Rep. Bailey dealing with baggage of party switch

By JIM DAVENPORT Associated Press

COLUMBIA — It's been a rough few months for state Rep. George Bailey of St. George.

His switch in March to the Republican Party touched off a court challenge that could have knocked him out of the race, brought allegations that he has lied about his past for years and made him the Democrats' top target for defeat earlier this month.

Bailey came out of the election with 52 percent of the vote to Democrat Lachlan McIntosh's 48 percent. But a new battle is ahead: lifting the shadow of a tough campaign that questioned his character and background.

Democrats say Bailey's party shift as primary filing closed was aimed at political expedience. The switch left Democrats, for a time, without a candidate. Ultimately, they went to court and were able to put McIntosh on the ballot.

Bailey says he told party leaders in the days before the filing deadline that he would jump ship, but they did nothing. "I did exactly what I said I was going to do," Bailey said.

House Minority Leader James Smith, D-Columbia, says he called Bailey the night before filing closed after hearing rumors of a switch and that Bailey promised he wasn't changing parties.

"He gave me his word over the phone," Smith said. The conversation was memorable because Bailey "was so irate that someone would dare suggest that he was going to switch parties."

Democrats had discouraged people who considering running against Bailey in the primary, Smith said.

Bailey says the switch was less about expedience than finding Statehouse Democrats increasingly at odds with his philosophical leanings and the House budget debate underscored that.

"I would sit there and look at amendment after amendment they offered, never really saying where they are going to get the money," he said.

Besides, "I'm a conservative person," Bailey said. "I just don't believe in the philosophy Democrats have. I don't believe in same-sex marriage. I have a very strong stance on abortion."

Bailey says he's back to his GOP roots that include campaigning for Barry Goldwater and former Gov. Jim Edwards, the first Republican governor since Reconstruction, and running Richard Nixon's presidential campaign in Dorchester County.

During the campaign, the questions were less about those roots than his biographical claims.

A state legislative manual biography for years showed him as a veteran of the U.S. Marines, but Bailey served in what he later described as a high school reserve unit. His updated biography now lists his military service as Marine reserve, instead of Marine veteran.

His education credentials also were questioned. From 1984 to 1998, the biography listed him as a graduate of Washington and Lee University, a comprehensive college and law school in Lexington, Va. Bailey corrected that entry in 1999 to show he actually attended Lee Institute, a Brookline, Mass., real estate college.

Late in the election, questions arose about Bailey's status as a graduate of Richmond Academy in Augusta, Ga. School officials there said they had no record he attended, according to The Summerville Journal Scene. By that time, Bailey had enough and refused to respond to questions about his resume.

Bailey returns to the Legislature in January with questions still lingering.

"I don't think anybody really knows who George Bailey is," Smith said. "To lie about your being a Marine Corps veteran, that you went to Richmond Academy for high school — that you never went to, that you went to Washington & Lee — those things are factually not true."

Still, Bailey's campaign issues likely won't be a factor during the two-year session, Smith said. "We will give him the respect he's entitled to," the Democratic leader said.

Bailey wants to move beyond the questions and get things done for a district that's seen no population growth and little economic development even though it hugs Interstate 95, one of the state's busiest highways.

With Republicans controlling the Legislature, Bailey hopes issues he supports will find more favor with an "R" behind his name.

"Overall, being in the party of the majority team probably gets you a more effective voice," said House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville.

The House gives little weight to seniority, and Bailey expects few perks.

Bailey, who served on the House Agriculture Committee for the past two years, could get a better committee assignment. And he says he's got a better Statehouse parking space.

He's also now part of a caucus that has deeper pockets. "The food is much better," Bailey said. "I went from cold sandwiches to steak."

Copyright © 2003, The Aiken Standard