Mr. Steyer’s marketing campaign spending in South Carolina’s black neighborhood is the results of a “components” prescribed by Johnnie Cordero, the chief of the state Democratic Social gathering’s black caucus, Mr. Cordero mentioned throughout an interview in January.
Along with following Mr. Cordero’s strategies by holding occasions at African-American venues and hiring black distributors, Mr. Steyer’s marketing campaign has positioned influential black lawmakers on his marketing campaign payroll as advisers — as has Mr. Sanders, the front-runner within the major race.
One South Carolina lawmaker and Biden supporter, State Senator Richard A. Harpootlian, hinted in early February that Mr. Steyer obtained the endorsement of Consultant Jerry N. Govan Jr., the chief of the South Carolina legislative black caucus, as a result of he had put Mr. Govan on the marketing campaign payroll.
The allegation drew a rebuke from members of the state legislature’s black caucus, who known as it racist, as effectively a rebuttal from Mr. Govan, who accused Mr. Harpootlian of mudslinging. The Steyer marketing campaign described Mr. Govan as a trusted adviser.
However Mr. Steyer’s strategy has drawn rebukes from another South Carolina Democrats.
“To me, the Steyer marketing campaign is throwing round cash in an unproductive and never OK method,” Brady Quirk-Garvan, the previous chairman of the Charleston Democratic Social gathering, who had been a supporter of Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, mentioned on Sunday. Mr. Quirk-Garvan added that Mr. Steyer’s funds to lawmakers “appear to me like a payoff.” His feedback have been first reported by The Post and Courier, a newspaper in Charleston.
Addressing reporters on Sunday evening after his look in Yemassee, S.C., Mr. Steyer mentioned: “We’re paying folks for truly going out and doing outreach. And that’s how grass roots work and the concept, if in truth, it’s black folks, in some way it’s grow to be corrupt. I don’t settle for that.”
Mr. Steyer and his spouse, Kat Taylor, have been welcomed in Columbia, the place many residents view the rich California couple as potential benefactors. Ms. Taylor has quickly moved to town and has been holding small gatherings at her dwelling.