Author: Paul Gable

Rankin Only Republican Senator to Vote Against Constitutional Carry Bill

Since switching parties in 2004, conservative constituents of Senator Luke Rankin have questioned whether he is a RINO (Republican in Name Only). The answer may have finally come with a vote Rankin cast in the SC Senate last week.
Rankin is completing his eighth consecutive term as a Senator, representing District 33. In 1992, 1996 and 2000, Rankin was elected as a Democrat. By the 2004 election, Democrats basically could not get elected in Horry County any longer, so Rankin switched parties and has run as a Republican for his last five terms.
Last week, the SC Senate passed a constitutional carry bill, which will allow law-abiding citizens to carry loaded guns without any training or a permit. The vote was 28-15 to pass the bill with 28 of the 29 Republican senators in attendance voting to approve the bill. Rankin, the lone Republican senator to vote against the bill, joined the 14 Democrat senators in attendance to vote NO.
Immediately after the bill passed, the South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus issued a press release applauding the bill’s passage. The release began, “Once again, Senate Republicans delivered on their promises and passed H.3594, the South Carolina Constitutional Carry Act.” The release also stated, “The People asked and Republicans listened.”

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Fry Ignores Veterans, Goes to New Hampshire Trump Rally

South Carolina 7th Congressional District Representative Russell Fry was among a contingent of Palmetto State politicians who traveled to New Hampshire to make cameo appearances at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump.
Each had the opportunity to say a few words in support of Trump for the Republican nomination for President the day before the New Hampshire Republican Presidential Primary. However, the fact of the group going to New Hampshire to voice support for Trump seemed more like a “kiss the ring” exercise for their own political well-being in South Carolina, given Trump’s popularity in the Palmetto State, than a necessary action to help Trump win in New Hampshire.
Does anyone really believe that New Hampshire voters are going to seriously be moved by what a bunch of S. C. politicians say to them anymore than S. C. voters are going to listen to what a group of New Hampshire politicians say?

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Chairman Gardner Calls 2023 Good Year, 2024 Better Year to Come

Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner presented his State of the County address to council members and the public last week highlighting progress by county council and staff in serving the citizens of the county.
Gardner said the council in collaboration with staff and the general public was shaping a bright future for the county. He said, “Council drafted, debated and passed ordinances designed to ensure a high quality of life for those who call our county home.”
Gardner noted the council initiated programs to build and widen roads, improve drainage systems, limit rezonings, protect native trees, create affordable housing opportunities and assess redevelopment needs and guide growth. He said community well-being and public safety remain top priorities for the county.
Toward that end, Gardner noted the county purchased six new firetrucks and seven new ambulances last year with more to come and that the county would be opening three new fire stations to serve growing areas of the county.
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SC House Ad Hoc Committee Begins Hearings on Judicial Reform

The new House Ad Hoc Committee to Examine the Judicial Selection and Retention Process in South Carolina began hearings earlier this month.
The committee was formed because of the increasing calls from citizens, prosecutors and law enforcement personnel from around the state that judicial reform should be a priority in the coming legislative year.
South Carolina is one of two states (Virginia is the other), where judges are elected by the legislature. The Judicial Merit Selection Commission was a key component of the inquiry by the ad hoc committee at its second hearing of the month.
SC Attorney General Wilson was asked by a member of the committee if he thought it was possible that undue influence was put on judges by lawyer/legislators who are members of the JMSC or the larger General Assembly as a whole. Wilson answered, “Yes.”
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Myra Starnes Brings a Wealth of Experience to Myrtle Beach City Council Race

Myra Starnes is a unique candidate in the Myrtle Beach election for city council. For over 50 years, Starnes has been a business owner and entrepreneur in the hospitality industry.
When she started her first business, Leisure Time Unlimited, Myrtle Beach was a summer tourist city. After Labor Day, the streets basically emptied until the next Easter weekend.
“I felt we had to do things to get people here in the offseason,” said Starnes.
Starnes started running bus tours in the fall for retirees who wanted to spend a few days at the beach while the weather remained good but without summer crowds. Those tours helped the business community stretch the tourist season for another several months.
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Three Aynor Council Candidates Pledge More Government Transparency

Three candidates for Aynor Town Council, in Tuesday’s upcoming town elections, pledged more transparency to the citizens on town issues if they are elected.
Paula Creel Floyd is running in the special election for the unexpired term open on town council. Her opponent is Benjamin Jordan.
Landon Johnson and Lori Beatty are running for the two full term seats currently held by Steve Riggins and Chris Shelley. Riggins and Shelley are running for reelection with Nolan Thompson also in the candidate mix.
Floyd said she is surprised to see the lack of accountability and transparency in the town council. She is running on a platform of accountability and transparency in local government and supporting local businesses.
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Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy Ignoring Attacks and Taking High Road to Election Day

Throughout her campaign for reelection, Conway Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy has been subjected to name calling, accusations and hate messaging as an ad this week by her campaign committee stated.
Through it all Blain-Bellamy has taken the “high road”, choosing to speak about the issues that affect Conway voters rather than engaging in mud-slinging in return.
Blain-Bellamy is out meeting voters personally this week rather than spending $40,300, as her opponent has done, to hire door knockers to attempt to gain votes.
Meanwhile, a blog supporting her opponent published a bogus article claiming an ethics complaint was officially filed against Blain-Bellamy on November 1st for mistakes she made on campaign disclosure filings. Mistakes do not rise to the level of an ethics violation but that didn’t stop the mud-slinging.
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Hate Messaging and the Richardson Campaign

Give the voters something to hate, then, tell them who is responsible. This appears to be the strategy of the Ken for Mayor campaign in Conway.
It has been a two-tier strategy. Since his campaign announcement, Richardson has stated “Conway is at a Crossroads” and “Take Conway Back” as keynotes of his message.
Richardson’s supporting minions have shared hate filled messages and name calling aimed at incumbent Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy.
At its core is the Pride Month proclamation signed by Mayor Blain-Bellamy in June and the giving of the Key to the City by Blain-Bellamy to Pete Buttigieg in 2020. Trying to stir up hatred against Blain-Bellamy for those two acts is apparently the campaign’s mission.
Richardson said in the recent mayoral debate he used to talk to his grandchildren about “transformers”, now the talk is about “transgender” and he doesn’t want to see “Conway become San Francisco”. The allusions are clear.
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The Veil is Lifted on Richardson Campaign Expenditures

The Ken Richardson campaign for mayor of Conway finally filed its pre-election campaign disclosure report with the S. C. Ethics Commission late at night on October 26, 2023, four days late.
Earlier in the day of October 26, 2023, Grand Strand Daily published a story which posed the question, “Is there some required information about donations and/or expenditures that the campaign did not want to make public before last night’s mayoral debate at Coastal Carolina University?”
After viewing the pre-election report filing, it seems that question was directly on-point.
When people donate money to a candidate, there is some expectation the candidate will be a good steward of the money donated and money will be spent in the local economy, if at all possible.
Richardson followed these principles in his previous campaigns for school board chairman and for Congress. He publicly pledged that campaign expenditures would be made within the county in the school board race and within the 7th Congressional District in his race for Congress. He challenged opponents to do the same.
Those principles and promises have been cast to the wayside in this election by the Richardson campaign.
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What is the Ken for Mayor Campaign Hiding?

Several days have passed since the Ken Richardson campaign missed the required deadline for filing a pre-election campaign disclosure report with the South Carolina Ethics Commission and, as of this writing, there is still no public record of the report on the commission website.
Is there some required information about donations and/or expenditures that the campaign did not want to make public before last night’s mayoral debate at Coastal Carolina University? Will the failure to file run past election day November 7th for that same reason?
Daily fines for missing the deadline are minimal. It only costs a relatively few bucks to keep the information hidden for several weeks.
Speaking of keeping information hidden, the livestream of the debate provided by the university aired without sound. Fortunately, WMBF News also carried a livestream, with sound, of the event. Hopefully, the WMBF livestream will be made available for public viewing until election day so the many voters who were not able to attend in person can view the debate.
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