A political flamethrower has been aimed at several South Carolina public officials and might be scorching the aspirations of some wanting to run for governor, as their memberships in a local all-whites country club have recently become public. 

The institution in question is Forest Lake Club, an 80-year-old country club in Forest Acres.

The club operated on a deed with a whites-only membership restriction until about one month ago, says club president George Bunch. The decision to modify the deed was not politically motivated, he says. “We have no Afro-American members,” Bunch says. “We’d be willing to, but none have proposed [joining] to my knowledge.”

Forest Lake received national exposure in September when South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson resigned his 12-year membership to the club during his quest to lead the Republican National Committee.

On Jan. 31, Dawson lost that bid to former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele when the 168 members of the RNC elected Steele as their first black chairman. Dawson, who had been increasingly battered by reports of his Forest Lake membership, made it through five ballots before finishing in second place.

In September, Dawson’s membership in Forest Lake, publicized in an article in The State newspaper, kicked off a virtual online witch hunt. Political consultants and bloggers outed current and past public figures, officials and private citizens who are members.

Bunch says the club does not disclose its membership.

In December, Lexington political consultant Jeffrey Sewell published what he said was the official 2004 Forest Lake Club membership directory on his news aggregator web site schotline.com.

Club members who hold public office include S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster; Gov. Mark Sanford’s Commerce Secretary Joe Taylor; Columbia City Councilmen Kirkman Finlay and Daniel Rickenmann; Richland County Councilwoman Kit Smith; and state Sen. John Courson, according to the directory.

Sewell says he thought it was only fair to publish the names of all of the members in the directory because of the heat Dawson was taking. “From time to time we will receive a call or tip and this was one of those situations,” he says. “We cannot speak to the motivations of those offering the data.”

As for club members who might be seeking higher office, McMaster has said he is considering running for governor in 2010.

Carroll A. “Tumpy” Campbell, who says he is contemplating a gubernatorial or congressional run, says he is a past member of Forest Lake. His decision to leave the club was not politically motivated, Campbell says.

Regardless, membership in a whites-only club might not be the equivalent of political suicide for a statewide candidate, at least not in South Carolina, says longtime local political consultant Rod Shealy Sr.

“Nationally, other states have a predisposed opinion on who we are anyway, so it’s very easy to take something like … the whites-only Forest Lake Club and exploit it nationally,” Shealy says. “Whereas to the people who have lived here and grown up here it has historically been almost a ‘so what?’”