On Monday, November 7th, Horry County Republican Roger Slagle and his team will hold a meeting denouncing the recent elections held by the Horry County Republican Party (HCGOP).
Slagle stated, in a video address to South Carolina Republican Party Chairman, Drew McKissick, that he would not comply with party demands for him to turn over the bank accounts and social media accounts to the HCGOP.
“Unfortunately, I feel the need to address the coup that is going on in our county party,” Slagle said in a recorded message posted Oct. 21 to social media. “As the duly elected HCGOP chairman, I will continue to maintain custody and stewardship of the HCGOP financial assets, databases and media platforms.”
The following day, on November 8th, the nation will hold mid term elections in which the GOP is hoping for a “Red Wave”.
QUESTIONS ABOUT TIMING AND IMPORTANCE
As we pointed out in our article today, Horry County has two local political parties: The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber Liberal Party and the Horry County Conservative Residents Party.
There would be no local RINOs, nor Drew McKissick influence without the financing, backing, and support of the members of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
So why is Slagle taking this “telegraphed approach” that can only hurt national Republicans?
On October 11th, MyrtleBeachSC News reported that Reese Boyd, Mike Connett, and Robert Visconti were elected as the new leadership team of the HCGOP. This, after all former HCGOP leaders resigned. Slagle later re-counted his resignation, but other key leaders wanted out.
All other major news outlets in our area covered this same article in the same fashion as we reported it.
However, Boyd and his team now face ongoing strife from the few remaining members of the old guard of the HCGOP.
“I did not anticipate that I was signing up for a Texas cage match,” Reese Boyd told reporters Oct. 24th.
“This is not a fight that any of us went looking for,” Boyd said. “It’s been brought to us. We’re just trying to do the right thing. It’s not a coup. We did not set out to have this battle. The prior leadership team set this in motion by all resigning at once.”
Coup or not, the local HCGOP is facing opposition from its own former members. The party is split almost in half, fighting a public battle. The battle includes verbal assaults and belittling posts on Facebook and social media.
The fight does have all the ear markings of a public cage match.