Congressional candidate visits Sumter

Gina Vasselli / The Item Mick Mulvaney answers questions about his run for Congress on Wednesday.

By GINA VASSELLI
Item Staff Writer
gvasselli@theitem.com

Mick Mulvaney doesn't mince words when he explains why he's running for the seat of the 5th Congressional District in 2010.

"John Spratt has changed," Mulvaney said of the incumbent. "I think he's just gone over to the other side."

Mulvaney, a state senator representing Lancaster, is trying to make history by winning the congressional seat as a member of the Republican Party.

That district has been represented by Democrats since the 1880s, but Mulvaney, who was the first member of the GOP to win State House District 45, is no stranger to breaking tradition.

Mulvaney visited Sumter on Wednesday afternoon, taking questions from a small group gathered in front of the Sumter County Courthouse, and again Thursday evening, speaking to the Sumter County Republican Party. And he said it would not be the last time he visited the area.

"You're going to see more of me than you care to see for the next year because we are going to win this, one county at a time," Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney shared his mainly fiscally conservative principles with the Sumter County Republicans, speaking strongly against the government bailouts and the proposed health care overhaul.

He said the takeover of General Motors took money out of the pockets of the people.

"The government stole GM from private individuals," he said, sharing a story about a man who lost $91,000 when GM was taken over.

And he said the government health care overhaul is "one of the things that frightens me the most."

It was actually a forum on health care held by Spratt that pushed Mulvaney into running.

Mulvaney said that on Sept. 3 he sat in the back of the forum and listened to Spratt answer questions from his constituents.

He said he distinctly remembers people asking Spratt about the cost of the plan and Spratt saying that with the government in charge of the system, there would be "a quantum leap in cost savings and quality of services."

"I was offended by that," Mulvaney said, "That was the straw for me."

He said in that moment he was reminded of a line in the Declaration of Independence. It says that when abuses continue and are designed to put people under, "absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Mulvaney summarized that line as, "We not only have the right to change the government, but we have the duty to do so."

"That's what I felt in the back of that room on Sept. 3," he said.

Mulvaney said he believes that when people take a look at the things Spratt has voted for and done recently, they will be shocked.

He also thinks he has an advantage over past challengers.

"I don't have to run against a 1994 vote," he said, since people are concerned about much more current issues. "He can't hide anymore."



Contact Staff Writer Gina Vasselli at gvasselli@theitem.com or (803) 774-1214.



To learn more about Mick Mulvaney visit www.mickmulvaney.com

Or to learn more about John Spratt visit www.johnsprattforcongress.com