The Truth About a Late Arrival, Dark Money, and a Campaign Built on Smears!
The Facts Johnnie Garmon Doesn’t Want Voters to See ! — so voters can judge the truth for themselves.
"I wanted to keep this a clean campaign, but I had no choice after being attacked by Johnnie Garmon's people," -Carlton Walker. Senator Zell: Thank you for standing up to them. I question the integrity of anyone that still affiliates with them. Keep up the great work exposing these corrupt people
THE SMEAR WEBSITE & DISCLOSURE PROBLEM!
Hiding the Sponsor. Dodging Accountability. Misleading Voters.
🚨 This Wasn’t an Accident — It Was Deliberate.
After launching a smear website attacking Carlton Walker a candidate in a South Carolina House race, the operators behind it changed the LLC’s address on file with the Secretary of State 🗂️ — making it harder to figure out who owned it.
That move made it harder to:
- ❌ identify who was responsible
- ❌ locate them
- ❌ serve them with legal papers
That’s a known tactic when accountability is expected.
⚠️ Then there’s the ethics problem.
The website fails basic campaign-ethics transparency.
Political content clearly designed to influence a legislative election must:
- ✅ clearly disclose who actually paid for it
- ❌ not hide behind a shell entity like Stop Creepy Carlton, LLC
Disclosure laws exist for one reason: so voters know who is really speaking.
🔎 What the records show
What’s documented here points to a coordinated effort to:
- obscure sponsorship
- evade responsibility
- mislead the public
🗳️ Voters deserve honest campaigns — not deception, shell companies, and hidden sponsors.
Political communications meant to influence an election must clearly disclose the true sponsor — hiding behind an LLC disclaimer misleads voters and undermines accountability.
From stopcreepycarlton.com showing attack content labeled “Paid for by Stop Creepy Carlton, LLC.”
The Man behind the smear machine.
Garmon’s $100 Million Business: When “Caring for the Elderly” Becomes a Cash Cow
Public reporting and business records show Garmon built extraordinary wealth in the senior-care and healthcare consulting industry — commonly cited as exceeding $100 million.
While South Carolina families are drowning under the rising cost of healthcare, Johnnie Garmon has been cashing in. The District 115 candidate made his fortune — reportedly over $100 million — in the senior-care industry, building wealth from a system that extracts enormous profits while families struggle to care for aging parents and grandparents.
Now Garmon wants voters to believe his top priority is “Elderly Care” and “Taking Care of the Caregivers.” What he doesn’t mention is that he’s still a paid consultant in the same industry, advising the very companies that profit off the elderly and the dying.
If that sounds like a conflict of interest, it’s because it is. You can’t make millions off a broken healthcare system and then run for office claiming you’ll fix it — while you’re still on the payroll. That’s not compassion. That’s self-interest dressed up as public service.
Follow the Money
Garmon’s campaign message sounds noble — but look at who stands to benefit. Every new regulation, every “caregiver incentive,” and every “industry support measure” he promotes would directly enrich the same healthcare networks and assisted-living companies he’s tied to.
Meanwhile, ordinary families are forced to choose between paying for medicine or rent, and caregivers across the Lowcountry are scraping by on wages. That’s the real cost of Garmon’s “experience.”
District 115 doesn’t need another millionaire insider with ties to the healthcare lobby. It needs a representative who understands what it means to live paycheck to paycheck — someone who fights for working families, not the boardrooms that profit from them.
Still Consulting the Industry Garmon Wants to “Fix”
This screenshot shows Johnnie Garmon listed as an employee of The Perissos Group, a business consulting firm headquartered in Charleston, according to its public LinkedIn profile. The company operates in business consulting and services, and Garmon’s name appears alongside other listed employees — evidence of ongoing professional involvement, not a past or inactive role. This matters because while Garmon campaigns on “Protecting Our Seniors and Caregivers,” he remains tied to consulting work connected to the broader healthcare and senior-care ecosystem. Voters deserve to know when a candidate is still professionally engaged in the same industry they claim they want to reform.
When a candidate’s own healthcare consulting network funds his campaign, private industry interests aren’t just influencing politics — they’re buying a seat at the table.
This public filing shows The Perissos Group LLC contributing to Johnnie Garmon’s campaign. The Perissos Group is a business consulting firm, and Garmon is publicly associated with it through his consulting work, including in the healthcare and senior-care space. When a candidate’s own consulting network—tied to an industry he campaigns on—is funding his run for office, that’s not grassroots support. It’s private business interests being brought directly into public power, and voters have every reason to question whose interests will come first.
Who’s Really Funding This Campaign? Outside Money, Not Built by Locals in District 115
This screenshot shows Johnnie Garmon’s campaign contributors as reported on the South Carolina Ethics Commission website. A review of the listed donors reveals multiple contributions coming from outside District 115, including addresses in the Upstate, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Virginia. That matters because representation starts with accountability to the people who live here. When a campaign is funded largely by donors who don’t reside on James Island, Johns Island, Folly Beach, Kiawah, or Seabrook, voters should ask whose interests will come first. Local representation should be powered by local voices—not by outside money with no stake in our community’s daily challenges.
A Platform Built on Profit, Not Place
This is Garmon’s number one issue for District 115 — “Protecting Our Seniors and Caregivers.” But let’s be honest: this isn’t about our islands, it’s about his industry. Garmon made over $100 million in senior care, built his business in the Rock Hill area near the Charlotte market, and only moved here 18 months ago, as he said on WTMA 1250 AM.
Now he’s running on the same system that made him rich — still consulting for it — while claiming it’s his top priority for James, Johns, Folly, Kiawah, and Seabrook. That’s not public service. That’s self-promotion disguised as compassion.
The Real Faces of Rising Costs
While families across the Lowcountry sit around kitchen tables wondering how to pay their next medical bill, Johnnie Garmon built a $100 million fortune in the very industry driving those costs higher. Now, he’s made that same industry his number one campaign issue for District 115 — calling it “Protecting Our Seniors and Caregivers.”
But for the families who feel crushed by premiums, prescription prices, and long-term care costs, that message rings hollow. How can we trust someone who profited from the system that’s breaking us to be the one to fix it?
"My Opponent’s Ally Exploited Black Children for Propaganda"
I will wait for Johnnie Garmon's campaign to denounce this and his two campaign managers too.
This case confirms that James Tyler Bessenger, my opponent's vocal defender and political hitman, was the leader of the South Carolina Secessionist Party — a group that was permanently dissolved by court order after photographing two Black children holding Confederate flags without parental permission, then posting the image online to promote pro-African American Confederate propaganda.
STATEMENT ON TYLER BESSENGER AND THE SECESSIONIST PARTY SCANDAL
In 2019, a Charleston judge permanently dissolved the South Carolina Secessionist Party after it was sued for taking and circulating photos of two Black children holding Confederate flags — without their mother’s consent — to falsely imply support for their cause. The leader of that group? James Tyler Bessenger, the same man now working hand-in-hand with my opponent’s campaign and spreading coordinated attacks against me.
According to court records, Bessenger was ordered to apologize and donate to the NAACP, admitting he had grossly misjudged the true motives behind the flag movement he once led. The party’s websites and social media were shut down for good, and any reactivation could cost them millions in penalties.
This isn’t about political games anymore — this is about judgment, character, and what kind of people you trust to shape your community’s future. If my opponent won’t condemn this behavior or disassociate from the people behind it, then it speaks volumes.
I’m not running to divide — I’m running to build. And no matter how ugly they get, I will continue standing up for truth, decency, and every family in this district.
Lawsuit settlement calls for permanent end to SC Secessionist Party, NAACP donation
By Patrick PhillipsUpdated: Feb. 28, 2019 at 5:28 PM EST
CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - The South Carolina Secessionist Party has been permanently dissolved after a woman sued the party over photos taken of her children holding Confederate flags.
Alicia Greene filed a civil lawsuit last April against the party over a photo taken of her children at the Battery in downtown Charleston in June 2017.
In the photo, her 7 and 8-year-old children, both black, were holding Confederate flags and that the photo was circulated without her permission in an effort to imply endorsement of the flag.
According to a Ninth Circuit Court of Common Pleas document, the party will now be disbanded and will forever remain dissolved and its "entire web presence," including all websites and social media pages "will be immediately and forever removed or deleted."
The settlement also stipulates that if the party or its web presence is reactivated, all of the defendants will each agree to pay the plaintiffs $1 million each.
One of the defendants, James Tyler Bessenger, who led the party before it was dissolved, agreed to apologize to the plaintiffs for everything they suffered as a result of the incident and agreed to donate $1,000 to the Charleston branch of the NAACP in the name of Greene and her family, the documents state.
The settlement allows Bessenger to retain the right to the name, "South Carolina Secessionist Party" but states he will not give anyone else permission to use it.
"Bessenger does acknowledge that while he became a leader in the Secessionist Party movement because he thought that the people who waved the flag with racist motives were in the vast minority, and that most people were genuinely interested in the historical aspects of the Confederacy, he is now convinced that this is not the case," the document states.
Greene sued for defamation and punitive damages in connection with the photo. She said she was having a picnic in White Point Gardens with her children on the same day the party was holding a pro-flag rally in the park.
The purpose of the rally was to, "Spreading the love to ALL our southern brothers and sisters," according to a party Facebook post cited in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit stated Greene's children went to admire a fire truck nearby at which point party members gave the children Confederate flags and took a photo of the children holding the flags without their permission.
Later that afternoon, the lawsuit states she was made aware that the party had posted the photo of her children holding the flags to the SC Secessionist Party Facebook page with the caption " #TeachTheYouthTheTruth" and "DixieRising".
Greene states she received enough backlash about the post that she was forced to take down her own Facebook page. The post was eventually deleted, but not before it had been public for more than one day, according to the suit.
The lawsuit stated the personality of the children was misrepresented in the post. Greene sued for defamation as well as punitive and actual damages.
With Judge Alex Kinlaw’s approval of the order, the lawsuit is dismissed and Greene is barred from bringing future claims against the defendants.
Copyright 2019 WCSC. All rights reserved.
📸 CJ Westfall with the mic, standing right alongside Tyler.
For all the denials about “coordination” — here’s the reality. Same room. Same night. Same team.
These are the very people behind the smear machine targeting me, my family, and my campaign. And it’s no coincidence: CJ is running Johnnie Garmon’s campaign, while Tyler is busy writing articles propping up “Johnnie Garmon Come Lately” and a
📸 More proof of the network at work.
Naomi Matthews is actually Mara Brockbank — who runs the “Republican Coalition” and controls 5 at 5.
Here she is defending Tyler Bessenger’s smear pieces and piling on with personal attacks. This isn’t grassroots — it’s coordinated character assassination.
CJ runs Johnnie’s campaign, Tyler writes the hits, and Mara amplifies them.
Guilty by Association.
📸 At the table to the right is Tyler. To his right (our left) is Matthew Brockbank — Mara’s son. In front of Matthew, closest to us, is Ben Bounds — the same person who banned me from his meeting.
In the last screenshot, Mara (posting as “Naomi Matthews”) called Tyler her “son.” Here we see her real son with him, alongside Bounds.
This is not random. These are the same interconnected people — push
📸 Mara Brockbank (posting as “Naomi Matthews”) calls Tyler and his circle “men of valor.”
But how can Tyler be a man of valor when he led the Secessionist Party — a group pushing division, defending Confederate symbols, and later barred by a judge from ever reviving it?
There is nothing honorable about leading a racist movement, spreading lies, and now using smear campaigns to attack me while pro
This Ethics Commission record shows Johnnie Garmon supporting the Republican candidate in a multi-party race. That’s not unusual in politics. What matters is the outcome: voters made clear that local connection and trust outweigh party labels and outside support. James Island Republicans want candidates who live here, know the community, and have earned credibility long before Election Day.
When I challenged powerful insiders over ethics and accountability, the response wasn’t transparency or debate. It was retaliation. Kicked out of Meetings, Questions shut down. Smear campaigns launched. Judge me by who wants me silenced — and ask yourself why.
I called out Senator Matt Leber for his affairs and his reckless spending. His paramour, Annette Bégner, ran for Charleston City Council to
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Johnnie Garmon & Tyler Bessinger: Pandering, Hate, and Hypocrisy Exposed
This album lays out the hypocrisy in plain sight. Johnnie Garmon claims to be a champion of unity and heritage, yet he paints himself as a victim of racism while running to represent the very communities he disparages. He says he lived in an all-Black neighborhood and went to a school where a famous African American once attended — as if that proves he shared their struggle. But let’s be real: Michael Jordan is 62, Johnnie is 50 — a 12-year gap. Jordan graduated long before Johnnie ever set foot in that school. I guarantee Johnnie never endured racism the way Jordan did. That’s not empathy — that’s shameless pandering for the Black vote. And what does Michael Jordan or North Carolina have to do with District 115 here in Charleston? Absolutely nothing.
For Tyler Bessinger to write Johnnie’s campaign story, he had to speak directly with him. And here’s the kicker: Johnnie already knew Tyler’s history. Weeks ago, I ran a story exposing Tyler for what he really is — a man with a past rooted in hatred where he acknowleges his group members were promoting racism, tied to the Secessionist Party, pushing “Dixie Rising Again,” and even forced into a settlement with the NAACP after a member "John Doe" taking a photo of two Black children holding a Confederate flag without their parents’ permission. That’s the equivalent of forcing two Jewish children to pose with a Nazi swastika. The NAACP settlement makes it crystal clear — if Tyler ever tries to revive that movement, he owes up to one million dollars. On top of that, in a conversation relayed by journalist who spoke with Tyler, Tyler Bessenger allegedly stated that he collected Nazi memorabilia. This was reported to Carlton Walker directly and is presented here as such. That’s not heritage, that’s exploitation and extremism.
And yet, knowing all of this, Johnnie still allowed Tyler to write for him. He gave him the platform to publish a story framing himself as a white victim of racism, while pretending to honor Gullah Geechee heritage. That isn’t just hypocrisy — it’s willful complicity. I, Carlton Walker, would never allow anyone with that kind of past anywhere near my campaign.
Johnnie has only lived here 18 months, yet he drapes himself in Gullah Geechee heritage as if it were his own. That’s shameful. As one African American woman from Johns Island said when asked how many Gullah Geechee families still live behind the gates of Seabrook: “Not a damn one!” She later texted me directly: “Yes, will be willing & glad to work with you on Johns Island for sure, we gotta keep him outta office👍🏿."
The people who truly live here see through the pandering. These photos below and facts tell the story: this isn’t leadership. It’s hypocrisy, exploitation, and a smear machine designed to mislead the voters of District 115.
The proof:
Johnnie Garmon’s campaign claims he “understands the unique needs of District 115” and will honor Gullah Geechee heritage. But after living here only 18 months, this isn’t understanding — it’s pandering. The real Gullah Geechee community sees through it, because empty words in a campaign flyer don’t erase hypocrisy or outsider politics.
Johnnie Garmon paints himself as the “only white kid” bullied in his neighborhood, claiming victimhood for the color of his skin. Yet today he campaigns as if he’s the defender of Gullah Geechee heritage. You can’t rewrite your past to play both sides — that’s hypocrisy and pure pandering.
Johnnie Garmon points to attending the same high school as Michael Jordan, but the math doesn’t add up. Jordan is 62, Garmon is 50 — a 12-year gap. Jordan graduated long before Garmon ever walked those halls. Trying to borrow credibility from Jordan’s legacy isn’t leadership, it’s shameless pandering for votes.
Johnnie Garmon’s story begins in Greensboro, North Carolina — not Charleston, not James Island, not Johns Island, not Folly Beach, not Kiawah, not Seabrook. He’s a newcomer to District 115, trying to rebrand himself as part of our heritage after just 18 months here. That’s not roots, that’s opportunism.
Tyler Bessinger admits his mission is to stop "Carlton Walker" from ever holding office, then writes a glowing “spotlight” on Johnnie Garmon while pretending the Carolina Courier doesn’t endorse in primaries. That’s bias, plain and simple. And just like his buddy Corey at WTMA, who gave Johnnie two hours on air and refused me even a minute, it violates the federal equal-time rule that requires me
Tyler Bessinger isn’t reporting — he admits his mission is to keep me "Carlton Walker" out of office. That’s not journalism, that’s sabotage.
Or do you want Johnnie Garmon: a newcomer, backed by This Racist smear machine and hypocrisy?”
PURE EVIL! Johnnie should be ashamed to be associated with this guy and his slander of the African American community and Carlton Walker! Between his leadership in the Secessionist Party, his appearance wearing symbols associated with Satanism, and reports of conversations about Nazi memorabilia, voters should carefully consider the judgment and values behind these actions.
These images were sent to me by a supporter who is a current member of the SC House and wants me to win.