It’s been more than a month since neighboring GOP groups went to war in the Upstate, and a lot has happened since. John Boyanoski wrote Thursday that the e-mail battle has been heating up of late, with perennial bad boy Rick Beltram — the leader of the Spartanburg County “Socs” — targeting the Greenville County “Greasers” chief, Samuel Harms.

And there’s no doubt that if this continues, there will soon be blood shed in the streets.

The two have been sniping at each other publicly ever since the Greenville GOP voted to censure U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham two months ago. Beltram was critical of the move, saying there was no quorum at Greenville’s vote. The Spartanburg GOP later tabled a Graham censure vote because there wasn’t a quorum.

Harms brushed off the remarks at the time, but two weeks ago criticized Beltram for his “trophy wife” comments about Jeri Thompson, wife of former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.

The next salvo was an e-mail from Beltram to members of the media saying he was invited to speak at a private high school in Greenville because the school could not get anyone from the local GOP.

Harms, who was elected to his post in April, retalliated by sending out an e-mail bragging about how an Arizona newspaper wrote about the importance of Greenville in the South Carolina nomination process, with no mention of Spartanburg.

Beltram, who has been party chairman for almost a decade, told SCpols.com that he was going to send back a sniping e-mail, but decided it was better to just congratulate Harms.

“The problem with e-mail sometimes is you can’t see the person’s face,” he said. “You don’t if they are smiling or not.” [JOHN BOYANOSKI - SCPols]

We don’t have a squirrel in this ridiculous fight, but Harms better watch out because Beltram is basically the Tony Soprano of South Carolina politics. In fact, we’re not even sure he’s a Republican at all. He may just be a mafioso who uses his Socs to run his “waste management business.”

Seriously… give him a dirty look and you’re lucky if you just get a nasty e-mail. Chances are, if you cross Beltram, you’re going to want to find someone else to start your car for you.

“Boy, it’d be a shame if something were to happen at the next Greenville County Republican meeting. Ya know what I mean?”

The Editor’s probably going to have to go into witness protection now that he’s not anonymous anymore.