Author: Paul Gable

Money in Politics, Influencing Elections

A special election for Horry County Council chairman this week and in the S.C. 1st Congressional District next week brings to the front the influence of elections by money in politics again.

Some startling statistics track over a period from 1974 – 2010 for Congressional elections and 1976 – 2008 in Presidential elections.

In 1974, total campaign spending for the House of Representatives was $44 million. By 2010 total campaign had reached $929 million, a factor of 20 times.

Senate campaigns in 1974 totaled $28.4 million while by 2010 that number inflated to $568 million, another 20 times expansion.

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Threats, Intimidation and Censorship

Every so often, especially in Horry County, threats and intimidation are used in attempts at censorship of the press.

You be the judge if the following qualifies.

For those of you wondering what happened to the story about Mark Lazarus and the Good Ole Boys the following e-mail string between Wrenzie Rice and myself should be self explanatory.

Paul Gable

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Elizabeth Moffly Slams Good Ol’ Boys Network

First Congressional District Republican candidate Elizabeth Moffly scored big at the expense of her Congressional race opponents when she slammed the Good Ol’ Boys network that has controlled politics in South Carolina for too long.

Moffly, the only woman among 16 Republican candidates in the March 19th primary, told it like it is about her top competitors in the race in a You Tube video that complements her “Good Ol’ Boys” radio ad.

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Special Election Primary – Who Cares?

We are at the weekend before the special election primary for Horry County Council chairman and there is very little buzz “on the street” about the race.

Is it that voters are electioned out or that the five candidates have failed to generate any real excitement about themselves?

I suspect both of the above are part of the problem.

Two things I am hearing on the street from average citizens are no matter who becomes the next chairman, there is little support for giving government money to private businesses in the name of economic development and there is little support for building I-73.

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Hembree, Rankin, Williams and Flow Control

Three state senators trying to block legislation that would make monopoly flow control of solid waste disposal illegal throughout South Carolina stated their case recently in an opinion piece to local media.

Greg Hembree (R-28), Luke Rankin (R-33) and Kent Williams (D-30) authored bi-partisan opposition to the Business Freedom to Choose Act that has already passed the S.C. House and is under consideration in the S.C. Senate.

Prior to the bill (H3290) being filed for the current legislative session, it was known that it would face opposition from these three senators and, quite possibly, only from these three senators.

Their stated reasons for opposition are a combination of obfuscation, bogeymen and cherry picking of facts to attempt to form a reasoned argument.

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Little Difference in Special Election Candidates

If I learned anything from Tuesday night’s televised forum of candidates in the special election for the vacant Horry County Council chairman seat, it’s that very little separates these candidates on issues.

Mark Lazarus, Liz Gilland, Al Allen, Debbie Harwell and Fonzie Lewis are not going to raise taxes except in cases of extreme emergency. Yet, all are going to push hard for I-73, the Southern Evacuation Lifeline and other major road projects in the county.

More major road projects with no tax increases.

Things like hospitality fees, road maintenance fees and local option sales taxes, all of which have been added or increased through the years, don’t count as taxes in this thought process.

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Curtis Loftis Exposes Unreported Pension Fees

It became more obvious Monday why the S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission wants to silence S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis.

Just a few days after his fellow commissioners voted to censure him, Loftis issued a press release in which he detailed an additional approximately $114 million in unreported fees on the commission’s annual report and financial statements.

The unreported fees are associated with the approximately $3.3 billion “Fund of Hedge Funds” listed in the report, according to a March 4, 2013 letter Loftis sent to Suzanne M. Bernard, a principal in Hewitt EnnisKnupp, Inc., a consulting firm for institutional investors.

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Garbage, Good Ole Boys and Gilland

Last week former county council chairman and current candidate Liz Gilland used the flow control monopoly Horry County Solid Waste Authority as an example of how she fights the good ole boys.

However, in choosing to use the authority, Gilland forgot much of her history with the flow control agency.

Gilland spoke of how she worked hard to clean up the SWA in her first eight years on council, including introducing an ordinance to disband the authority.

Her friend, then county administrator Linda Angus, had learned the Authority was hoarding millions of taxpayer dollars, using it in a high-handed manor.

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Treasurer Loftis Target of More Dirty Politics

S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis has once again been subjected to political attacks by the members of the S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission.

Loftis, one of seven commissioners, and the only constitutional officer on the commission, has taken his job of overseeing the policy and performance the retirement system fund too seriously for the six political appointees on the commission.

Two years ago, current commission chairman Reynolds Williams, a long-time member of the commission appointed by Sen. Hugh Leatherman, attempted to smear Loftis by alleging he and an acquaintance were involved in a ‘pay to play’ scheme with SCRSIC funds. Williams’ attempt included efforts to have Loftis removed from the commission by the S.C. General Assembly.

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Carolina Southern Railroad and Horry County

Carolina Southern Railroad and Horry County officials appear to remain far apart on any plan to get the railroad back in operation.

Service on portions of the rail line was voluntarily suspended by Carolina Southern Railroad officials when new federal regulations, especially on bridges, went into effect in the summer of 2011. Those service interruptions directly affect Horry County.

Since then, the railroad has been searching for funding with which to make the repairs. It joined with Horry County in two unsuccessful applications for discretionary railroad infrastructure TIGER grants from the federal government.

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