Politics

Bobby Harrell Down, How Many To Go?

Once the state’s most powerful politician, Bobby Harrell may now be the state’s most important informant.

Harrell pleaded guilty to six counts of misusing campaign money being sentenced to one year in jail for each charge. The jail time will be avoided pending successful completion of three years of probation and payment of $130,000 in fines and penalties.

However, Harrell also had to agree to resign his House seat immediately and sign an agreement to cooperate with SLED and FBI investigators in any other investigations of which he may have knowledge. Part of that cooperation will include the use of a lie detector to determine Harrell’s truthfulness.

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Second S.C. Gubernatorial Debate Changes Nothing

The second S.C. gubernatorial debate is history and, again, nothing happened to derail Gov. Nikki Haley’s ride to re-election.

That doesn’t mean Haley is the best candidate, or even a good one, but she has the “R” behind her name that virtually guarantees statewide office wins in South Carolina.

Watching Nikki Haley, you can almost see insincerity oozing out of every pore. Haley says what she believes she must say to toe the line on her unique brand of ultra-conservatism. Much of the time, however, Haley doesn’t look like even she believes what she says.

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Public Discussion on Economic Development Incentives

Independent Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Ervin should be thanked for introducing economic development incentives into the political discussion recently.

While Gov. Nikki Haley campaigns around the state claiming to have created 57,000 new jobs in South Carolina during her first four years, Ervin recently released a report debunking much of Haley’s claim.

Maybe the voting public will now realize that neither state bureaucrats at the S.C. Department of Commerce, nor operatives at locally created economic development entities have any business throwing taxpayer funded “economic development incentives” at businesses they hope will create new jobs in the area.

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New Incentives for AvCraft?

A recent local media report said Horry County officials are working with officials of AvCraft Technical Services to attempt to structure a new incentives deal for the company.

AvCraft admits it can’t meet the goal of 150 new jobs it agreed to approximately three years ago when it received its current economic development incentive package from Horry County.

And this is not the first time. AvCraft has failed to meet promises. It never produced the 400 jobs it promised when it received its first incentive package from the county in 2004. After new ownership bought the company out of bankruptcy in 2009, it did not produce 50 jobs promised.

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Horry County Delegation Schedules HOA Public Hearing

A much needed public hearing on Homeowner Associations (HOA) complaints has been scheduled by the Horry County Legislative Delegation for October 29th.

The meeting will be held at Horry Georgetown Technical College in the Burroughs and Chapin Auditorium beginning at 7 p.m.

Complaints about the arbitrariness of HOA rules and secrecy of HOA financial documents have been rising across the state for a number of years.

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Thoughts on S.C. Gubernatorial Debate

The first S.C. Gubernatorial Debate for 2014 is now history and it proved absolutely nothing.

Gov. Nikki Haley is cruising to a second term election victory next month as long as she doesn’t make any fatal errors. Haley is smart enough to avoid fatal errors and she’ll “spin” her way out of any other miscues she makes like she always does.

Haley’s comment about being found “not guilty” on ethics violation charges is a perfect example, even though she paid ethics fines for incomplete campaign finance records and for using a state plane for prohibited events.

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Nikki Haley’s About Face on Atlantic Beach Bikefest

It seems that Gov. Nikki Haley’s thinking with respect to the Atlantic Beach Bikefest has begun to enter the realm of reality.

After meeting with several local government leaders yesterday, Haley told the media everybody was working together to see that bike week (Atlantic Beach Bikefest) “is safe, that it is law abiding and that it moves forward.”

Haley said discussions were very productive and “we are now working on traffic issues, noise ordinances and all of those things on how we need to go forward…”

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Fourth Atlantic Beach Bikefest Loop Proposed

A fourth traffic loop option for Atlantic Beach Bikefest traffic has been proposed by Horry County Council member Marion Foxworth.

The fourth option is on the agenda to be considered by the Atlantic Beach Bikefest Task Force at its meeting this afternoon.

Foxworth, who represents Horry County Council District Three, said his district is the most impacted district by Bikefest crowds and he believes, as a primary stakeholder, his input is required.

“The brunt of the ‘festival area’ is within District Three,” Foxworth said. “I am very concerned about this event and the planning that is evolving.”

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Ethics Reform – Not So Fast

Ethics Reform Sounds Good, but Won’t Happen

A S.C. House ad hoc committee on ethics reform held its first meeting last week.

Acting S.C. House Speaker Jay Lucas has made ethics reform the number one priority for the General Assembly in the upcoming legislative session beginning January 2015.

Lucas wants pre-filed bills on ethics reform ready to go at the beginning of the session.

Should we get excited and think ethics reform, in this historically ethically challenged state, is near?

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Working on the Carolina Southern Railroad Sale

Hopes are high that an expected sale of the Carolina Southern Railroad will be finalized within the next 60 days, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

Horry County Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding that includes $1.8 million to be applied toward that sale at its regular meeting Tuesday night. In addition, the Horry County administrator was directed by Horry County Council to continue to work toward completion of a sales and purchase contract for the Carolina Southern Railroad.

Columbus County (NC) Commissioners approved a like amount to be applied toward the sale one night earlier.

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