Ridgeway seeking third term

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June 14 means a great deal to Dr. Robert “Bobby” Ridgeway III. Now seeking his third term as the state representative for House District 64, Ridgeway faces two candidates in the Democratic primary being held that day, former Missouri Rep. Mitchell Ellerby and retired Army Col. Alexander “Herc” Conyers. With no Republican candidate on the ticket, whoever wins the June primary will win the seat. “I have been there just long enough now to where I’m beginning to develop some seniority,” Ridgeway said of his decision to run for a third term in the General Assembly. “I think it really takes at least three or four years before you’re able to make connections and develop seniority so that you can get anything accomplished.” As a representative, Ridgeway worked on the ad hoc House committee which developed legislation to revamp the state’s criminal domestic violence law. “In 2014, then-Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell appointed a committee to revise the criminal code for domestic violence,” Ridgeway said. “It changed the penalties from first offense, second offense and third offense to degrees. For instant, you could have caused grave bodily injury in a case before, and it would’ve only been a first offense. Now it’s a higher degree, so the penalty would be higher.” Ridgeway also worked with his colleagues toward a comprehensive roads bill, which was ultimately stymied during the legislative process. “Throughout the fall of 2014, both House and Senate committees met and came up with two slightly different plans that got merged into one definitive plan; that plan was brought before the house in early 2015,” Ridgeway said. “The House passed it and then sent it to the Senate.” The Senate, Ridgeway said, then sat on the bill for more than a year. “When they finally took it up this year, they filibustered it, and changed it drastically,” Ridgeway said. “The bill they sent back to House had been amended to the point that they were going to take $400 million out of the general fund and fund roads every year with that.” But that $400 million allocation, Ridgeway noted, took from education, medical care, law enforcement and other agencies that require state support. “It’s the base student cost and the local government fund they’re taking from, and we in the House thought it was unfair to do that,” he said. He said another issue with the roads bill was a governance one. “Right now, the Department of Transportation commissioners are elected by the legislature,” he said. “The DOT director is appointed by the governor. There’s not a smooth chain of command. The House wanted a bill that gave both the Senate and the House approval, not just the Senate, which is what the Senate sent back.” Raising the gas tax was also taken off the table, Ridgeway noted. “I am for the gas tax, … DOT isn’t mismanaging funds, but doesn’t have enough funds to keep up with the rising costs of repair and the amount of repairs needed,” Ridgeway said. “South Carolina has the fourth-largest state-owned roads system in the nation. We know that more than 50 percent of our state-owned roads are in poor condition. Probably more than half the remainder are in fair condition.” Ridgeway said he’s for a gas tax that would see an overall 10-cents-per-gallon increase incrementally over three to four years. “Those from out of state who use our roads would help contribute to the repair of the roads they are utilizing,” Ridgeway said. “Right now, you take money out of the general fund, which comes from taxes, and people who do not drive are having to pay for something they don’t use, and the people from out of state who come through our state are using stuff they don’t pay for.” Ridgeway has also introduced a bill for a toll on Interstate 95 near the Lake Marion Bridge. “There are about 32,000 cars per day that cross that bridge; if you estimate $1 per call toll, you’re looking at about $7.5 million a year in income. I don’t know how much it would cost to replace those bridges, but say if the cost is $100 million, in 15 years they would be paid for with a toll.” Ridgeway also favors ethics reform. “Right now, the ethics committee in the House investigates House members; the Senate investigates the Senate,” he said. “It’s like the fox guarding the hen house. The ethics bill sets up a separate committee that is composed of both House and Senate members. It’s more non-partisan.” Ridgeway also favors Medicaid expansion. “There are too many underinsured and uninsured individuals in this state who are in desperate need of medical care and can’t get it because they don’t have the financial means,” said Ridgeway, who is the only physician in the General Assembly. Ridgeway is with HopeHealth Pediatrics in Manning, and also serves as a Clarendon County firefighter. He’s also the medical control physician for Clarendon EMS. “I have to approve all their protocols for treatment and patients,” he said. “By going out with them and the fire department, I get to see our community first hand, especially when they’re in a state of need.” Ridgeway is a 1976 graduate of Clarendon Hall, and received a nursing degree from Florence-Darlington Technical College. He received a biology degree from Francis Marion, and then attended medical school at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia. He did a four-year OB/GYN residency at a Savannah hospital and came back in 1992 to practice in Manning. “I’ve been involved my entire life in public service,” he said. “I’ve been a physician, an EMS and a firefighter. The only life I know is one of public service.” Aside from his ad hoc appointments, Ridgeway also serves on the committees for Legislative Oversight and the Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs.