Press Release: Former GOP Chairman Greg Shorey Endorses Stephen Brown For SCGOP Chair

A LETTER FROM FORMER STATE GOP CHAIRMAN GREG SHOREY:

STEPHEN BROWN IS THE LOGICAL CHOICE FOR SCGOP CHAIR

From the chatter on the blogs in this state concerning the race to fill the vacancy that will be created when Karen Floyd steps down next month as the Chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, one would get the impression that there are only two candidates seeking the post:  Bill Connor and Chad Connelly.  That is certainly understandable when one considers that nearly all of the postings concerning the race have centered on the allegations of mudslinging between the supporters of those candidates.  However, generally left out of those postings concerning this race is Greenville attorney and former Chairman of the Greenville County GOP, Stephen Brown.  To his credit, his name is not associated with any of the mudslinging between the other candidates, and by all accounts, Brown’s personal, professional, and political background is exemplary and scandal free.  This is a credit to his considerable experience, credentials, and competency.

Brown’s campaign, identifying himself as a Constitutional Conservative and seeking to make the Republican Party the vehicle for the conservative movement, draws enthusiastic responses from the Republican audiences that hear him speak.  These responses are no doubt due to the combination of his direct and hard-hitting, yet truthful message, combined with his obvious oratory skills and passion for the conservative movement.  Even more significantly, behind his rhetoric is a specific agenda and plan for solidifying control of the SCGOP in the hands of the conservatives in South Carolina:  Registration by Party!

Brown’s candidacy for SCGOP Chair may have been overlooked by some initially due to his relative lack of name identification, but his abilities, both as a candidate and as a prospective Chairman, should not be ignored.  The most obvious example of this may be from the only straw poll taken thus far in the campaign of an audience hearing all of the candidates for SCGOP Chair, conducted in Spartanburg on March 21^st, where Brown garnered a full 50% of the vote, leaving the other candidates to split the remaining 50%.  Of course, since that date, Patrick Haddon has dropped out and Bill Connor has entered the race, so it is unclear how such a shake up in the field impacts the relative strengths of the current candidates.

For this writer, Brown’s campaign message regarding the urgent need to revise state election laws so that only Republicans have a voice in selecting the standard bearers for the Republican Party, rather than the current system of permitting any registered voter in South Carolina to vote in our Party’s primaries, is not only the most substantive issue in the campaign, but critically important to the future success of the Republican Party.  By success, I mean not only the election of public office holders with the Republican label after their name, but the election of Constitutional Conservatives committed to the platform and foundational principles of the Republican Party.  This definition of success, to which Brown is committed, is obviously required if the Republican Party is to be successful in governing as the majority party in South Carolina.

While the other candidates may pay lip service to registration by party, none has Brown’s commitment to the issue, nor Brown’s understanding of the significance such a change in the law would make.  Furthermore, Brown is one of the key leaders in the state with the legal understanding of the fine points necessary to effectively implement such a change in state law.  His leadership abilities have been successfully tested as Chairman of South Carolina’s largest county party organization.

Overlooking Brown’s candidacy in the early weeks of this race can perhaps be explained.  However, at this time, ignoring the critical substantive issues Brown’s candidacy highlights for the future of the South Carolina GOP must not continue.  Perhaps Brown’s message has not yet garnered much support beyond the conservative electorate in the Upstate, where Brown has his political base — the next few weeks will be telling in that regard.  Nevertheless, I don’t see how any truly objective analysis of the SC GOP Chairman’s race can be conducted without carefully considering Brown’s impact on the contest.

If competency and passionate dedication to the principles of the conservative movement matter any longer to the SCGOP, it seems to me that Stephen Brown is certainly not only our logical choice, but the wisest one to lead our Party with so many critical issues facing our State and Nation.

— Greg Shorey

Former Greenville Party Chairman, State Party Chairman, and only Hon. State Party Vice-Chairman for Life

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