More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
Getting Out the Vote: Grassroots Politics in Spartanburg County. Interview with GOP Chairman Frank Tiller
What happens when nine candidates compete for sheriff in a special election? Frank Tiller, newly elected Chairman of the Spartanburg County Republican Party, shares the unexpected challenges and surprising community response as his leadership team navigates what even state election officials couldn't fully advise them on.
This engaging conversation pulls back the curtain on local politics, revealing the often-misunderstood nature of political party operations. When Tiller's team inherited a nearly empty bank account and immediately faced organizing major candidate forums, they encountered a common misconception - that political parties are government-funded entities. The reality of grassroots funding comes into sharp focus as Tiller recounts the remarkable moment when community members stepped forward to transform ticketed events into free forums accessible to all voters.
The heart of Spartanburg's political renewal beats every Saturday morning at a local restaurant where "CAMP" (Coffee and American Politics) gatherings have exploded from an intimate group of eight to overflow crowds exceeding 100 participants. What makes these meetings special? Tiller explains that unlike traditional political events, every attendee gets microphone time - prompting the most common feedback: "My voice is being heard, and that has never happened before in politics."
From navigating the peculiar requirement that the county chairman must collect sheriff candidates' fingerprints to the ambitious goal of increasing primary election turnout from 13% to 20%, this conversation offers a fascinating glimpse into democracy at work at its most local level.
Ready to engage with your local political process? Mark August 8th on your calendar for the special election, and consider joining the Saturday morning conversations where candidates and citizens connect beyond credentials to build the relationships that ultimately drive voting decisions.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, dr Robert Jackson, and his wife Carlotta and daughter Hannah Miller. So listen up, because the doctor is in.
Speaker 2:Welcome to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, Dr Robert Jackson, bringing to you biblical insights and stories from the country doctor's rusty, dusty scrapbook. Well, I'm delighted today to have in the studio with me Frank Tiller, who happens to be the chairman of the Spartanburg County Republican Party. Frank, welcome to More Than Medicine.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Dr Jackson. It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm delighted to have you as my guest, and what I want to do today, Frank, is first I want to ask you to just introduce yourself. Tell folks a little bit about who you are and what you've done in your former life. Tell folks a little bit about who you are and what you've done in your former life, and then tell us a little bit about your vision for the Spartanburg County Republican Party.
Speaker 1:Okay, I am a native of Spartanburg. My family's been here for a long time, married a local girl that was at Dorman High School Well, obviously after high school, but she was at Dorman, I was at Spartanburg High School. Never thought that ever happened. But we've really enjoyed that. Got into a lot of different things the last few years. I've just enjoyed trying to understand how politics works and learn the ins and outs of it and learn you got to have thick skin.
Speaker 1:So tell us about what your responsibility is right now in Spartanburg County just recently had an election and we were able to prevail and I was elected Spartanburg County Republican Party Chairman and with that we have other officers that have gotten on board with us and we're trying. The two really things that we try to do is get voter participation, to increase the vote, get the vote out and we're trying to get above the 13 percent primary rate up to about a 20 percent primary rate and with. If we can change that dynamic, then I think we can start making a lot of differences. And the other thing is, presently we have two forums going that will be happening next week and the week after, and that is to get the candidates in front of as many voters as we can. And the first one with the sheriffs. That will happen next Friday, july 11th, from basically 6 to 9. And then the county council will be at Broome High School, which is in the District 3 county council, and that will be the following Tuesday, the 15th of July.
Speaker 3:Okay, and so there's been some big news regarding that, because we have eight, nine candidates for sheriff and that event is coming up. That's going to be, as you said, on the 11th, and you have some exciting news about it, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we were thrown into, you know, having to perform real quickly after the election at the county convention and all of a sudden we had a sheriff step down, we had a county councilman step down and we were looking at having to put on two special elections. And lo and behold, with the county sheriff's race. The first guy came up and signed up and the second, third, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. Then all of a sudden we had a huge, um, a lot of candidates in that race and just the week after that, um, then county council people started showing up six republicans and one democrat and one independent. That is now forward party, not really familiar with the forward party, but that's just something the last year and a half. But so eight people in there, but we're responsible for the six Republicans.
Speaker 3:And so you guys are having a forum for both of these events and that came up. This was a special election and, if I have got my details correct, even when you guys were figuring out all the logistics for this upcoming event, this has never happened in Spartanburg County and the people in Columbia didn't even really know how to advise you guys moving forward with having this forum. Is that correct?
Speaker 1:I don't know how you got that knowledge, but absolutely those facts are correct. They didn't know and they were saying that we didn't know what to do. Well, john Baucom, at the local elections bureau, he helped us through it and he started pulling out state law and said you got to do this, this and this. And even the people in Columbia were saying, no, that's not, we've not done this, but that's not how you do it. And John said, yeah, this is state law, this is how you do it. And said, yeah, this state law, this is how you do it.
Speaker 1:And all of a sudden they changed their way of thinking. They were taking control of that situation and john kept sending a couple little fly, six sections of the state law, to explain what has to be done. And we got through it. So everybody got certified. Interesting that for some reason I don't know why that the Spartanburg County Republican chairman is to retain the fingerprints of each of the sheriffs. I have no idea what I do with a set of fingerprints for those guys, but yeah, I've got them and I'll be holding on from here on out.
Speaker 2:They're not the sheriff, they're just a candidate. You have to have their fingerprints.
Speaker 1:That state law. That was one of the unique differences. I had to receive affidavits from each of them, and I looked at him. I said how am I to certify that all this information they put on these affidavits is true? I mean, I have no way of doing that. And he says no, all you have to do is physically receive the affidavit from the candidate and then you turn around and hand it to us in the window. I said, well, I can do that. So we got them all certified and it all worked out good.
Speaker 2:You didn't know, hannah was a private detective. She knows all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, she found out some stuff that I didn't. I was not privy to that, so that's great.
Speaker 3:Well, one of the things that I wanted to make sure that we get out here pretty quick is that some things in details about this upcoming Sheriff's Forum have changed and it's actually pretty exciting for Spartanburg County. Can you share with us some of those details, frank?
Speaker 1:Sure, because we had to do everything so fast. I was spending most of my time looking for venues, and they had to be large venues. Talking to probably seven or eight venues, some of them said, no, they weren't interested in doing political events. And I said, well, you know, thinking to myself, but why not? Because we've actually had county conventions at these places before, and not going to mention the names. But they they said no, we're not, we're not doing political things. And I said, well, it doesn't sound fair that you could say that you could do this and just decide that you're not going to do this. And then I found out that it's really up to each of the school districts to set their own policy, whether they're going to allow that kind of stuff or not. So the venues were set.
Speaker 1:Then we had to sort of figure out, well, where's the money coming from? Because we weren't worried about the money, because we really didn't know what the costs were going to be. Now we sort of getting an idea on the cost and we didn't have any money. We were left with a bank account that had just at maybe less than 500 in it, and these venues were both going to set us back a lot more than that. Um, the security, uh, at walford, uh, they were going to have eight officers there because it's contentious somewhat and this is sort of a law enforcement kind of environment. So we said, yeah, we understand, we have to pay for that and the janitorial and the lights and all the incidentals, that like the event insurance. But we all of a sudden were looking at $4,000 and that wasn't in the treasury. We had contributed a little bit but nowhere close to that. And that was just one event. That was just the first event, correct.
Speaker 3:And that's right. So and this was also you're getting a special election, two special elections, immediately within 45 to 60 days of you guys coming into office. So you know it was how are we gonna? We've, we've got very little money left in the coffers from previous leadership, which I would assume you get done with the election cycle. You've spent everything and then you got to start the raising money all again. So, uh, you know, no shade. I'm sure that that's how it happens. But you guys, it was very fast. You came into leadership and then boom, you've got these two elections and so special elections that are happening, and so you're going to have to sell tickets. And it raised some eyebrows. People were like wait a minute.
Speaker 3:What's why? Why are we having to pay for tickets for this? Yeah, not thinking and I don't think the average folk is is thinking about the logistics that you just explained First of all, that there's nine candidates, so we got to have a large facility. We got to be indoors because it's the armpit of Satan down here in South Carolina right now. Nobody's going to be outside during these kinds of things. And then you've got security you just mentioned. You've got maintenance, janitorial stuff for events like this. So once you know and even myself you know, I hear there's going to be a cost, and I'm like, oh, and my eyebrows raise, and then for half a second, and then I thought, oh, I got. You know, I've done event planning myself. I know all of the logistics that have to go into that. But there's actually some big news about that, though, and to that.
Speaker 1:But there's actually some big news about that, though, and the fact that there's no longer going to be a fee. Yeah, that's exactly right. That just sort of happened today. Call it a blessing. Yes, indeed, several people have come together and said we like what you're doing, we want to help. So it still gives me chills to think about it, but several people this afternoon actually said that we want to help make this a free event and we said thank you. Just unbelievably fortunate that happened, and a lot of people had wanted the free event.
Speaker 1:Some people even thought that the Republican Party is part of the government and the government should be paying for it. I think one comment was even that well, let's just get some of that $53,000 that's gone and use that. And none of that applies to this. The Republican and Democrat parties and all the parties. They're their own independent entity, created by the state legislature, and we are, we exist and we're under the auspices of the South Carolina GOP out of Columbia. So people ask is it a corporation or what? Is it LLC? No, it's just a subcategory or subagency of the South Carolina GOP, which was created by the legislature.
Speaker 1:So that's where we are, with that and because of the goodness of these people, the generosity of seeing something going forward and liking what they're seeing. They said we want to take care of the uh, the negatives that you can, the expenses that you will have, and just blew us away. Because not only that, this is this coming friday week, um, on the 11th, then, immediately following that, on the Tuesday on the 15th, for the County Council, we would have to launch right back into that. So two back-to-back events and we were trying to figure out well, where are we going to get the money to do all the printing for a thousand brochures at Converse or at 600 at Broome High School? And it's all worked out. Everything is at Broome High School and it's all worked out. Everything is all. Our ducks are sort of in a row now and everything's lining up, I guess the moon and the stars is lining up.
Speaker 1:We're excited about that. So, yeah, so now we can offer it as a free event and the people that have paid their tickets, bought their tickets and paid into the ticket sales, they will be refunded the money that they put into it to buy the tickets already. So they're going to get reimbursed. Of course, I'm going to suggest that donations are accepted, so you know, if anybody wants to, you know, donate, we're. Obviously. This is just the first two events that we're going to try to get off the ground and there will probably be runoffs in both of those events because of how many sheriffs we got in that race and we've got six more county council people, so there will probably be runoffs in early August.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you'll have events for that as well, or you know things that you're trying to help.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:Stuff you'll be sending out. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Additionally, those venues are already set up. So that's all good. They're excited about having us, and that's real. I'm not going to minimize the big one that we've got coming up this Friday week, but the big one would probably be the runoff. When you've got the two people that are going to be, one of them will be selected as our sheriff.
Speaker 3:Right. And so you know, and I think it's important for people to really understand I mean, this is how the grassroots work. We want these events and we want the Spartanburg County GOP to be grassroots and we want it to be it's $15 here, it's $20 there, it's $50 here, and that's how these things happen. And so when you're looking at events and you're thinking, well, you automatically think it's a government thing, it should be free. The government's putting on. You know, we pay our taxes. Right, you kind of brought that up.
Speaker 3:People were saying that, but you do have to, we have to all take a step back and remember well, this is not a tax funded thing, this is just party affiliation. And so the most important thing that folks can remember in that situation is you know what? Your $15 goes a long way. And so if you want to see more of this kind of stuff from the Spartanburg County GOP, send them a few dollars and say you know what? I do think that these are important, these kinds of forums. We want to know and hear from these sheriffs and that kind of thing, and we realize that you guys are under no legal obligation to do these kinds of things, but we want to support what you're doing, and that's what it means to be a grassroots organization. It's not some, you know, there's not. The government's not coming in paying for this and we don't want them to. They got no business.
Speaker 1:That's right, you know. Nor do we want large investors that want to control stuff. It is indeed grassroots from the bottom up, not some deep pockets from the top that you're going to be beholding to.
Speaker 3:That are just paying for whole events and getting it. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:Expecting something in return.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes indeed.
Speaker 2:Do you happen to know the address where people can send a check if they want to make a donation?
Speaker 1:I can look that up in just a few minutes for you All right, that's right.
Speaker 3:And the other thing, well, before you give out the address actually probably be easier if you just tell people the website, because then they can get all the information from one shot. So if you want to buy a ticket or you want to send in a check, or so, let's do it that way. What's the website?
Speaker 1:that folks can go to yeah, spartanburggopcom, and that information should be there on the website. It'd be a po box in drayton, south carolina, which is why drayton is, because that's where our treasurer lives in that area.
Speaker 2:All right. Now, frank, if people want to get involved at the grassroots level, people are listening and they're saying I like what you're doing and I want to get involved. You know the reorg is over, but there are things still going on week to week. What can people do to get involved?
Speaker 1:Great question and we love the help. A lot of committees that need to be formed. They're not even named yet. What we had been doing prior to this, back in August of last year we created a small group of people six to eight people and we named it CAMP and basically that's Coffee and American Politics from the national convention and she was on fire about starting some, some group. That would help be grassroots but it would train people, teach people what to expect, how to navigate through precincts and understand what the county convention was, what understand the state convention. And it grew and it grew and it grew.
Speaker 1:We outgrew Denny's on Reval Road and then we moved on down to the Clock Clockworks. Now is the name of it Turned pizza of it. Same owner, great guy, Love George. And then we outgrew that and so we went to the Peach Blossom. That was a hit. So we stayed at Peach Blossom for six weeks I believe, and things worked out that George wanted us back. So he said, instead of going into my private dining rooms, y'all can come into the public area and just maintain that and we can get over 100 people there. And that was a wonderful blessing. And he said he normally doesn't open until 11 o'clock in the morning, but he opens up for us at 9.30, which was just wonderful because we could then go into his large dining room up until 11 o'clock. And if we were still there, because it's usually 9.30 to 11.30 every Saturday and actually this week, we expanded back into his old dining room with our overflow. So, yeah, we've been blessed abundantly.
Speaker 2:What all do you do? Tell them what you do on.
Speaker 1:Saturdays.
Speaker 3:That was my question, okay, great.
Speaker 1:Well, we start off with the prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance and then we introduce the new people that have come, and there's usually six, eight or ten of new people, because some of the people that have been there a while they brought their friends and then their friends show up and then they come back in and check occasionally, but every week there's usually six, eight or 10 new people that are there. Unbelievably that three, four I guess three and four, not five of the sheriff candidates come there every Saturday during this campaign time and we always allow one featured speaker, one sheriff, to speak for a 15-minute period with a short Q&A after that. But all the other candidates love sitting around talking to all the people that are there. So they're all excited about being there and making new friends.
Speaker 1:Because a lot of times, unfortunately, people don't vote for the person that has the best credentials. They vote for the person that has the best credentials. They vote for the person that cares more about them and that's their friend. So that is a true statement. Two candidates told me this week. They said I can't believe this people. They're going to vote for me not because of my credentials, which are good, but because I have befriended them, and they like that.
Speaker 2:Yep, exactly right, that's very important.
Speaker 3:So this is something that you guys do every Saturday.
Speaker 1:You said 9 30 to 11 30 and tell us the location that you guys are right now, because you guys have moved around a little bit. Actually, down still on Reval Road, and it's Reval Road at the intersection of Anderson Mill Road. I'm not going to misquote the address, but it's at on Reval Road, on the left side, not on the right, what Denny's was, but on the left side at the intersection of Anderson Mill Road, just a half mile down the road from there.
Speaker 2:It's called Clockworks. Now Clockworks, okay.
Speaker 3:Okay, so that's where folks can find you, and you said it's every Saturday and you guys are usually just chatting and you have some sort of featured speaker every week, is that?
Speaker 1:right, that's right. So that's sort of the speaker every week.
Speaker 3:Is that right? That's right, so that's sort of the Right.
Speaker 1:Now it happens to be the sheriff's candidates. That's right. And we're going to start doubling up because time's short for the county council people, so we're going to have two of them come in, because this is the month they've got to come in. Early voting starts at the end of this month and then we'll have the election, so we're trying to get them all in there.
Speaker 3:Is there any place online where folks can go and see who's going to be there or any more information? Is there like a Facebook page or a social media page of any kind?
Speaker 1:Not really for camp. We send out notices at least once a week and we try to text everybody and occasionally we'll try to do emails to everybody to keep them informed of the agenda. And one of our guys says he keeps. I love it because he says you promised me you're going to have an agenda and it's already Thursday, so I owe him an agenda and but it's just. It's sort of funny, but it's the same agenda. It's just like I said, we start with the prayer pledge and start introducing. Actually, we ask the people to introduce themselves and say whatever they want to. It is sort of like an open mic session, but it is for them talking. But that's what the primary event that we do is. We allow each of the people to talk and let them hold the microphone, and that is the one thing. That's the most recurring comment my voice is being heard, and that has never been done before in politics especially here.
Speaker 2:The other thing is this opportunity to be with like-minded people, people who love America, people who are excited about being involved in local politics, and they get to share their ideas and meet other people that think the way they think. You know, and it's just a great gab fest on Saturday mornings.
Speaker 1:It is indeed.
Speaker 2:All right, we're running out of time. Any last comments, frank, before we?
Speaker 1:go. No, the thing of the Republican Party. Their main, I guess, mission is to get the vote out, and that's what we're trying to do. So it's not only get the candidates in front of the voters, which we're doing in these two venues, it is to actually get other people out and increase. Our standard rate has been 13% voter turnout and we're going to try to push that on up to 18 to 20%. We can do that. We hit a home run.
Speaker 2:All right, and when's the?
Speaker 1:primary. The day of the primary is August 8th or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yes, August 8th. We want folks to vote on August the 8th, so put that on your calendars, listeners, and show up and vote and bring a friend, that is so far in the future for me.
Speaker 1:Right now, I cannot see beyond day after tomorrow. Thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, you're listening to More Than Medicine. We're thankful that you're here with us. We'll be back again next week. Until then, may the Lord bless you real good.
Speaker 4:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. Also, don't forget to check out Dr Jackson's books that are available on Amazon His third book Turkey Tales and Bible Truths, and his father's biography on Laughter Silvered Wings the story of a country doctor, a family man, a patriot and a political activist. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Productions.
