Tag: Jim Wiles

Southerners Don’t Care How You Did It Up North

Certain events in the local political arena over the last year have made me understand much more completely why Southerners say, ‘We don’t care how you do it up north.’

Tip O’Neill told us all politics are local. What he didn’t tell us is it takes a transplant a long time to truly understand all the intricacies of ‘local.’

As a transplant from the north myself 32 years ago, I know there is a certain amount of resentment someone from the north can expect to experience after relocating permanently to the south.

I always attributed it to that ‘Civil War thing.’ After all, if your ancestors were on the receiving end of one of the biggest ass kickings in military history from my ancestors, you have a right to be a bit resentful.

There is also a significant difference in the general way the two regions view the political spectrum of ideologies, which I felt was a major reason Southerners didn’t want Northerners messing about too much in their politics.

Can’t blame anyone for that attitude.

Some transplants from the north have operated effectively in the local political arena. Loftus comes immediately to mind in local politics and Mark Kelly on the state level in earlier times.

However, it’s certainly a fact that the most effective politicians during my three plus decades of direct observation in Horry County have been those home grown natives with deep roots in the local area.

Most transplants who have tried their luck at running for local political office have been unsuccessful, except when one transplant was running against another transplant, which has happened, if rarely.

Much of that limited success can be attributed to ‘We don’t care how you do it up north.’

Recently, however, several transplants from the north have truly demonstrated how not to do it in local politics.

Yesterday, one local transplant, Dick Withington, was arrested for trying to get another transplant, incumbent Horry County Council District 4 member Gary Loftus, to pay Withington not to oppose Loftus in the upcoming election for Loftus’ seat.

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Bob Kelly Alleges Conspiracy By Opponents

Bob Kelly, the loser of the recent Horry County District Three special general election, attempted to set a new low in Horry County politics during the campaign.

Shortly after securing the Republican nomination for the election, Kelly filed papers with the SC Attorney General, Horry County Solicitor and SC Ethics Commission alleging a criminal conspiracy among all of his primary opponents and various other politicos in the county.

According to those papers, Kelly was assisted by his campaign manager Jim Wiles in these attempts to spur investigations.

Kelly told us many times during the campaign that he was a 25 year veteran of law enforcement in New Jersey and, according to Pennsylvania Bar Association postings, Wiles is a suspended former lawyer.

However, the attempt to describe a conspiracy in Kelly’s submission to the above named agencies reads more like a plot line for a new “Dumb and Dumber” sequel.

The alleged conspiracy revolves around robocalls that claimed to be sent by “The Friends of Bob Kelly” during the primary election.

Robocalls to cell phones are illegal by federal statute (although that didn’t seem to stop the Republican presidential candidates from making them during the recent SC primary campaign). Violations of the federal statute come under the investigative purview of the Federal Communications Commission.

Robocalls are not illegal according to any South Carolina statute.

Nevertheless, Kelly asked the Attorney General and Horry County Solicitor to bring a “charge of felony conspiracy with multiple counts … of misdemeanor harassment” against a list of people including all of his Republican primary opponents.

It must be noted that Kelly offered no evidence, other than supposition, that his opponents were involved with the robocalls and his alleged criminal conspiracy.

It’s almost as if Kelly is saying, I had a dream the other night that my opponents were involved in a conspiracy against me. Therefore, they should be charged with criminal conspiracy.

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Bubba Owens Camp Requests Investigations

The Bubba Owens campaign team is requesting investigations into the attempted bribes and illegal robocalls that have plagued the Horry District 3 special election.

After receiving opinions from two respected attorneys of good standing with experience in the workings of both state and federal election law in particular, the Owens camp is in the process of turning over to authorities all information it has with respect to the Bob Kelly campaign’s attempt to get Owens to drop out of the primary runoff.

According to the Owens camp, this information will include the key November 6, 2015 voicemail that enunciates the bribe along with other supporting voicemails, emails and other documents.

After reviewing the November 6th voicemail sent by Kelly campaign consultant Jim Wiles to Owens campaign consultant Donald Smith, and other evidence, both attorneys came to the same opinion. They stated there is no other way to interpret the November 6th voicemail than that it was a clear attempt to induce Owens to drop out of the race in exchange for receipt of something of value.

A portion of that voicemail states, “… give Kelly a shopping list of what they (Owens and his consultants) want for downtown Myrtle Beach in exchange for Bubba dropping out…”

Both said to say there must be an exchange of money to constitute a bribe, as a college professor opined in a local media, is to totally misunderstand the law. The laundry list for Bob Kelly to commit to represents value in their opinion.

Kelly told several local media outlets that he knew nothing of the Wiles voicemail until it was reported in the media. However, other voicemails and emails included in the evidence appear to contradict that position.

Kelly and his campaign consultant are complaining of recent robocalls, made by a group calling itself “Friends of Bob Kelly”, as being negative hits on him.

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Bob Kelly Campaign Offers Bubba Owens Bribe to Quit

Bob Kelly and his consultant Jim Wiles have so little respect for Horry County voters they offered opponent Bubba Owens a bribe to quit the runoff election.

The runoff election for the Republican nomination for the vacant Horry County Council District 3 seat is set for November 17, 2015.

However, Kelly and his henchmen seem to want to avoid that by bringing Northeast big city machine politics to Horry County in the form of a bribe for Owens to quit the race.

If you question the use of the word bribe, its definition in The Free Dictionary is “Something offered to induce another to do something.” Merriam Webster dictionary states, “Something that serves to induce or influence.”

A November 6, 2015 voicemail message from Wiles to Owens’ campaign consultant said, “Team Bubba should put together a shopping list of stuff that they would want for downtown Myrtle Beach for Bob Kelly to commit to in exchange for Bubba dropping out…”

South Carolina Code of Laws Section 7-25-200 states it is unlawful to offer anything of value to induce a person to withdraw as a candidate.

The only question here is whether a court would view the offer ‘give Kelly a shopping list of what they (Owens and his consultants) want for downtown Myrtle Beach in exchange for Bubba dropping out’ as a criminal act. It certainly goes right up to that line, if it does not, in fact, cross it.

We’ll leave that decision to the solicitors and federal prosecutors. But, the message certainly violates the spirit of the law if not the actual letter of the law.

However, in addition to inducement to quit the runoff election, another criminal consideration is that Kelly’s team is offering to commit public dollars to proposed projects for the personal gain for Kelly of Owens dropping out of the election.

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Reader Slams Attacks on Bubba Owens

I saw some really nasty and what I felt was unfair mud-slinging in this race this year towards Mr. Bubba Owens from his competitors.

I hate mud-slinging!

Mr Kelly and his campaign manager Mr Jim Wiles brought up Mr. Owens past public records for prior years. (I think we all have a past).

In reviewing them it appeared to me that they were either dismissed or never proved to be true. I thought everyone was innocent until proven guilty.

Shame on you Mr. Kelly for allowing this to happen!

I hope and have so far seen that Mr. Owens has much more class than that. Usually though when you try pointing a finger at someone else you usually have 3 more pointing at yourself.

It is my assumption that Mr. Owens is a born and bred Horry County man. I will guess that Mr. Kelly is not.

I have many many friends from up North. They love it down here. Taxes are lower, cost of living is lower, the weather is better. Most of us get along fine and we love the friendships.

What most of us do not like is when people retire from up north, move to Horry County and then try to change our lifestyle which seems to always make the natives (our) taxes go up so that things can be done to the standards that you had up north.

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Bob Kelly Goes Negative on Bubba Owens

The special election campaign for Horry County Council District 3 took a negative turn this week with an attempt to smear Republican candidate Bubba Owens.

This was not unexpected as the campaign of Bob Kelly has been trying for weeks to get out what it thought was damaging information about Owens.

The information came from a search of the public index of court records on Owens.

After that search, Kelly’s campaign consultant, Jim Wiles, sent an email to GSD and other media, which, among other things, decried the “22 year criminal record (of Owens) in Horry County” including “two convictions for criminal domestic violence.”

The email went on to claim “15 criminal convictions” and called Owens a “violent felon with a 22 year history of domestic violence.”

A search of the SLED CATCH system, which is the Criminal Justice Information System of South Carolina, reveals only three entries.

Owens plead guilty to unlawful use of a telephone (a misdemeanor) in January 1997 and public disorderly conduct (a misdemeanor) in June 2004.

Owens was arrested for criminal domestic violence (a felony) in 2013, but the charges were dismissed because no probable cause for the arrest was found.

(The SLED CATCH documents are attached at the end of this story.)

Another attached document is a summons for Owens to serve as a federal district court jurist in December 2015. For those of you not familiar with the law, a convicted felon cannot serve on a jury in South Carolina, neither federal nor state.

So, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division records do not show Owens to be a felon. Neither do SC court system records.

One has to wonder, however, why the Kelly campaign, one which claims his career as a police officer as some kind of shining endorsement and touts the words “Zero Tolerance” as if it were a Bible verse, felt the need to stoop so low.

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