Politics

Showdown on SC Pension Fund Fees

SC Treasurer Curtis Loftis is holding up signing a $50 million investment check for the SC public pension fund until he receives confirmation in writing that the fees associated with the investment are the same as the SC Retirement System Investment Commission approved by recorded vote.

Loftis said, for years, commission attorneys have given verbal confirmation that the fees are the same as voted on. Reportedly, an email with this confirmation was sent to Loftis in this case.

However, the treasurer specifically requested a signed letter with that confirmation and, to date, he has been unable to get one. If the confirmation is accurate, why is it so difficult for Loftis to get written notice of that fact?

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Transparency and Reform Dead on Vine

Ethics reform and government transparency sounded great on the campaign trails last fall, but the reality in Columbia is another year will pass without any meaningful changes taking place in state government.

The S.C. General Assembly is up to its old tricks of exempting itself from the laws that govern all other elected officials in the state.

Two bills that may have added real oversight over state legislators appear to be dead on the vine. One would have gotten rid of the House and Senate ethics committees and put legislators under the same ethics commission that oversees all other public officials in the state.

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Government Monopoly Fever Spreading…

The urge to establish a government monopoly in sectors of the economy seems to be getting irresistible for local governments in South Carolina.

Currently this trend is being seen in county flow control ordinances that force municipalities and private waste haulers to dispose of their collected garbage and other solid waste at landfills owned or designated by county government.

Why is this such a big deal?

Because it supports inefficiently run government landfills and costs taxpayers money.

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Internet Sweepstakes Ban Passes SC House

A bill South Carolina legislators say will close the current loopholes in state gambling laws making internet sweepstakes games illegal is awaiting Gov. Nikki Haley’s signature to become law.

After failing to pass a similar bill last year, legislators wasted no time in this new legislative session getting the ban in place.

The legislation clarifies what has been a messy situation throughout the state where the games were considered illegal in some jurisdictions and legal in others. In Horry County it was both with Myrtle Beach allowing the games, until SLED raids closed several parlors in the city recently, while the games were considered illegal in the unincorporated areas of the county.

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Flow Control Debate to Senate Committee

The debate on whether the Horry County Solid Waste Authority should be allowed to continue a flow control monopoly over garbage generated in the county will move to the S.C. Senate Medical Affairs Committee March 21st.

Legislation called the ‘Business Freedom to Choose Act’ has already passed the S.C. House in this new legislative session. It is now up to the Senate to see if it will join the House in making a government established monopoly illegal.

The SWA will have Executive Director Danny Knight and Government Affairs Director Mike Bessant in attendance at the committee meeting to speak for maintaining the monopoly.

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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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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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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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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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SWA Asks Chamber to Support Flow Control Monopoly

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority is trying to enlist the help of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce with lobbying efforts to maintain the solid waste flow control monopoly the SWA currently enjoys in the county.

Officials from the SWA will make a presentation this morning to the chamber’s Legislative Policy Council, chaired by George Mims, urging defeat of the Business Freedom to Choose Act, currently under consideration in the SC Senate.

The Business Freedom to Choose Act would ban flow control within the borders of South Carolina. Of course, since Horry County is the only county of the 46 in the state to have legislatively mandated a government monopoly over solid waste disposal, the SWA is hoping the Chamber will see the fight as local.

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