BUZZ: Who will pro-Haley group target?

Gov. Nikki Haley campaigned for S.C. Rep. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Georgetown, in 2014, which included a tweet featuring a photo of the governor and Goldfinch’s family that said, “I vouch for Stephen Goldfinch and you can too.”

There will be no photo ops this year.

Goldfinch appears to be the first target of a new, pro-Haley political organization raising money to oust some Republican senators and influence some other senate races. Candidates backed by a separate pro-Haley group won one out of two Senate races in 2012. The group spent nearly $400,000 in the races.

Goldfinch is expected to join at least two other Republican senators in getting attention from the group called A Great Day SC, named after one of the governor’s catchphrases.

Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, and Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Luke Rankin, R-Horry, are considered likely targets of A Great Day, which can accept unlimited contributions as a tax-exempt group. Both have irked Haley by stalling her longtime efforts to make over the rules that govern lawmakers, including adding outside review of ethics complaints against lawmakers.

Filing for S.C. elections do not start until March 16. But the moves suggest A Great Day, which has not revealed how much it has raised, wants to reshape the Republican-dominated Senate.

Goldfinch, who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Ray Cleary, was hopeful to have Haley’s backing again early last week.

“The governor and I, we don’t have anything that we have been diametrically opposed on in recent years,” he said. “I don’t know why in the world she would want to oppose me. I think that we would be more inclined to be on the same team together.”

The governor will not back Goldfinch because he voted for a roads plan that would raise the state gas tax while lowering the state income tax, Tim Pearson, a Haley adviser who is leading A Great Day, said later in the week. The plan was similar to one pitched by Haley but failed to cut income taxes as much as it raised the gas tax.

“This is a guy who voted for the largest tax increase in South Carolina history,” Pearson said. “He has said it’s a non-starter to reform the Department of Transportation. It’s an open seat. Hopefully there will be an opportunity to get someone that she believes will take the state further, and she does not think Rep. Goldfinch is that person.”

Goldfinch was surprised about why Haley won’t back him.

I don’t know why she would want to pick a fight with an ally,” Goldfinch said. “I am baffled and and confused by Tim’s statement. I very clearly voted for the bill modeled after Gov. Haley’s proposal. It reforms DOT on a massive scale. To say I voted for a huge tax increase seems little odd to me.”

No one has filed with the S.C. Ethics Commission to challenge Goldfinch, who had $47,000 in his campaign account at the end of 2015.

Pearson would not discuss other candidates that A Great Day might target, but Leatherman and Rankin are considered Haley’s biggest foes in the Senate. Haley called out Leatherman and Rankin over the ethics bill during a speech in Florence last year. She accused Leatherman at a news conference last week of stalling a roads funding bill.

Leatherman, heralded as South Carolina’s most powerful politician because he leads several committees with control over state spending, has a $700,000 war chest to fight challenges. Florence County GOP Chairman Richard Skipper has filed to run against Leatherman. Florence County Treasurer Dean Fowler also plans to enter the GOP primary, according to the Morning News in Florence.

Rankin does not have a formal challenger yet. He said it’s the governor’s prerogative if she wants to try elect someone else to the seat he has held for 23 years. Rankin has about $275,000 in his campaign account.

A Great Day also is expected to have interest in the race to succeed Sen. Paul Thurmond, a Charleston Republican who is not seeking re-election. Five GOP contenders have filed for the seat.

A Republican lawmaker said A Great Day might not have the right targets.

“I just find it interesting that in the last few years that we have spent more money unelecting Republicans than electing Republicans from Democratic seats,” said Cleary, who is leaving the Senate after 12 years. “We’re trying to do litmus tests on everybody, and I don’t know if that’s good for the party.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 7:52 PM with the headline "BUZZ: Who will pro-Haley group target?."