Rep. Shannon Erickson faces rare opposition to retain House seat
Rep. Shannon Erickson had a caterer booked and the lineup of speakers set for the invite-only campaign event set to be held in her Beaufort backyard in late October.
The Republican state representative of House District 124 drew an impressive list of GOP names, including S.C. House Speaker Jay Lucas and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott. But Hurricane Matthew derailed those plans and the event morphed into a public community event in Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park to thank first responders, utility workers and others who had worked to restore the area after the storm.
Politics were on hold for a while. When life began to return to normal, the race began again.
Democrat Bobby Green will be Erickson’s first opponent since 2008 when voters head to the polls Tuesday. He has criticized a system he says allows incumbents like Erickson to become too complacent, calling her a career politician and questioning her attendance record.
Green is a former Columbia attorney who has run his own financial management business the past 28 years while living in California and Colorado before returning to South Carolina. He has pitched himself as a fiscal conservative and social liberal — a moderate who wants a seat in a state legislature he has called “a partisan mess.”
Erickson countered that she has lived in Beaufort 31 years and that her nine years in state office — she won her seat in a special election in 2007 — shows commitment but isn’t a particularly long time.
“When I ran for office and invited people over to talk about it, the majority thought my husband was going to run for the position and not me, because I am not a political animal. It’s about the service for me,” she said.
Erickson said she halted campaigning after Matthew, picked up yard signs so they didn’t become projectiles and redistributed them only after almost everyone seemed to have regained electricity. At the community event, she instructed her speakers not to say anything on her behalf, including Scott, who instead danced and sang with the band.
Erickson had used her elected office to find answers to residents’ questions during the storm and distribute them on social media. Helping citizens navigate state government can make up more than half of her job, Erickson said.
But she also touted her work on the floor in a domestic violence reform bill passed last year, her work toward state tax reform and a plan for better funding education and road repairs.
Green is running what he says is a grassroots campaign, which includes putting up $3,000 of his own money, campaign finance records show. Criminal justice reform and advocating for the sale of the Port of Port Royal are among his important issues.
His method has included riding his bike through neighborhoods and drop-ins at the Port Royal farmers market on Saturday mornings.
“I’m the kind of guy who has always done what I thought was needed to do,” Green said. “Good things can happen if you do it for the right reasons.”
Stephen Fastenau: 843-706-8182, @IPBG_Stephen
S.C. House District 124
The candidates
- Shannon Erickson (R, incumbent)
- Age: 53
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from USC Beaufort
- Family: Husband Kendall, one daughter, one son
- Bobby Green (D)
- Age: 68
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from USC and law degree from USC School of Law
- Family: Wife Anastasia, one daughter
The Issues
Answers have been edited for length and grammar. Full answers can be found at http://bit.ly/2016Elex.
The latest timeline for the Port of Port Royal sale to close is the middle of 2017. How might you respond if the sale drags past another deadline with no deal?
Erickson: If we don’t see anything moving, and I’m hoping that’s a big if ... I would sit with the delegation and I would make the pitch that we had given the Ports Authority the opportunity and it had failed, and we have given the Department of Administration the opportunity and it had failed. And so I believe that the next step is to give the opportunity to another entity outside of that realm.
Green: First we must really know why the last 12 years of delay, gobbledygook and false hopes happened. There is more to the story than the folks in the Legislature are admitting. The Port Royal Project needs a strong advocate in the Legislature the way Sen. Tom Davis has been for the Jasper Ocean Terminal project. I will be that advocate in Columbia.
What is the most important issue related to education in District 124, and how will you address it?
Erickson: In both K-12 and higher education, Beaufort County does not receive the funding it deserves in per-student allocation. We have for several years been a donor county when it comes to taxes paid by our citizens and remitted to the state for K-12 education funding. We have been moving incrementally toward parity with diligent work from all of our Beaufort delegation but this push must continue. Having been appointed to the S.C. House Ways and Means Committee last session and serving on the Education subcommittee, I am well-placed to make these initiatives a reality for our county and repatriating our tax dollars is the largest issue that I will work on this next session.
Green: The complete loss of credibility by our school superintendent and school board. Act 388 is an example of how such a poorly crafted piece of legislation has put the people of the Lowcountry in a funding pickle. I think most citizens in Beaufort would prefer that their property taxes go the Beaufort schools, not the general fund in Columbia. I will advocate for just that in the Legislature.
What is another key issue you would address if elected, and how?
Erickson: I am currently serving on the S.C. House Comprehensive Tax Study Committee. There is plenty of proof that our tax system is broken. It is imperative that we lower rates to make the cost of government more evenly distributed and transparent and with the weight of this bi-partisan committee in tow, I will sponsor bills that reform these laws this session.
Green: Our transportation infrastructure is crying for attention. The Legislature plans to load up on more than $2.2 billion of additional debt . Kicking the can down the road, while becoming debtors to Wall Street in a rising interest rate environment is not my idea of fiscal wisdom. We only have a short while to prepare ourselves for the economic opportunities presented by the Jasper Ocean Terminal for the Lowcountry.
This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 11:40 PM with the headline "Rep. Shannon Erickson faces rare opposition to retain House seat."