On November 17, 2003, South Carolina State Republican Party Chairman, Mr. Katon Dawson, joined the Preston College Seminar of the John C. West Forum on Politics and Policy. This session of the Preston College Seminar was arranged by West Forum Volunteer, Adam Shaw, and Preston residents Zachary Scott and Nicole Modeen, and moderated by West Forum Director, Dr. Blease Graham. During the meeting Mr. Dawson described his own career in politics and public service, and encouraged Preston College Seminar members to become more involved in public life while still in college.

Graham: Welcome to another edition of the West Forum. I think a lot of you have been here before. I see some new faces. My name is Blease Graham. I am a member of the Department of Political Science. The West Forum is an initiative of the Department to get students involved in and interested in civic life -- the life of the citizen -- whether you ’re an engineering major, or whatever your field of academic study might be. In pursuit of that objective, we organize sessions like this, chat sessions, discussion sessions, with a significant public figure. So you can have a chance to hear a presentation from this public figure. And at the same time you learn their views of citizenship you can ask questions. We hope to encourage exchange about life after academics, or even during academics.

Adam Shaw is going to introduce our guest tonight.

Adam Shaw: Tonight we have with us the Chairman of the State Republican Party, and my boss. Katon Dawson is a graduate of South Carolina. As he likes to say, he went to Clemson for a year; then he sobered up and came to USC. He is the owner and operator of Burns Auto Parts here in Columbia, with four stores. He’s married and has two children. His daughter is at Wake Forest University. He was elected Chairman of the State Republican Party in 2002 and has been serving as Chairman since that time. I assume he will be running for Chairman again very soon. Katon Dawson.

Dawson: Blease, Adam, thank you. Blease, I appreciate the opportunity. I’m more here to answer your questions and do the dialogue. I was a student here … I just looked at my ring and it says “1978.” That was a little premature. It should be 1979. I spent another year and got a degree in management and finance. I never took a political science course in my life. Wish I had, but never took one. I always was in Business. I was accepted to the law school but decided not to go.

Instead, I went into my family’s business, which is auto parts. A business started by my grandfather in 1917 because he couldn’t get a job. Nobody would hire him. So he opened his own business because he was a welder. It was interesting that we’ve evolved here in Columbia. Both sets of my grandparents … One came in from Batesburg, off the farm. He and his brother went to work for a tobacco broker. He ended up opening ten tobacco stores. They all did real well. They prospered and they worked real hard.

I’m not real sure what the West Forum is. I’ve got some cute stories for you. I was elected on April the 27 th. The Party battles are viciously brutal battles. They hit hard on you. I remember that I told our Governor last week -- Mark Sanford, a great guy. I hope you get a chance to meet him if you haven’t. A wonderful family too. I told him that we were in a little heated battle right now, where the Party has weighed in on legislation to support our Governor. It was interesting that he said, “Katon, this is going to get a little hot.” And I replied “Well, Mark, I don’t remember exactly. But the week before I was elected Chairman, I was called a liar in all six newspapers by a former Party chairman. My fifteen-year-old son picked up the newspaper and said, “Dad, guess what. This fellow called you a liar. It looks like you’re gonna win!”

So, I was elected on April 27 th, with a lot of party politics. I was elected. And I guess our Party was, I guess, in a little bit of disarray. Jim Hodges was the Governor. And we’d come off some pretty bruising losses. I was elected and we worked really hard to win the race. Party battles are really tough. I traveled 45,000 miles, mostly at night, and probably spent $70,000 to $100,000 winning a job that pays nothing. You might question somebody’s reasons for doing something like that. And I question it every day. But I’ll give you a story that shows why, I’m pretty sure, that I do it.

On April the 27 th, I’m coming out into the lobby. My guy gives me the thumbs-up saying, “Katon, we’ve got it on the first ballot. We got about 67 percent. We completely wiped out our two opponents.” I knew that the President of the United States usually calls. I’m a member of the Republican National Committee. There’s only a small group of us. It’s the chairman of the state party in each state. And usually it’s a cursory call from the President of the United States. I was looking forward to that call. Because I’ve never had a president call Katon Dawson, who really was kind of looking forward to that.

And as the call came in on a cell phone from the White House, I had a lady in Orangeburg complaining to me about the toilet paper in the bathroom, and would not let me go. And the minute the lady called … the fellow said, “The President’s on the phone to congratulate you, Katon.” And he’s counting down -- “Ten, nine ….” And another person walks up and handed me the $18,000 bill for the convention, which we didn’t have money to pay. Then he goes, ‘…five, four …” And I hear him say, “Mr President, Katon is dealing with a lady from Orangeburg who’s complaining about a bathroom. And a man just handed him a bill for the convention.” The President of the United States says, ‘Just tell him to keep up the good work and I’ll see him later,” and hangs up. I got to see him later on. But I guess that was probably how it started off.

Party politics is different. And Republicans in general, perhaps … Regardless of what people say, there’s only a fine line of difference. We all care about America. We all care about these schools. We all care about education. We have different styles and different platforms. But we’re all petty good Americans and pretty good South Carolinians. So whether you see me, Joe Ervin, Dick Harpootlian, Henry McMaster, they are the guys who do this party stuff…. A lot of times we get a real rough edge on us that’s really not there. We are tough because these party fights are absolutely brutal on your family. The party activists’ battles are really different than when you are in public office. They expect you to be ideologically just perfect. They know their issues. And it’s a tight universe that elects you.

But it is an election and a process that makes America different than any other country in the world. We tear our political system down every two years – both Democrats and Republicans – completely dismantle it. And start over again every two years. A lot of changes don’t happen unless they start at your local gymnasium. I don’t think a lot of people understand about a democracy. Anybody can go. Whether you’re a Communist, or whatever. You can walk into a Republican Party meeting, sign up, and you’re a Republican for that day. Go to your county convention, go to your state convention, and get elected to your national convention where you vote on who your party’s nominee will be. It is a wonderful process about freedom, for both Republicans and Democrats.

I’ve always been involved in politics. And I guess it goes all the way back to my school career and education. I, in the 1960s was a product of school segregation, where we took our schools and completely disbanded them, and made racial equality. Fifty-Fifty. And the kids had no choices. They closed Booker T. Washington, Blease, down here. A pretty good school. Closed it and sent the students to A. C. Flora, across town. And they did it over the summer because the laws had been changed by the politicians. And, the day that school opened, we were on CBS news with the busses turned upside down, and one of them lit on fire. By folks who didn’t want to go to school there. Not folks who did.

The end of that story was, I was standing in a bathroom in public school... This scar over here [pointing to his forehead] was from a baseball bat. I will tell you it was a pretty harsh environment. Government reached into my life and grabbed me and shook me at the age of fifteen. I remember how blatant it was that government just thought that they knew better, that government just thought they knew better what to do in my school. And I can’t say it was so much racial. I can say that people had a lot of stuff thrust on them because politicians thought they knew better. Whether they did or didn’t, I don’t know. But from that day on I’ve always been politically active, and wanted my voice heard. Not always right. And my opinion is not always consistent with everyone else’s. but I care greatly about the State we live in, and greatly about the idea of freedom.

I’ll close in just a second. I’ll tell you when you wonder as you’re sitting here about the impact you have on other people’s lives. You have a wonderful opportunity when you leave here to impact somebody’s life. Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican … It doesn’t make a difference. You have a wonderful chance to make an impact on somebody else’s life, and touch them. Regardless of whether you’re selected for office, or you’re a doctor or lawyer. Just don’t miss that opportunity. It’s real easy to be complacent. There are a lot of people who could have come tonight who didn’t. obviously you care, or extra credit, or whatever. The chance to grab somebody and touch them is going to come your way. Once you’ve done that, the reward you get later on is phenomenal. And I think that’s kind of what it’s all about, and kind of what these meetings are about.

So, last summer … I’m a member of the Republican National Committee, and I was in New York. I was asked to walk over in the lobby of the hotel to meet a lady. I didn’t whether it was … In my position we handle a lot of money. We handle a lot of campaign money. So a lot of money passes through. We handled $4.9 million dollars to beat the Democrats last year, as a party. A considerable amount of money when you consider the days in which it was spent. It’s like driving down the road in a truck, throwing it out of the window. It’s inconsistent with what I normally do with money.

But I didn’t know what … I walked over and stuck my hand out. Well, right when I stuck it out … You know, when you’re a politician, you yuk it up a little bit, you pat on the back. Well, I stuck my hand out to this lady. And I’m 48 years old; 47 years old, 48 in February. And was introducing myself like a real politician. And a fellow leaned over my shoulder and said … he didn’t know my name .. he said, “Chairman, this is so-and-so. And she is a victim of September the 11 th.”

And as I stuck my hand out and grabbed this nice lady’s hand, she looked at me, because she heard him say that. She looked at me with stone-cold eyes and said, “You know, my family didn’t come home that day.” I just paused. She said, “You know, we didn’t do anything to anybody. And I want to thank you for what the President’s doing. And I want to thank you for what the Republicans are doing. Because it’s important to me and my family.” That day I’d missed work for a week there, I was complaining about missing work, and I hadn’t been home for a week. At that time, what little bit I could do to perpetuate freedom. And what little bit I could to help this lady.

Because I do feel that … whether it was in Afghanistan, al Qaeda, or terrorism, or Baghdad. I feel that those people meant to kill our people. Saddam Hussein and his bunch of thugs hate us. The rhetoric that’s going on … the Democratic Party now, and the Democratic candidates, one of which was here today, are wrong. And I think that when you talk to somebody who lost their family, and they look at you and say, “I didn’t do anything to anybody. I’m just an American.” You understand the price of freedom.

In closing, I guess I understand the price of freedom because I grew up here and every morning waiting for the bus, I could hear Fort Jackson soldiers marching. I guess that’s a deep sound of freedom that I have. My dad took a Nazi bullet in the left leg and North Korean shrapnel in the right leg. A veteran of two wars. Graduated from the University of South Carolina in between, on the G. I. Bill. And we understand in my family what freedom is about. There’s a price you pay. There’s nothing free about it. As you go through this life …

I didn’t have an appreciation for that early on. I took for granted the fact that you all could be here tonight and do whatever you wanted to. I took for granted the fact that you can walk down the street, do what you want to, say what you want to, protest whenever you want to. And you take for granted a lot. I appreciate the fact of being here tonight, I can talk about anything you want: Republican Party … anything. Again, I’m not an expert on anything. I can just give you my opinion. But I thank you for the opportunity to be here and would love to take some questions.

Graham: Great. Can we have a show of hands for questions?

Audience: I have a general question. What would you say that, in your opinion, college-age students, our age … what can we do to get more involved. Not just involved in politics. But any civic activity, or civic responsibility?

Dawson: Well, a lot of times people will tell you to find out what you’re most comfortable with. I tell you, find what you’re most uncomfortable with. If politics makes you queasy, give it a shot. If it’s working at the hospital, give it a shot. If it’s United Way. Find something you are uncomfortable with. Because there’s your challenge. Being comfortable makes it easy. I always was uncomfortable with politics because I had to ask people for money. And that’s something your parents always taught you not to do. Ask someone for money.

And my advice is, like I said earlier, find something that you care about. Being a little uncomfortable makes you work a little hard harder, and appreciate it a little more. At your age I was in USC and Ronald Reagan was running for president. I had just graduated. I was working selling auto parts for a living as an outside salesman for my family. I got involved then with Ronald Reagan’s campaign. I was involved with Gerald Ford’s campaign when Jimmy Carter beat him. And I was involved here with Students for Ford, who, as you remember, was the vice president, and who assumed the presidency when Richard Nixon quit.

And I started understanding politics. I remember cutting a commercial for Strom Thurmond. It was a great commercial. Except that I wanted to say I’m going to support him until the day he dies. He was so doggone old then that they wouldn’t let me do it. Not just politics, get into public service. Do a little bit. It’s really rewarding. You’ve got to make money; you’ve got to pay your student loans back. There are a lot of things you’ve got to do. But there are a lot of hours in the day. So find time … Find something … Not what you’re most uncomfortable doing, but find a challenge. Use a challenge to make you a little uncomfortable.

And just know going in that everybody puts their pants on the same way every morning. Nobody’s any different here. Socio-economic values cross over, go both ways, go up and go down. And you’ll find that it certainly will enlighten you. It certainly gave me a lot of confidence. I was a guy that basically didn’t have any. I learned that people are very accepting. And, again, of course everybody is concerned about a job. They are concerned about how you will work when you leave here. Those experiences you gather while you are here certainly will help you gain employment. I hope I answered the question.

Audience: What has been your biggest challenge as Chairman of the Republican Party?

Dawson: You know, our biggest challenge – Adam, how much do we need to raise a day? (Adam Shaw: Right around $2,000) $2,280, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That just keeps the lights on.

Politics is about money. You can’t get your ideas out there if you can’t raise the money. And, from a marketing background … Remember, I did not have a political science background. I’m not bragging. But we were one of the most successful states in the country, next to Texas, electing people. And it wasn’t because I’m a genius. It’s because we had a really good team of candidates who were well funded to get our message out. When you can’t get your message out, you can’t win – regardless of how good your message is. Remember, a week of television in South Carolina is around $257,000. It takes $257,000 to cover what we would call 700 or 800 points television, which means basically that you see it seven times and it starts burning in. You see the message … like the jingles. You remember a Coca Cola jingle, and you remember certain things on television. It takes seven times to touch you.

And that’s marketing. Not politics. That’s just marketing. In politics you mesh marketing, and now we have to have accounting. The money is so large now. And the FEC requirements – the Federal Election Commission requirements – are so huge that we’ve got to have smart folks. Not just folks with political science degrees to help us move that ball down the court. Because without those we can’t do it. Behind every campaign you will find a wonderful political science person who will start moving that ball down. A lot of times he can’t move it without the infrastructure sitting there. We look for experiences from all sides.

Let me tell you, when you walk into the White House. And I’ve had the occasion to be there numerous times. When you walk into the White House or in the Executive Office beside the White House, everybody I see is your age. It’s a young man, young woman game. Old folks can’t stand it. I’m 48. But old folks can’t stand this game. They can’t smoke cigarettes twelve hours a day and drink coffee all night long. They can’t go that eight-ten hour pace all day long, and work at this. There is a belief in things. But there’s a burn-out rate that gets to you. It’s really tough. So, the political game is a young game. Folks your age.

And believe it or not they’re looking for you. Every campaign … And study Bill Clinton’s. Bill Clinton started with a bunch of kids out of college who had ideas, a laptop, a printer, and a fax machine. And, buddy, they just got at it. They had an idea and they won. They made America a better – different – place. But you go look at the people … Dee Dee Myers. Dee Dee Myers was in her twenties, with an office in the White House. A protégé of mine, Lee Atwater. Lee Atwater was in his early thirties and one of the most powerful people in the country, with an office in the White House.

Two people who worked with the South Carolina Republican Party, both of them working with George Bush right now. Both of them working at the White House and they’re in their thirties. You don’t make a lot of money. It’s a public service. But my point is, it is a young person’s game. Politics leads to great careers. I can tell you that everybody who has worked for us has gotten themselves pretty large raises or great jobs after they left us. Because the experience you get … I don’t know where else you can get this kind of experience. Dealing with Roger Milliken who owns Milliken. Dealing with folks who own big companies. Dealing with activists who work at Wendy’s. Answering those problems. Then watching the fundraisers work. Then watching the Secret Service come in with the President. I don’t know where you can get that kind of experience.

Politics is a great thing. But you really have to love it. Because it’s hard, hard work. And then when you lose it’s just devastating. The highs and the lows are so great in politics. And you can tell that I’m passionate about what I do. And the passion breeds when you get there. I just like to win. I really like to win. I’ve lost before and it’s no fun. And again, there’s a fine line between the parties. It’s not as big as you think. Me, and Dick Harpootlian and Joe Irvin will tell you, it’s a fine of style and what we believe.

Another public service is … There’s all kinds that suit different people. And that’s the great thing about America. I highly encourage you to take a shot. Find a candidate you like. They’ll embrace you. Let me tell you how I got Adam. He wouldn’t let me go. He came over to get a job with me. I don’t remember hiring Adam. He came by and said ‘I’m going to work here.’ I said, “Great.” He said, “I need a job and I’m going to work here.” I remember trying to brush Adam off because he was so pushy. We had probably fifty people applying for jobs with us. And I kept looking up and saying, “You‘all, is he still here? He’s been here for what, a year? A year and a half?” He’d been there for a good long time, since I walked in. And he just stayed. Adam’s met the President of the United States. He’s met the Vice President. He’s met a lot of people. He’s found out that most politicians are just regular guys.

[Graham: Is he on the payroll yet?] Yes, yes. He worked the first three months for free. Exactly right. You know, it’s persistence. You just have to be persistent. These politicians need you. Both because you see, a lot of times … I know that you see things a little differently than us grown-up folks who are out in the regular world. And a lot of times the seat you’re sitting in is the one from which the regular voter sees. And that’s important to us. We can’s get views like yours out of the newspapers. We can poll you. We can get polling data. We can do everything and line it up.

But, boy, when you start hearing stuff out in the street, or something you caught at the local market, or something your parents told you, or how you feel about your student loans, or how you feel about your education. You start getting that. And you start getting a flavor of what’s going on. Because we get kind of isolated. I’m just around a lot of Republicans. So I don’t hear a lot of the other views. But when we’re debating, I can’t say I’m real open when I’m debating because I’ve got to sell my views.

Graham: Another question?

Audience: I’m about as liberal as they come. I was wondering how you got started. Who did you go to? What kind of things are you doing …

Dawson: I did the typical things in high school. I ran for president of student body, and won. And ran a campaign there. I just loved the campaign, but didn’t know about serving. But I was really good at campaigning. Up here I ran my roommate as president of student body. We weren’t supposed to win. We formed a coalition. One day we found out that the band was extremely strong. We found out that Bates House was really close. People in Bates House were really close. We weren’t supposed to win. We put together a plan to get stipends and get them paid. The political payback was that I got a parking sticker. That was my payback for running the campaign. But I like watching ideas.

What you are is a salesman. Watch selling ideas and building coalitions. We went over to Bates House and stayed a little while. We went down to the fraternity quadrant, drank a little beer, sat in some lounges. Moved around and started campaigning, and had some ideas. There were nine people running and he won in the run-off. Really, we weren’t expected to win. … We’re the ones who decided to close Greene Street off. That’s us. We decided to put the gates on Greene Street and shut it down. We’re the ones who started the Shuttlecock. Student government did it.

We’re the ones who protested at the President’s house because down at our McBride Quad we had cold water. Our water came from Lake Murray, we found. And harsh reality. We went to complain that our water wasn’t hot. We went to complain to Dr. Holderman because he’d reversed the … We went to complain, and the political lesson was that the next day the water was ice cold. It went from lukewarm to ice cold. I’m going to show you. So we had cold showers for a week, and then we got hot showers. We got the message. But it was political activism.

I remember sitting by the President of the University, up here as a student leader, sitting beside him. And I was a -- smart-aleck – is the only way I can put it here with the camera running. I thought I was huge. I thought, I pay $600 a semester, so I can certainly afford to give my views. And I remember that Dr. Holderman had an event. We greeted him when he came here. We were already here when they changed.

I remember him taking a scoop of mashed potatoes, we were at Sewell’s Restaurant, and dropping it in my lap. And looking over at me. The guy was brilliant. Regardless of his troubles, this guy was a brilliant leader. He was one of the most dynamic men I ever met. He dropped the mashed potatoes in my lap and said, “See, Dawson, there’s just nothing you can do about that.” And I got the message. … The lesson was there are some things you just can’t do anything about. The lesson was, I couldn’t get up; I couldn’t wipe the mashed potatoes off my lap. All I could do was sit there. I remember pondering, “You know, this guy is quite different.” The point being, sometimes you can keep moving the ball down the road. But eventually you’re going to hit a road block and have to move around it.

It was a wonderful time at the University. The University was changing into an academic university. It was changing quickly. Frank McGuire was the basketball coach. Jim Carlen was the football coach. We were winning. And it was a great time. But, again, in response to your question. I started at an early age. But I really rocketed here because the environment would let you. You could stay in the dorm. You could go down to Five Points, get just as drunk as you wanted. You had all of the … I remember, in those days the drinking age was eighteen. We served beer at the Russell House. On tap; eighteen years old. It was a different … It was kind of different. We always wondered, when they changed it to twenty-one. I mean, you can still … You can go fight a war and you can’t drink a cold beer. But that’s a whole different subject about drinking rights.

My point is that whether you’re a liberal or a Republican or whatever, your views will change. You’ll go back and forth. As you get older, they’ll change. Some people become more liberal, some more conservative. But you have an opportunity here to really take a look at service. This is the first place that provides a unique opportunity to get involved. Because there are all kinds of stuff here to do. This microcosm of bright young minds. I remember I was telling Blease, I was told that this might be hostile territory. I love a group of Liberals. I do. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. Public discourse. Talking about ideas and the exchange of ideas. That’s what’s made Mark Sanford so successful. With a popularity rating of 76 right now. It’s unheard of. Because he’s listening. He’s listening. He’s different. He’s listening to everybody.

We try to take lessons from that. I have an agenda and I listen. But again, my job as a party guy is to get people elected to office. What they do becomes primary. If they’re irresponsible they get in the primaries and they get beat. But I’m telling you, you have a unique opportunity here to do whatever you want to do. Once you get out of here, you’re going to start working. You might get married, or whatever. But you’re going to start working, and everything’s going to start changing so fast. If you start in as a volunteer, you can keep your hand in it, whether it’s after-work meetings, you know. But you’ve just got to try to do things. I know it’s awfully hard not to But whether it’s theater, politics, United Way. Catch something and try just yourself to do it, because it really will make a difference. And you’ll touch somebody else somewhere.

The evening concluded with Mr. Dawson asking Preston Seminar participants about their majors and plans for the future, and his comments on a recent economic mission to Taiwan.

Dawson: I just got back from Taiwan. I spent twelve days there on an industrial trade mission. I went as the politician because the Chairman of the Republican Party to them is kind of a big deal. Because their party chairman handles $1.5 billion worth of assets. And it’s a different structure. Taiwan and Mainland China – I didn’t know any of this before I went. I did a little history. That extra language – I saw the value. I really saw the value of being able to learn Japanese, Chinese, Russian, German.

Taiwan wants to let you know that there are about 60 nuclear missiles aimed at Taiwan from Mainland China. They want to remain free. They have free elections, and Mainland China is communist. It was interesting to look at the culture. I always thought that everybody lived like us. I don’t travel a lot. They like their way of life. I didn’t see a lot of recreation. I’ve never seen this many people. Thousands of them. Just a totally different culture.

Everything over there was more expensive than here. The shops were expensive. It was interesting to listen to the other languages. Everybody knows English. I’m sitting in the office of the mayor of a city with 2.7 million people. That’s over half of the population of South Carolina. We get in there and the first thing he says is, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I just want to tell you ‘Go Gamecocks.’” He graduated from the MIBS program here at the University of South Carolina. Now he’s the mayor there. Really. “Go Gamecocks.” He’s the mayor of the second largest city in Taiwan.

We went to the General Assembly of Taiwan. We walked in, and the assistant whip came in, and we go in … Everything was like at a state dinner. You walk in and they’ve got the tea cups all around. You’ve got the soldiers saluting. It’s really neat. We were doing both the economic and the political thing. So I’m doing the political stuff and the others are doing the economic stuff.

So Lt. Governor Bauer and I walk in and this nice-looking fellow comes in, sits down. Everybody speaks English, now. He is the Assistant Speaker of the House over there. He sees my ring and says, “Oh, University of South Carolina. I graduated from that Law School in 1991. USC Law. I lived down off Greene Street.” So, it’s amazing. His wife was from Irmo. And he’s in the Congress over there. He was over here as a foreign exchange student. The interesting part is that you don’t really know who you’re going to school with, or who you are sitting beside. It was amazing. We ran into four USC graduates in tremendously high places who were educated here, now sitting in Taiwan.

But it’s amazing what they do. We went in Taiwan to Nan Ya Plastics of the Formosa Group. They have a $1.2 billion plant in Lake City, South Carolina. We went to their place. They reclaimed 7,000 acres of ocean so they could build their plant there. They went in at the tip of Taiwan and backfilled 7,000 acres and pushed the ocean away.

We were sitting in a meeting and I asked the same thing I asked you: where were you educated? Stanford, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Clemson. Two of the top engineers from Clemson. They were educated here. Every place I went, the Mayor of Taipei, 4.1 million people during the day: Harvard MBA.