SC Democrats Vote To Keep Alvin Greene Senate Nominee


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June 18, 2010 8:29 a.m. EST

Topics: politics, primary, political candidates, election, United States
Kris Alingod - AHN News Contributor

Columbia, SC, United States (AHN) - The Democratic Party of South Carolina has decided to affirm Alvin Greene as its nominee in this year's Senate race. Greene, an unemployed veteran, won the primary despite having no campaign infrastructure, raising concerns that he may be a Republican plant.

The party's executive committee made its decision after hearing arguments from former state lawmaker Vic Rawl, who lost to Greene in the contest last week.

Seventy-three of the 92-member executive committee voted to reject Rawl's election protest, despite a previous request from party chair Carol Fowler for Greene to drop out of the race.

Fowler had asked Greene to withdraw as the nominee after a report revealed that he had been charged with a felony.

The Democratic chair, however, said in a statement on Thursday, "South Carolina Democrats are ready to move past the primary and focus on taking our state back with our Democratic slate. These men and women we have nominated truly represent our core values and will change the direction of our state."

Rawl filed a protest early this week, citing irregularities in ballots and reports of "extremely unusual incidents" such as "voters who repeatedly pressed the screen for me only to have the other candidate’s name appear."

Both Rawl and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn had pointed out that voting machines used in the primaries were outlawed in Louisiana for their unreliability.

Clyburn, the most powerful African-American in Congress, first raised questions about Greene's candidacy last week.

The 32-year-old Greene has been out of work for the past nine months and is living with his father. He won the Democratic primary without holding any campaign events, staffers or contributors, raising questions how he paid the $10,400 filing fee and whether he is a Republican "plant."

Greene has insisted that he used money from a personal account to pay the filing fee but has not explained why he was assigned a public defender as an "indigent."

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has requested South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster investigate whether Greene was induced to run.

"[Greene] was assigned a public defender, a service normally provided only to indigent defendants," the group said in a letter to McMaster. "Mr. Greene would have had to complete a questionnaire attesting to his income and assets and showing his indigence to qualify for a public defender."

McMaster has publicly said no investigation would be launched on the primaries.

Green faces one of the most conservative members of Congress, Sen. Jim DeMint, in the general election.

His felony charge stems from allegations that he showed pornographic materials to a female University of South Carolina student and then asked the 19-year old to go with him to her room.

South Carolina has a history of Republicans "planting" blacks in Democratic primaries that have white candidates leading in polls in order to ignite racial tensions. Rod Shealy, a GOP strategist, was convicted in 1990 of enlisting an unemployed black fisherman also faced with felony charges to run against a white incumbent congressman.


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