Keep It Classy, BCRP

At a time when law enforcement is constantly under fire, and given the dubious manner in which BCSO has been run for decades, we have to wonder what is going on with the Berkeley County Republican Party and the race for sheriff. Yes, that was rhetorical. You would think the party of law and order would step up to ensure every candidate signing up to run under their flag would be 100 percent legit, with no question as to his or her honesty and integrity. Not in the county of skeletons, aka Berkeley County.

We all know the greatest desire of the powers that be in Berkeley County is not reforming the sheriff’s office into a respectable organization or bringing honesty and integrity to the office of Sheriff. They can claim that is what they want until the cows come home, but their actions both before and after the drunken DeWitt was forced to resign and before and after the recent primary and run-off elections to replace him show their true motive.

You see, there are certain rules the Republican Party set for themselves years ago. You would think they would abide by their own rules. Not so. Instead, those folks chose to violate their own rules and by-laws in order to campaign for a candidate they could control, a candidate who would help them keep the skeletons where they belong - out of the view of the voting public. Logical people see the reasons why the Berkeley County Republican Party (and a number of other readily recognized names) support a candidate who has demonstrated his willingness to engage in fraud and then lie about it when caught and confronted.

Watching the BCRP twist and contort itself into paroxysms and attack their own voters is fascinating to watch. They post photographic evidence of their wrong-doing and resort to calling their fellow Republicans with legitimate questions “human garbage“. Hell, they have even managed to run off many folks who initially supported Duane Lewis. Those folks just wanted the truth. Instead they had epithets hurled at them, got nasty phone calls telling them to “f*** off” and were blocked from the Party’s social media pages. The BCRP is so afraid of their own voters they cancelled their usual Saturday morning breakfast rather than face them.

Party Chairman Tim Callanan has been thrusting about like an inexperienced teenager in the dark with his prom date trying to find paradise by the dashboard light and do the deed before his date’s father shows up and catches him in the act. His spasmodic attacks on his own party members have Berkeley County citizens and voters calling for his head as Chairman and as a department head in Berkeley County government. Maybe Tim’s new nickname should be “Twitchy”.

Yes, we are talking about candidate Duane Lewis and the fraudulent “bachelors degree” in fire sciences he purchased from a fly-by-night diploma mill formerly known as Western States University. Lewis still claims his “degree” is valid and refuses to answer questions or provide the proof that would back up his claims. Most of you don’t that if Lewis actually told the truth about his “degree” he would put himself into a position to be charged with a criminal offense, since he used that “degree” (and political pull of family members) to get that job at Santee Cooper, a state entity.

Lewis grudgingly produced his high school diploma last week to prove he graduated from Goose Creek School in 1983. That diploma showed a graduation date of June 1st, 1983. On the paperwork Lewis filed to run for sheriff he claimed he graduated on Memorial Day, May 30th, 1983. While the Berkeley County Republican Party was anxious to drag another candidate in for messing up that particular area of his application, they don’t seem to be bothered a bit by Lewis’ error.

What a lot of folks don’t know about Lewis is that he was 19 and mired in the 10th grade when he dropped out of high school. He ended up going to “night school” to get his high school diploma. We are sure the fact that his mommy was on the school board played absolutely no part in his being granted that diploma. Because, you know, dirty stuff like that never happens in Berkeley County. Never. Ever.

So, what this boils down to is the Berkeley County Republican Party has chosen to violate their own by-laws in order to support a candidate who couldn’t get past the tenth grade before his twentieth birthday, obtained a “bachelors degree” he didn’t do anything to earn (other than write a check and lick a stamp), used that fraudulent degree and political favors to get a state job, and who is more than willing to lie to the citizens of Berkeley County, the very same citizens to which he had previously promised to bring honesty and integrity back to the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office. Makes you wonder what else he is willing to lie about. We guess those skeletons will stay in the closet and the door will remain locked if Lewis wins. The biggest disaster the Berkeley County Republican Party faces is the political fallout from audits and investigations from an elected sheriff they can’t control.

And you thought politics was a dirty business. You must be human garbage.