Growing up in a single-parent home, one of the most important lessons my mother taught me was the notion of individual responsibility – of doing what was right, not what was popular.
An amazing role model, my mother worked 16-hour shifts at St. Francis Hospital while my grandmother worked as a maid and my grandfather worked in the fields – all to provide me with the opportunity to succeed. Watching them as a young boy, I learned the value of hard work, the value of a dollar and gained an early respect for how hard families have to work to make ends meet.
As I grew older, I continued to learn important lessons from my family, my teachers and from countless other honest, hard-working people in our communities. People like Prince Gilliard, who taught me the importance of giving something back every time he coached my baseball team, or John Moniz at Chic-Fil-A, who showed me what it meant to be a mentor and encouraged my dream of becoming an entrepreneur.
Working with my two business partners - Goose Creek High School grads Al Jenkins and Joe McKeown – I’ve achieved that dream, but having received so many blessings from this community, my goal has always been to return those blessings through public service.
As Chairman of Charleston County Council, I’ve done that. And while you’ll be hearing a lot during this campaign about my conservative record and my commitment to the fiscal and family values upon which our Republican Party was founded, what I’ve cherished most about my time in public office has been the opportunity to give back to the communities that gave so freely to me.
I decided to run for the State House because I believe our state desperately needs more genuine fiscal and social conservatives in Columbia, but I’m also running to continue giving back to our local communities and helping people the way that so many people helped me.
