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Kick Bailey off ballot, Democrats ask court: Dorchester lawmaker filed with both parties

ST. GEORGE -- A Republican-turned-Democrat-turned-Republican state representative who filed for both parties' primaries this year may get kicked off the ballot altogether.

That's the request of the Dorchester County Democratic Party in a lawsuit filed Tuesday afternoon in the Court of Common Pleas against District 97 Rep. George Hampton Bailey.

"We are requesting the court to enjoin Mr. Bailey from running as a Democrat or a Republican," said Truett Nettles of Charleston, attorney for the Dorchester County Democratic Party.

Bailey's lawyer, Steve Hamm of Columbia, said he is "confident Mr. Bailey will remain on the ballot for the Republican primary. I've known (him) for many, many years. When the dust settles, his constituents are going to be glad to know he has a desire to continue to serve his district."

A preliminary hearing, originally scheduled for Thursday afternoon in the Orangeburg County Courthouse, just two days after the lawsuit was filed, was postponed -- or, in legal parlance, continued.

Hamm phoned Nettles on Thursday morning and asked for the delay. "I indicated I wanted to talk to my client," Hamm said.

"We consented to that and the hearing was canceled," Nettles said. "We're trying to get a hearing scheduled as soon as possible, but we understand Mr. Hamm should have time to properly prepare to represent his client."

Bailey owns Carolina Low Country Real Estate and Construction in St. George. He could not be reached for comment Thursday at his legislative office in Columbia, his business or his residence.

Bailey's party switch "caught everybody by surprise," said A.J. Glover, the newly elected Democratic Party chairman in Dorchester County.

"We thought he was our candidate," Glover added. "He was the chairman of our county convention. That's the night he said he was going to run for re-election."

Fellow Democrats assumed he meant he'd run as a Democrat, and he did indeed file his papers and pay his filing fee with the Democratic Party.

He didn't have far to go; his office was designated as the filing location for Democratic Party candidates.

Nettles said the Democrats "didn't learn until after the filing deadline" that Bailey also filed papers and paid his filing fee to run as a Republican.

"When the filing period closed, there was a Republican candidate for the office, George Bailey, and a Democratic candidate for the office, also George Bailey," Nettles said.

State law allows an individual to run for political office as the candidate of more than one party under certain circumstances. It's called fusion voting.

Two years ago, state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg and six other black House members filed their papers and paid their filing fees to seek re-election as Democrats.

They also accepted offers by the United Citizens Party to serve as the minor party's candidate for the same seats.

Cobb-Hunter made it clear she did not seek the UCP's endorsement -- which was conferred by a convention rather than a primary process -- and that it did not affect her exclusive loyalty to the Democratic Party.

The Dorchester County Democratic Party, on the other hand, claims that when Bailey filed as a Republican candidate, he broke his written pledge to support the Democratic Party.

"One of the things candidates are required to do is file a pledge" to support the party, Nettles said. More than a political promise, "it's required by South Carolina statute," he said.

The law allows a political party to seek an injunction against a candidate who reneges on the pledge, Nettles added.

"It's a pledge he made himself," House Minority Leader James Smith said. "I fully support the actions taken by the Dorchester County Democratic Party to protect the voters of Dorchester County."

Because no judge was available for a preliminary hearing in Dorchester County, the plaintiffs exercised their option to request a hearing in another county in the same judicial circuit.

That turned out to be Judge John Breeden of Conway, who is almost midway through a two-week court session in Orangeburg.

After the hearing was postponed, Nettles said the attorneys probably would get together early next week and propose a new date for the hearing.

"If the judge grants our request for an injunction, the parties would be allowed time to nominate substitute (candidates)," Nettles said. "That is exactly why we filed this lawsuit. We want a Democrat running for that seat."

Glover said Democrats were "lulled into thinking" Bailey would be their nominee. "We really want a chance to field a candidate. I feel that the voters should have the opportunity to vote for a (Democratic) candidate. As chairman of the party, it's my duty to see they get that opportunity."

"If we had known he was going to run as a Republican, the (Democratic) Party would have recruited a candidate for that seat," Nettles said.

"It's important for voters and good for the whole society if we have contested elections and the public has a choice to choose who they want to represent them," he said.

"That's basic American democracy. We've got to have that and preserve that," Nettles added. "We can't let somebody get into office through subterfuge or noncompliance with the statutes."

T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552.