Lately, the Blogland has been talking a lot about what’s going on in Myrtle Beach. But that’s not our fault – we don’t make the news, we just report on it. It’s those wild and crazy folks out that way who keep giving us more stuff to talk about.

The latest loose nut in the Grand Strand (there sure seem to be a lot of them) is Thomas Muse, one of three Republican candidates seeking to fill the recently-vacated House District 68.

It turns out that Muse will be running in the upcoming special election but due to his failure to read a map, he won’t be able to run in the parallel regular election contest to fill the seat for a full term due to residency questions. While he lives in the current District 68, his place of residence will be moved into House District 105, thus disqualifying him from seeking the District 68 seat.

It turns out that Section 7 of Article III of the state’s Constitution requires legislative candidates to reside in the district at the time of their filing:

No person is eligible for a seat in the Senate or House of Representatives who, at the time of his election, is not a duly qualified elector under this Constitution in the district in which he may be chosen. Senators must be at least twenty-five and Representatives at least twenty-one years of age. A candidate for the Senate or House of Representatives must be a legal resident of the district in which he is a candidate at the time he files for the office.

We’re not sure why this is the case, but the law’s the law – and a true conservative should never see themselves as above the law. However, Muse reportedly told party officials this residency requirement is a technicality, complaining that “good ol’ boys” trying to shut him out of the contest.

Muse told party officials that he will continue with his candidacies in both contests and if barred from seeking the regular contest on the GOP ticket, he would find an address that will be in both the old and new districts and leave the Republican Party to pursue a full term as a petition candidate.

Sounds like another RINO to us.