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Anderson County Council District 1 candidates prepare for runoff, trade criticisms
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Raymond MacKay
Photo by Nathan Gray
Bob Waldrep
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ANDERSON COUNTY — Bob Waldrep and Raymond MacKay, the Anderson County Council District 1 candidates who will face each other in a runoff election Tuesday, hit the streets Saturday afternoon giving out smiles, handshakes and fliers.
“This is the most pleasant part of campaigning,” said Waldrep, 72, as he walked from door to door in The Heritage subdivision Saturday afternoon. “People have been really nice because they know you care enough to come to their house. The fine art of campaigning is not to irritate the voters but to stimulate them.”
Waldrep, who is the incumbent and an attorney, and his volunteers started early Saturday calling voters to ask for support.
“We’ve got local people calling local people,” said Waldrep’s daughter, Elizabeth Waldrep, pointing out that MacKay had hired people from Columbia to make his calls.
Most voters are concerned about a lack of accountability among county government officials and the loss of civility among County Council members, Bob Waldrep said.
During his campaign, he said he is committed to returning fiscal responsibility to the county government.
MacKay, an attorney, started his campaigning day Saturday at a barbecue fundraiser at Ruff Masonic Lodge. From there, he moved from one community to another asking for votes.
“I just go up to the door and introduce myself, tell them there is a runoff on Tuesday, and I would appreciate their vote,” MacKay said, dousing himself with sunscreen before knocking on doors in the Governors subdivision. “If they have questions, they can ask me now or call me later.”
MacKay said people were most concerned about the negative tone Waldrep’s campaign has taken by accusing MacKay of disloyalty to the Republican party because he voted in the South Carolina Democratic Primary and questioning MacKay’s use of a call bank.
“I get thanked all the time for keeping my campaign positive,’ MacKay said. “That’s how it is going to stay.”
During his campaign, MacKay, 52, cited economic development — in particular loss of jobs in Anderson — as the issue that led him to seek the District 1 seat.
The winner of the runoff Tuesday will receive the Republican nomination for the District 1 seat. There is no Democratic challenger, so the winner on Tuesday likely will take the seat.
In the June 10 Republican Primary, Waldrep received 1,958 votes, or 45.8 percent, while MacKay received 2,092 votes, 49 percent. A third candidate, Brooks Brown, received 221 votes.
Polling places for the 11 precincts that are part of District 1 will be open Tuesday for the runoff, according to officials with both campaigns.
Anyone with questions regarding the runoff can call (864) 260-4035, the Anderson County Voter Registration Office.
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People must turn out and Vote for MacKay in order to reposition the direction of Anderson County Council! Two more months not to mentiontwo additional years of this political marginalizing will bring utter horror and defeat to Anderson County.
Well said Kalpesh!!!!!
MacKay but not McCain for me. :-)
""Most voters are concerned about a lack of accountability among county government officials and the loss of civility among County Council members, Bob Waldrep said. Oh the gall Bob! The loss of civility began with you. Name calling (tweedle dee and tweedle dum), slurs against German people and intimidating raids on the finance department with Cindy Wilson and Channel 7 are not civility. Raymond will bring us both ACCOUNTABILITY and CIVILITY. And by the way, the standerous handbill you threw in everybody's driveway yesterday did more to get out Raymond's vote than 10 days worth of calling could possibly do. Good riddance Bob.
Thanks for the laugh Bob "The fine art of campaigning is not to irritate the voters but to stimulate them"? If only you had practiced what you are espousing with that quote. You did some stimulating alright with your irritating negative campaigning. You stimulated the voters to get out on Tuesday and vote for your opponent, Raymond MacKay. The citizens of Anderson County have been irritated enough for the past two years and frankly we have had quite enough!
All these posters on here who are part of the MacKAY campaign, but unwilling to admit it, must think pretending to be a neutral party gives their contribution more believability! The fact they are not willing to be honest about their affiliation, makes we wonder the honesty of their candidate.
Birds of a feather, flock together!
nxsadk, It's obvious to all that I am in support of Mr. MacKay and I have on more than one occasion responded to your accusation that I am a part of Mr. MacKay's campaign by stating that I am not. I don't see you attacking others on this site for their support of him. Do I know people who are working on his campaign? Yes, I do, but they don't tell me how to vote (I'm not in Dist.1 and can't vote in the runoff) and they certainly don't tell me what to say in my posts. Make no mistake about it, I am my own person. Quite frankly, I don't know of anyone who is working on Mr. MacKay's campaign who has made a posting on the AIM website and if they did there shouldn't be a problem with that. Last I heard anyone with an opinion is free to post here. It appears to me that Mr. MacKay has many supporters like myself who wish to express their opinions about the runoff and other issues as does Mr. Waldrep. Give it a rest already!
A friend of mine received a phone call from the MacKay campaign and it was not from a phone bank in Columbia. The phone call she received was from a local person. Please vote for MacKay!
I believe I asked, not accused! I believe I asked, not attacked! I believe I asked, not telling you how to vote! I just asked. I believe between yourself, kalpesh, usecommonsense, and another, I don't think I have ever been called an idiot more times in my life. Especially without being given any facts other than their sayso, as to why that is so! Your promotion of MacKay and opposite of Waldrep is supported by the same attention to the person rather than ideas or facts. I can well apreciate your opinions of these people, but they were more attention than a casual passerby would have given them. That is why I asked if you were affiliated with the campaign. I didn't realize it would be such a complicated question.
I am not affiliated with the MacKay campaign. But I DO live in District #1 and I WILL vote for MacKay on Tuesday. I believe that Anderson County will straighten out any problems that it may have (real or perceived)and MacKay is committed to solving problems. In 18 months Waldrep has simply kept things stirred up with no effort toward actually solving the problem. Time for a Change.
The negative campaigning by Waldrep and his supporters represents an element of Anderson County politics that must be eliminated. There is no place for this kind of politics of personal destruction in a healthy prosperous community. We need to identify problems and fix them. And we need to quit slandering people in the way that Waldrep campaign did in their negative Times Examiner ad this weekend.
in response to Pallbearer
It sounds like all of you MacKay supporters are doing exactly what you claim the other side is doing! Have you even asked if the candidate wants your support? Pallbearer and scarlett, after reading some of your posts, I don't know I would want your endorsement! Some of them are very hateful.
nxsadk, I answered the question the first time you asked several days ago. You were the one who implied again and again after the question was answered the same...that I must be a part of the campaign. There are many and let me reiterate, many who feel very strongly that the future of Anderson County depends on the winner of the Dist. 1 runoff on Tuesday. Yes, I am paying more attention to this than a casual passerby would. That's because it is important. I want to know that there is someone I believe in who will come to the council with a great deal of discernment (acuteness of judgment and understanding), dignity, civility, and who is of honorable character. Mr. Mackay has and will continue in my mind and I hope the majority of voters mind be that person.
in response to Kalpesh
MacKay is not for positive change. He is another Preston Puppet.
Freddie an nxsadk, we are clearly getting nowhere in our dialogue with you. And I absolutely fail to see any "hate" in the posted comments by me or by scarlett. We both expressed our dissatisfaction with "negative" campaign tactics by the Waldrep camp and with Waldrep's ineffectiveness in solving real and perceived problems on Council. "Hateful" would be the Times Examiner piece dropped in District #1 driveways yesterday by the Waldrep campaign. Slander and politics of personal destruction are by definition "hate".
Freddie an nxsadk, we are clearly getting nowhere in our dialogue with you. And I absolutely fail to see any "hate" in the posted comments by me or by scarlett. We both expressed our dissatisfaction with "negative" campaign tactics by the Waldrep camp and with Waldrep's ineffectiveness in solving real and perceived problems on Council. "Hateful" would be the Times Examiner piece dropped in District #1 driveways yesterday by the Waldrep campaign. Slander and politics of personal destruction are by definition "hate".
from what i;ve read mckay is just like waldrep he;ll drag the county down but faster and and in less time than waldrep has had
"from what i've read"? So you got Bob's negative driveway handbill yesterday? Consider the source.
I don't buy MacKay's promises of civility and open government. You can say "open government" and "change" all day long. Those are just buzz words. Ask him for specifics. We did! When he came to our door prior to the original election, my husband asked him what he meant by open government. In his explanation, he stated that Anderson County has over 80,000 transactions per month and that was just too much to have to post all of them. When asked what shouldn't be posted, he was speechless. He finally stated, "Like department head salaries, we don't need to know what they make." Using an indefinite statement, such as LIKE department head salaries, indicated that this was not the only information he thought should be excluded. His claim of open government is only a statement he is using to get elected.
The comment has been removed for violating the terms of our user-contributions policy and the user account has been quarantined. All further posts from this account will be manually screened until such time as a user is deemed trustworthy. The user account and all posts associated with it will be eliminated if improper comments continue."
in response to CobraKR101
Why would we do that? This is our hometown newspaper blog. The issues we are interested in, can be found here, real time, current and a newspaper staff to get the scoop. What do you have?
A vote for MacKay is like putting Greer or Thompson back on council. He's put out there to take Waldrep out of Prestons way. He may not be the ideal choice, but at least he's his own man.
Like Cindy and Bob have stated so many times...
We should not have to fight our own government to learn where and how our hard earned tax dollars are spent.
Negative, negative, negative. You shouldn't have to fight anybody, there is no reason to. Why are you people trying so desperately to attach MacKay to Preston? And freebird22, you certainly should not try to attach your guy Waldrep to Cindy. She is very unpopular in District #1.
The comment has been removed for violating the terms of our user-contributions policy and the user account has been quarantined. All further posts from this account will be manually screened until such time as a user is deemed trustworthy. The user account and all posts associated with it will be eliminated if improper comments continue."
I mean you would *not* have anything worth while to say.
They (BOTH) look like crooks to me. (RE-ELECT NOBODY) but as in all politic's if their not a crook going in, they will be when they come out....
in response to oracle
I am not associated with Mr.MacKay's campaign in anyway. However, I have observed Mr. Waldrep as a member of this current council and over time he has fallen into the trappings of M.Cindy Wilson, WAIM,and the defrocked ACTA. He has become dishonorable and part of the problem not the solution.
All of you on both sides can say what you want here but it doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Minds are already made up. Seems the bickering and name calling have spilled out from Council to you the citizens.
MacKay is just looking for another job. He is a perpetual job/office seeker. Plus, just a cronie of Preston.
in response to Freedom_Of_Speech
Clutchburner...I'm with you! Let's reelect NOBODY. Lets vote away the entire council and just put Preston in charge. We'll save money on salaries, and then there will be no doubt who the scoundrel is...Preston won't have anybody to hide behind.
Yea I like this guy NOBODY more every day.
Let's write in NOBODY!
in response to waiting
Just looking for another job? A perpetual office seeker?
Can you name ONE other office for which Mr. Mackay has run?
I think he does quite well making a living as an attorney, just as Mr. Waldrep. Quite the opposite of a "perpetual job seeker." Why don't you do some research or even think a little bit before you post such nonsense.
in response to waiting
Please....can't you come up with something better than this!!!
Geez, Bob Waldrep just want stop with the negativity! He's got people posting signs today,(runoff day) that say "Preston & MacKay mean more taxes, more secret governments". First of all that is the most ridiculous claim I've ever heard and second of all stop with the negative attacks. If you are going to say something at least make it fact based.
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