Jim Lee and his wife of 31 years, Laurie, bustled into the room, prepared and ready to campaign. It was pretty obvious that the retired USAF MSgt was not at his first rodeo. He smiled and greeted those nearby, only after making sure Laurie had her campaign station up. Shirts, stickers, volunteer forms and email contact list all there and ready. She had it all under control (like always), and Jim could relax.
The genuine, boyish Ohio-born grin flashed easily to his face, and the first thing from him was, “How are you?” That was not the candidate, but the gentleman coming out, first and foremost. “I have been interested in Politics from a young age,” Jim relates, he found that back in the 2007 – 08 timeframe he had had a paradigm shift from active citizen over to Activist. He decided to run for Congress. He was motivated, he was going to do nothing different than what he had been doing, he was a “true Conservative.” That was not to be at that point, but national events changed the course of his personal life. He decided that “We could not change Washington from here so we should change it in South Carolina. He began to read. He read the entire TARP program documentation, and he was on fire, incensed that there was no one speaking out, no media was covering the story and no leadership was seen on this issue. He began to talk to folks around him. The pattern here in Columbia was the same as in DC, so he decided in early 2010 that he was going to run for the State Senate. Announcing early from the District 8 home he had owned for 16 years, he and Laurie, a genuine Pro-Life Activist in her own right, gave him her full, unrelenting support. Being the mother of 5 she definitely was ready for any challenge. They had been vetted by the public before, and this was something they were taking on willingly. They were used to the scrutiny. Both Jim and Laurie firmly believe, support and advocate “School Choice.”
Jim feels he has “a depth and breadth of experience as a business consultant who emphasizes in special strategies and IT. Combine that with his “passion and his innate ability to read and understand legislation, he is a natural to go to Columbia and the Senate. “ He ticked off three areas that he wants to apply that passion to; “Restructuring and right-sizing the government; Improving the business environment; and reform in Columbia.” He sat back and considered his next thought, and when he formed it, he just put it out there, “I don’t have a silver bullet. But I want to make South Carolina the Freest State in the Union as far as ‘Government’ is concerned. I feel that we are paying too much for what we have and what we get, and it costs too much and doesn’t deliver.” Jim revisited each point, emphasizing that they are intertwined with each other, and that each affects the others. “I want to improve the climate for businesses big and small. However, I do understand that 60 to 85% of ALL new jobs [his emphasis] are the result of small businesses. I want to review and understand what the regulations are doing to those businesses. I want to review what the taxes are doing to all businesses, small and large.” “I want to discuss income taxes, but it should start with ‘Fair Tax,’ and I want to look at the whole. I want to remind the government that it should do only the things that the people cannot do properly for themselves.
Jim’s next breath came right before he spoke about Reform. He bases the thought again on the ideal of ‘Home Rule’ in South Carolina. That the government that governs the least governs best. He wants “the transparency in recorded votes and in the Government, and an open, candid honest government requires a different type of people to go to serve.” More information can be found at http://www.votejimlee.com/.
One word of note for the readers; Jim Lee’s long-time residence was in fact redistricted out of the 8th District. It was duly observed, noted and recorded that he had been a long-term resident of the District. He does maintain a residence both in and outside the district for family stability and to abide by Senate residency requirements.
