???
90% of elected officials in SCar are just liberals rocking an R behind their name cause that’s the only way they can get elected.
See: Lindsey, Mace, Scott, Leghorn, etc, etc
David Pasco can stop the corruption in SC and we support him 100%. All of the this is about lawyer~legislative at the state house level and how judges will be chosen. Giving the people the control back which is definitely needed! Does draining the swamp also include agencies that have cases with proven corruption?
Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was searching for!
I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post…