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Article published Nov 14, 2003
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S.C. Democrat lashes out at GOP
ROBERT W. DALTON
Staff Writer
State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin came
out swinging Thursday night for what he called an "evil" act by the state
Republican Party leadership.Erwin, speaking to a crowd of about 200 at a
Spartanburg County Democratic Party rally at Cleveland Park, said that the
Republican Party nixed a deal that could have provided 5,000 volunteers for the
Democratic presidential primary in February.Erwin's speech ignited the crowd,
which had come to hear remarks by local party leaders and representatives of the
nine presidential candidates.Katon Dawson, the state Republican Party chairman,
called Erwin's comments a "smokescreen" and a "ploy to grab headlines."Erwin
said the offer came from Washington, D.C.-based Freedom's Answer, a nonpartisan,
nonprofit organization founded by Doug Bailey, a Republican, and Mike McCurry, a
Democrat, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.The organization's Web
site says its mission "is to turn today's students into tomorrow's voters -- by
empowering them to see what a difference their participation can make."It was
Bailey who offered to provide the volunteers, Erwin said. But there was a
condition: The Republican Party had to give its OK."They were told, 'No, we
don't want those young people working in this election, and if you do this we
may file a lawsuit against you because it's a partisan event,' " Erwin
said.Erwin said he appealed to Republican Gov. Mark Sanford as the "moral leader
of the party." He said he told Sanford that the Republican Party's action was
"beyond partisanship, it's evil and it's wrong," and asked him to intervene.He
said Sanford did speak to the party leaders, but told him Thursday that there
was nothing he could do."I said Gov. Sanford, I'm not going to bash you. But I'm
going to hold press conferences all over the state and we're going to let them
have it," Erwin said. "I don't expect it to change anything because they've got
all the power. They've got the House, they've got the Senate and they've got the
Governor's Mansion."This is what we feared would happen. They won't do the right
thing."Sanford spokesman Will Folks said he didn't understand Erwin's
complaint."Gov. Sanford was asked to take the request to the Republican Party
leadership, which he did. I don't know what else they would expect him to do,"
Folks said.Dawson, who was attending a party meeting in Rock Hill Thursday
evening, said Erwin was using the Republican Party as an excuse for the
Democrats' inability to put on a primary."This is a desperate act by a desperate
group," Dawson said. "Joe Erwin is trying to use a smokescreen by saying that
the Republicans are trying to block their effort. It's disingenuous, sad and
disappointing."Dawson said he didn't understand why Freedom's Answer needed his
permission to provide volunteers for the Democratic primary."I don't oversee
them and I don't fund them. I can't believe that they need my approval."He also
said the Republican Party had no plans to file a lawsuit if the organization did
participate."(The Democratic Party is) broke and they have enough problems
without us having to do that," he said. "If I could offer them any advice it
would be to go back to the drawing board and get new candidates instead of the
kooks they've got now."Attempts to reach Bailey were unsuccessful.Robert W.
Dalton can be reached at 562-7223 or bob.dalton@shj.com.