Concerns over credit card spending threaten to divide Horry GOP at crucial moment

An uproar among rank-and-file Horry County Republican Party members over a leader’s credit card spending is threatening to upend the local GOP chapter as it undergoes a formal reorganization, creating an opening for a potential major power shift.

The reorganization, which includes voting on leadership positions, has some moderates worried that far more conservative members could take control.

The uproar centers on the spending of party funds — a pot of money made up of donations and membership dues — by Horry County GOP co-chair Dreama Purdue. Within the past year, several party members say, Purdue has spent $5,000 using a credit card that only she can use and has refused to provide statements or receipts to account for the spending. In fact, they say, she won’t even tell them how she spent the money. The party’s account currently holds a little more than $30,000.

Some party members said they believe Purdue spent the money responsibly and on appropriate, party-related expenses. But they’re incensed that she’s refused to provide documentation or an explanation to prove the spending was above-board. Others suspect the worst.

Purdue said that the money was spent, in part, on costs associated with the local party’s website, the mass-email service Mailchimp, as well as flower arrangements to mark the passing of Robert Rabon, a former party chairman, and Larry W. Paul, a homebuilder who was a significant donor to the party. Ed Carey, the party’s other co-chair, said some of the spending was also likely tied to the party’s 2019 Christmas party and a cellphone used for party business. He declined to defend Purdue, though.

“It’s a shame, the lady has done a lot of good stuff,” Carey said of the situation. “You have to be accountable and she’s not being accountable.”

Purdue declined to provide a more detailed list of expenditures because party bylaws prevent her from publicizing that information, but said she was compiling those documents to present to members of the local party next week. Purdue said she’s “never taken a dime” and that all of the spending was above-board and on party-related expenditures. Purdue wasn’t able to account for the spending to other party leaders or members because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the group from meeting in-person, the only venue where she could do so, she argued.

“There is nothing to it,” Purdue said Monday about the questions raised over the spending. “The party money was only used for things related to the party. I never got that card for me. I don’t need anybody’s money. I’ve never misused the card, I’ve never taken a dime.”

Still, members of the party are unhappy with her. Last February, members of the party voted to revoke Purdue’s use of the credit card, asking her to destroy it and stop spending money with it. Then, last week, as a general meeting was concluded, party treasurer Eric Santorelli confronted Purdue about the credit card spending. While speaking, he said that $5,000 of the party’s funds were spent using Purdue’s credit card and that she had declined to provide receipts or credit card statements for that spending.

“The only person who knows what that’s spent on is Ms. Dreama Purdue,” he said, according to a video of the exchange. “She doesn’t turn that money over to me. I’m the treasurer for you guys and I don’t know every single penny that’s spent. And I should. And I do not.”

The following day, Mary Rebolini, the party’s vice chair, sent Purdue an email demanding she turn over the receipts and statements for the spending.

“On behalf of all the members of our party, I respectfully and formally request that you make ready the credit card statements that have been requested for well over a year,” Rebolini wrote. “If you are truly interested in bringing unity to our fractured organization, it would behoove you to submit the requested documents to rectify this situation.”

Purdue, though, seemed to be aware that the timing of the questions over the spending could lead to her ouster as co-chair of the local party.

“We are in the middle of reorganization and I will probably be out of the whole party thing,” she said. “They want me removed so that they can gain control through the convention.”

Purdue said she wouldn’t resign.

But more than petty infighting, the timing of the clash over the credit card spending could mark a turning point for the party. At present, the party is grappling with its identity and direction, with some wanting a return to normalcy post-Trump and others arguing that it would be a mistake to stray from the tone and politics of the former president.

“Our party needs revamp,” Chad Caton, a former radio show host and a local conservative activist, said in a recent interview. “I’m no fan of Dreama Purdue.”

Several party members have said recently they’d like to see a more conservative chair lead the party. Carter Smith, who leads an anti-abortion health clinic, has said he’s running for chair and, if elected, would like to help institute rules that would get the party more involved in Republican primaries, a move that could influence school board, county council, state legislative races and an upcoming U.S. House of Representatives race. Such a change has worried some moderate members that there may not be room for their brand of politics in what they thought was a big-tent party.

The clash over the credit card could also have an impact on donations, or how energized voters are in upcoming elections. “I think they’d be less interested in donating,” said Duane Oliver, a former chairman of the Horry County GOP. “If I was donating to them, I’d want to know how the money is being spent. Anyone who gives money to anything wants to know how the money is being spent.”

Oliver, who served as chair in the early 2000s added: “In the grand scheme of things, Horry County is pretty important in South Carolina politics. It’s pretty important that there’s peace in the party and in the county. Ultimately it affects (federal officials) positions during election years.”

The job of a local political party, Oliver said, is to create awareness and exposure of the party so that voters are energized to donate to and vote for their candidates. Infighting affects how effective the party is at that job, said Paul Peterson, a former political science professor at Coastal Carolina University and a former school board member.

“You don’t want to have these things going on within the party, these sorts of potential scandals,” Peterson said.

Oliver noted that while he was chair, he was so concerned about making a mistake with party finances that he hired an accountant to manage the books and give a report to members every month.

“It doesn’t seem right, it really doesn’t,” he said. “I would find it intolerable if you didn’t have documentation.”

Carey, for his part, said he’s ready to “throw my hands up.” The infighting in the party is already turning some people from participating, he said, and he’s close to calling it quits himself.

“There are people who say they don’t want to go to meetings, they don’t want to deal with this stuff,” he said. “It’s been a nightmare, I wish I wouldn’t have agreed to be co-chair. If she’s voted in as chair again, I don’t want any part of that organization. A lot of us are just hoping she goes away, she doesn’t run for office, and we can move forward.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 11:00 AM.