LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Florence voters need to vote for Rocky Pearce

By: Dear Editor: | SCNOW
Published: September 23, 2008

The recent controversy that surrounds the Florence mayoral race has led me to ask:

Why is the Florence electorate so complacent with the result of a race that was obviously altered by the incompetence and ineptness of the Florence electoral commission?

The ensuing confusion resulted from uninformed poll workers mistakenly telling registered voters that if these individuals voted in the coinciding Republican primaries, they would not be allowed to vote in the Democratic primary for mayor of Florence.

With the absence of a Republican nominee for mayor, the election rules state that people who voted on the Republican ballot in other races would also be allowed to vote in the democratic mayoral race.
The vast majority of Republican voters would have chosen the more moderate Democratic incumbent, Frank Willis.

Subsequently, many Republican voters were disfranchised and denied their fundamental right to vote. Since this election was decided by a mere one vote, Stephen Wukela is nothing more than an illegitimate Democratic nominee for mayor of Florence.

Upon learning that Mr. Wukela would be challenging the Democratic incumbent, I was interested in the unsullied political discourse he would bring to the table.

However, upon watching the mayoral debate, I was rather dismayed at the partisan hackery that Wukela displayed. He continuously towed the party line and appeared more interested in invoking the democratic ideology rather than focusing on the more important issues at hand. Wukela repeatedly mentioned the dilapidated, decaying state of East Florence, which did little more than state the obvious rather than to bestow any solutions. Wukela is obviously an ambitious politician who has his sights set on higher office. If he is so interested in partisan politics, maybe he should consider running against the “earmark king,” Congressman James Clyburn.

Wukela will hopefully see a backlash from an angry electorate come November when independent Rocky Pearce challenges him for mayor.

Austin M. Smith
Florence