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My Dear Fellow American, For the past several years, as Executive Director for the Americans Have Had Enough Coalition, and as a citizen activist, I have been fighting against the illegal alien invasion that we are experiencing particularly here in South Carolina. I worked with many organizations throughout South Carolina in order to obtain a decent piece of legislation that would result in the self-deportation of illegal aliens out of our precious state, South Carolina. As I tried to communicate the urgency on this matter to legislators I came across a very disturbing reality. The overwhelming majority of incumbent legislators are more concerned with how the lobbyists feel about a certain issue than how their own constituents feel. I will never forget being told by a senate attorney, “we cannot do that because the Chamber of Commerce won’t let us.” What “that” was, was legislation to punish private employers who chose to hire illegal aliens to increase their bottom line. This statement from a state senate attorney had a profound impact on me. It told me that “we the people” don’t matter to them. Even a senator told me to my face, “I don’t want the State Chamber of Commerce to run someone against me for my seat.” And that is how incumbents see their elected office: “This is My Seat.” I often have reminded many incumbents that this is not their seat. The seat, whatever elected office it may be, belongs to “we the people” and that is to whom you have an obligation to serve and represent.” Is that not what their oath of office asks them to do and also ask them to uphold our constitution? I worked tirelessly to help lead the fight against the lobbyists and to obtain a law that would be enforceable. Thanks to the coalitions with whom I worked, South Carolina has a decent bill right now. We need to follow through and make sure that no one strips the bill of its teeth. We need to make the bill stronger. During the early part of this year, I encouraged people to run against incumbents. I was informed by the Greenville County GOP’s leadership that Senate District 7 was an opportunity that I should seize. The demographics have changed and it is no longer a majority minority Democrat district. The district is now leaning Republican, even though the majority of the people are independents. I was humbled by the support that I received in encouraging me to run for this seat. So, I decided to heed my own advice and run for State Senate District 7 and unseat an incumbent. Consequently, I received the GOP nomination and now I am putting everything in place for the general election against incumbent Democrat Ralph Anderson, an 80-year old that has been serving the legislature for way too long. As I sadly found out in dealing with our legislators, the longer they hold office the lesser they serve “we the people.” In fact, the incumbent is only interested in representing, if at all, a small portion of the voters within the district. But even that population lacks the representation that we are all entitled to have. It is not easy to mount a campaign against an incumbent. Given the push that the Democrats are going to be putting forth to elect candidates from their own party, my challenge is even greater. On this web site you can learn about me and my stances on issues that I feel are the most important in people’s lives, particularly those who live in State Senate District 7. I am also asking for your financial support to the campaign. With the right amount of resources, we can win this race, take the seat away from the influence of the lobbyists in Columbia, and have better representation for all who live in this district. Sincerely, Roan Garcia-Quintana |