(One in a series of posts about our republican opponents in november)
It is not typical for a newly minted member of the House to derail a major legislative priority of his own party within the first few days of his arrival in Columbia. But that is what Republican Greg Ford did.
The House was about to pass a bill tightly regulating the sale of hemp-infused products, such as gummies and liquid extracts.
Ford has a son who, as a youngster, was experiencing seizures. The medicines his doctors were prescribing had not controlled them. Ford, who cultivated hemp, began experimenting with it and developed an extract that did help control his son’s seizures.
He told this story to his fellow House members and introduced an amendment to the bill that would have made it easier for everyone to access hemp-infused products. This would include youngsters such as his son.
Although Ford’s amendment failed, he did succeed in having the bill tabled, and the House did not pass any legislation controlling hemp-infused products in the 2025-26 session.
That emotional plea to his fellow legislators received significant media attention and made Ford a sympathetic figure. But do not be deceived. The man who aided his son is not showing the same concern for his constituents in District 98.
In just his first six months in office, Ford has proven to be rigid, pugnacious, and angry. The evidence is in his own votes and statements. In his “Pledge to District 98,” he claims that “our traditions are under attack” and that he will “fight to preserve what rights and liberties that remain.” Nowhere does he define what traditions are under attack or what rights and liberties he claims to have lost.
Nonetheless, he promises to “fight to my utmost ability” and “not waver in my beliefs.”
Many of those beliefs, however, put him far to the right of District 98 residents, who have been steadily moving to the political center.
For openers, Ford wants to eliminate the state income tax immediately. As to how he would replace 45 percent of the current state budget that comes from the income tax, he takes the intellectually lazy way out. He falls back on the usual Republican mantra that overall economic growth in the state will eliminate the need for an income tax. Republicans love to sell tax cuts as a cure for all problems.
Along with other Low Country Republicans, he quickly signed on to the latest attack on women’s reproductive health: placing mifepristone and misoprostol on the list of controlled substances. Ford is quite comfortable if government interferes with the relationship between a woman and her doctor.
Yet at the same time, in an act of spectacular illogic, Ford opposes government telling him what vaccines he must put into his own body. The decision on vaccines should be strictly up to him, with the advice of his doctor. On his website he calls this “protecting civil liberties for adults.” He “opposes government overreach into individual medical autonomy.” Except, it seems, for women.
On the subject of the measles vaccine, Ford was embarrassed by Channel Five’s Nick Reagan on his CBS television show We The Palmetto. Given Ford’s opposition to vaccine mandates, Reagan wondered if Ford wasn’t worried about the measles outbreak in South Carolina. Ford argued that it wasn’t measles because we had eradicated measles! He suggested that the illness must be something else.
Reagan tried to explain why that was not a logical response, but Ford doubled down with COVID, suggesting it was perhaps just the flu and that the government’s effort to vaccinate everyone against it was misguided.
Ford’s disdain for medical research also shows up in his support for a bill to permit over-the-counter sale of ivermectin. This popular Republican proposal is straight from the medieval medical playbook of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Kennedy has been on a crusade against vaccines and drug companies because he thinks they do not provide the public with enough freedom to make their own medical decisions. Because Kennedy thinks ivermectin can cure Covid, it should be readily available to anyone who wants it. Never mind that it can be toxic and has many other nasty side effects. Nor is there any evidence that it’s a cure for Covid.
Ford’s experience with hemp experimentation seems to have convinced him that the average person knows more about health care than doctors and medical scientists. JFK, Jr. is his lodestar. Having a man like Ford in Columbia with the power to make laws regarding health care is truly frightening.
Ford presents himself as just an average guy who wants more people engaged with the political process. Yet he also supports the Republican Party’s effort to close its primaries so that only party members can vote. Given that most voters no longer identify strongly with either established party, this proposal would simply give more political power to party insiders. It didn’t take “outsider” Ford long to start identifying with his caucus.
In his first six months, Ford has given voters more than enough evidence of his unfitness for office. This November he will again have to face Democrat Sonja Ogletree Satani, whom he narrowly defeated after a recount in the special election last January. Only the small turnout allowed Ford to squeak through by 21 votes. This time around, voters know who and what he is.
You may read a profile of Dr. Satani on the DCDP website at this link: https://dorchesterdemocrats.com/speaking-freely-about-dr-sonja-ogletree-satani/. Also, visit her campaign website at https://sonjaogletreesatani4sc98.org/.
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