By Heather Ammons Crawford
VOTER ALERT
I write to you today regarding a situation that I believe must be brought to your attention and for you to consider the source. Last week I received an interesting survey that was delivered to my State House office. This “survey” entitled “GREENVILLE TEA PARTY VETO SCORECARD 2012” was sent to every House and Senate member. While it looks real fancy with its red and green marks to indicate how our Representatives “voted,” there is at least one huge flaw…They included me in the survey – displaying 74 votes that I supposedly made. As many of you remember, I was elected to the SC House of Representatives on July 24th of last year, which was after the SC House took their votes on the Governor’s vetoes. I did not make one single vote during last year’s legislative session since I was elected after the session had adjourned.
For over a week now I have asked the leaders of this group where they received their voting information for this “scorecard” and have yet to receive a single explanation. While they have apologized, which I do appreciate, they have yet to tell me where or how they got this false information that led to me receiving an “unacceptable” grade on their “scorecard.” Truthfully, the fact that I received this rating from some group hundreds of miles away is not my main concern – I was elected to represent the people of District 68 here in Horry County! However, there are several things that do in fact concern me pertaining to this “scorecard:”
1.They completely fabricated 74 votes that I never took! They flat out lied!
2.Some of the leadership associated with this particular group is also involved in a group called RINO Hunt. The very same RINO Hunt group that came after me in last year’s election…They came to Horry County to endorse my opponent, donated money to him, and some of them even attempted to spread lies about me, my family and my candidacy – never even allowing me the opportunity to be vetted as a candidate.
3.After speaking with several other elected officials I’ve been told there are other discrepancies with this “scorecard” and other information these various groups have released in the past. I will let those individuals address their individual concerns as I am addressing mine.
Because the Greenville Tea Party has failed to adequately rectify this situation I am forced to believe that this is politics at its lowest – a foul attempt by a group from outside of Horry County to subvert the truth. I could just let this flagrant attempt to distort my voting record pass, but I cannot and will not stand for the politics of distortion and deceit! As your Representative I am expected to be accountable for my actions and rightfully so! So in return I expect groups that preach so loudly and profoundly about transparency to be held to that same measure! While I don’t know exactly what their agenda entails, one thing is glowingly certain, they have openly misrepresented the truth and failed to correct it in a timely manner, this gives me pause and in turn I question their motives, and I am forced to conclude they may be more political than fact based.
Please remember this situation when you receive information like this in the future. Don’t take everything at face value, do your own research and remember the advice of President Reagan, “Trust, but verify!” Everything we read on the internet and receive in our mailboxes is not always accurate. Consider the agenda and political motives of those behind the information…Consider the source!
Your Representative,
Heather Ammons CrawfordHouse of Representatives
District 68 – Horry County
Speak Up…