By Paul Gable
It took seven months, but Russell Fry finally decided to criticize Tom Rice’s vote to impeach former President Donald Trump.
Not coincidentally, Fry’s criticism of Rice came only after Fry decided to enter next year’s contest for the Republican nomination for the South Carolina 7th Congressional District.
Fry said Rice broke the trust of the former president and the voters of the 7th Congressional District.
“He (Rice) campaigned with President Trump and worked with President Trump and was always willing to use President Trump’s name for his reelection purposes, but he broke that trust. I think the people of the Grand Strand and the Pee Dee deserve someone they can trust again and I think I’m that person,” Fry was reported to have told the Associated Press.
But is that true?
Fry was always quick to hitch his wagon to Rice, do photo ops with Rice, support the proposed Interstate 73 project with Rice and join Rice at Rice’s “Coffee with Your Congressman” events when those events were held in Fry’s SC House District.
The Coffee with Your Congressman events that included Rice and Fry were billed as showing how “federal, state and county officials work together to address the needs of South Strand residents.”
And it wasn’t only South Strand residents. Rice and Fry are both closely tied to some of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber crowd. That group of supporters, sometimes referred to as the Myrtle Beach Mafia, have been pushing I-73 far longer than Rice or Fry have been in office.
One of the unwritten conditions for the support of that group has been unquestioning loyalty for the interstate project even though the residents of the South Strand would be much better served by SELL (Southeastern Lifeline) road project that was proposed in the mid 2000’s by Nelson Hardwick, Fry’s predecessor in the statehouse for House District 106.
Fry was one of the sponsors of House Bill 4745, which fortunately didn’t pass, and which would have dictated that all hospitality fee revenue collected throughout Horry County must be spent on interstate infrastructure. The bill would have forced Horry County to spend approximately $43 million of locally collected tax on the I-73 project rather than on a number of tourism related needs including police, fire, emergency medical services, roads, highways, streets and bridges and recreation facilities.
In sum, the bill, had it passed, would have forced county and city general fund tax dollars to be spent on all those above listed needs further stretching local government budgets while providing $43 million to an interstate project that benefits and is supported by special interests.
Such a bill hardly qualifies as working to address the needs of county residents but Rice and Fry both supported the legislation.
Rice and Fry are both Horry County ‘establishment Republicans’ exactly the group that lost power in the local Republican Party this past spring and exactly the type of group that former President Trump has waged a battle against, within the party, since 2015.
There is talk that Fry expects an endorsement from Trump to help with his campaign against Rice.
I submit Trump may as well endorse Rice as he and Fry are both peas from the same pod.
Speak Up…