Author: Paul Gable

Horry County Council and Fiduciary Responsibility

I have heard much recently about how Horry County Council was exercising its fiduciary responsibility, overseeing the use of public money, by appointing an ad hoc committee to report on Coast RTA.

I always get a funny feeling when I hear ‘fiduciary responsibility’ from public officials because it’s usually a dodge for some other agenda.

The recent cancelling of a contract for signs and bus shelters by SCDOT and the possibility that Coast RTA may be required to pay back money already spent on the project is the alleged reason the ad hoc committee will be looking into how effectively Coast RTA spends its public dollar grants.

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Early Presidential Candidates Fail to Stir Voters

An early poll of potential presidential candidates for 2016 showed American voters don’t have anyone they really like at this point.

A sampling of the results:

Thirty percent of Republicans say they definitely won’t vote for Chris Christie.

Fifty percent of Americans say they definitely won’t vote for Jeb Bush.

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Texas Primary Good Omen for Lindsey Graham

If the Texas primaries are any indicator, Sen. Lindsey Graham will have little trouble holding onto his Senate seat despite Tea Party opposition.

In the home state of the Koch brothers and despite help from Sarah Palin and the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, Tea Party challenges to targeted incumbents fell flat yesterday.

John Cornyn, the number 2 ranking Republican in the Senate, was chastised by the Tea Party for not standing with fellow Texas senator Ted Cruz in the federal government shutdown and budget showdown.

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Vincent Sheheen Calls Out Chris Christie

Sen. Vincent Sheheen, the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Gov. Nikki Haley for the governor’s seat in the upcoming November general election, called out New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for hypocrisy.

Sheheen sent a letter to Christie calling on the N.J. governor to explain why the Republican Governors Association, which Christie chairs, financed an ad attacking Sheheen for Sheheen’s stance on Medicaid expansion.

Sheheen’s reasoning? The ad attacks Sheheen for taking a position, regarding federal dollars for Medicaid expansion, that Christie shares and has already accomplished in New Jersey.

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A Brief Shining Moment for Southern Holdings Plaintiffs

Sunshine broke through into a S.C. Circuit Courtroom yesterday highlighting at least one brief shining moment for the plaintiffs of the original Southern Holdings lawsuit.

Judge Doyet A. Early, III showed his courtroom follows the law, which, especially for the original Southern Holdings plaintiffs through the years, has been all too rare. He held forth as a judge who is not interested in the corrupt backroom deals that often smear the S.C. legal system, but, rather, in the truth.

As a result of Judge Early’s decisions yesterday, attorneys John Rakowsky and Adrian Falgione will have to answer questions, both will be deposed and discovery will move forward in the Rakowsky v. Falgione et al interpleader action.

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S.C. Legal System on Trial at High Noon

A noon hearing in a Columbia court room could go a long way to proving how much legitimacy should be attached to what passes for a legal system in South Carolina.

The issues aren’t big on their surface – a simple motions hearing on several motions associated with an interpleader action.

An interpleader action originates when a party holds property on behalf of another but does not know to whom the property should be transferred. It asks the court to make the decision.

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Small Business Problems at S.C. State Farmers Market

The move of the S.C. State Farmers Market to Lexington County in 2010 is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with S.C. politics.

The battle between Richland County and Lexington County over the new site for the market included allegations against then Rep. Nikki Haley of concealing income from a state contractor on her Statement of Economic Interests.

Haley was exonerated of ethics charges associated with that income by the S.C. House Ethics Committee in June 2012 in what can only be described by anyone who watched the proceedings as a “rigged” hearing.

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Coast RTA, SCDOT and Horry County Council Part II

Continued funding of Coast RTA by Horry County Council, and at what level, will be the focus of the ad hoc committee established by Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus earlier this week.

This discussion should have been settled when Horry County voters approved an advisory referendum supporting .6 mill (six-tenths of a mill) funding for Coast RTA by a 62% to 38% margin in the November 2010 general election.

For two years, council honored the voters’ decision. However, during last year’s budget considerations, council attempted to make funding contingent on Coast RTA getting a change in state law designating membership on the Coast RTA board.

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Coast RTA, SCDOT and Horry County Council

Horry County Council chairman Mark Lazarus officially announced the formation of an ad hoc committee to study a controversy between Coast RTA and S.C. Department of Transportation over a $1 million shelter and signage project that dates back to 2006, and an Intermodal Transportation Center project from 2010.

The ad hoc committee will be chaired by council member Marion Foxworth with council member Carl Schwartzkopf being a member. In addition, Coast RTA board chairman Bernie Silverman will be a committee member along with another Coast RTA board member to be determined by the Coast RTA board.

Rounding out the ad hoc committee will be a representative, from its members, chosen by the Myrtle Beach City Council and a representative, from its members, chosen by the Georgetown County Council as well as a community member chosen by Lazarus.

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Leslye Beaver Considering Council Run

Murrells Inlet entrepreneur and businesswoman Leslye Beaver is seriously considering entering the race for the Horry County Council District Five seat.

For a first time candidate, name recognition is often the biggest hurdle to overcome. This will not be a problem for Beaver.

Originator and owner/operator of the Beaver Bar and the newer Big Beaver Bar, Beaver is well known throughout District Five and the county in general.

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