The Reddy Room

08/28/2026

It’s Free Speech Friday. Let’s talk about it.

One of the issues that came up repeatedly when we asked what you want to see discussed in The Reddy Room was data centers and their rapid growth across the country.

So today, we want to hear from you.

What concerns do you have about data centers? Are you worried about their impact on our power grid, utility costs, water, land use, infrastructure, taxes, or the communities where they’re being built? Or do you see economic benefits and opportunities that deserve to be part of the conversation?

Share your thoughts, questions, and experiences in the comments.

Free speech means being willing to hear different perspectives. Let’s have the conversation.

08/26/2026

Are we all glad the Senate primary is over! I told Darline last night that I was proud of her jumping into her first-ever election of any kind. It is not easy to get in the arena for the first time and get the crap beat out of you publicly in front of your family. I can vouch for that personally. Darline did this while dealing with her brother's death and dealing with a SC political environment that has become increasingly divisive and nasty. This division and nastiness are destroying the most important thing we have—the Republican brand and its reputation for decency.

After seeing how Norman and his wife behaved in the Governor's race, I was not a big Norman fan. I am a strict founding principles guy. Our Founders did not want to see career politicians. As you recall, even though there were no constitutional term limits at that time, George Washington stepped down from the Presidency voluntarily after 2 terms, as he wanted to set an example of what he envisioned public office to be—serve your community for a brief period and go back to being a doctor, lawyer, or housewife.

I was also somewhat disappointed to see the tone and substance of Ralph Norman's (and his wife's) concession speech. https://youtu.be/sjYwVgpI2-M?si=d_XRn9XqHfm1NO0A

It lacked grace, humility, and unity. Tom Watson commented once about Jack Nicklaus—he was the greatest winner of all time and the most gracious loser of all time. Always gave his opponents credit and handled his loss with kindness and grace. All great ones do that.

As we move forward, it is time for us Republicans to hit the reset button and work on our brand. We are better than we have seen in the last few campaigns. If we keep down this destructive path, people will get fed up and hand the reins over to the Democrats for no other reason than they are tired of these bruising, nasty battles where we destroy the Republican brand.

What does a reset look like? Frankly, there is no magic wand, but we have to start somewhere. Here is a brief outline worthy of a conversation:

1. Let's stop this endorsement game in the primaries and keep it for the general elections. If you feel the burning desire to express your opinion about a candidate in the primary, it is your right to do so. However, do it respectfully and then keep the follow-up attacks and posts and reposts and personal attacks on social media to a minimum. Let's go back to Reagan's 11th commandment, which is to try and not talk ill of another Republican. A good litmus test is discuss differences in policy, not personality.

2. Candidates in a primary must speak up about the negativity. If you have PACs advertising dirty, maybe you don't directly control their messaging, but you can publicly distance yourself from the message. Remember, silence is acceptance. If you see vile social media posts against your opponent, have your staff contact the one posting and request they take it down. It is their right to refuse, in which case it is your right to publicly distance yourself from the message.

3. Republican Party county leaders need to stay out of the fray. In the recent election, county chairmen were openly campaigning for one candidate and against another. Your job as county leaders is to enhance the Republican Party and promote all Republicans against the Democrats. It is not to foment a civil war within the party. If you feel the need to be actively involved in partisan races, resign your county leadership role first.

4. The United States Constitution protects only one business entity—the free press. Our Founders put this protection in place, so the press can provide unbiased information to a self-governing citizen. The press in its many forms—newspaper, TV, and radio—and their employees in their official capacity need to honor this pact and stay out of partisan politics in general and primary politics in particular, as they amplify brand destruction. When the press puts their thumb on the scale for a Republican primary, they exacerbate the division by manipulating the public. Employees of the media involved in partisan "campaigning" in their official capacity should be terminated.

5. Last but not least, as these statewide primaries unfolded over the last few months, it was disgusting to see our spineless elected leaders in the Republican Party sit back and say nothing about the degrading personal attacks on one another and the supporters of each candidate. If you are a Republican leader, it is your job to protect the Republican brand. Speak up instead of being afraid of being personally cancelled. As Dr. Ben Carson said, "You cannot be the land of the free if you are not the home of the brave."

The Republican brand stands for self-governance, small government, less regulations, less taxes, and strong borders. We all need to unite in this goal and take the fight to the Democrats without going into battle wounded and bleeding. God bless.

08/23/2026

DARLINE, NORMAN, AND THE REPUBLICAN POLITICS OF MUTUAL DESTRUCTION

I grew up a Ronald Reagan Republican. I still remember him saying, "Whatever history may say about me when I am gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts." It is the opposite of what is happening today in Republican politics.

Where are the great elected leaders in South Carolina? Why do they not speak up as SC Republican politics descends deeper into the gutter every day, especially with the vile, evil underbelly of humanity showing itself on social media, hidden behind screens and fake names?

I have been on the inside of a statewide SC Republican primary, and I can attest to a level of personal viciousness among people, especially on social media and anonymous texts, that should trouble every one of us. I am watching a rinse-and-repeat cycle taking place again in our state Senate primary. For the sake of this state and the Republican Party, I sincerely hope and pray we have courageous leaders who can step up and say "enough." Silence is ACCEPTANCE.

Scriptures don't leave much room for ambiguity on this. Paul's letter to the Ephesians asks believers to put away bitterness, wrath, and slander and replace it with kindness. Malachi 2:10 says in part, "Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?"

Our Founders knew this danger too. George Washington's farewell address warns about the "spirit of the party"—how factional hatred, left unchecked, could tear apart the very union they had just secured.

To the Darline supporters, it is perfectly legitimate to question Ralph's two-decade-plus record in elected office and his accomplishments for the citizens of SC. It is also legitimate to question whether that makes his claim of being an outsider supporting term limits legitimate. It is not okay to attack him personally or his family business for accepting perfectly legitimate COVID loans, especially since Ralph was not personally involved with the family business at that time. All these attacks lead to counterattacks and create more rancor and division in the Republican Party.

To the Norman supporters, it is perfectly okay to debate whether "experience" in politics is a criterion to serve. Our Founders supported citizen politicians over career politicians, and there can be pros and cons for this argument, especially if done respectfully.

It is also okay to debate whether a President should be involved in a SC election, as it could be viewed as an attack on the 10th Amendment and state sovereignty. But this argument must be in the context of Alan Wilson accepting the endorsement of the President, followed by a Norman (and his supporters) endorsement of Alan. In other words, not agreeing with presidential endorsements in statewide primaries on principle is good, but not agreeing when it is not your candidate who gets the endorsement is questionable.

What is not acceptable is to personally decimate someone for taking a picture with non-white yogurt shop employees and labeling them "illegal alien invaders." The implication is that Darline supports illegal immigration even though those workers were not illegal but just happened to be not white. This type of hate is not who we are.

As a private sector leader, I aggressively fought mask and vaccine mandates and did not shut down my multistate business for one day. However, I fought for the right of the individual to voluntarily decide whether they wanted to wear a mask or take a vaccine. I never demonized someone if they decided to wear a mask voluntarily or take a vaccine voluntarily.

Similarly, during the gubernatorial campaign, I openly ranted against the DEI code that was still part of SC regulations. These DEI codes were everywhere—from picking judges to SCDOT to DES to DHS to almost every agency in the state. The DEI mandates often came with Biden federal dollars that make up over a third of the SC budget. Darline and every agency head had to comply or lose federal funds. President Trump, through executive order, eliminated many of these DEI requirements in 2025. Unfortunately, the SC legislature and executive branch still have not removed much of this code from SC regulations.

In summary, I urge Republicans to raise the level of discussion. It is perfectly okay to disagree with each other and debate different views while remembering Reagan's 11th commandment of never talking ill of a Republican. Focus on policy, not personality. I urge Republican leaders to speak up more and articulate that the party stands for self-governance, small government, lower taxes, lower regulations, and strong borders, not division, personal attacks, and hate. Personal attacks not only lower us as a party but give the Democrats the ammunition they need this fall. The Democrats have a harder time destroying us than we have destroying ourselves. Time to stop.

Rom Reddy

08/21/2026

We have all heard the expression "putting lipstick on a pig.” The Captain Sam Spit litigation saga that will cost SC taxpayers $32 million is what that expression was created for.

The $32 million taxpayer-funded settlement does not include 17 years of legal fees expended by the Department of Environmental services and the AG's office with no oversight and does not include an additional $4 million paid by taxpayers in the town of Kiawah. The Attorney General and the legislators rush to present it as "good for everyone". Presumably that includes us taxpayers. I am not sure if we would agree.

Let's start at the beginning. The Kiawah Island developers originally acquired roughly 10,000 acres in Kiawah Island in 1988 for approximately $105 million. The "spit" was a 170-acre parcel acquired as part of this overall acquisition in 1988.

A crude ratio of acreage (170 out of 10,000) would value the original purchase price of the spit at less than $2 million. Maybe the spit was a special parcel and was worth twice the average. That optimistic assumption would still put the original value of the spit at $3.5 to $4 million tops. I am trying to be nice!

If the state felt strongly about the spit needing to be "protected" land, they could have negotiated a conservation easement with the developer or even bought the land as part of an overall development plan. This would have cost the state little to nothing. The state did nothing at the time.

In 2008 when the developer applied for permits to develop the split, the permit requested a bulkhead revetment (retaining wall) as part of the permit. This started a back-and-forth series of lawsuits between the state, the far-left Coastal Conservation League and the developers. Millions of dollars of taxpayer money and effort were spent over a 17-year period (including 5 SC Supreme court rulings) arguing about permits for revetments and the government's rights on private land. Each time the state prevailed on winning a small permit battle, they did not realize they were losing the bigger war on private property rights.

It seems the Attorney General at that time (lawyer in name only McMaster) and his successor and current AG Alan Wilson could not figure out that government cannot take over private land and mandate what goes on without buying that land. It is part of the SC and US constitutions. The AG's office or the Governor could have intervened with the useless bureaucrats at Department of Environmental services at any time during the 17-year litigation, ended this madness and negotiated a sensible deal. Yet, with no oversight from the AG or Governor's office, the bureaucrats at DES kept wasting our money on endless litigation. None of these legal fees have been disclosed so far.

Finally, last year someone realized that the state, in addition to legal fees could face as much as $ 200 million in damages for "taking" private land . A takings claim can trigger damages and paying the attorney's fees for the other side. They also concluded that the DES in-house taxpayer-funded lawyers could not handle the case anymore, and they would have to hire expensive outside counsel like citizens are forced to do when defending themselves against these agencies.

This is how we ended up with a $37 million settlement to the developer (at least 10 times their purchase price). Roughly $32 million comes from state taxpayers, $4m from the town of Kiawah taxpayers and $1 million from a conservancy group. All this could have been easily avoided if the state including the Governor's and AG's office had simply respected private property rights and the Constitution and not wasted our money defending the indefensible and paying the price with our money.

Instead of making up some happy ending, wouldn't it be refreshing if our government could simply say they made a mistake and they are sorry. Nope. That's where the lipstick on the pig comes into play. Read their comments in the linked article and marvel at how they manage the news-- an expensive $32 million lipstick job.

After nearly two decades of litigation, the fight over Captain Sams Spit is coming closer to an end after the S.C. Legislature approved $32 million to settle a pair of lawsuits.

08/14/2026

As we enter the final two weeks of the Senate race, I wanted to express my opinion. It is not my place to tell you how to vote. However, I just ran against one candidate in the gubernatorial race and had a very good conversation with the other and wanted to share my thoughts.

Before we erupt into a sea of nasty comments, I want to remind you that each one of us has a right to an opinion, and each one of us has the right to respectfully disagree with the other.

First, I read US Representative William Timmons' piece about the Ralph Norman he knows as a peer in the US Congress. I do not know Representative Timmons or his politics, but I could not agree with his assessment more.

https://www.fitsnews.com/2026/08/13/william-timmons-why-im-supporting-darline-graham/

Like Representative Timmons, I got to see Ralph up front and personal during the recent gubernatorial race, and like Representative Timmons, I reached the same conclusion. Ralph is all about Ralph and the power he can wield at any cost.

In 20-plus years in politics, there is literally not one single conservative bill in the SC House or the US House that has Ralph stamped all over it. He uses his ideological "no" vote to get publicity, get ratings with these fake agencies, and as a negotiating tool to accumulate more power.

To all his fans who talk about his conservative credentials, I challenge you to find one bill he sponsored or co-sponsored that reduced taxes, reduced spending, reduced regulations, reduced the size of government, or really did anything for the conservative cause. Representative Timmons beautifully explains how he uses his vote to accumulate more power for himself.

When he ran for Governor, he tried to explain how he wanted to come back home to South Carolina and clean out the "career politicians" and impose term limits. Really, Ralph? After 20-plus years in politics, you think you have the credibility to get that done for the people of S.C.? Of course not. As Representative Timmons pointed out, years and years of all talk and no action. All sizzle and no steak. Also, the "come back home and serve the citizens" lasted a couple of weeks. It was not long after losing the gubernatorial race that Ralph threw his name back in the hat for the Senate race to go back to DC, arguably for life.

As a CEO, I loved different opinions and liked people challenging me. However, when we walked out the door, there was no light between me and my managers, and I expected them to have my back like they knew I had theirs. If President Trump for one moment believes Ralph Norman will have his back, he is dead wrong. Ralph showed his colors just 2 years ago when he was the only member of Congress to endorse Nikki Haley over the President. Somewhere in there, Ralph had negotiated a win for himself if Nikki pulled it off, which, luckily, she did not.

I hope the President does not think that Ralph will be any different when faced with the next choice where he can benefit himself at the expense of the President.

I will admit I was no fan of Lindsey's politics. However, it was not because he did nothing like Ralph. It was because I did not agree with some of the things he did. But that is why we have elections, and the majority decide, and the majority voted for Lindsey.

And then there is Darline. She reached out to me, and we had a very good conversation. Without a doubt, she loved and adored her brother. He more or less brought her up, and her pain is palpable. But I got the distinct feeling that Darline was going to blaze her own trail. She seemed strong and very grounded in her faith, which is always a good sign to me.

I do not buy Norman's "no experience" argument. If you need experience to be a good political leader, then Trump could never have been President. Unlike the popular narrative circulated by the Norman crowd about "coronations," she was asked by our President to serve because he knew her and had confidence in her. She stepped up in a time of grief. She does not deserve the nasty, personal attacks.

I expect her to be a fresh set of eyes and bring an outside perspective. I expect her to be strong enough to express her honest opinion to the President in private and support and be loyal to him in public.

Finally, you can massage your messaging about policy, experience, and record of accomplishments, as Norman has done during his 20-plus years as a career politician. What you cannot massage is whether you are a good human being who has lived your life in the image of Jesus. Look for this trait when you make your evaluation over the next couple of weeks. If that trait is not determinative, vote for the outsider and not the career politician. You are more likely to get it right than wrong. God bless.

"South Carolina needs a U.S. Senator focused on delivering President Trump’s agenda and serving the people of our state..."

08/13/2026

S.C. government in action. The only issue with the Governor’s comment is the agency is a cabinet level position reporting to him!

Perhaps he should fire the 30 plus year career bureaucrat appointed by him that runs the agency.

‘Ridiculous.’ Governor critical of SC agency plan to charge man $2.4M for records

08/13/2026

During the recent gubernatorial campaign, I was the only candidate that openly said I would ban data centers on Day 1 and make the ban permanent. Of course, it did not help me or my campaign as hundreds of thousands of dollars of data center PAC money was funneled into my opponent's campaigns against me. However, it is time to bust the data center myth that we are all being fed.

Data centers are framed by our compromised politicians as some type of race against China to dominate AI which is why we have to locate it in our state and capture all the early bird advantages. This is a false narrative.

In its very basic form, a data center is nothing but a building with power, water, networking, and racks of chips. Very capital intensive but with very few jobs. In theory, these centers can be physically located anywhere as long as America has control over data security, and we control the technology that goes into the chips. That is the AI race, not physical data centers.

So why are states and the politicians fighting to locate these data centers in our back yard framing it as some kind of patriotic duty to win the AI race against China? Because they are stupid and corrupt. Stupid enough to not question what advantage it gives us with geographic location and corrupt because many of them, including those running in local races, are accepting dark money into their campaigns from these operators.

Remember, in SC PAC's do not have to disclose their source donations which means you have no way of knowing how far and how deep this PAC money flows.

In a state like SC that is power, water and land constrained why would we want a data center in our back yard? Absolutely no reason. They bring very few jobs except in the building construction phase, and they consume large amounts of land, water and power. Without data centers, our power grid is close to being in balance perhaps with a few small de- bottlenecks. With data centers, we are way out of balance very quickly.

The only reason to have a data center physically here is perhaps property tax and equipment tax revenue. Much of this is often abated as "economic development incentives" by politicians who do not understand the difference between a balance sheet and an income statement. Beyond nebulous property tax revenues, the jobs created per megawatt hour or per water gallon or just jobs created are all a disaster. The tradeoffs on quality of life, land use , power and water consumption are also horrible.

It is easy to say we will get the data centers to pay for what they use but given that power capacity can only be added in large steps not small increments, it would require some incredibly sophisticated structuring of data center contracts to keep residents from holding the bag. We know from many recent economic development deals that sophisticated financial structuring is not exactly a strength of the SC government. I give you the recent disastrous VC summer nuclear project and the even more recent disastrous Scout Motors deal as examples.

Then we have the fear mongering. If we don't have data centers here, China wins the AI race. It is a classic " race to the bottom" with baseless fear mongering. Can someone explain how China wins the race --by building more ugly buildings?? China only wins the race on chip technology or the ability to steal technology no matter where it is.

A data center strategy starts with the federal government deciding how they want to control access to our chip technology. Then, they can decide how they want to manage the security of the data. Perhaps, there are large tracts of land in the US or with allied nations that have abundant power and water. Regardless, local communities that struggle with land, water and power should not have data centers forced down their throats when the benefits to them and their way of life are non existent.

It is time for our state and local leaders to disclose when they accept money from these data center folk. We have a right to know they are compromised and not working in our best interest. Even better, lets change the disclosure laws so we get out of being a bottom 10 state when it comes to campaign finance disclosure. In the interim, it should be a big NO to data centers in SC.

08/08/2026

Since the gubernatorial race, I have stayed away from political endorsements for a simple reason—: I believe one politician telling the citizen how to vote for another politician is an assault on self-governance.

Even though I came out of the election cycle with a very poor opinion of Ralph Norman due to his lies, personal attacks, and distortion of his record, I kept my opinions to myself.

However, Ralph, in an interview a couple of days ago, continued the same false narratives against me even though this was a contest in the rear-view mirror. Not very smart, Ralph. It forces me to respond and clarify that the voters rejected you not because of me or the establishment not wanting you (by the way, you are the establishment), but because of your record and abysmal lack of results after being in office for 20 years and running for various offices for a few additional years.

You continue to claim I was a "plant" by the establishment that kept you from becoming Governor. During the debate, you further implied that the establishment was Alan Wilson. I must be really stupid to be a plant with my own money. Don't you think that if someone planted me, they would fund me in some way? Also, after you said you were not a career politician and would take out the establishment, did you not turn around and endorse Alan? While my vote count was only a couple of points behind you, I did not endorse any of my "planters," did I? In case you have not figured it out, here is a more realistic view of why the people rejected you:

1. You claim you are "Mr. Conservative." Yet in your 2 decades (including 1 decade in the US Congress), there is not one single conservative bill that you sponsored or even co-sponsored. The only 2 bills you were associated with were a Medal of Honor bill and a co-sponsor for renaming a post office in Hilton Head. Instead, you spent most of your time on ideological opposition to bills so you could run up your conservative voting score with outside organizations like Heritage Foundation and NCU.

2. At the beginning of your tenure in the US Congress in 2017, the federal debt was $20 trillion; federal spending was $3.98 trillion annually, and interest on the debt was $260 billion annually. Fast forward to the end of your tenure in 2026, and the federal debt is $39 trillion (double), federal spending is $7.4 trillion annually (almost double), and interest on the debt is $1 trillion (quadruple due to financing more of the debt and higher rates). That is a record you partially own. Far from a conservative record. Organizations like Heritage and NCU issuing statistical voting data should not define your record. Instead, your record should be defined by results for people of this state, especially conservative results like smaller government, less taxes, less regulations, and bureaucracy.

3. In the 2024 Presidential election, not only did you endorse Nikki Haley over President Trump, but you were also the only member of Congress to do so. At the time, you said that the party needed "new vision" and "new leadership" at the top. In the Post and Courier opinion piece, you further said that Trump was the "outsider" who had become the "insider."

When Haley referred to Trump as "unhinged" and "Commander in chaos," you continued to stand meekly with her instead of denouncing her.

Today, you claim you are a big Trump supporter.

4. Finally, you were badly complicit in the decision to locate a solar panel plant using hazardous chemicals a few hundred yards from a school in Fort Mill. You co-chaired the Federal solar caucus with a far-left loony Democrat and yet claimed you were not involved in the Silfab solar decision in your district. You took campaign donations from the Silfab lobbyists; you openly solicited local authorities to give them a property tax break, and you included a massive tax break for Silfab in the big, beautiful bill. When residents had a town hall to complain and express concern for their kids, you blew them off. Shortly thereafter, when there were 2 back-to-back hazardous leaks, you distanced yourself from Silfab entirely. That is not leading with courage. We all make mistakes. Owning a mistake is what separates a leader.

Good luck, Ralph, as you seek yet another office. Perhaps if you came clean to us voters and were honest about your record, then we would know that you were sincere about change and wanting to do something for the people of this state. As long as you keep stonewalling and blaming various conspiracy theories for your lack of results, we know to expect more of the same.

08/07/2026

Free Speech Friday

This week's topic: Health Care in South Carolina.

In this week's post, I discussed why many South Carolinians believe our health care system is broken and outlined a framework for reform.

Now we want to hear from you.

Have you struggled to find a primary care doctor? Faced long wait times? Been overwhelmed by medical bills? Felt like just another number in a large health system?

Share your story in the comments.

Whether you agree or disagree with the ideas presented, your experiences help bring the conversation beyond policy and into the lives of real South Carolinians. The best ideas often begin by listening to the people living with the consequences of today's system.

As always, keep the discussion respectful. We welcome different viewpoints, and want to keep the conversation moving forward.

The floor is yours.