By Paul Gable
The campaign team associated with Bob Kelly has been consistent in its attempts to sling mud at Horry County Council District 3 opponent Bubba Owens.
‘Yesterday the Kelly camp claimed Owens and his team are responsible for a series of robocalls being made to the voters of District 3.
This mudslinging began as soon as Owens filed for the election and has continued to date.
More recently, Wiles and his buddy Buz Martin have seen fit to include yours truly in their fantasies.
I don’t normally respond to stupid, but, in this case, I believe demonstrating the extent to which Wiles presents a faulty version of facts, whether they be about Big Talk or robocalls, is important for the voters involved in the special Republican primary election runoff for Horry County Council District 3 next Tuesday.
Let me share a portion of a Facebook post Wiles made yesterday.
“New Jersey native Paul Gable and fellow military vet here does his best to flay Bob Kelly and me alive on behalf of his principal, Donald Smith of Lucky Dog Productions. Paul and Donald are business associates in the local Internet TV talk show BIG TALK. As with his two previous blasts at the Kelly Campaign, Paul omits that conflict-of-interest disclosure from his latest hit job.
“Bubba Owens’ Campaign coordinated the content and timing of Gable’s hit job last night with a phony “independent expenditure” group calling itself the Friends of Bob Kelly.”
The name of Donald Smith’s company is Lucky Dog Television Productions. Donald and I are not business associates.
Big Talk was an independent production aired on WWMB CW21, never on the internet. It ran from September 2013 through August 2014.
I appeared on Big Talk without remuneration, the same as I have appeared on River Talk and Carolina People. All of my appearances have been unscripted with the express understanding I was free to speak what I thought, never what someone else wanted.
I write the same way – what I want, not what somebody else wants.
According to Pennsylvania Bar Association Records, Wiles’ law license has been suspended since 2005.
Even that long away from the profession, Wiles surely remembers from some first year business law class that a contract, which would form a business association, requires offer, acceptance and transfer of value. No transfer of value equals no contract equals no business association, merely an agreement on my part to participate on a show produced by Lucky Dog.
Since this campaign for the District 3 seat started, Wiles and Kelly have tried to take Owens out by slinging mud at him.
This began with very faulty reporting on Owens’ past brushes with the law and absolutely incorrect reporting of convictions.
When that didn’t work, Kelly and Wiles tried to bribe Owens to drop out of the race, never understanding this would not stop the primary process and could be illegal.
Now Kelly and Wiles are pitching some supposed series of robocalls targeting Kelly with claims that the Owens campaign is complicit in them. Wiles inferred it with Martin, posting as the Buzzman on Fits News, saying so more directly.
The robocall claim could be Wiles’ most outrageous yet, one with absolutely no basis in truth.
Jimmy the Wiles, you can shove your conflict-of-interest claims just as you can shove your claims that Bubba Owens has a “22 year criminal history;” that you didn’t try to bribe Owens to drop out of the runoff election and that the Owens campaign is associated with robocalls targeting Kelly.
Meanwhile, Kelly denies all knowledge of the bribe attempt. He hasn’t fired Wiles, which any normal candidate would have done immediately after hearing the Wiles voicemail we reported on earlier.
I have said before and say again now, when a candidate has nothing good to say about himself, he tries to say bad things about his opponent. That has been the script of the Kelly campaign to date with Wiles shopping around one bogus story after another trying to get some free publicity from media outlets.
Soon, there could be a very different venue these two have to answer in about that voicemail.
I have called this pair Carpetbaggers and Wiles has correctly pointed out I also grew up in the North.
However, the arrogance and ignorance Kelly and Wiles have demonstrated during this campaign, combined with the total contempt they have shown for the voters of District 3, has completed my conversion.
After 32 years in Horry County, I have become a Born Again Southerner.
Speak Up…