Our Spartanburg Six were part of a group of just 16 Republicans (so-called) who crossed party lines and joined with the Democrats to kill School Choice earlier this year.
Note that the Republican Platform states:
“Parents should be able to decide the learning environment that is best for their child. We support choice in education for all families, especially those with children trapped in dangerous and failing schools, whether through charter schools, vouchers or tax credits for attending faith-based or other non-public schools, or the option of home schooling.”
Of the 16, only 15 are left as Dan Cooper of House District 10 in Anderson put in his resignation before the session ended and a Special Election was just held for that seat.
Joshua Putnam took on Dan Cooper last year and nearly beat the 20-year incumbent, only losing by 130 votes. Once Cooper resigned, five additional people entered the race for the Special Election which took place on July 12th, 2011 where Putnam nearly won the six-man-race outright, missing the 50% mark by approximately 50 votes with Hamp Johnson finishing a distant second.
Numerous reports indicate emails went out from supporters of the Johnson campaign to public school employees, suggesting Putnam would be bad for public schools. Numerous other reports stated Putnam was actually being attacked because he is a product of home schooling.
The Runoff Election that followed on July 26th, 2011 is likely a preview for what the Spartanburg Six can expect. Putnam squeaked by with just a 79 vote lead over Johnson to win the Runoff Election. Analysis of the election data shows that TEN PERCENT of those who voted in this REPUBLICAN election are either known DEMOCRATS or have voted in a Democrat Primary in the last five years.
An additional TEN PERCENT haven’t voted in a normal Primary Election (either R or D) in more than 5 years. Half of these have NEVER voted in a Primary Election at all!!
This leads us to the conclusion that the Educrats managed to drive out more than 20% of the voters in this election and they darn-near pulled it off!!
These elections are often decided by only a few percentage points. The Spartanburg Six will (no doubt) be relying on the cross-over Democrats to keep them in power. Another reason we need closed Primary Elections!