The Greenville County Republican Women heard from the following candidates at their April 22 meeting: Curtis Loftis, candidate for South Carolina Treasurer; Nathan Earle, candidate for SC House Seat 17; state Sen. David Thomas, candidate for the fourth U.S. Congressional seat; and Elizabeth Moffly, candidate for State Superintendent of Education. Curtis Loftis
Curtis Loftis, a business man and later founder and director of the Saluda Charitable Foundation, a Christian missionary foundation that builds churches, buys prayer houses, remodels hospitals and sponsors surgeries.
Loftis took 18 months off to run the Department on Aging for Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and in the first year cut 23 percent from the budget so the department could use that money for senior services. For his work, Loftis received the Palmetto Patriot Award, the highest award the state can bestow.
A couple of months later, Richard Eckstrom, the state’s comptroller general, asked Loftis to do project work on transparency issues. Through this, Loftis realized that no one in the state government has a job description to stop fraud, waste and abuse.
Loftis noted that incumbent treasurer Converse Chellis was chosen by the South Carolina Legislature after the resignation of Thomas Ravenel and that Chellis’ allegiance is to the Legislature, not the people of South Carolina.
Loftis pledged to name and shame those who misuse taxpayer money.
Nathan Earle
Nathan Earle, candidate for the SC House District 17 seat now held by Harry Cato, said that in every race throughout the state and nation, it needs to be said: “As Republicans, we’ve got a lot of reform to do in our party before we start worrying about the junk coming out of Washington. We have some cleaning to do in our own house.”
Earle said he felt Cato was not doing enough to advance conservative principles.
Earle said that Republicans are not acting like Republicans and that often you cannot tell the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Earle accused County Council members Robert Taylor, Liz Seman, Fred Payne and Jim Burns of voting against jobs and growth.
“Until we start acting like Republicans, we have no business pointing a finger at Washington,” he said.
David Thomas
State Sen. David Thomas, a candidate for the fourth district U.S. House seat, spoke about mounting federal debt that will lead to hyperinflation, a devaluation of the dollar, downgrading of the U.S. credit rating and eventually a depression. In a few years, we will not even be able to pay the interest on the debt, he said.
The No. 1 priority facing the United States today is to control spending, and that is one reason Thomas said he is running for Congress. He called for a takeover this November by “firebrand conservatives.”
The upward trajectory of the national debt, Thomas said, began during the presidency of George Bush and a Republican controlled Congress. “The budget got out of control during our watch,” Thomas said, “and it has gone into the stratosphere since the Democrats took over.”
Thomas called for across-the-board budget cuts including the elimination of some agencies.
Elizabeth Moffly
Elizabeth Moffly is a candidate for state superintendent of education.
Moffly has four points she would like to implement: 1) offer a vocational diploma in addition to a college prep diploma, 2) align the state high school diploma with recommendations from the Commission on Higher Education (you can go to college with 19 high school credits, but you need 24 credits to graduate from high school; 3) align the South Carolina Uniform Grading Scale with other states to eliminate their advantage in being accepted to South Carolina colleges; and 4) set the appropriate levels for teaching the basics of reading, writing and math in kindergarten through third grade.
