Jim Fair
Joe Barnett, right, chats with Tom Ervin, independent candidate for governor, at a town hall meeting Tuesday.
Ervin, an independent candidate, held a Greer town hall meeting at George’s Brick Oven Bistro for about 30 citizens.
Haley and Democratic candidate Vincent Sheheen are tied to political parties and ambitions, Ervin said. “I’m asked ‘who are you going to help and who are you going to hurt. Both are career politicians. It will help you because you will have an independent governor.’”
Josh Harvey, a small business owner, said he wanted to hear what Ervin represented. “I never met the man and wanted to come here to listen. I saw some things I liked. I am concerned with safety in the community,” Harvey said.
“Law enforcement is the thin blue line between law and order and chaos,” Ervin said.
Points Ervin, former state representative and judge, made in the question and answer session:
• Common core: “We need standards. I don’t want them imposed from outside. It’s here and we will make the best of it. One thing I would like to see added is calculus.”
• Same sex marriage: “I believe in marriage between one man and one woman. That’s my faith.”
• Marijuana: “I favor legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. For example, troops coming back with post traumatic stress disorder and I understand it may benefit them.”
• Unions: “We’re a right to work state. I don’t know if Governor (Haley) bashing any group is good. I welcome anybody to this state that offers jobs.”
• Roads/highways: “We can fix our crumbling roads and bridges. Legislators must be willing to raise the gas tax.”
Other Ervin platform bullet points:
• Eliminating the state’s income tax.
• Increasing the state’s minimum wage. “Tax breaks for small business would offset higher minimum wage costs and be phased in over three years,” Ervin said.
Ervin continues his town hall meetings Wednesday in Anderson, Greenwood and North Augusta.
The general election is Nov. 4.