What happens when nine candidates compete for sheriff in a special election? Frank Tiller, newly elected Chairman of the Spartanburg County Republican Party, shares the unexpected challenges and surprising community response as his leadership team navigates what even state election officials couldn't fully advise them on.
This engaging conversation pulls back the curtain on local politics, revealing the often-misunderstood nature of political party operations. When Tiller's team inherited a nearly empty bank account and immediately faced organizing major candidate forums, they encountered a common misconception - that political parties are government-funded entities. The reality of grassroots funding comes into sharp focus as Tiller recounts the remarkable moment when community members stepped forward to transform ticketed events into free forums accessible to all voters.
The heart of Spartanburg's political renewal beats every Saturday morning at a local restaurant where "CAMP" (Coffee and American Politics) gatherings have exploded from an intimate group of eight to overflow crowds exceeding 100 participants. What makes these meetings special? Tiller explains that unlike traditional political events, every attendee gets microphone time - prompting the most common feedback: "My voice is being heard, and that has never happened before in politics."
From navigating the peculiar requirement that the county chairman must collect sheriff candidates' fingerprints to the ambitious goal of increasing primary election turnout from 13% to 20%, this conversation offers a fascinating glimpse into democracy at work at its most local level.
Ready to engage with your local political process? Mark August 8th on your calendar for the special election, and consider joining the Saturday morning conversations where candidates and citizens connect beyond credentials to build the relationships that ultimately drive voting decisions.
https://www.jacksonfamilyministry.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more
than enough for the ills thatplague our culture and our
country.
Hosted by author and physician,dr Robert Jackson, and his wife
Carlotta and daughter HannahMiller.
So listen up, because thedoctor is in.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to More Than Medicine.
I'm your host, Dr RobertJackson, bringing to you
biblical insights and storiesfrom the country doctor's rusty,
dusty scrapbook.
Well, I'm delighted today tohave in the studio with me Frank
Tiller, who happens to be thechairman of the Spartanburg
County Republican Party.
(00:46):
Frank, welcome to More ThanMedicine.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Thank you, Dr Jackson .
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well, I'm delighted to have you as my guest, and
what I want to do today, Frank,is first I want to ask you to
just introduce yourself.
Tell folks a little bit aboutwho you are and what you've done
in your former life.
Tell folks a little bit aboutwho you are and what you've done
in your former life, and thentell us a little bit about your
vision for the SpartanburgCounty Republican Party.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Okay, I am a native of Spartanburg.
My family's been here for along time, married a local girl
that was at Dorman High SchoolWell, obviously after high
school, but she was at Dorman, Iwas at Spartanburg High School.
Never thought that everhappened.
(01:45):
But we've really enjoyed that.
Got into a lot of differentthings the last few years.
I've just enjoyed trying tounderstand how politics works
and learn the ins and outs of itand learn you got to have thick
skin.
So tell us about what yourresponsibility is right now in
Spartanburg County just recentlyhad an election and we were
(02:09):
able to prevail and I waselected Spartanburg County
Republican Party Chairman andwith that we have other officers
that have gotten on board withus and we're trying.
The two really things that wetry to do is get voter
(02:29):
participation, to increase thevote, get the vote out and we're
trying to get above the 13percent primary rate up to about
a 20 percent primary rate andwith.
If we can change that dynamic,then I think we can start making
a lot of differences.
And the other thing is,presently we have two forums
(02:51):
going that will be happeningnext week and the week after,
and that is to get thecandidates in front of as many
voters as we can.
And the first one with thesheriffs.
That will happen next Friday,july 11th, from basically 6 to 9
.
And then the county councilwill be at Broome High School,
(03:14):
which is in the District 3county council, and that will be
the following Tuesday, the 15thof July.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Okay, and so there's been some big news regarding
that, because we have eight,nine candidates for sheriff and
that event is coming up.
That's going to be, as you said, on the 11th, and you have some
exciting news about it, right?
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, we were thrown into, you know, having to
perform real quickly after theelection at the county
convention and all of a suddenwe had a sheriff step down, we
had a county councilman stepdown and we were looking at
having to put on two specialelections.
(03:55):
And lo and behold, with thecounty sheriff's race.
The first guy came up andsigned up and the second, third,
sixth, seventh, eighth andninth.
Then all of a sudden we had ahuge, um, a lot of candidates in
that race and just the weekafter that, um, then county
(04:15):
council people started showingup six republicans and one
democrat and one independent.
That is now forward party, notreally familiar with the forward
party, but that's justsomething the last year and a
half.
But so eight people in there,but we're responsible for the
six Republicans.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And so you guys are having a forum for both of these
events and that came up.
This was a special election and, if I have got my details
correct, even when you guys werefiguring out all the logistics
for this upcoming event, thishas never happened in
Spartanburg County and thepeople in Columbia didn't even
really know how to advise youguys moving forward with having
(04:56):
this forum.
Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I don't know how you got that knowledge, but
absolutely those facts arecorrect.
They didn't know and they weresaying that we didn't know what
to do.
Well, john Baucom, at the localelections bureau, he helped us
through it and he startedpulling out state law and said
you got to do this, this andthis.
And even the people in Columbiawere saying, no, that's not,
we've not done this, but that'snot how you do it.
(05:20):
And John said, yeah, this isstate law, this is how you do it
.
And said, yeah, this state law,this is how you do it.
And all of a sudden they changedtheir way of thinking.
They were taking control ofthat situation and john kept
sending a couple little fly, sixsections of the state law, to
explain what has to be done.
And we got through it.
So everybody got certified.
Interesting that for somereason I don't know why that the
(05:43):
Spartanburg County Republicanchairman is to retain the
fingerprints of each of thesheriffs.
I have no idea what I do with aset of fingerprints for those
guys, but yeah, I've got themand I'll be holding on from here
on out.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
They're not the sheriff, they're just a
candidate.
You have to have theirfingerprints.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That state law.
That was one of the uniquedifferences.
I had to receive affidavitsfrom each of them, and I looked
at him.
I said how am I to certify thatall this information they put
on these affidavits is true?
I mean, I have no way of doingthat.
And he says no, all you have todo is physically receive the
affidavit from the candidate andthen you turn around and hand
(06:22):
it to us in the window.
I said, well, I can do that.
So we got them all certifiedand it all worked out good.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
You didn't know, hannah was a private detective.
She knows all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Well, she found out some stuff that I didn't.
I was not privy to that, sothat's great.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Well, one of the things that I wanted to make
sure that we get out here prettyquick is that some things in
details about this upcomingSheriff's Forum have changed and
it's actually pretty excitingfor Spartanburg County.
Can you share with us some ofthose details, frank?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Sure, because we had to do everything so fast.
I was spending most of my timelooking for venues, and they had
to be large venues.
Talking to probably seven oreight venues, some of them said,
no, they weren't interested indoing political events.
And I said, well, you know,thinking to myself, but why not?
(07:11):
Because we've actually hadcounty conventions at these
places before, and not going tomention the names.
But they they said no, we'renot, we're not doing political
things.
And I said, well, it doesn'tsound fair that you could say
that you could do this and justdecide that you're not going to
do this.
And then I found out that it'sreally up to each of the school
districts to set their ownpolicy, whether they're going to
(07:33):
allow that kind of stuff or not.
So the venues were set.
Then we had to sort of figureout, well, where's the money
coming from?
Because we weren't worriedabout the money, because we
really didn't know what thecosts were going to be.
Now we sort of getting an ideaon the cost and we didn't have
any money.
We were left with a bankaccount that had just at maybe
(07:54):
less than 500 in it, and thesevenues were both going to set us
back a lot more than that.
Um, the security, uh, atwalford, uh, they were going to
have eight officers therebecause it's contentious
somewhat and this is sort of alaw enforcement kind of
environment.
So we said, yeah, we understand, we have to pay for that and
(08:15):
the janitorial and the lightsand all the incidentals, that
like the event insurance.
But we all of a sudden werelooking at $4,000 and that
wasn't in the treasury.
We had contributed a little bitbut nowhere close to that.
And that was just one event.
That was just the first event,correct.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
And that's right.
So and this was also you'regetting a special election, two
special elections, immediatelywithin 45 to 60 days of you guys
coming into office.
So you know it was how are wegonna?
We've, we've got very littlemoney left in the coffers from
previous leadership, which Iwould assume you get done with
the election cycle.
You've spent everything andthen you got to start the
(08:56):
raising money all again.
So, uh, you know, no shade.
I'm sure that that's how ithappens.
But you guys, it was very fast.
You came into leadership andthen boom, you've got these two
elections and so specialelections that are happening,
and so you're going to have tosell tickets.
And it raised some eyebrows.
People were like wait a minute.
(09:18):
What's why?
Why are we having to pay fortickets for this?
Yeah, not thinking and I don'tthink the average folk is is
thinking about the logisticsthat you just explained First of
all, that there's ninecandidates, so we got to have a
large facility.
We got to be indoors becauseit's the armpit of Satan down
here in South Carolina right now.
Nobody's going to be outsideduring these kinds of things.
(09:41):
And then you've got securityyou just mentioned.
You've got maintenance,janitorial stuff for events like
this.
So once you know and evenmyself you know, I hear there's
going to be a cost, and I'm like, oh, and my eyebrows raise, and
then for half a second, andthen I thought, oh, I got.
You know, I've done eventplanning myself.
I know all of the logisticsthat have to go into that.
(10:02):
But there's actually some bignews about that, though, and to
that.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
But there's actually some big news about that, though
, and the fact that there's nolonger going to be a fee.
Yeah, that's exactly right.
That just sort of happenedtoday.
Call it a blessing.
Yes, indeed, several peoplehave come together and said we
like what you're doing, we wantto help.
So it still gives me chills tothink about it, but several
people this afternoon actuallysaid that we want to help make
(10:30):
this a free event and we saidthank you.
Just unbelievably fortunatethat happened, and a lot of
people had wanted the free event.
Some people even thought thatthe Republican Party is part of
the government and thegovernment should be paying for
it.
I think one comment was eventhat well, let's just get some
of that $53,000 that's gone anduse that.
(10:50):
And none of that applies tothis.
The Republican and Democratparties and all the parties.
They're their own independententity, created by the state
legislature, and we are, weexist and we're under the
auspices of the South CarolinaGOP out of Columbia.
So people ask is it acorporation or what?
(11:12):
Is it LLC?
No, it's just a subcategory orsubagency of the South Carolina
GOP, which was created by thelegislature.
So that's where we are, withthat and because of the goodness
of these people, the generosityof seeing something going
forward and liking what they'reseeing.
They said we want to take careof the uh, the negatives that
(11:35):
you can, the expenses that youwill have, and just blew us away
.
Because not only that, this isthis coming friday week, um, on
the 11th, then, immediatelyfollowing that, on the Tuesday
on the 15th, for the CountyCouncil, we would have to launch
right back into that.
So two back-to-back events andwe were trying to figure out
(11:56):
well, where are we going to getthe money to do all the printing
for a thousand brochures atConverse or at 600 at Broome
High School?
And it's all worked out.
Everything is at Broome HighSchool and it's all worked out.
Everything is all.
Our ducks are sort of in a rownow and everything's lining up,
I guess the moon and the starsis lining up.
We're excited about that.
So, yeah, so now we can offerit as a free event and the
(12:19):
people that have paid theirtickets, bought their tickets
and paid into the ticket sales,they will be refunded the money
that they put into it to buy thetickets already.
So they're going to getreimbursed.
Of course, I'm going to suggestthat donations are accepted, so
you know, if anybody wants to,you know, donate, we're.
Obviously.
This is just the first twoevents that we're going to try
(12:42):
to get off the ground and therewill probably be runoffs in both
of those events because of howmany sheriffs we got in that
race and we've got six morecounty council people, so there
will probably be runoffs inearly August.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Okay, so you'll have events for that as well, or you
know things that you're tryingto help.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Stuff you'll be sending out.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Additionally, those venues are already set up.
So that's all good.
They're excited about having us, and that's real.
I'm not going to minimize thebig one that we've got coming up
this Friday week, but the bigone would probably be the runoff
.
When you've got the two peoplethat are going to be, one of
them will be selected as oursheriff.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Right.
And so you know, and I thinkit's important for people to
really understand I mean, thisis how the grassroots work.
We want these events and wewant the Spartanburg County GOP
to be grassroots and we want itto be it's $15 here, it's $20
there, it's $50 here, and that'show these things happen.
(13:51):
And so when you're looking atevents and you're thinking, well
, you automatically think it's agovernment thing, it should be
free.
The government's putting on.
You know, we pay our taxes.
Right, you kind of brought thatup.
People were saying that, but youdo have to, we have to all take
a step back and remember well,this is not a tax funded thing,
this is just party affiliation.
(14:11):
And so the most important thingthat folks can remember in that
situation is you know what?
Your $15 goes a long way.
And so if you want to see moreof this kind of stuff from the
Spartanburg County GOP, sendthem a few dollars and say you
know what?
I do think that these areimportant, these kinds of forums
.
We want to know and hear fromthese sheriffs and that kind of
(14:33):
thing, and we realize that youguys are under no legal
obligation to do these kinds ofthings, but we want to support
what you're doing, and that'swhat it means to be a grassroots
organization.
It's not some, you know,there's not.
The government's not coming inpaying for this and we don't
want them to.
They got no business.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's right, you know.
Nor do we want large investorsthat want to control stuff.
It is indeed grassroots fromthe bottom up, not some deep
pockets from the top that you'regoing to be beholding to.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
That are just paying for whole events and getting it.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Expecting something in return.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yes, yes indeed.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Do you happen to know the address where people can
send a check if they want tomake a donation?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I can look that up in just a few minutes for you All
right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And the other thing, well, before you give out the
address actually probably beeasier if you just tell people
the website, because then theycan get all the information from
one shot.
So if you want to buy a ticketor you want to send in a check,
or so, let's do it that way.
What's the website?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
that folks can go to yeah, spartanburggopcom, and
that information should be thereon the website.
It'd be a po box in drayton,south carolina, which is why
drayton is, because that's whereour treasurer lives in that
area.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
All right.
Now, frank, if people want toget involved at the grassroots
level, people are listening andthey're saying I like what
you're doing and I want to getinvolved.
You know the reorg is over, butthere are things still going on
week to week.
What can people do to getinvolved?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Great question and we love the help.
A lot of committees that needto be formed.
They're not even named yet.
What we had been doing prior tothis, back in August of last
year we created a small group ofpeople six to eight people and
we named it CAMP and basicallythat's Coffee and American
(16:28):
Politics from the nationalconvention and she was on fire
about starting some, some group.
That would help be grassrootsbut it would train people, teach
people what to expect, how tonavigate through precincts and
(16:52):
understand what the countyconvention was, what understand
the state convention.
And it grew and it grew and itgrew.
We outgrew Denny's on Reval Roadand then we moved on down to
the Clock Clockworks.
Now is the name of it Turnedpizza of it.
Same owner, great guy, LoveGeorge.
And then we outgrew that and sowe went to the Peach Blossom.
That was a hit.
(17:13):
So we stayed at Peach Blossomfor six weeks I believe, and
things worked out that Georgewanted us back.
So he said, instead of goinginto my private dining rooms,
y'all can come into the publicarea and just maintain that and
we can get over 100 people there.
And that was a wonderfulblessing.
(17:34):
And he said he normally doesn'topen until 11 o'clock in the
morning, but he opens up for usat 9.30, which was just
wonderful because we could thengo into his large dining room up
until 11 o'clock.
And if we were still there,because it's usually 9.30 to
11.30 every Saturday andactually this week, we expanded
(17:54):
back into his old dining roomwith our overflow.
So, yeah, we've been blessedabundantly.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
What all do you do?
Tell them what you do on.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Saturdays.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
That was my question, okay, great.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Well, we start off with the prayer and the Pledge
of Allegiance and then weintroduce the new people that
have come, and there's usuallysix, eight or ten of new people,
because some of the people thathave been there a while they
brought their friends and thentheir friends show up and then
(18:25):
they come back in and checkoccasionally, but every week
there's usually six, eight or 10new people that are there.
Unbelievably that three, four Iguess three and four, not five
of the sheriff candidates comethere every Saturday during this
campaign time and we alwaysallow one featured speaker, one
sheriff, to speak for a15-minute period with a short
Q&A after that.
But all the other candidateslove sitting around talking to
(18:46):
all the people that are there.
So they're all excited aboutbeing there and making new
friends.
Because a lot of times,unfortunately, people don't vote
for the person that has thebest credentials.
They vote for the person thathas the best credentials.
They vote for the person thatcares more about them and that's
their friend.
So that is a true statement.
Two candidates told me thisweek.
They said I can't believe thispeople.
They're going to vote for menot because of my credentials,
(19:09):
which are good, but because Ihave befriended them, and they
like that.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yep, exactly right, that's very important.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
So this is something that you guys do every Saturday.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
You said 9 30 to 11 30 and tell us the location that
you guys are right now, becauseyou guys have moved around a
little bit.
Actually, down still on RevalRoad, and it's Reval Road at the
intersection of Anderson MillRoad.
I'm not going to misquote theaddress, but it's at on Reval
Road, on the left side, not onthe right, what Denny's was, but
on the left side at theintersection of Anderson Mill
Road, just a half mile down theroad from there.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
It's called Clockworks.
Now Clockworks, okay.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Okay, so that's where folks can find you, and you
said it's every Saturday and youguys are usually just chatting
and you have some sort offeatured speaker every week, is
that?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
right, that's right.
So that's sort of the speakerevery week.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Is that right?
That's right, so that's sort ofthe Right.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Now it happens to be the sheriff's candidates.
That's right.
And we're going to startdoubling up because time's short
for the county council people,so we're going to have two of
them come in, because this isthe month they've got to come in
.
Early voting starts at the endof this month and then we'll
have the election, so we'retrying to get them all in there.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Is there any place online where folks can go and
see who's going to be there orany more information?
Is there like a Facebook pageor a social media page of any
kind?
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Not really for camp.
We send out notices at leastonce a week and we try to text
everybody and occasionally we'lltry to do emails to everybody
to keep them informed of theagenda.
And one of our guys says hekeeps.
I love it because he says youpromised me you're going to have
an agenda and it's alreadyThursday, so I owe him an agenda
(20:44):
and but it's just.
It's sort of funny, but it'sthe same agenda.
It's just like I said, we startwith the prayer pledge and
start introducing.
Actually, we ask the people tointroduce themselves and say
whatever they want to.
It is sort of like an open micsession, but it is for them
talking.
But that's what the primaryevent that we do is.
(21:04):
We allow each of the people totalk and let them hold the
microphone, and that is the onething.
That's the most recurringcomment my voice is being heard,
and that has never been donebefore in politics especially
here.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
The other thing is this opportunity to be with
like-minded people, people wholove America, people who are
excited about being involved inlocal politics, and they get to
share their ideas and meet otherpeople that think the way they
think.
You know, and it's just a greatgab fest on Saturday mornings.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
It is indeed.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
All right, we're running out of time.
Any last comments, frank,before we?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
go.
No, the thing of the RepublicanParty.
Their main, I guess, mission isto get the vote out, and that's
what we're trying to do.
So it's not only get thecandidates in front of the
voters, which we're doing inthese two venues, it is to
actually get other people outand increase.
Our standard rate has been 13%voter turnout and we're going to
(22:04):
try to push that on up to 18 to20%.
We can do that.
We hit a home run.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
All right, and when's the?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
primary.
The day of the primary isAugust 8th or something like
that.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yes, August 8th.
We want folks to vote on Augustthe 8th, so put that on your
calendars, listeners, and showup and vote and bring a friend,
that is so far in the future forme.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Right now, I cannot see beyond day after tomorrow.
Thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
All right.
Well, you're listening to MoreThan Medicine.
We're thankful that you're herewith us.
We'll be back again next week.
Until then, may the Lord blessyou real good.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Thank you for listening to this edition of
More Than Medicine.
For more information about theJackson Family Ministry or to
schedule a speaking engagement,go to their Facebook page,
instagram or webpage atjacksonfamilyministrycom.
Also, don't forget to check outDr Jackson's books that are
available on Amazon His thirdbook Turkey Tales and Bible
(23:01):
Truths, and his father'sbiography on Laughter Silvered
Wings the story of a countrydoctor, a family man, a patriot
and a political activist.
This podcast is produced by BobSloan Audio Productions.
Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more
than enough for the ills thatplague our culture and our
country.
Hosted by author and physician,dr Robert Jackson, and his wife
Carlotta and daughter HannahMiller.
So listen up, because thedoctor is in.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to More Than Medicine.
I'm your host, Dr RobertJackson, bringing to you
biblical insights and storiesfrom the country doctor's rusty,
dusty scrapbook.
Well, I'm delighted today tohave in the studio with me Frank
Tiller, who happens to be thechairman of the Spartanburg
County Republican Party.
(00:46):
Frank, welcome to More ThanMedicine.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Thank you, Dr Jackson .
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well, I'm delighted to have you as my guest, and
what I want to do today, Frank,is first I want to ask you to
just introduce yourself.
Tell folks a little bit aboutwho you are and what you've done
in your former life.
Tell folks a little bit aboutwho you are and what you've done
in your former life, and thentell us a little bit about your
vision for the SpartanburgCounty Republican Party.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Okay, I am a native of Spartanburg.
My family's been here for along time, married a local girl
that was at Dorman High SchoolWell, obviously after high
school, but she was at Dorman, Iwas at Spartanburg High School.
Never thought that everhappened.
(01:45):
But we've really enjoyed that.
Got into a lot of differentthings the last few years.
I've just enjoyed trying tounderstand how politics works
and learn the ins and outs of itand learn you got to have thick
skin.
So tell us about what yourresponsibility is right now in
Spartanburg County just recentlyhad an election and we were
(02:09):
able to prevail and I waselected Spartanburg County
Republican Party Chairman andwith that we have other officers
that have gotten on board withus and we're trying.
The two really things that wetry to do is get voter
(02:29):
participation, to increase thevote, get the vote out and we're
trying to get above the 13percent primary rate up to about
a 20 percent primary rate andwith.
If we can change that dynamic,then I think we can start making
a lot of differences.
And the other thing is,presently we have two forums
(02:51):
going that will be happeningnext week and the week after,
and that is to get thecandidates in front of as many
voters as we can.
And the first one with thesheriffs.
That will happen next Friday,july 11th, from basically 6 to 9
.
And then the county councilwill be at Broome High School,
(03:14):
which is in the District 3county council, and that will be
the following Tuesday, the 15thof July.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Okay, and so there's been some big news regarding
that, because we have eight,nine candidates for sheriff and
that event is coming up.
That's going to be, as you said, on the 11th, and you have some
exciting news about it, right?
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, we were thrown into, you know, having to
perform real quickly after theelection at the county
convention and all of a suddenwe had a sheriff step down, we
had a county councilman stepdown and we were looking at
having to put on two specialelections.
(03:55):
And lo and behold, with thecounty sheriff's race.
The first guy came up andsigned up and the second, third,
sixth, seventh, eighth andninth.
Then all of a sudden we had ahuge, um, a lot of candidates in
that race and just the weekafter that, um, then county
(04:15):
council people started showingup six republicans and one
democrat and one independent.
That is now forward party, notreally familiar with the forward
party, but that's justsomething the last year and a
half.
But so eight people in there,but we're responsible for the
six Republicans.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And so you guys are having a forum for both of these
events and that came up.
This was a special election and, if I have got my details
correct, even when you guys werefiguring out all the logistics
for this upcoming event, thishas never happened in
Spartanburg County and thepeople in Columbia didn't even
really know how to advise youguys moving forward with having
(04:56):
this forum.
Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I don't know how you got that knowledge, but
absolutely those facts arecorrect.
They didn't know and they weresaying that we didn't know what
to do.
Well, john Baucom, at the localelections bureau, he helped us
through it and he startedpulling out state law and said
you got to do this, this andthis.
And even the people in Columbiawere saying, no, that's not,
we've not done this, but that'snot how you do it.
(05:20):
And John said, yeah, this isstate law, this is how you do it
.
And said, yeah, this state law,this is how you do it.
And all of a sudden they changedtheir way of thinking.
They were taking control ofthat situation and john kept
sending a couple little fly, sixsections of the state law, to
explain what has to be done.
And we got through it.
So everybody got certified.
Interesting that for somereason I don't know why that the
(05:43):
Spartanburg County Republicanchairman is to retain the
fingerprints of each of thesheriffs.
I have no idea what I do with aset of fingerprints for those
guys, but yeah, I've got themand I'll be holding on from here
on out.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
They're not the sheriff, they're just a
candidate.
You have to have theirfingerprints.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That state law.
That was one of the uniquedifferences.
I had to receive affidavitsfrom each of them, and I looked
at him.
I said how am I to certify thatall this information they put
on these affidavits is true?
I mean, I have no way of doingthat.
And he says no, all you have todo is physically receive the
affidavit from the candidate andthen you turn around and hand
(06:22):
it to us in the window.
I said, well, I can do that.
So we got them all certifiedand it all worked out good.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
You didn't know, hannah was a private detective.
She knows all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Well, she found out some stuff that I didn't.
I was not privy to that, sothat's great.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Well, one of the things that I wanted to make
sure that we get out here prettyquick is that some things in
details about this upcomingSheriff's Forum have changed and
it's actually pretty excitingfor Spartanburg County.
Can you share with us some ofthose details, frank?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Sure, because we had to do everything so fast.
I was spending most of my timelooking for venues, and they had
to be large venues.
Talking to probably seven oreight venues, some of them said,
no, they weren't interested indoing political events.
And I said, well, you know,thinking to myself, but why not?
(07:11):
Because we've actually hadcounty conventions at these
places before, and not going tomention the names.
But they they said no, we'renot, we're not doing political
things.
And I said, well, it doesn'tsound fair that you could say
that you could do this and justdecide that you're not going to
do this.
And then I found out that it'sreally up to each of the school
districts to set their ownpolicy, whether they're going to
(07:33):
allow that kind of stuff or not.
So the venues were set.
Then we had to sort of figureout, well, where's the money
coming from?
Because we weren't worriedabout the money, because we
really didn't know what thecosts were going to be.
Now we sort of getting an ideaon the cost and we didn't have
any money.
We were left with a bankaccount that had just at maybe
(07:54):
less than 500 in it, and thesevenues were both going to set us
back a lot more than that.
Um, the security, uh, atwalford, uh, they were going to
have eight officers therebecause it's contentious
somewhat and this is sort of alaw enforcement kind of
environment.
So we said, yeah, we understand, we have to pay for that and
(08:15):
the janitorial and the lightsand all the incidentals, that
like the event insurance.
But we all of a sudden werelooking at $4,000 and that
wasn't in the treasury.
We had contributed a little bitbut nowhere close to that.
And that was just one event.
That was just the first event,correct.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
And that's right.
So and this was also you'regetting a special election, two
special elections, immediatelywithin 45 to 60 days of you guys
coming into office.
So you know it was how are wegonna?
We've, we've got very littlemoney left in the coffers from
previous leadership, which Iwould assume you get done with
the election cycle.
You've spent everything andthen you got to start the
(08:56):
raising money all again.
So, uh, you know, no shade.
I'm sure that that's how ithappens.
But you guys, it was very fast.
You came into leadership andthen boom, you've got these two
elections and so specialelections that are happening,
and so you're going to have tosell tickets.
And it raised some eyebrows.
People were like wait a minute.
(09:18):
What's why?
Why are we having to pay fortickets for this?
Yeah, not thinking and I don'tthink the average folk is is
thinking about the logisticsthat you just explained First of
all, that there's ninecandidates, so we got to have a
large facility.
We got to be indoors becauseit's the armpit of Satan down
here in South Carolina right now.
Nobody's going to be outsideduring these kinds of things.
(09:41):
And then you've got securityyou just mentioned.
You've got maintenance,janitorial stuff for events like
this.
So once you know and evenmyself you know, I hear there's
going to be a cost, and I'm like, oh, and my eyebrows raise, and
then for half a second, andthen I thought, oh, I got.
You know, I've done eventplanning myself.
I know all of the logisticsthat have to go into that.
(10:02):
But there's actually some bignews about that, though, and to
that.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
But there's actually some big news about that, though
, and the fact that there's nolonger going to be a fee.
Yeah, that's exactly right.
That just sort of happenedtoday.
Call it a blessing.
Yes, indeed, several peoplehave come together and said we
like what you're doing, we wantto help.
So it still gives me chills tothink about it, but several
people this afternoon actuallysaid that we want to help make
(10:30):
this a free event and we saidthank you.
Just unbelievably fortunatethat happened, and a lot of
people had wanted the free event.
Some people even thought thatthe Republican Party is part of
the government and thegovernment should be paying for
it.
I think one comment was eventhat well, let's just get some
of that $53,000 that's gone anduse that.
(10:50):
And none of that applies tothis.
The Republican and Democratparties and all the parties.
They're their own independententity, created by the state
legislature, and we are, weexist and we're under the
auspices of the South CarolinaGOP out of Columbia.
So people ask is it acorporation or what?
(11:12):
Is it LLC?
No, it's just a subcategory orsubagency of the South Carolina
GOP, which was created by thelegislature.
So that's where we are, withthat and because of the goodness
of these people, the generosityof seeing something going
forward and liking what they'reseeing.
They said we want to take careof the uh, the negatives that
(11:35):
you can, the expenses that youwill have, and just blew us away
.
Because not only that, this isthis coming friday week, um, on
the 11th, then, immediatelyfollowing that, on the Tuesday
on the 15th, for the CountyCouncil, we would have to launch
right back into that.
So two back-to-back events andwe were trying to figure out
(11:56):
well, where are we going to getthe money to do all the printing
for a thousand brochures atConverse or at 600 at Broome
High School?
And it's all worked out.
Everything is at Broome HighSchool and it's all worked out.
Everything is all.
Our ducks are sort of in a rownow and everything's lining up,
I guess the moon and the starsis lining up.
We're excited about that.
So, yeah, so now we can offerit as a free event and the
(12:19):
people that have paid theirtickets, bought their tickets
and paid into the ticket sales,they will be refunded the money
that they put into it to buy thetickets already.
So they're going to getreimbursed.
Of course, I'm going to suggestthat donations are accepted, so
you know, if anybody wants to,you know, donate, we're.
Obviously.
This is just the first twoevents that we're going to try
(12:42):
to get off the ground and therewill probably be runoffs in both
of those events because of howmany sheriffs we got in that
race and we've got six morecounty council people, so there
will probably be runoffs inearly August.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Okay, so you'll have events for that as well, or you
know things that you're tryingto help.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Stuff you'll be sending out.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Additionally, those venues are already set up.
So that's all good.
They're excited about having us, and that's real.
I'm not going to minimize thebig one that we've got coming up
this Friday week, but the bigone would probably be the runoff
.
When you've got the two peoplethat are going to be, one of
them will be selected as oursheriff.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Right.
And so you know, and I thinkit's important for people to
really understand I mean, thisis how the grassroots work.
We want these events and wewant the Spartanburg County GOP
to be grassroots and we want itto be it's $15 here, it's $20
there, it's $50 here, and that'show these things happen.
(13:51):
And so when you're looking atevents and you're thinking, well
, you automatically think it's agovernment thing, it should be
free.
The government's putting on.
You know, we pay our taxes.
Right, you kind of brought thatup.
People were saying that, but youdo have to, we have to all take
a step back and remember well,this is not a tax funded thing,
this is just party affiliation.
(14:11):
And so the most important thingthat folks can remember in that
situation is you know what?
Your $15 goes a long way.
And so if you want to see moreof this kind of stuff from the
Spartanburg County GOP, sendthem a few dollars and say you
know what?
I do think that these areimportant, these kinds of forums
.
We want to know and hear fromthese sheriffs and that kind of
(14:33):
thing, and we realize that youguys are under no legal
obligation to do these kinds ofthings, but we want to support
what you're doing, and that'swhat it means to be a grassroots
organization.
It's not some, you know,there's not.
The government's not coming inpaying for this and we don't
want them to.
They got no business.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's right, you know.
Nor do we want large investorsthat want to control stuff.
It is indeed grassroots fromthe bottom up, not some deep
pockets from the top that you'regoing to be beholding to.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
That are just paying for whole events and getting it.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Expecting something in return.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yes, yes indeed.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Do you happen to know the address where people can
send a check if they want tomake a donation?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I can look that up in just a few minutes for you All
right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And the other thing, well, before you give out the
address actually probably beeasier if you just tell people
the website, because then theycan get all the information from
one shot.
So if you want to buy a ticketor you want to send in a check,
or so, let's do it that way.
What's the website?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
that folks can go to yeah, spartanburggopcom, and
that information should be thereon the website.
It'd be a po box in drayton,south carolina, which is why
drayton is, because that's whereour treasurer lives in that
area.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
All right.
Now, frank, if people want toget involved at the grassroots
level, people are listening andthey're saying I like what
you're doing and I want to getinvolved.
You know the reorg is over, butthere are things still going on
week to week.
What can people do to getinvolved?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Great question and we love the help.
A lot of committees that needto be formed.
They're not even named yet.
What we had been doing prior tothis, back in August of last
year we created a small group ofpeople six to eight people and
we named it CAMP and basicallythat's Coffee and American
(16:28):
Politics from the nationalconvention and she was on fire
about starting some, some group.
That would help be grassrootsbut it would train people, teach
people what to expect, how tonavigate through precincts and
(16:52):
understand what the countyconvention was, what understand
the state convention.
And it grew and it grew and itgrew.
We outgrew Denny's on Reval Roadand then we moved on down to
the Clock Clockworks.
Now is the name of it Turnedpizza of it.
Same owner, great guy, LoveGeorge.
And then we outgrew that and sowe went to the Peach Blossom.
That was a hit.
(17:13):
So we stayed at Peach Blossomfor six weeks I believe, and
things worked out that Georgewanted us back.
So he said, instead of goinginto my private dining rooms,
y'all can come into the publicarea and just maintain that and
we can get over 100 people there.
And that was a wonderfulblessing.
(17:34):
And he said he normally doesn'topen until 11 o'clock in the
morning, but he opens up for usat 9.30, which was just
wonderful because we could thengo into his large dining room up
until 11 o'clock.
And if we were still there,because it's usually 9.30 to
11.30 every Saturday andactually this week, we expanded
(17:54):
back into his old dining roomwith our overflow.
So, yeah, we've been blessedabundantly.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
What all do you do?
Tell them what you do on.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Saturdays.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
That was my question, okay, great.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Well, we start off with the prayer and the Pledge
of Allegiance and then weintroduce the new people that
have come, and there's usuallysix, eight or ten of new people,
because some of the people thathave been there a while they
brought their friends and thentheir friends show up and then
(18:25):
they come back in and checkoccasionally, but every week
there's usually six, eight or 10new people that are there.
Unbelievably that three, four Iguess three and four, not five
of the sheriff candidates comethere every Saturday during this
campaign time and we alwaysallow one featured speaker, one
sheriff, to speak for a15-minute period with a short
Q&A after that.
But all the other candidateslove sitting around talking to
(18:46):
all the people that are there.
So they're all excited aboutbeing there and making new
friends.
Because a lot of times,unfortunately, people don't vote
for the person that has thebest credentials.
They vote for the person thathas the best credentials.
They vote for the person thatcares more about them and that's
their friend.
So that is a true statement.
Two candidates told me thisweek.
They said I can't believe thispeople.
They're going to vote for menot because of my credentials,
(19:09):
which are good, but because Ihave befriended them, and they
like that.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yep, exactly right, that's very important.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
So this is something that you guys do every Saturday.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
You said 9 30 to 11 30 and tell us the location that
you guys are right now, becauseyou guys have moved around a
little bit.
Actually, down still on RevalRoad, and it's Reval Road at the
intersection of Anderson MillRoad.
I'm not going to misquote theaddress, but it's at on Reval
Road, on the left side, not onthe right, what Denny's was, but
on the left side at theintersection of Anderson Mill
Road, just a half mile down theroad from there.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
It's called Clockworks.
Now Clockworks, okay.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Okay, so that's where folks can find you, and you
said it's every Saturday and youguys are usually just chatting
and you have some sort offeatured speaker every week, is
that?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
right, that's right.
So that's sort of the speakerevery week.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Is that right?
That's right, so that's sort ofthe Right.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Now it happens to be the sheriff's candidates.
That's right.
And we're going to startdoubling up because time's short
for the county council people,so we're going to have two of
them come in, because this isthe month they've got to come in
.
Early voting starts at the endof this month and then we'll
have the election, so we'retrying to get them all in there.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Is there any place online where folks can go and
see who's going to be there orany more information?
Is there like a Facebook pageor a social media page of any
kind?
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Not really for camp.
We send out notices at leastonce a week and we try to text
everybody and occasionally we'lltry to do emails to everybody
to keep them informed of theagenda.
And one of our guys says hekeeps.
I love it because he says youpromised me you're going to have
an agenda and it's alreadyThursday, so I owe him an agenda
(20:44):
and but it's just.
It's sort of funny, but it'sthe same agenda.
It's just like I said, we startwith the prayer pledge and
start introducing.
Actually, we ask the people tointroduce themselves and say
whatever they want to.
It is sort of like an open micsession, but it is for them
talking.
But that's what the primaryevent that we do is.
(21:04):
We allow each of the people totalk and let them hold the
microphone, and that is the onething.
That's the most recurringcomment my voice is being heard,
and that has never been donebefore in politics especially
here.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
The other thing is this opportunity to be with
like-minded people, people wholove America, people who are
excited about being involved inlocal politics, and they get to
share their ideas and meet otherpeople that think the way they
think.
You know, and it's just a greatgab fest on Saturday mornings.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
It is indeed.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
All right, we're running out of time.
Any last comments, frank,before we?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
go.
No, the thing of the RepublicanParty.
Their main, I guess, mission isto get the vote out, and that's
what we're trying to do.
So it's not only get thecandidates in front of the
voters, which we're doing inthese two venues, it is to
actually get other people outand increase.
Our standard rate has been 13%voter turnout and we're going to
(22:04):
try to push that on up to 18 to20%.
We can do that.
We hit a home run.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
All right, and when's the?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
primary.
The day of the primary isAugust 8th or something like
that.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yes, August 8th.
We want folks to vote on Augustthe 8th, so put that on your
calendars, listeners, and showup and vote and bring a friend,
that is so far in the future forme.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Right now, I cannot see beyond day after tomorrow.
Thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
All right.
Well, you're listening to MoreThan Medicine.
We're thankful that you're herewith us.
We'll be back again next week.
Until then, may the Lord blessyou real good.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Thank you for listening to this edition of
More Than Medicine.
For more information about theJackson Family Ministry or to
schedule a speaking engagement,go to their Facebook page,
instagram or webpage atjacksonfamilyministrycom.
Also, don't forget to check outDr Jackson's books that are
available on Amazon His thirdbook Turkey Tales and Bible
(23:01):
Truths, and his father'sbiography on Laughter Silvered
Wings the story of a countrydoctor, a family man, a patriot
and a political activist.
This podcast is produced by BobSloan Audio Productions.
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