Author: Paul Gable

Lexington County GOP Eating It's Own

Lexington County GOP Eating It’s Own

The Lexington County GOP will consider a resolution Monday evening that will allow party officials to ignore a state party rule in order to support non-party candidates in the generalelection.

The county party is trying to find a way to support petition candidates, should they become eligible for the ballot, who failed to file candidacy papers in accordance with state law so they could appear on last month’s primary election ballot.

These petition candidates will be opposing duly nominated Republican Party candidates on the general election ballot.

Of course, we all know what exactly is happening here. The county party is trying to find any way possible to kow tow to Gov. Nikki Haley and support her Best Friend Forever Katrina Shealy in the upcoming November general election.

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"Public pensions must be more transparent, accountable." Curtis M. Loftis Jr.

Public Pension Plans Must Be Transparent

It’s no secret that public pension plans and their investment boards nationwide are underperforming. Blame is often assigned to the economy, over-promising politicians, unrealistic assumed rates of investment returns, and workers that retire earlier and live longer. But, is there more to the story?

“In all 50 states hard-working public employees and taxpayers supply the money for these investments. They should not be riding in the back of the bus, and in fact they should be driving the bus. ”

My research and experience shows that many pension investment boards lack vital transparency and accountability. The absence of these key principles of good governance leaves the plans vulnerable to increased risk. The inner workings of these investment boards are mysterious to outsiders; in fact these investment boards are places where enormous sums of public dollars are entrusted to a select few, but coveted by many.

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MBIA

A Lesson in Government Folly

It was interesting to note, earlier this week, a media story that passenger arrivals at Myrtle Beach International Airport were down approximately 13 percent for the current year. The downturn in passenger numbers occurs while the airport is in the midst of an approximately $120 million expansion of its terminal facilities.

Horry County Council member Carl Schwartzkopf called me up to ask if I had read the story and asked my reaction.

I told him my reaction was limited to four words, “I told you so.”

The reason for the conversation is Schwartzkopf was elected to council in a special election in district 8 in late 2003 to fill the unexpired term of member Liz Gilland after Gilland was elected council chairman in a special election earlier in the year.

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Nikki Haley, The Innocent Little Girl

Nikki Haley, The Innocent Little Girl

In a move that should surprise no one who watched the ethics hearing Thursday, all four ethics charges against Gov. Nikki Haley, for actions while she was a House member, were dismissed by the S.C. House Ethics Committee Friday morning.

The voting was a small encore to what was an incredible performance the day before when the committee ‘purportedly’ was presented the case against Haley.

It was obvious from the beginning of the hearing that the fix was in to exonerate Haley. The accuser, attorney and Republican fundraiser John Rainey was never called to testify. The ‘presenter’ of the case, an attorney hired by the House for the event, never called an accusing witness.

All witnesses called in the hearing were done so to make sure Haley got off on all charges.

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Governor Nikki Haley’s EthicsReforms – Style Trumps Substance

Nikki Haley’s Festival of Lies

“With all due respect, Mr. Rainey is a racist, sexist bigot who has tried everything in his power to hurt me and my family,” Gov. Nikki Haley told the S.C. House Ethics Committee.

That statement sums up the performance Haley put on for the committee. Combined with what came off as an innocent little girl act, Haley got away with character assassination while Rainey was never called to testify.

This was not an adversarial hearing. Rainey’s complaint was not represented by anyone. Even the attorneys hired by the House to “present” the case did not advocate Rainey’s complaints.

Although not listed on the witness list, Haley was called as a witness by her attorney Butch Bowers. There was no complaint against her testifying by the other side. And Rainey, a lawyer himself, built up a convincing case in his complaint but was never called to present it, defend it or explain it. No accusing witnesses were called.

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Truth Be Damned: Palin Revives 'Death Panels' Claim

Sarah Palin Revives ‘Death Panels’ Claim

Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, revived her outrageous claim that President Barack Obama’s health-care law, the Affordable Care Act, includes a provision for “death panels.”

Palin made the comment in a Facebook post on Tuesday in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the health-care law. Palin first uttered her “death panels” claim after the Obama administration made its proposal for comprehensive health care in 2009.

“Though I was called a liar for calling it like it is,” Palin said in her post, “many of these accusers finally saw that Obamacare did in fact create a panel of faceless bureaucrats who have the power to make life and death decisions about health care funding”

Palin was indeed called a “liar” three years ago because what she said was as maliciously reckless as it was maliciously false. The fact-checking Web site, PolitiFact.com, later recognized Palin’s “death panels” statement as its lie of the year.

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Tom Rice, Gloria Tinuibu Win Impressively

Tom Rice, Gloria Tinubu Win Impressively

Tom Rice and Gloria Bromell Tinubu secured the nominations, in impressive fashion, of the Republican and Democratic parties respectively for the new 7th Congressional District. The two will meet in the November general election to see who goes to Washington.

Both scored significant double digit wins in defeating opponents Andre Bauer (Rice) and Preston Brittain (Tinubu) on Tuesday’s primary runoff elections.

We offer our congratulations to both.

Based on turnout in the primaries and the makeup of the district, Rice has to now be considered the serious favorite to become the new Congressman from South Carolina in November.

That having been said, I am sure there are some out there, looking for a personal statement from me. So here we go.

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Questions for Tom Rice

Questions Submitted for Tom Rice

We voted for Tommy Rice’s new best friend Nikki Haley two years ago and a lot of us chumps are not too happy with how that turned out…So, before we make the same mistake again, we first want to ask attorney Tom Rice here a few questions before we give him our vote.

By the way, did Tom or anybody else tell the gov why this is called “the Independent Republic of Horry?” Didn’t think so or she wouldn’t have been here yesterday. People don’t like to be told what to do here as the defaced campaign signs from two years ago demonstrated at the campaign stops.

Mr. Rice, a lot of questions folks wanted answers to questions that didn’t get asked of you at the debate the Myrtle Beach Chamber put on. Maybe that’s ‘cause the two TV stations which did the debate are both on the board of the Chamber. And maybe not.

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State Ethics Committee Violated State Law

Nikki Haley & Tom Rice Anything But…

“Haley has her own problems. She faces an ethics inquiry beginning Thursday for her actions as a House member. Haley is no reformer, far from it. She rode the coattails of the Tea Party movement into office and promptly forgot it.”

~Grand Strand Daily

On this penultimate day of the primary election season, the forces of Gov. Nikki Haley and Congressional candidate Tom Rice will be joined in a stop Andre Bauer mode.

What a pairing. Haley endorsed Rice last Friday after she unsuccessfully tried to have Bauer stop Sen. Jake Knotts from blocking her proposed administration bill one day before.

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South Carolina and Arizona set for CWS championship series

South Carolina and Arizona set for CWS

OMAHA – They’ve spent the past 10 days or so warily eyeing each other in hotel elevators and hallways, but starting today, the baseball players from Arizona and South Carolina will really get to know each other.

Housed in the same hotel since the College World Series began, the Wildcats and Gamecocks haven’t played each other yet because they’ve been in opposite brackets in the eight-team event.

But each club won its bracket, and now they’re the only teams left. When the best-of-three championship series starts tonight, two-time defending champ Carolina will be trying to become the first team to win three in a row since 1970-74 when Southern California won five.

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