State's most unlikely governor keeps coals burning

Lowcountry legend James B. Edwards will be visiting Hilton Head Island on Sunday.

The son of two schoolteachers earned the title of "doctor" as an oral surgeon, "senator" as a young newcomer to state politics when "the Red menace" of communism stirred his blood, "governor" when he was unexpectedly elected South Carolina's first Republican governor since Reconstruction in 1974, "secretary" when President Ronald Reagan named him Secretary of Energy, and "president" when he came home to lead the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for 17 years.

But Edwards comes to our community as a connoisseur. He comes to enjoy the finer things in life -- a whole hog cooked all night over wood, then served under the live oaks of Honey Horn. Edwards and his wife, Ann, will attend a $50-per-plate benefit for scholarships at the MUSC School of Nursing.

The Hilton Head Island Regional Advisory Board of the College of Nursing is hosting the event from noon to 3 p.m. The Broken Arrow Barbecue Team, led by Joe Harden, Bill Carson, Zeke Jordan and Maynard Barker, all old enough to know better, will render the pig and fixin's. Call Ruthie Edwards at 843-671-4441 for details.

For Edwards, now 82, it's all about remedying a chronic shortage of nurses and nursing-school teachers.

I caught Edwards at his farm, but he still goes to an office at MUSC every Wednesday and helps raise money for its colleges several nights a week.

In February, the College of Dentistry will be officially named for Edwards during the grand opening of its $61 million Clinical Education Center.

Edwards hasn't strayed from politics either, always making his choices known -- from Tuesday's Mt. Pleasant Town Council election at home, to the heated competition for governor (he's behind Gresham Barrett), Congress (incumbent Henry Brown), Senate (Jim DeMint) and president (Mitt Romney).

He thinks the state legislature "has more important things to do than go through a long, costly impeachment process" against disgraced Gov. Mark Sanford. Besides, he said, "If you impeached everyone for adultery you'd probably have to impeach half the state Senate."

Political competition is a wild rage compared to the day Edwards was nominated for the governor's race in a statewide GOP primary of only 35,000 votes.

"I say be as partisan as you want to be during an election and then put it aside," Edwards said. "After you're elected, you belong to the people. We've gotten away from that."

As governor, he says, "I was introduced many times by Democrats as 'the first mistake in 100 years.'"

But it was all in fun, he said.

Like eating serious barbecue for a good cause.