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Is Myrtle Beach Tourism Tax Working?

Local television stations carry daily ads telling us the Myrtle Beach tourism tax is ‘working.’ The ads are run by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and its associated entities in the hospitality and business community.

Beneficiary of approximately $18 million per year from revenue generated by the tax, the Chamber has good reason to advertise the tourism tax is working. Its marketing arm, the Myrtle Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau receives the proceeds from the tax to spend in ‘out-of-area’ advertising to promote tourism to the Grand Strand.

But, going beyond the advertising message (dare we call it propaganda?) one has to ask how is the tax working.

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Gary Sinise, A Really Good Guy

The Bob Hope Of Our Time

Gary Sinise, A Really Good Guy!

With the exceptions of Bob Hope and Martha Raye, there may be no other American entertainer who has served our armed forces more. That person is Gary Sinise, actor, director, producer writer, musician, a bit of a down home, foot-shuffling, aw-shucks guy from the Midwest who has probably spent as much time in war zones as many members of our over-worked military, and certainly more than any Member of Congress. Sinise is one of those rare humans who is easy to sum up in quick terms: a really good guy. Or if you wish to add accolades as I’m sure many in the military would: a really damned good guy, among many other unpublishable terms of praise.

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

Better Oversight, More Transparency Required

“The treasurer has a legitimate concern. He has the right, if he is putting his signature on there, to have staff to give him confidence that what he is doing is right for the people of the state.” Governor Nikki Haley

Better oversight and more transparency of investment decisions for the state’s $25 billion pension fund may result from a vote taken by the S.C. Budget and Control Board Thursday.

The board, chaired by Gov. Nikki Haley and including Treasurer Curtis Loftis, Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian White as members, unanimously (5-0) approved a motion by Loftis to “hire a counsel to determine the fiduciary and statutory responsibilities of all trustees, custodians and commission members” with regard to investment decisions and contracts of the pension fund.

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Mark Keel, SLED Raid Internet Cafe's

SLED Raids Internet Sweepstakes Cafes

Two internet sweepstakes cafes, one in Richland County and one in Lexington County, were raided and shut down yesterday for illegal gambling by a combination of SLED agents and sheriff’s deputies.

End of problem right? Business owners trying to get around the state ban on gambling, except of course for the lottery, are now out of business.

Not really. Despite yesterday’s raids, an earlier opinion from Attorney General Alan Wilson that sweepstakes cafes are illegal gambling and confident statements by SLED chief Mark Keel that the games are illegal, they are NOT gambling.

In point of fact they are worse, but we’ll get to that later.

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The Investigation of Reynolds Williams and the $25 Billion S.C. Public Pension Fund Moves Forward

Williams Investigation Moves Forward

An investigation of alleged misconduct and conflict of interest against S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission chairman Reynolds Williams moved forward Tuesday when the S.C. Attorney General’s office requested SLED and the S.C. Ethics Commission to investigate the charges.

A Statement from AG Wilson’s Office: Based upon the nature of the allegations in the Treasurer’s letter, we are today forwarding the material we have on file to both SLED and the State Ethics Commission. (The Treasurer’s letter alleges activity that would fall under each authority, criminal and ethical.) When both entities have completed their reviews, we will then determine what, if any, prosecutorial action is warranted.

Enumerated in a letter from S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis to Attorney General Alan Wilson, the allegations stem from work Williams’ law firm did for American Timberlands, LLC while the company was being considered as a partner on an investment by the SCRSIC.

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Reynolds Williams, The Timber Company And Our $25 Billion Pension Fund

Reynolds Williams and… that timber company

S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis has requested S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson to investigate the actions of S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission chairman Reynolds Williams with respect to a joint investment the commission made with American Timberlands, LLC.

Loftis said the investment seemed straightforward at the time, but information he became privy to after the commission vote brings to light possible conflict of interest problems for Williams and possible criminal violations.

The investment commission took up the matter of the investment during its November 2011 Wampee Reteat and business meeting. Commission members, less Williams who was not present for the vote, approved the investment.

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Nikki Haley and The State, Simpatico in Every Respect

Nikki Haley and The State, Simpatico…

It is obvious that Gov. Nikki Haley has a direct, sympathetic line into the editorial rooms of the mainstream media.

Please read, Will lightning rod Knotts retire soon?, Haley relishes role of ‘kingmaker’ and or Haley dodges political jabs, lands on feet (See links below).

Sunday we heard that Haley’s hopes of being Mitt Romney’s vice presidential nominee are stronger than ever after she was cleared of ethics charges by a two day investigation.

Let’s be clear, Haley was not ever tried for ethics charges against her. The “two day investigation” was nothing but a staged, friendly hearing before a House Ethics Committee pre-destined to dismiss the charges.

No witnesses were called to make a case against her. How can you have an investigation when the only witnesses called were those that would exonerate her?

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Kathleen Parker: Words vs. Deeds

Kathleen Parker: Words vs. Deeds

South Carolina politics never fail to bemuse. A recent ethics imbroglio between Republican Gov. Nikki Haley and GOP activist John Rainey is a case in point.

The squabble would be of passing interest if Haley weren’t a rising star often mentioned on lists of potential vice presidential candidates. And had she not called Rainey, a nationally recognized philanthropist and community bridge-builder, a “racist, sexist bigot.” Such charges deserve clarification and context.

Haley made the remarks during a state House Ethics Committee hearing that was prompted by a complaint Rainey filed alleging that Haley had lobbied illegally while she was a legislator. (Haley has been cleared of any wrongdoing .) Her invectives toward Rainey, though perhaps understandable given an exchange between them (about which more anon), are contradicted by his record. Rainey is anything but racist, sexist or bigoted.

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SCDOT and Press Release No. 44

SCDOT and Press Release No. 44

Robert J. St. Onge, the Secretary of the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), has been issuing press releases about the agency’s cash position since it was first revealed that SCDOT had no cash around April 2011.

We are now up to press release No. 44.

Millions of dollars in contractor fees and purchases went unpaid as it became clear that the agency’s cash management existed “in name only,” creating a crisis that has been an embarrassing debacle for SCDOT and our state over the past year. But according to the press releases from St. Onge’s office the agency’s cash position has a “continued positive outlook” and contractors and purchases are mostly being paid in a timely manner – a “rosy” picture indeed.

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State Farmers Market Purchase on Hold

State Farmers Market Purchase on Hold

Expansion of public ownership in the State Farmers Market in Lexington was avoided this year when House members of the budget conference committee would not agree to the $13 million the Senate wanted to appropriate.

S.C. Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers asked the General Assembly to appropriate nearly $17 million in this year’s budget to purchase the property. It is owned by Columbia developer Bill Stern who also serves as the chairman of the State Ports Authority.

According to Weathers, the $17 million amount was based on an appraisal provided by Stern. The Senate agreed but the House balked. The Senate came down to the $13 million amount in conference, but the House still wouldn’t agree.

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