The Spartanburg Herald-Journal - Moore Emphasizes Working-Class Roots

Moore Emphasizes Working-Class Roots

ROBERT W. DALTON, Staff Writer - The Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Published May 28, 2006

After 28 years in the state Legislature, Sen. Tommy Moore is ready for a new job.

Moore, D-Clearwater, wants to challenge Gov. Mark Sanford in November. To do that, he'll have to get past Florence Mayor Frank Willis and Columbia attorney Dennis Aughtry in the June 13 primary. Most observers consider it a two-man race between Moore and Willis.

Moore, 56, has spent the past 26 years in the Senate after a two-year term in the House. He also owns his own business, Boiler Efficiency Inc., in Clearwater.

He said his experience in both worlds makes him more than qualified to be governor. And he plays up his working-class roots -- his father was a barber, his mother a mill worker -- as another strength.

"I'm the only candidate with those life experiences that allow me to understand the challenges that the working people of South Carolina face every day," Moore said. "My work experience provides me the training and skills I need to meet the challenges of the office of governor."

During his career in the Legislature, Moore has found himself in the middle of some divisive issues. He's chaired or been a member of conference committees dealing with ethics reform, campaign reform and an overhaul of the Public Service Commission.

"That's my colleagues asking me to serve on those difficult conference committees about those tough issues," Moore said. "In the legislative arena, to be successful you've got to understand and practice cooperation and inclusion, and you've got to know that the government is meant to be there to serve."

Neal Thigpen, a Francis Marion University political scientist and a Republican activist, said that Moore is well liked by senators on both sides of the aisle and that they would feel comfortable working with him.

"As far as I've been able to see, he's the Democrats' go-to man," Thigpen said. "He's a right important player."

The Sanford campaign certainly is concerned about Moore. They've completely overlooked Prosperity physician Oscar Lovelace, Sanford's opponent in the June 13 Republican primary, and taken aim at Moore -- painting him as a Columbia insider, someone who voted for the largest tax increase in state history and hanging the scarlet "L" for liberal on his chest.

Thigpen said the liberal tag is all wrong.

"You certainly can't paint Tommy Moore as a liberal," Thigpen said. "I'd regard him as more moderate."

Moore's stance on abortion does not fit the liberal mold. "For deep religious convictions, I'm against abortion," Moore said, except in cases of rape, incest or risk to the mother's health.

He also has said that he will vote for the constitutional amendment that defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.

As for the tax increase -- a proposal to raise the state sales tax from 5 cents to 7 cents on the dollar -- Moore said that Sanford is not telling the whole story. The increase would have helped fully fund public education at a time when budgets were being slashed, he said. It also would have eliminated the state income tax on the first $15,000 earned and would have raised the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $55,000.

"That year the (state) Department of Revenue said that people making $15,000 or less constituted 47 percent of the returns in South Carolina," Moore said. "That would have been immediate help for all South Carolinians. And raising the homestead exemption would have been helping senior citizens."

Moore said his amendment also proposed cutting the income tax for small businesses, something Sanford now is taking credit for as a "personal" income tax cut in a television ad.

"It's the same old story. You trot out labels, misinform the public, don't tell all the facts or just tell one side of it to fit your needs," Moore said. "That's what's wrong with this state, and that's what's been wrong the last three-and-a-half years -- people using political gimmicks and bringing pigs to the Statehouse and trotting out a horse and carriage, talking about ideology, talking about 'The World is Flat' (a book by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman that Sanford often cites) and not understanding that the people of South Carolina know more than he does."

Thigpen said it's that kind of fire that makes Moore an attractive candidate. He said Moore would be a stronger Democratic general election candidate and said he would not be surprised to see him win the primary outright, avoiding a runoff.

"He's a right attractive personality who could energize Democrats in the state and probably get some Republican votes," Thigpen said.

Moore said getting Republican votes would be nothing new -- he lives in a Republican district. He said he's counting on the fact that the state's voters are "fiercely independent."

"They're not blindly following some party ideology or adhering to some political boss' spin of the day," Moore said. "It's not a matter of being a conservative or a liberal, it's a matter of what's best for South Carolina."

Blaine Childress of Spartanburg has bought into Moore's candidacy. He was undecided until Monday, when he jumped on Moore's ship after the senator made a campaign stop at the Arts Partnership.

Childress said Moore's stance on protecting public education appealed to him, as did the candidate's working-class background.

"I'm impressed with the man," Childress said. "I like the fact that he came up in a regular job and that his parents worked. I think he relates more to the common man."

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