On a scale of one to ten, using playing cards with a Trey (three) being the lowest and a Queen (twelve) being the highest, as a candidate for Congress, Trey Gowdy is a Trey, and Lee Turner is a Queen!
Yes! Lee Turner of South Carolina has officially announced that she is running to take over Trey Gowdy’s fourth Congressional Seat in Congress. Her hat is in the ring.
Trey Gowdy was Hillary Clinton’s nemesis, as he was dedicated to making her life miserable with the Benghazi hearings. Although his committee never found Hillary guilty of anything. Its admitted purpose was to ruin Hillary Clinton politically so she couldn’t become President.
Lee Turner is about to become Trey Gowdy’s nemesis, as she speaks truth to power and provides a progressive Democratic alternative to her right-wing tea-party Republican opponent. Moreover, she has a good chance of winning, giving the House of Representatives one more Democratic vote to impeach Donald Trump.
Although I believe the dominant issue of the 2018 mid-term elections will be the impeachment of Trump; Lee Turner, to her credit, wants to run a positive campaign of the things she is for—rather than a negative campaign of people she is against. I underscored this point at a meeting of progressives in Greenville, when I argued it wasn’t enough to resist Trump; we should work positively to elect progressive Democrats.
Although some anti-Trump activists are apprehensive about getting into the messy game of politics, Lee Turner was so mad at the Republican lies about tax “reform,” she decided to run for Congress herself. And why not? She is a tax expert who used to do taxes for rich people and corporations. In one short speech about the Republican tax bill, I learned more in five minutes from her, than from hours of watching MSNBC.
Lee Turner also has vast business experience and has a proven record of starting, growing and improving both her own business (she opened a restaurant) and other businesses. She is fiscally responsible as well as socially liberal. No wonder she is outraged by the looming 1.5 trillion dollar deficit that the Republican tax scam will generate.
So it wasn’t surprising that when she announced her candidacy last Tuesday to the small crowd at Connolly’s Irish Pub in Greenville, South Carolina, she discarded the short speech I wrote for her; and without notes, delivered a far better message by directly addressing the issues of saving DACA and providing legal medical marijuana (which she wisely referred to as cannabis.)
As a Psychologist who specialized in drug abuse and addiction, I have long been a strong advocate for legalizing marijuana. To my dismay, too few politicians have the temerity to be outspoken on this issue. When I discovered that Bernie Sanders had the most progressive views of any candidate for legalizing cannabis (with the possible exception of Ron Paul) I was so impressed I studied his stand on other issues. The more I read his books and heard his speeches, the more impressed I became. I ended up campaigning for him for a year, as he combined keen intelligence with sincere compassion, plus possessed the integrity to advocate policies that serve the average American—not ultra-rich and powerful special interests.
I am likewise highly impressed with Lee Turner. She may not be famous—yet—but she also combines keen intelligence with sincere compassion, and passionately wants to provide the progressive voice we need in Congress.
According to Rolling Stone, Trey Gowdy “jokes about moving back to South Carolina to hawk silver or reverse mortgages. I ask him if he ever regrets running for Congress in the first place. ‘Yeah, I do,’ he says. ‘I do.’
Don’t worry Trey, perhaps soon you will be able to move back to South Carolina, as Lee Turner will gladly fill your House Seat for you. And both South Carolina and the country will be better for it.
If you are interested in learning more about Lee Turner, or would like to contribute to her campaign to help her take down Trey Gowdy, she invites you to go to her Facebook page... leeturnerforcongress