“You know, Creighton Coleman really is a Republican, he just has to run as a Democrat to win in Fairfield.”

If I hear that one more time, I will go nuts, because it simply is not true.

He is the former chairman of the Democrat Party in Fairfield. I doubt any closet Republican could ever pull that off. Creighton has never been to a Fairfield Republican Party meeting. In the voter database system he is even listed as a “Strong Democrat”.

Let us assume for the time being that he is a Republican. If someone starts off their political career with a lie (By telling you that he is a Republican but has to run as a Democrat to get elected.) what will they lie about when they get to Columbia.

When I ask people who tell me he is a Republican that he votes like a strong Democrat in Columbia, I get this answer, “Well he has to vote the party line, to get along”.

If that is the case, what good is he doing you in Columbia? He’s not. If it looks like a duck, talks like a duck it must be a duck or Democrat. Let me be clear, Coleman is not a Republican.

He is a “Strong Democrat”. I also hear, he is a nice guy or I go to church with him. Heck, I went to church with Jim Rex, but I sure was not going to vote for him. Nice guys don’t always vote the correct way. This one surely doesn’t.

Coleman received an F- from the SC Club for Growth, a limited government- pro business organization. This is a nonpartisan group that gave 13 Republicans F’s as well. Coleman also scored in the lower 65 percent of legislatures, along with some Republicans, in a recent Legislative Review and Scorecard by the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

The unemployment rate increased from 7.6 percent in Fairfield County when Coleman was elected to the SC Senate in January 2008 to the current 11.2 percent. That is a 47 percent increase in the unemployment rate since Creighton was elected? He has not passed any legislation to help people gain employment.

People also tell me, “Well he is a Democrat in a majority Republican Senate so he can’t get anything passed”.

If that is the case, nothing is going to change if he were to win reelection in November. If we are to get any legislation passed to benefit Fairfield, it will have to come from a Republican Senator.

Of the 14 bills Coleman sponsored in the 2011-2012 legislative session, seven were resolutions, (Including congratulating the Citadel band on an accomplishment and the naming of a highway.) one was a continuing resolution and six were general bills.

The only general bill that he sponsored and passed related to the election of members of the Chester County Council and the Chester County School Board of Trustees.

How has any of that helped Fairfield residents gain employment? It has not. There are still vacant buildings along Congress Street and the 321 Bypass with “For Rent or For Sale” signs on them. If you keep doing the same thing by voting Democrat, you will keep getting what you got..high unemployment!

Another Democrat act by Coleman was to pass local legislation to remove the power of the elected officials on the school board. I can appreciate his idea of thinking outside of the box, but you can never pass legislation that removes the power from the people. I know there are major problems in the school district, but try something that does not disenfranchise voters, try a charter school or something else but don’t take away our right to vote for our representatives. The South Carolina Supreme Court later agreed with my line of thinking when it ruled the bill unconstitutional.

If you still need proof Coleman is not a Republican, here is his voting record over the last few years. 2009-Voted to override the Governor’s veto of taxpayer funding for the H.L. Hunley submarine security. This should be a self-sustaining entity that can provide its own security with private donations and admission fees.

Voted against the Governor’s veto of a bill that increased the General Assembly’s control of the State Ports Authority and diminished the governor’s role. Voted against an alternative budget that would have fully funded core functions of government, law enforcement, education and healthcare, at higher levels than the finance committee’s budget and used part of the stimulus to pay down debt.

2010- Voted to increase the cigarette tax. Voted to increase the Senate budget by $3 million in a year when teachers, law enforcement officers and other state employees were laid off.

2011- Voted against an amendment which would have allowed legislators to give surplus money back to taxpayers. Voted against an amendment to make economic incentive negotiation more transparent. Currently incentives are done behind closed doors where taxpayers cannot see how their money is being spent.

2012- Voted against an amendment which would have allowed legislators to give surplus money back to taxpayers.

Coleman is a strong Democrat, not a Republican. If after all of this you still think he is a Republican, why put the same one back in office, vote a real one in, Carrison. I’ve given you something to ponder.

Had enough, vote Republican.