Author: Paul Gable

The Contradictions and Dead Ends in the Rankin Campaign

Senator Luke Rankin’s answers to a local media outlet about what he could accomplish in Columbia for the citizens of Horry County were contradictory at best while appearing to leave voters at the same dead ends they are experiencing now.
On the hottest topic in Horry County at present, roads and other infrastructure needs, Rankin reportedly pointed to his 32-year seniority in the Senate as a huge asset.
Rankin was quoted as saying, “Being in a leadership position you can bring more money home for roads, for schools and for projects we’ve had here, across the county itself and particularly in District 33,” and “I’m proud to have been able to show the folks of Horry County that seniority does pay off.”
Rankin proceeded to contradict himself later in the article when he reportedly said it was impractical to rely on additional funding from the state level to push forward new projects. He was quoted as saying, “The idea, as nice as it might sound, somebody else (the state budget) needs to pay for our way is like waiting for the Great Pumpkin in the Charlie Brown series. That Great Pumpkin ain’t coming to pay for roads we desperately need.”

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Rankin Claims Victimhood From Mica’s Law Press Conference

Senator Luke Rankin responded to Attorney Regina Ward’s press conference yesterday about a proposed coercive control bill (Mica’s Law) with a Facebook post saying Ward was taking a political cheap shot against him.
Does Rankin actually believe that a press conference aimed at helping a coercive control bill to become law is in South Carolina is all about him?
Ward only mentioned Rankin as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the bill died in the Senate, in passing during her press conference. But, Ward did note that Rankin thought enough of the problems of domestic abuse to falsely charge his 2020 opponent for the District 33 Senate seat with committing domestic abuse.
Maybe the political stunts are being confused.

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Does Luke Rankin Really Have Your Back?

In a moment of supreme irony a new television ad proclaiming “Luke’s got your back” hit the airwaves shortly after a press conference was held in Conway questioning “Where was Luke” with regard to a bill that may have helped save the life of Mica Miller.
Regina Ward, the attorney representing the family and estate of Mica Miller, spoke with the press yesterday about the failure of a “Coercive Control” bill to even get out of the Judiciary Committee of the SC Senate and the SC House over a period of four years.
Mica Miller was the estranged second wife of Pastor John-Paul Miller when she took her own life on April 27th of this year at the Lumber River State Park in Robeson County, North Carolina. Mica’s death has been ruled a suicide by the Robeson County Coroner.
Mica was reportedly in the middle of divorce proceedings with her estranged husband John-Paul when she took her life. Since her death, details of how Mica’s life was manipulated by her estranged husband through a form of domestic violence called “coercive control” have come to light.

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Tina Hardee Seeks to Improve Services if Elected as Next Auditor

Tina Hardee is seeking election to the position of Horry County Auditor in order to provide better service by the office to citizens of the county.
Hardee is one of two candidates on the ballot for Auditor in next Tuesday’s Republican Primary election. The winner of the primary will effectively become the next elected Auditor as no Democratic candidates have filed for the office.
An 18 year veteran of service in the Horry County Treasurer’s Office, Hardee is extremely familiar with the necessity of close coordination between the Auditor, Treasurer and Assessor offices for better service.
“The workflow together needs to be better,” said Hardee. “Anything we can do to make it easier for the taxpayers should be done.”

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Setting the Record Straight in the District 11 School Board Race

The District 11 School Board race got interesting last week when challenger Darrell Ricketts made a Facebook post which appears to insinuate that his opponent, incumbent member Shanda Allen, and her husband, county council member Al Allen, have expanded their aviation spraying business because of contracts with the county.
The post, which reads in part, “Yeah, it’s a shame. The way the money is being made is on outside contracts…Al Allen created an LLC with Shanda as head so he could get the contract for mosquito spraying. He had one plane, now he has 3”, appears to be an attempt to make it sound as if the Allens are profiting from their respected elected positions.
Let’s set the record straight. Allen Aviation first received a contract to spray for mosquitoes from Horry County in 2001, a full six years before Al was first elected to county council and 16 years prior to Shanda serving on the school board. Through the years, the contracts have all been sealed bid and Allen Aviation was underbid and lost the contract for approximately four years not long after Al was elected to council There was no favoritism shown in the bidding process and the Allen’s have been successful bidders because they only charge a small percentage above cost to spray for the county. The company that underbid them for the time mentioned above went bankrupt.

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Dark Money Attacks Benton in District 33 Senate Race

Dark money has made its way into the SC Senate District 33 race with attack ads on challenger Autry Benton.
This is not an unexpected development as incumbent Senator Luke Rankin appears to be struggling to gain traction with his message for reelection to voters.
Our American Century PAC raised its head in Horry County again by paying for negative tv ads against Rankin’s opponent, Autry Benton, which began this past week.
There were two points the ads attempted to attack Benton on – PPP money and a contract that Benton’s business, Benton Concrete, had with the City of Conway.
As far as PPP money goes, the Rankin & Rankin Law Firm also received PPP money from the federal program to aid businesses through the Covid Pandemic. The amount of money businesses received was determined by a formula connected to number of employees and payroll.

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H. C. Solid Waste Authority Pledges County General Fund for Closure and Post-Closure Costs

Horry County Council will vote tonight on third and final reading for next fiscal year’s budget, which begins July 1, 2024.
The general fund of the budget, approximately $270 million, pays for most of the goods and services provided by county government. Approximately 70% of the general fund pays for public safety services.
The SWA is a component unit of Horry County Government established by county ordinance 60-90. Its budget is included in the annual budget for the county and receives final approval from county council. The SWA bylaws and other rules must be approved by county council. SWA board members must be approved by county council.
When the SWA was created, it was specifically mandated by council, in Ordinance 60-90, to find alternative means of disposing county garbage rather than maintaining an ever-increasing landfill next to Sterritt Swamp. Instead, the SWA has done the exact opposite, continually expanding the landfill area in what is identified as an environmentally sensitive area in Ord. 60-90.

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Deceptive Messaging from the Rankin Campaign

The Rankin campaign mailers have raised questions about the accuracy of the message being promoted for Rankin’s reelection.
One side of last week’s mailer showed Rankin in a picture with Chief Mark Keel of SLED, Chief Amy Prock of Myrtle Beach and Chief Dale Long of Conway. The title was “Luke Rankin is Standing with Law Enforcement to Keep South Carolina Safe.”
Rankin is certainly standing with three police chiefs in the picture. However, any implication which may be drawn from the picture that the chiefs support the Rankin campaign are false. Emails were sent to all three chiefs asking whether they had approved the use of their picture on a Rankin campaign mailer and whether they endorsed Rankin for reelection.
Chief Keel and Chief Prock responded. Both said they had not given approval for their picture to be used on the campaign mailer. Both also said they don’t endorse candidates. The picture was taken at a South Carolina Police Chiefs Association Meeting at the South Carolina State House last month. Chief Long did not respond.

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Tort Reform Fails in Current SC Senate Legislative Session

The South Carolina Senate failed to advance tort reform legislation this year despite considerable lobbying by small business groups.
Called the South Carolina Justice Act, the bill would have changed the state tort reform law to a position where a defendant in a tort action would be financially liable only for their percentage of fault. The current law can leave one defendant on the hook to pay all awarded damages regardless of their percentage of fault.
At the time of its introduction into the Senate last year, Tom Mullikan, President and General Counsel for the South Carolina Coalition for Lawsuit Reform, said, “Without this legislation, South Carolina may lose economic development projects to neighboring states like Georgia and North Carolina where liability laws are more balanced.”

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Rankin Mailer Filled with Political Speak

Every election season, voters are inundated with mailers, television and radio ads and pronouncements on social media about the qualities of candidates and the alleged successes of incumbents.
South Carolina law only requires two things on these various campaign missives to be truthful – who paid for the ad, mailer, etc. and the mailing address of the paying person or entity. The remainder can be filled with “political speak” which does not have to bear any resemblance to the facts.
This week voters in SC Senate District 33 received a mailer from incumbent Sen. Luke Rankin extolling how Rankin had “delivered” for the citizens of his district. But, in its search for “deliveries”, the Rankin piece went down “roads” traveled by many other people.
Under the heading of “Infrastructure Enhancements”, the mailer claims Rankin “led the charge to fund $1.8 billion in Horry Co. road improvements, with $4 billion more to come in the next 5 years – paid overwhelmingly by our 14 million annual tourists.”
click on headline above to read more

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