I met Grey Riley at Migs one afternoon recently. He arrived in his truck, dressed exactly the way you would expect a farmer who had left work in the middle of the day to look. I was curious to meet the 23-year-old who was so eager to get into local politics that he went out and collected enough signatures to get on the ballot for County Council District #4.
Grey made it clear to me right away that he considers himself a conservative Republican, but because he got on the ballot via nomination by petition, he was technically running as an Independent. Nomination by Petition, he told me, requires collecting signatures of 5% of the registered voters eligible to vote in your election. For Grey, that was 170 signatures from residents of District #4. He collected 299.
My first question for Grey was obvious. Why had he not filed to run in the June Republican Primary against Paul Ergle and incumbent, Carey Bedenbaugh? He told me he had considered it seriously, but during the time the campaign would have taken place he was in the middle of his final exams at Clemson, so he decided his grades and imminent graduation required his full attention at that point.
(As an aside, I should note that Grey is probably well positioned for politics in this part of the state. He is a longtime Carolina fan, but chose to attend Clemson for his degree in Agricultural Mechanization and Business. Looks like he pretty much has both sides covered!)
Grey had followed the campaigns for District #4, and had watch the Q&A sponsored by A1Saluda and SALUDANow. He was very much in agreement with the challengers in both County Council Races, Paul Ergle and Zechariah Lee (District #2), that the biggest problem with Saluda County Government was a lack of transparency. He was hoping for a shake-up on the current council, in hopes that a new councilman would change that dynamic. When both incumbents won their races, insuring that the status quo would continue, he decided to throw his hat into the ring.
It is easy to say you will work to make the work of Council more transparent, I told Grey, but what is one specific plan you have to do that? He said he felt that the use of technology and Social Media should not be underestimated. Without its own newspaper or daily news of any kind, it is harder to get timely information out in Saluda County. He would make much greater use of Social Media. He also plans to hold regular meetings with his constituents to answer their questions and gather their input and ideas.
