Contact: Kerry Wood, 864-921-6205
MEDIA ADVISORY, Jan. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, Governor Mark Sanford has signed off on the appointments made by the weighted majority which includes Senators Martin, Bright, Reese, and Representative Millwood. This should bring an end to the delegation dispute.
2008 was the year for Incumbents to lose in Spartanburg and in one of the highest profile races in the state; newcomer Shane Martin soundly defeated Jim Ritchie. Senator Martin didn't even wait until he got to Columbia before taking on a tough issue. The Spartanburg Delegation acted in an illegal manner and Senators Martin and Bright called them on it, but Representative Lanny Littlejohn refused to correct the error regarding weighted voting.
Littlejohn went a step further and used his 18 years of political experience in applying pressure to both the freshman Senators, particularly Martin as his Senate District encompasses Littlejohn's House District. A campaign was started to intimidate Martin to force him to back down. Littlejohn used the local papers, had Martin bombarded with phone calls, and even had his best friend attend the delegation meetings where he disrupted the proceedings of the weighted majority. Sources tell us Littlejohn has been working closely with current County Chairman Rick Beltram to maintain pressure on Martin and Bright.
The new Spartanburg Senators tried several times, with no success, to work out a compromise on who would be chairman of the delegation, but each time Littlejohn either refused to show up to meetings or refused to acknowledge the legality of weighted voting. "Even though they kept telling the media it was about who was chairman, it never was. On several occasions we offered to make Representative Littlejohn chairman as the position never mattered to us, only that it was done in a legal manner. We simply were not going to compromise on the legality of weighted voting," stated Martin.
"Shane Martin is of the same mold as Senator Jim DeMint and Spartanburg is fortunate to have him," stated Donna Hicks, candidate for Mayor of Spartanburg.
NOTE TO PRESS: Joel Sawyer, Communications Director for Governor Sanford, may be contacted for verification at 803-734-5254 (work) or 803-446-6713 (cell).
