Author: Paul Gable

General Assembly Failing Citizens Again

S.C. General Assembly Failing Citizens Again

This year’s legislative session is down to the last four days and members of the General Assembly are again making sure nothing meaningful will come out of this session.

The Senate killed any chance for ethics reform with a vote that refused to move the ethics reform bill up in the waiting queue. So legislators will maintain ethics investigations in house, actually that means there won’t be any investigations, and we will again not know what their private sources of income are.

Earlier, a bill to expand the Freedom of Information Act was buried in the House where it was recommitted to the Judiciary Committee after getting a favorable vote out earlier. We wouldn’t want the members of the General Assembly to have to divulge their e-mails and other correspondence to the general public. Better they remain secret.

Continue Reading →

Rising Taxes in Horry County

It now looks virtually certain that the new fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2013, will include increased taxes on the unincorporated areas of Horry County.

County council is expected to raise taxes by 3.5 mills in the unincorporated areas to fund new fire equipment and to fill some currently vacant positions.

The increase will amount to approximately $14 per $100,000 valuation on owner occupied homes, which will provide approximately $3.5 million in new revenue.

If these upgrades are not made to county fire service, council members say the county’s ISO rating will increase, especially in the rural areas, causing homeowners to pay higher fire insurance premiums.

Continue Reading →
Curtis M. Loftis Jr. and Chris Christie

What politicians will do for a little ink…

Treasurer Curtis Loftis In Hospital With Chest Pains

Click READ FULL STORY below to wish Treasurer Loftis a speedy recovery.

South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis has checked himself into a hospital after suffering chest pains.

Spokesman Brian DeRoy says Loftis underwent tests Monday and expects to be released on Tuesday. DeRoy says the Republican treasurer has been working long days recently and suspects he suffered from exhaustion.

Loftis’ fight with the commission that oversees retirees’ pension funds in the state led to a lawsuit last month that was quickly settled.

Continue Reading →
Memorial Day 2013

Remembering What Matters on Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, all Americans should think about the sacrifices made by military service members, their spouses, and their children. Instead, many Americans spend it as a day off of work, having a barbeque or watching baseball games. American Thinker asked some former and current members of the military to consider what Memorial Day means to them.

Many military families talk about the importance of the day but do not reflect on the actual meaning of this holiday. As Sam, a military spouse noted, “there are a lot of Gold Star Families in our neighborhood. In seeing that, my children are reminded each and every day that their mom might not come back from Afghanistan. I don’t want the children focusing on the sadness and the specifics of that day.”

Continue Reading →
Everett Golson

Everett Golson Statement on Suspension

The following is a statement released by Myrtle Beach native Everett Golson, through the University of Notre Dame sports department, regarding his academic suspension from the university. Golson will be ineligible to play for Notre Dame in the 2013 football season.

“I have been informed by the University of Notre Dame that due to my poor academic judgment that I have been suspended from the University for the 2013 Fall Term,” Golson said. “I take full responsibility for my poor choices and will do all that is asked of me to regain the trust of my family, friends, teammates, coaches and the entire Notre Dame community.”

“My parents and the community I grew up in have instilled values in me that have and will continue to allow me to be successful in the future. There have been many lessons learned as I worked to become the starting quarterback at Notre Dame and each was a result of Coach (Brian) Kelly’s belief in me as an athlete and a person.

Continue Reading →

SC Treasurer Announces SC Pension Fund Lawsuit Settlement

SC Treasurer Curtis Loftis told fellow members of the S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission Thursday that a lawsuit with Bank of New York Mellon Corp. regarding the SC pension fund had been settled.

The lawsuit dated back to 2009 when the state alleged the bank had lost $200 million of state pension funds through bad investments associated with the financial meltdown of 2008-09. The suit was run through the SC Treasurer’s office beginning with Loftis’ predecessor Converse Chellis.

Loftis declined to discuss details of the settlement with the commission until all settlement provisions are completed, according to provisions of the settlement.

Continue Reading →

Richland County Election Problems

Richland County Council voted again Tuesday night to delay payments of attorney fees associated with the November 6, 2012 election disaster that kept voters standing in line at polls for six or more hours at some locations.

The council asked its staff lawyer to audit 46 pages of attorney fees, totaling $101,675.80, looking for any charges that should not be attributed to the county. Questions about the county being charged for attorney fees associated with then election director Lillian McBride were raised during the discussion.

McBride resigned her position after catching the flak for the numerous voting regularities associated with the election, which included a referendum on a $1.07 billion capital project sales tax initiative.

Continue Reading →

Defending the First Amendment

The Obama administration’s attack on the First Amendment took a predictable turn recently when White House Press Secretary Jay Carney reiterated the administration’s use of national security concerns in justifying White House investigations of journalists.

In attempting to justify the Justice Department’s seizing of reporters’ phone records and emails, Carney said, “The president believes it’s important that we find the proper balance between the need—absolute need to protect our secrets and to prevent leaks that can jeopardize the lives of Americans and can jeopardize our national security interests on the one hand and the need for—to defend the First Amendment and protect the ability of reporters to pursue investigative journalism.”

The original attack on the First Amendment, with the Sedition Acts way back in 1798, made it illegal for persons to criticize the administration and/or government, even if the criticism was true. The acts were passed by the Federalist Congress in the mistaken impression that they were combating anarchy – a threat to national security.

Continue Reading →

Our Other Left

Those of you who have had the pleasure of going through basic training in the military can probably remember, as I do, the comic relief invariably provided by ‘our other left’ while learning how to drill.

Inevitably one or two members of a company will forget that you step out on your left foot and will be out of step while a drill instructor is running alongside yelling ‘NO, your other left idiot, your other left’, or something to that effect.

Some people just seem to be born with two left feet.

We are having a similar problem in South Carolina with local and state government. We seem to be suffering from two left wings.

Continue Reading →
Carolina Southern Railroad

Carolina Southern Railroad Heist?

An unofficial committee of three local counties passed two resolutions Wednesday calling for new ownership for the Carolina Southern Railroad while acknowledging the railroad is essential for Horry and Marion counties in South Carolina and Columbus County, NC.

Grandly calling itself the “‘Interstate Railroad Committee of North and South Carolina’, this group of public officials representing several communities and three counties across two states, with no legal basis, has finally come out of the closet with its true purpose.

That purpose is to wrest ownership of the railroad from Ken Pippin and his family.

Since when, in America, is it the purpose of one government or a group of governments to decide who should own a private business?

Continue Reading →
1 … 128 129 130 131 132 … 171