Despite demands they resign, Horry County GOP leaders say they’re staying put
Though a faction of a Horry County Republican Party officials formally called on the local party leadership to resign last week, those leaders — Chairman Roger Slagle, Vice Chairman Jeremy Halpin and State Executive Committeewoman Tracy “Beanz” Diaz — said Monday they do not plan to step down from their posts.
“Unfortunately, we have adversity from time to time and what I think was very clear to me tonight is there’s a number of people (who) support what we’re doing (and) understand that we do have to go through some adversity,” Slagle said.
Diaz reiterated a statement she made to The Sun News on Saturday, in which she drew parallels between the calls for her, Slagle and Halpin to resign and some of the controversies former President Donald Trump faced during his term in office. Like Slagle, she said she had no plans to resign.
“Imagine if Donald Trump had resigned when the small group called for it at the start of the Mueller probe?” Diaz said. “We fully intend to remain in our positions and work hard to ensure the Republican Party is successful in Horry County, and wish that the vocal minority would join with us to that aim, rather than attempt to destroy all of the amazing growth we’ve had this past year.”
A group of party officials — known as members of the Horry GOP’s executive committee — used a parliamentary procedure last week to take an official vote to call on Slagle, Halpin and Diaz to resign. Though the group initially attempted to reach a quorum, meaning their first meeting last week would have had a majority of the approximately 90 executive committee members attend; instead, they chose to hold three non-quorum meetings in a row which allowed them to take official votes at the third meeting. Such a procedure is outlined in the bylaws and general meeting rules the local GOP follows as it conducts its party business. Between 30 and 40 members of the executive committee attended each of the three meetings last week.
That group of party officials has called for Slagle, Halpin and Diaz to resign because of a lawsuit filed against the party last month. In that suit, a Clemson man, Matthew McDaniel, alleges that party activist and member of the executive committee Chad Caton, as well as others, assaulted him at a Greenville GOP convention in early June. McDaniel also alleges that, following the incident at the convention, Slagle, Halpin and Diaz, on behalf of the Horry County GOP, penned and posted a statement that defamed him.
During the incident at the “Rock the Red” convention in Greenville, McDaniel grabbed a microphone and called keynote speaker — Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn — “the biggest scumbag traitor in the history of this country, next to Donald Trump,” before being “grabbed,” then “slammed” to the ground by Caton, according to McDaniel’s lawsuit. Caton has said he worried McDaniel was a threat to Flynn or others in the room and acted to quash a potential attack, and declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday.
In the statement posted on the party’s website following the incident, Slagle, Halpin and Diaz described McDaniel as having infiltrated the event and said he posed a threat to Flynn. The statement also called him a member of Antifa — a broad term for anti-fascist activists who often attend protests — and said he had a weapon. McDaniel, in his lawsuit, denied all of those accusations and said those descriptions defamed him. In an interview, McDaniel said he’s been the target of online trolls because of the statement.
After the lawsuit was filed, McDaniel’s lawyer, Columbia attorney Tucker Player, wrote a letter to the members of the Horry County GOP executive committee saying that the statement remaining on the party’s website constituted their endorsing the statement, and that he would bring individual defamation lawsuits against each of them. In the letter, Player wrote that if the statement was removed from the website and retracted, and if Slagle, Halpin and Diaz resigned, he would not sue individual members of the executive committee.
That letter prompted a group of committee members, beginning last Monday, to meet three times during the week and call on the three party leaders to step down.
But Slagle, Halpin and Diaz have said they plan to remain in their positions and fight the lawsuit with their own attorney, Jason Greaves of the pro-Trump law firm the Binnall Law Group. In his own letter, Greaves wrote that he would seek to dismiss McDaniel’s “baseless” suit and would seek sanctions against Player for threatening to sue members of the executive committee.
“The Horry County Republican Party will not be held hostage by a politically-motivated and frivolous lawsuit. Your client was not defamed and is not the victim,” Greaves wrote. “Your threat to file individual, baseless lawsuits against HCGOP committee members to gain leverage is even further evidence of your client’s improper purpose.”
Slagle and Diaz said no party funds are being used to retain Greaves.
Still, the leaders’ handling of the lawsuit has some party members upset. At a party meeting Monday night, executive committee member Larry Richardson said Slagle had violated party rules by moving the meeting into a private session to discuss the lawsuit without taking a formal vote of the executive committee. After raising a fuss about other rule-related matters Monday, Slagle had a security officer remove Richardson from the meeting.
Other executive committee members have said they are upset that the party leaders retained Greaves — even though party funds aren’t being used to pay for his services — without a formal vote to approve him.
On Monday, Diaz said the lawsuit will “go through the process.” She and Slagle declined to comment on what happened during the private session in which party members discussed the lawsuit. In the meantime, she and Slagle said, party leaders will look to grow the party by adding new members and fundraising. Diaz added that she hopes the infighting will simmer down as well.
“The door is open, we’re supposed to be on the same team. Nobody is going to push anyone out of here that’s for sure,” she said. “If they’re willing to work with us, we’re willing to work with them.”
Added Slagle: “That’s why we took these jobs, not to have a bunch of fights but because we want to do something for the party.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 3:36 PM.
