Dear Boo and Bubble,
Once again, I apologize for being so long in posting, but my
apology can’t be too sincere because we have been together for the last two
weeks and I’d much rather actually be with you than write to you. The Bridge
Project is basically a recollection of memories. What better way to celebrate it than to be
creating new ones!
However, let’s get back to our current line of stories. A
good bit happened politically to us between 1980 and 1983. We came back from the national Democratic
convention and Captain dove into his responsibilities as chairman of the county
party. With the presidential election
coming up in November, he busied himself with setting up a headquarters on Main
Street in Gaffney, organizing precinct leaders and coordinating “get out the
vote” efforts for all of the Democratic candidates on the ballot for the
various districts under his jurisdiction.
Ultimately, the results proved mixed.
President Carter was resoundingly defeated for his re-election by Ronald
Reagan, but the local and congressional seats continued in the Democratic
column.
There was a good bit of activity in Columbia as well. Governor Riley set out on a major initiative
to overhaul the public education system in South Carolina. At the time, our state ranked 49th
in the nation in every positive measure such as test scores, resources,
expenditures per pupil, teacher training. In those that were negative like
drop-out rate and highest number of students per classroom, we were perpetually
1st or 2nd. The
old saying went “Thank God for
Mississippi” because they always came in last.
Governor Riley understood that a solid education was not
only the cornerstone in the foundation of a child’s life, but it served as the
fundamental building block for the state as a whole. Well-educated citizens would provide a good
workforce which, in turn, would attract corporations to settle in South
Carolina and create jobs. Also, rapid
advancements in technology affected every industry, especially the core textile
manufacturers already entrenched in the state.
If the educational system failed to keep ahead of these changes, these
reliable and traditional jobs would actually disappear due to lack of workers
to fill them.
The Governor proposed solutions to address the issue and
they began to work their way through the intricate maze of committees and
sub-committees that make up the legislative process. His measures met with strong resistance
because they required a tax increase to fund the wide array of initiatives
designed to improve the educational system.
Ultimately, his first attempt failed because a majority of the members
in the state senate and house did not have the same political will to address
the problem.
At the time, the law in South Carolina constrained governors
to one term. It became obvious about
half-way through Riley’s term that any plan to overhaul and upgrade education
would take longer than four years to achieve.
The governor’s supporters, both legislators and private citizens, began
a campaign to have the state constitution changed to allow for one additional
term of gubernatorial succession. In
their minds, the issue of educational improvement was too critical to leave to
chance. The next governor might not have
the same priorities.
After months of heated debate and tense discussions,
sufficient majorities in both the house and senate voted to amend the
constitution. This paved the way for
Governor Riley to seek re-election in November of 1983.
During Riley’s first four years, a woman named Nancy
Stevenson from Charleston served as Lt. Governor. Even though both were Democrats, the two
offices were not connected as a party ticket.
Each ran independently. She
decided not to seek a second term which opened the position up to a new
candidate. That person happened to be
Michael Daniel, the state house member who represented the district
encompassing Gaffney. He could not run
for Lt. Governor and maintain his house seat at the same time. This chain of events led to a vacancy in the
district that attracted several potential candidates – one of them was Captain.
We had extensive meetings with our close friends to
determine if Captain should enter the race.
There is much to consider when planning a campaign. It takes money, volunteers, lots of time, and
immense amounts of emotional and physical energy. With encouragement from those we trusted,
Captain filed the paperwork to run for the office. When the dust settled, there were six
candidates in all. Of the six, four were
well-known to us. When you live in a
small town, this can be one of the consequences.
I don’t know if it’s still this way, but back then there was
a system of “drivers” in Gaffney. These
were people who kept in their possession the voter registration cards of
others. Candidates paid the “driver” to
bring those folks to the polls and make sure that their votes were cast
properly. In Captain’s estimation, this
was not a legal or ethical practice and he determined to seek election through
other means. Taking a cue from Florida
Governor Lawton Chiles, who walked the entire state shaking hands and asking
for votes, Captain decided to use the same strategy. Three afternoons a week, he left his law
office and headed out to neighborhoods, farms and mill villages to knock on
doors and leave information.
The task proved quite daunting and he asked me to join him
in order to cover more territory. Our
campaign colors were blue and green, so when I would go out with him, I donned
a green jacket and navy skirt. I had a
pair of navy espadrilles (shoes with a thickly bound high heel) as part of my
uniform. By the time the campaign wound
down, I had ground the heels to the nubbin’s!
Going “door to door” can be quite interesting, exciting and
scary. Sometimes you find a supporter
you didn’t know you had….sometimes vice-versa when someone explains that they
like you, but can’t vote for you…..sometimes you get stared down by a Doberman
Pincher and have to walk backwards out of the driveway calling for help from Captain
who’s on the other side of the street. I
have no clue how many houses we visited, but we spent hours in the effort.
Almost every weekend, we attended camp meetings where the
candidates spoke. We held rallies and
carwashes. Our slogan – “Tally Your
Vote, Vote for Tally” – appeared on billboards and newspaper
advertisements. We even had a song
composed with the same exhortation for radio commercials. Dedicated volunteers organized a phone bank
and called registered voters to identify supporters. All in all, it was a Herculean task that
concluded with standing at critical polls for 12 hours on election day until
they closed.
That night, we gathered at Captain’s office to listen to the
results. He had hoped to either win or
lose on the first balloting. A run-off
meant two more weeks of campaigning.
Alas, that’s exactly what happened.
He and a woman named Donna Moss garnered the top percentages of votes,
but neither had over 50%. She was the
candidate who bought the “drivers.” The
run-off became our opportunity to not only beat her, but beat the system.
For the next two weeks, we worked even harder trying to
shore up our support and make people aware of how important it was to go back
one more time to the polls. Most folks
by then are tired of it all.
Out of 6,000 votes cast in the run-off, Captain won by
six. We had to endure a recount, but
ultimately the election commission certified him as the new House
representative for the district.
Governor Riley and Michael Daniel both won their races. Education improvement would once again be the
focus and Captain now prepared himself to be involved.
Let me tell you this though, boys…….winning the election
isn’t the end of anything…..it’s only the beginning!
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