►The Bimonthly Newsletter of the Dorchester County Democratic Party◄

June/July 2012 Volume 4, Issue 3

This is very exciting news! As you read this, the landlord is

getting our headquarters in top shape, right in the middle of

Summerville, a block from Main Street and next to the barber

shop that has been very supportive in Voter Registration!

The GRAND OPENING of our Party Headquarters will be on

Saturday, July 7th, at 11 a.m.! We plan to have lots of dignitar-

ies there, including County Councilman Willie Davis; Town

Councilman Aaron Brown; State Senators John Mathews and

Robert Ford; State Representatives Joe Jefferson, Patsy Knight,

David Mack and Seth Whipper; and Solicitor David Pascoe.

Come help us celebrate our final push to turn DORCHESTER

COUNTY BLUE!

Not only is this a push to re-elect our incumbents, especially

Patsy Knight who will be up against formidable opposition in

her district that has new boundaries, but also to elect two new

strong woman leaders – Miriam Birdsong for County Council

District 6 and Bobbie Rose for Congressional District 1!

The Headquarters will be the center of the Dorchester Dems’

efforts during the next months. We will need all of you to vol-

unteer to be at our headquarters – voter registration, absentee

ballots, calling Dems to remind them to vote, and helping our

candidates win on November 6th. The headquarters will be a

place where we can work as a team to turn this County Blue!

We know we are right on the issues: Strong support for public

schools, strong support for planned growth, and strong sup-

port for rebuilding our infrastructure which will mean jobs!

We need strong representation in Dorchester County, the SC

State House, and the US House of Representatives! You can

make this happen.

So come join us on July 7th, to celebrate the grand opening of

our new Dorchester County Democratic Party Headquarters!

Richard Hayes

Party Headquarters Open in July

Our office at 116 W 2nd Street in Summerville

In This Issue Meet the Ladies—page 2

DCDP’s Rising Star—page 3

Local Dem in July Special Election—page 3

Mark Your Calendars; big events coming up—page 4

Don’t vote in GOP Primary—page 5

Do vote in Patch.com poll—page 5

Fire up your precinct with VoteBuilder—page 5

Learn about the lady Democrats on our ballots—page 6

At the State Convention—page 8

SCGOP’s Hall of Shame—page 9

Obama can win SC, GOP consultant says—page 10

Calendar of Events—page 11

Meet the Ladies Join us for a special event on July 15th! You can meet the three Democratic ladies who’ll be on Dorchester County’s ballots this November—Miriam Birdsong, Patsy Knight and Bobbie Rose—and learn more about what they’ll do for you as your rep-resentatives. This Meet & Greet will also give you an opportunity to do something for them—it’s a fundraiser for their campaigns! There’s no fee to attend, please note, but please come prepared to donate to the candidates, which will help us turn our county, state and country blue!

Sunday, July 15 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Pine Forest Country Club 1000 Congressional Blvd

Summerville

No fee to attend, but donations to these

candidates’ campaigns are very, very welcome!

Please bring your checkbook.

And joining us that day as the official guest host of the event will be another special lady—Linda Ketner. Hors d’oeuvres will be served at the Meet & Greet (cash bar). Please join us that day, where you can make donations to the campaigns of any and all of our candidates. Please see Page 6 to learn more about Miriam, Patsy and Bobbie!

Miriam Birdsong County Council, District 6

www.miriambirdsong.com

Bobbie Rose U.S. Congress, District 1

www.bobbieroseforcongress.com

Rep. Patsy Knight State House, District 97 www.patsyknight.com

You know our Democratic candidates are great people just by checking out how much opposition they have in the prima-ries. NONE. That’s right—not one of them in our county has any primary opponent, so they get to skip all the expenses and hoopla and rigmarole for the June 12th primary elections. One local Democrat who gets to skip the June primaries will still be on ballots be-fore November, though, and in a special election on July 17. Paul Tinkler is the Democratic Party’s candidate for State Senate District 41. With recent redrawing of boundaries, the district is about to include 12 Dorchester precincts, mostly along the county’s southern border. (See list below.)

But those precincts won’t be voting in the special election. Those dozen Dorchester precincts won’t be included in District 41 until the November race. That doesn’t mean we can’t help Paul in the special election, though. The best way for us to get a Democratic win in Novem-ber is to help our candidate win in July. Why is there a special election? Because the seat is now vacant. The last person to hold that office (Republican Glenn McCon-nell) has moved up to Lieutenant Gover-nor, only because the previous Republican Lt. Gov (Ken Ard) got yanked out due to his multiple violations of campaign laws. (That’s right, people—you can’t use cam-paign donations to fund your family vaca-tion or to buy football tickets! Typical SCGOP, though...) Tinkler served on Charleston’s City Council for nine years, during which he developed a reputation of pro-public education, pro-environment and anti-foolish spending, even finding a practical way for the city to save $2 million every year in insurance costs. His platform for this state senate race fol-lows that same theme, too. He’s promised to block the Republican Party’s consistent efforts to send our tax dollars for public education to private schools. He’s com-mitted to protecting natural resources in the state. Tinkler has also included goals

of stronger ethics laws in his campaign. But we need to help him get elected—in both July and November—to give him the opportunity to uphold those promises. If you live in one of these precincts, you can spread the word around to your neighbors for the November race, and could even host a house party to let your friends meet Paul Tinkler directly. Before then, though, we need to help him get voters in the July election. Visit his website (www.tinklerforsenate.com) to learn more about Paul, and send him an email (tinklerforsenate@gmail.com) to let him know you can help his campaign!

Dorchester County Precincts in Senate District 41 (November election)

Archdale Archdale 2 Ashborough West Ashborough West 2 Ashley River Bacons Bridge Cypress Delemars Kings Grant Kings Grant 2 Patriot Saul Dam Windsor

Local Dem in July 17 special election

Hats Off to DCDP’s ‘Rising Star’! Our very own Jeni Atchley was recently named a “Rising Star” amongst Democrats in South Carolina. She and 25 others, including state representatives and US Congressional candidates, received the award from SC New Democrats on the morning of May 12, right before our state party convention. She was nominated by DCDP chairman Richard Hayes. “Jeni has done so much at Charleston Southern University and with DCDP to get young adults involved with the political process,” Hayes says, “and urging them to exercise their most important freedom that thousands of patriotic Americans died for in order to preserve.” Jeni is 3rd Vice Chair of the county party. She regularly contrib-utes to our Fundraising and PR/Advertising committees.

I am delighted that the Dorchester County Executive Commit-tee unanimously elected Deb Mortellaro as our Secretary. As many know, as our 2nd Vice Chair the last two years, Deb has had to pinch hit as Secretary. Now she is officially the party secretary and already doing an amazing job! Deb is also head-ing up the Fundraising Committee and sits on several other of our important committees. Please thank her the next time you see Deb! And Nancy Seufert was elected our Treasurer. The Executive Committee agreed to add a new position of Assistant Treasurer, too; Masi Rahman, who has extensive experience as a com-pany CFO, was elected our new Assistant Treasurer. Already they have put the last two years of our finances in Quickbooks and produced a very professional monthly report. We are in great shape financially, so please also thank Nancy and Masi the next time you see them. We have a great leadership team in place as we head into this important 2012 Election season!

Mortellaro elected Secretary; Seufert elected Treasurer By Richard Hayes, DCDP Chair

“Edisto River Stump” Givhans Ferry State Park

Saturday, August 18, 2012 We are currently planning a stump speech event to be held on Saturday, August 18 at Givhans Ferry State Park. All regional Democratic candidates are invited to give their stump speeches while we enjoy food, fun and the beauty of the Edisto River. We have reserved the Community Building at Givhans Ferry State Park for the entire day. This is a family event so plan to bring the kids, moms and dads!

Annual Alice J. Cicenia Dinner Saturday, September 29, 2012

Our Annual fundraiser is set for Saturday, September 29, 2012 at the Holiday Inn Express. Join fellow Democrats for a night of good food and politics as we raise money for the party. We are planning an exciting evening that you won’t want to miss. More details on both of these events will be announced soon. For more information, contact Debbie Mortellaro at d.mortellaro@att.net or call 843-486-6577.

Mark Your Calendars!

We’ve got some great events in the planning for August and Sep-tember! Please get involved to play a part!

OUR CANDIDATES FOR 2012

County Council—District 6 Miriam Birdsong (www.miriambirdsong.com)

State House—District 97 Rep. Patsy Knight (www.patsyknight.com)

State House—District 103 Rep. Joe Jefferson

State House—District 109 Rep. David Mack III

State House—District 113 Rep. Seth Whipper

State Senate—District 39 Sen. John Mathews Jr.

State Senate—District 41 Paul Tinkler (www.tinklerforsenate.com)

State Senate—District 42 Sen. Robert Ford

Solicitor—1st Circuit David Pascoe

U.S. Congress—District 1 Bobbie Rose (www.bobbieroseforcongress.com)

U.S. Congress—District 6 Rep. Jim Clyburn (www.clyburnforcongress.com)

U.S. President Pres. Barack Obama (www.barackobama.com)

DON’T Vote in the Republican Primary

On June 12 the Republican Party will have their primary in Dor-

chester County. We Democrats will not have a primary because

none of our candidates have primary opposition. We will get to

vote in November for Barack Obama, Patsy Knight, Miriam Bird-

song, and the other great Democrats on the Dorchester County

ballot.

As we all know, we do not register by party in South Carolina. A

voter can literally be a Democrat on one day and a Republican

the next. There are some who urge Democrats to vote in the Re-

publican primary. Generally these folks suggest that Democrats

vote for the weakest candidates in the hope that this will help our

candidates in November. This never works. The Republicans will

not have any questions on the primary ballot, only their right-

wing candidates. By voting in the Republican primary, Democ-

rats and Independents inflate the Republican numbers.

I have lived for more than forty years in South Carolina, and I

have never voted in the Republican primary, and I don’t plan to

start now. Let’s not make the Republican Party in Dorchester

County look stronger than it is. Please stay away from the polls

on June 12, unless you are a poll worker or campaigning for a

Democratic candidate.

David Rison

The Summerville Patch

wants your input in its

election polls - but it

will need to hear from

you first. Just send an

email to lindsay.street@patch.com and let her know you'd like to

participate.

Here's the message we were asked to forward to you:

"Democrats, you've been left out of our polls in the past as

S.C. went through the presidential primary, but now that we

are moving into the general election, we want your voices

heard!

What we are asking is that you email us back letting us know

you are interested in participating in polling questions. While

no one will know your answers, your names will be disclosed

as taking part in our polls.

Please forward to other Democrats who may be interested in

providing an accurate voice for S.C. Democrats!"

So don't wait - respond soon to make sure we get heard!

DO Vote in the Patch Poll!

By Debbie Bethea Lodge

Precinct leaders are charged with finding Democratic voters, making sure they are properly registered and getting those voters to the polls on Election Day. Achieving these goals requires many hours of canvassing door to door, mak-ing phone calls, organizing mailings and precinct events. While doing all of these tasks the precinct worker is gathering voter information and correcting any misinformation. Even with several volunteers to help this can turn from being fired up into being burned out. What do you do? Fortunately, the Dorchester Democrats will have a powerful tool to help us keep the flame burning – VoteBuilder! VoteBuilder is an online database used by Democrats across the nation which easily targets individual voters. It con-tains vitals for all the voters in South Carolina such as names, residential and mailing addresses, telephone numbers, age, ethnicity, and voting history. The software allows volunteers to create call lists, walking lists, and mailing labels using criteria to target and narrow searches. All in convenient Excel spreadsheets! And you can update the information when you get new phone numbers or email addresses!

The National Democratic Party has partnered with the South Carolina Democratic Party to not only provide VoteBuilder but also to make tutorials for using the program available online (free until August 15th)at www.learn-to-win.com pending your approval by the SCDP. DorDem stalwarts, Nancy and Clayton Seufert as well as our party chair, Richard Hayes are already familiar with VoteBuilder and there are plans afoot to offer training for volunteers after our new headquarters open on July 7th.

So if you are a precinct leader, a precinct worker or just thinking about it, you are encouraged to learn how to use this powerful tool, VoteBuilder, and start making a difference in Dorchester County!

Fire Up Your Precinct With VoteBuilder

Miriam Birdsong was born and raised in Dor-chester County in the little community of Dor-chester. She attended Harleyville Elementary School, Mims Academy, and graduated from Harleyville-Ridgeville High School, with honors. She also attended Orangeburg-Calhoun Techni-cal College three separate times for training as Medical Office Assistant and Licensed Practical

Nursing, and for an Associate’s Degree in Nursing (all with honors). Miriam graduated from SC State in Orangeburg with a BS in Nurs-ing. She was in the inaugural class of the SC State Honors College and received the first Maceo Nance Nursing Scholarship for contributions to student nursing. She graduated from Strayer University with a Mas-ter's of Business Administration with a 4.0 GPA, and was a member of Alpha Chi Honor Society. She worked as a full-time employee through-out her college career. She has served as a Red Cross disaster volunteer for over 30 years, a volunteer rape crisis counselor, a volunteer guardian ad litem, and a foster parent. She is a former member of the Dorchester County Board of Disabilities and Special Needs. She has also served on the Children's Home Development Committee at Bethany UMC that led to the development of Children in Crisis in Summerville. She has been a volunteer basketball coach and served on the athletic committee at her children's school. She currently teaches medical career students at Miller-Motte Technical College, she works as a pediatric private duty nurse for a special needs toddler, and serves as lead teacher for the summer child care program, at Bethany United Methodist Church. She has been active within the Democratic Party since helping Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter with her first campaign. She is a Christian and be-lieves in the Democratic Party principles of caring one-for-another, which are the hallmarks of her faith. She is married to her husband Jamie. They have two children, Jake (15) and Hannah (5). Obviously, she’s not afraid of work, and with your help, Miriam will be the first woman to serve on the County Council in many years.

Bobbie Rose has spent her entire adult life working, volunteering and learning to become the woman with the insight needed to run as a successful candidate for South Carolina’s 1st. Congressional District. These experiences include several years in the public school sys-tem, teaching both general and special educa-tion students in an inclusion setting, as well as extensive work for the NCLB program.

Bobbie also worked for many years in the Family Court system as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, where she conducted case studies of families and reported on the best course of legal action to ensure the safety and health of the child involved.

She sat on the board of directors of CUNY while attending a specialized program there, culminating in a degree in English and Child Psychology. Her post education training includes Mt. Sinai Children’s Psychiatric facility, and a citywide suicide prevention program. In light of this ex-

perience, she was recently appointed to the SC Foster Care Review Board.

Bobbie spent 13 years organizing and bookkeeping for a video produc-tion company developed by her husband, focusing mainly on educa-tional productions. She has extensive experience in every aspect of the real estate field, brokering residential sales, commercial leasing and maintaining per-sonal inventory. She also has experience working with federally-backed affordable housing programs and understands how they are affected by governmental funding and regulations. Bobbie is a member of the CSO Gospel Choir, IMA (Interdenominational Ministers Alliance), Mensa Society and the Lowcountry Orphan Relief. She volunteers for the SC Aquarium and the Preservation Society of Charleston. Bobbie and her husband have two wonderful children, a daughter in college and a son in high school.

Patsy Knight was born in Conway, SC. The daughter of a minister, she and her family regularly moved to different parts of the state, and she attended schools in Loris, Charleston, Fort Mill, and right here in Dorchester County, too, graduat-ing from Harleyville-Ridgeville High School. She was the owner and operator of Knight’s Bookkeeping service in St. George from 1973 to 1988, and she and her now-departed husband also operated a successful conven-ience store in Harleyville and even a family farm. These professional experiences make her an expert of small business, and how to succeed even during tough economic times. Patsy was County Treasurer from 1981 to 2006. During her term, she led the way for Dorchester County to be one of the first in the state to move away from paper receipts and manual calculations and into the computer age. Working with many state government offices and dif-ferent companies, Patsy streamlined the method for paying vehicle tax, too, allowing tax payment, vehicle registration and access to DMV decals to be completed simultaneously. Since taking the House 97 seat in 2006, Patsy serves on the House Operations and Management Committee and the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee. Included in her many accomplishments are the title of Outstanding Female State Employee (1988), an Award of Excellence from the state’s Auditors, Treasurers and Tax Collectors Association (2004), and a Community Service Image Award from the local NAACP (2010). Patsy is a member of the League of Women Voters, the House Arts Caucus, the Civil Air Patrol, and the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce, as well as many other organizations.

Her family (two daughters and two grandchildren), her church and the local community are vital parts of her life.

More About the Ladies By Marty Turney

SEE OUR ENTIRE MENU ONLINE AT

www.italianbistrosangaree.com

1625 N Main Street In Sangaree Bilo Shopping Center

832-6001

Mon-Thurs: 11 am-10 pm Fri & Sat: 11 am-11 pm

Sun: 12 pm-10 pm

New York-Style Pizza

Specialty Pizzas

Stromboli * Calzones

Specialty Dinners

Appetizers * Giant Wings

Salads * Cheeseburgers

Grilled Chicken Sandwiches

Hot Subs * Cold Subs

Wraps * Steak Sandwiches

and Desserts

Full Dinners (Chicken, Veal,

Seafood and Baked Pasta) served with Salad & Bread

~We Even Have a Kids’ Menu!~

CATERING AVAILABLE

INCLUDING FULL

ITALIAN DINNERS

Buy Any 2 Dinners Get One Bottle of House Wine FREE

Cannot be combined with other offers DINE IN ONLY

Buy Any Large Calzone or Stromboli

Get 12 Garlic Knots & One 2-Liter Soda

FREE Toppings extra, cannot be combined

with other offers PICK UP ONLY

Lunch Special Combo Any 12” Sandwich,

French Fries & Soda $7.50

Plus Tax. Toppings extra, cannot be combined with other offers

16” Cheese Pizza With 12 Wings,

24 Garlic Knots and 2-Liter Soda

$23.00 Plus Tax. Toppings extra, cannot be

combined with other offers PICK UP ONLY

NOW SERVING BEER & WINE!NOW SERVING BEER & WINE!NOW SERVING BEER & WINE!

Sun-Mon Special Buy Two 12” Sandwiches

Get 12 Wings FREE

Toppings extra, cannot be combined with other offers

PICK UP ONLY

Buy 2 Orders of Wings Get 3rd Order of Wings

FREE Toppings extra, cannot be combined

with other offers PICK UP ONLY

Family Feast: 18” Pizza,

Two 12” Sandwiches, 24 Garlic Knots,

12 Wings and 2-Liter Soda $34.95

Plus Tax. Toppings extra, cannot be combined with other offers

PICK UP ONLY

Large 16” Cheese Pizza $8.99

Plus Tax. Toppings extra, cannot be combined with other offers

PICK UP ONLY

AT THE STATE CONVENTION

(Right) For some Dor-chester Delegates, the State Party Conven-tion started the night before with a trip to Rep. Clyburn’s annual fish fry.

(Left) Well, we sure tried! Six Dorches-ter Dems (including David Rison and Debbie Mortellaro) were in the Na-tional Delegate races.

(Above) The president himself visited our county’s registration booth at the convention! (Left) Rep. Clyburn speaks at the annual SCDP convention.

(Above) A pair of chairs! Former chair Steve Yeomans and current chair Richard Hayes. (Right) Our delegates on the floor of the convention.

These photos were taken by Steve Yeomans, Debbie

Mortellaro and Rob Groce

Lt. Gov. Ken Ard

Resigned (and then pled guilty to seven charges) after caught using campaign donations to pay for personal pleasures.

State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel

Convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Gov. Mark Sanford

Caught using taxpayer funds to pay for his extramarital

affair in Argentina.

State Rep. Thad Viers

Arrested for stalking his ex-girlfriend, and arrested

another time for threatening his ex-wife’s boyfriend.

State Rep. Kris Crawford

Arrested for state tax evasion (awaiting

second trial).

Asst. Deputy Atty. General and State Rep. Roland Corning

Caught in a cemetery with an 18-year-old strip dancer, “adult” toys and Viagra.

SCGOP Exec. Committee Rep. Beverly Russell

Admitted in court that he molested his teen stepdaughter

for over 9 years.

SCGOP’s Hall of Shame (Two new additions so far this year!)

(From Wikipedia, “Family Values”): “Since 1980, the Republican Party has used the issue of family values to attract socially conservative vot-ers…[who] understand the term to include...the following principles (also referenced in the 2004 Repub-lican Party platform): Promotion of ‘traditional marriage’ and opposi-tion to sex outside of conventional marriage(.)” (From 2008 GOP Platform): “The Republican Party Platform contin-ues to advocate an aggressive anti-drug campaign.” (Statement found in platforms of most county and state Republican parties): “As Republicans, we be-lieve in personal responsibility.”

Only once in the last half-century has South Carolina awarded its electoral votes to a Democratic presidential candi-date. A top Republican advisor is predicting that the Palmetto State could turn blue once again this year, however. In a recent state-by-state breakdown, Karl Rove listed President Obama to have a three-percent lead in South Carolina over Mitt Romney, the apparent Re-publican candidate. The Republican political consultant and former Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush includes the state with five others in a “toss-up” cate-gory. Rove doesn’t list a source for his recent state-by-state estimates, but refers to poll results compiled by Real Clear Politics for a nationwide status. Obama has led Romney in practically every national poll con-ducted over the last 15 months, according to Real Clear Politics. The last poll of South Carolina voters reported by Real Clear Politics (conducted by NBC/Marist polls in December 2011) showed Obama to lead Romney by three percent (45 to 42) with 13 percent still undecided. Another aggregate poll result source, David Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections, shows Romney with a slight one-percent lead over Obama in South Carolina ( 44 to 43), and includes a more recent poll from January 2012 in its compilation. The Obama campaign appears to regard the state as winnable, having opened a local campaign headquarters in North Charleston last October. In a November interview on the South Carolina Radio Network, Ben LaBolt, press secretary for the president’s re-election campaign, said “If we’ve got supporters in a state, even if it’s a traditionally red state, they ought to have the means to help the campaign if they want to get involved, and that’s exactly what they’re doing.” Adding weight to the state in this year’s election, South Carolina gained a delegate, rising to nine. John Kennedy won South Carolina’s delegates in 1960 with 51 percent of the vote. It wasn’t until 1976 before an-other Democrat, Jimmy Carter of neighboring Georgia, won the state. The Republican nominee has won in South Carolina every election since. John McCain led the state in 2008 with 54 percent of the vote.

Is South Carolina turning blue in 2012? Well, that’s what some Republicans think!

Blue Note is licensed under the Creative Com-mons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Deriva-tive Works 3.0 United States License.

To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/

licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171

Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

Check out our website:

www.dordems.org

Calendar of Events

JUNE

June 11 DCDP Executive Committee Meeting

7 p.m. at the County Code Building (This is the building BEHIND the County Council Chambers of

500 N Main St. in Summerville)

June 16 Monthly Breakfast Meeting

9 a.m. at Ryan’s 1314 N. Main Street in Summerville

Speaker to be announced. Just $8 for breakfast buffet and coffee!

JULY

July 4

Independence Day!

July 7 Grand Opening of our New Office

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 116 W 2nd Street in Summerville

July 9

DCDP Executive Committee Meeting 7 p.m. at the County Code Building

(This is the building BEHIND the County Council Chambers of 500 N Main St. in Summerville)

July 15

Meet the Ladies! 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Pine Forest Country Club

1000 Congressional in Summerville Meet & Greet for candidates Miriam Birdsong, Patsy Knight and

Bobbie Rose, with guest host Linda Ketner. No charge to attend, but please remember that this is a fundraiser for the ladies’ campaigns!

July 17

Special election for Senate District 41 No Dorchester County precincts will participate in this race, but

the district extends to 12 of our precincts for the November elec-tions. Our Democratic candidate (Paul Tinkler) can use your help NOW, which will help him and our county party in November, too.

Contact Paul at tinklerforsenate@gmail.com to volunteer! (See page 3 for more information.)

July 17

Dorchester County Democratic Women 7 p.m.

County Council Chambers 500 N Main St.

(Because of our Grand Opening on the 7th and

the Meet & Greet on the 15th, there will be no breakfast meeting for July.)

Don’t forget!

Edisto River Stump on August 18

Alice J. Cicenia Dinner on September 29