Meet the candidates of State Senate, District 34
Reese Boyd
City | Murrells Inlet
Party | Republican
Age | 49
Occupation | Attorney and partner, Davis & Boyd, LLC
Family | Wife, Leila Hopkins Boyd; two children, daughter, Leila; son, Reese IV
Education | B.A. in economics, Davidson College; J.D., USC School of Law
Civic and political experience | Active in the Republican Party having served as vice chair for Horry County and representing the county on State Executive Committee in Columbia; served as board member for Palmetto Family Council in Columbia and the S.C. Club for Growth, working for common sense conservative reforms; served since 2012 as board member of S.C. Public Charter School; served as former legal counsel to Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr.
Military experience | None
Question | What do you think is the biggest issue in your district and how would you address it?
Answer | The single most important task before us is reforming our state government to make it more transparent and accountable to the voters. The people believe their government is broken, and they are correct. I’ll work to reform Senate rules to make it harder for a few Senators, or one Senator, to block important legislation. I’ll push for term limits, and more transparency from your elected officials. I’ll fight for real ethics reform in Columbia. When we achieve these things, the other pressing problems that we face – like roads, education, and pension reform – will be much more readily solved.
Joe Ford
City | Pawleys Island
Party | Republican
Age | 53
Occupation | Self-employed general contractor
Family | Wife, Foy; two children, daughters Randall and Kristen
Education | B.S. mechanical engineer, University of South Carolina
Civic and political experience | Swamp Fox Players, long standing board member; served on state and local board for Easter Seals Society; served as president of Homeowners Association; coached and mentored high school wrestling programs and youth theatrical programs; volunteered time, resources and funding to several churches and community centers
Military experience | None
Question | What do you think is the biggest issue in your district and how would you address it?
Answer | The failure of the Legislature and DOT to have in place a plan and allocations of funding to maintain our roads and infrastructure. Our roads didn’t fail overnight. The recently passed roads bills once again failed to address the real problem. I would reform the DOT to include, 1) elimination of the STIB and the approvals of commissioners by the JTRC, 2) the implementation of a comprehensive “maintenance plan,” which includes a road maintenance schedule and budget for all existing roads and new roads. This would eliminate the politics of maintaining roads because it’s based on a budgeted maintenance plan.
Stephen Goldfinch
City | Murrells Inlet
Party | Republican
Age | 33
Occupation | Attorney and small business owner
Family | Wife, Renee; two children, daughter, Hadlee; son, Tripp
Education | B.S. and M.B.A. The Citadel; J.D., The Charleston School of Law
Civic and political experience | Four years S.C. House of Representatives with Experience on Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environmental Affairs and Judiciary Committees; Georgetown County Legislative Delegation chair; Charleston Legislative Delegation Wildlife Subcommittee, chair; Grand Strand Area Transportation Study Committee, chair; Junior Achievement board member; Helping Hands of Georgetown volunteer
Military experience | Captain, S.C. National Guard, JAG Unit
Question | What do you think is the biggest issue in your district and how would you address it?
Answer | Infrastructure deficits are a big issue. South Carolina needs DOT reform and a dedicated and permanent funding source for roads and bridges. Our lack of infrastructure is affecting our quality of life and economy. Certain senior senators have the ability to prioritize road funding. We need politics taken out of roads and Horry and Georgetown counties will see money flowing back home to fix our problems. We accomplish this by changing Senate rules that allow one Senator to stop a piece of legislation. It’s an antiquated rule. The other fix is to cut politics out of the prioritization of roads.
Dick Withington
City | Myrtle Beach
Party | Republican
Age | 73
Occupation | Retired businessman
Family | Divorced; two sisters in New Jersey
Education | B.A., economics, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; M.B.A., finance, University of Michigan and Georgia State University
Civic and political experience | Member of three HOA boards and president of two; Knights of Columbus, 2015 board member for Out of the Darkness Community Walk for Suicide Prevention; six-year member, South Strand Republican Club (SSRC); candidate for County Council 5 in 2010; active nine-month campaign for U.S. Congress 2011-12
Military experience | Midshipman U.S. Navy 1961-65, active duty Naval officer 1965-69; reserve officer 1969 -1974
Question | What do you think is the biggest issue in your district and how would you address it?
Answer | The biggest issue is to help move our Senate into the 21st Century. This will be a gradual “nose to the grind stone” process by gently prodding my Senate colleagues to look at what our neighboring states like Georgia, North Carolina and Florida are doing. We need to strictly follow our State Constitution instead of blithely ignoring it. I support most of the already proposed reforms.
This story was originally published June 11, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Meet the candidates of State Senate, District 34."