Greenville Leader

SC State Brian May (R-Lexington) said that State Rep. candidate Kerri Smith (R-Simpsonville) ‘was recruited by House leadership to try and take out' incumbent Rep. Ashley Trantham (R-Greenville), despite Smiths’ reported ties to left-wing political activist George Soros.

“My understanding is that before Mrs. Trantham decided to retire and not seek reelection, Ms. Smith was recruited by House leadership to try and take out Mrs. Trantham, who's a member of the Freedom Caucus,” May told Palmetto State News. “From what I have heard, this would only confirm my suspicions, and the intel that I've received about her is that she would be bought and paid for by special interests and would be firmly in the pocket of leadership should she be elected.”

Trantham dropped out of the race earlier this month, leaving Smith as the only Republican candidate in the race until earlier this week, when Chris Huff (R-Pelzer) announced his candidacy for the seat. 

Smith is currently leading the lobbying effort for a bill, S. 910, on behalf of her employer, Self-Help Credit Union, and Self-Help’s policy affiliate, the Center for Responsible Lending. If passed, the bill would limit small dollar loans for South Carolina consumers. 

The Center for Responsible Lending has received more than $2 million from Soros, Greenville Leader reported earlier this month.

IRS filings and the Soros foundation's grant reports show a sum of more than $3 million in actual payments and future approved payments from 2018 to 2022 by Soros’ "Foundation to Promote an Open Society" to the "Center for Responsible Lending," the Durham-based advocacy arm of the Self-Help Credit Union, whose South Carolina President is Smith. 

While the IRS forms show $2.385 million in grants paid out from the Soros foundation to the Center for Responsible Lending, the foundation's website lists a total of $3.27 million in grants approved and announced since 2018. 

Self-Help created the Center for Responsible Lending in 2002 along with Golden West Financial owners Herbert and Marion Sandler, prolific mortgage lenders who Time Magazine ranked in its list of "25 people to blame for the (2008) financial crisis."

Smith has testified on behalf of S. 910 and is promoting her lobbying efforts on her campaign Facebook page. 

“With Ms. Smith particularly it's no surprise that she's pushing this legislation and is head of this particular organization here in South Carolina,” said May.

Who is George Soros?

Soros is a "Democratic mega-donor," reported Politico, who "directed his wealth into an under-the-radar 2016 campaign to advance one of the progressive movement’s core goals — reshaping the American justice system." To that end, Soros spent "more than $17 million on local district attorney races across the country "in support of left-wing candidates," reported the NY Post.

His two primary organizations are the Open Society Foundations and the Foundation to Promote Open Society, which are "two multi-billion-dollar left-of-center advocacy grantmaking foundations" which have "funded the vast majority of the most prominent left-progressive advocacy groups in the United States," reported InfluenceWatch.

Last September, Soros contributed $250,000 to the Biden Victory Fund, and Fox News reported last week that “Soros has contributed over $3 million to at least five left-wing groups” in Texas to “beef up infrastructure and help Democrats make gains” in the state. 

May 'Not Surprised'

May said it's not surprising "that a George Soros backed bill" is moving through the General Assembly. 

“Given our history of being ranked the most liberal, Republican controlled, General Assembly in all of America, as determined by CPAC center for Legislative Accountability," said May. "The unfortunate reality in South Carolina is that everybody runs as a conservative, but very few people govern as one.”

S. 910 passed through the Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, and is currently pending in the State Senate.