Author: Paul Gable

SCDOR Cyber-Hacking Scandal

A S.C. House special committee investigating the cyber-hacking scandal at the S.C. Department of Revenue heard shocking testimony from former SCDOR security officer Scott Shealy yesterday regarding incompetence at the agency.

Shealy worked as an IT security officer for DOR from 1997 – 2011 when he resigned to go to work for the S.C. Judicial Department. His testimony described an agency that was more interested in pinching pennies than assuring security of the records it was responsible to protect.

Maybe Shealy’s most shocking revelation was that the data security chief position he held went unfilled for 10 months after his departure while the data security team that worked for him was effectively dismantled.

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The North Charleston SRO Controversy

The introduction of school resource officers into elementary schools in North Charleston drew criticism from a parents group yesterday.

The decision to place SRO’s in elementary schools was essentially a unilateral one taken by North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey. He admitted making it in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings last month. In Summey’s opinion, armed police officers in elementary schools will make them safer.

A group of concerned parents and citizens, Citizens United for Public Schools, sees other potential results from Summey’s actions. Opposing the arbitrary introduction of SRO’s into elementary schools, CUPS has called for a town hall meeting on the issue next week.

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The Fiscal Cliff Deal

You have to give Congress credit, the television spot, sound bite and photo op drama was high as the “fiscal cliff’ was “avoided” in New Years Eve and New Years Day votes in the U.S. Senate and House.

Automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that were set to begin yesterday were avoided, but the health of the U.S. economy remains perilous.

What really happened was business as usual on Capitol Hill. By extending the Bush era tax cuts to everyone earning less than $450,000 per year, middle and lower class workers will pay less in income taxes. But approximately 96 percent of millionaires will also be paying less income tax than they would have paid if no deal was passed and Clinton era tax rates were restored.

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Election Filing Mess Leads 2012 Stories

As we look back on the news of 2012, the top story in South Carolina this year was the election filing mess that kept nearly 300 candidates off the ballot.

Most candidates affected were challengers to incumbent Republicans, although many Democrats got left off too, in the June primary. They were ineligible to be certified as candidates because the state and local Republican and Democratic parties did not understand, and did not make allowance for, a minor change in state law that required electronic filing of the candidates’ Statement of Economic Interests.

The party leaders never saw it coming and they blew it. I don’t believe it was a big conspiracy to keep new candidates off the ballot. Some newcomers did file properly and did get certified, too few for a real democratic process, however.

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Martin Luther King Day Seeks Musical Talent

Carolina Has Talent, a musical tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is included in the three-day Martin Luther King Celebratory Weekend, Jan. 19-21, 2012, in Myrtle Beach.

A latecomer to recognizing Martin Luther King Day as a holiday, Myrtle Beach has quickly closed the void by combining traditional celebration events with non-traditional events to promote a spirit of unity throughout the community.

One of these is the Carolina Has Talent event, which will be a musical talent competition with cash prizes and other rewards to the top competitors.

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Hidden Woods Special Tax Controversy

The residents of Hidden Woods sub-division in Horry County got a shock in October when property tax bills, with their new special tax district assessments included, arrived in the mail.

This is just another example of the many problems with homeowner associations or, in the case of Hidden Woods a property owner’s association.

In this case, the Hidden Woods POA led an initiative over the past several years to get roads in the private community up to county standards so they could be included in the county road system.

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Mark Sanford Back in 1st?

The name of former Gov. Mark Sanford has been prominent in the last several days in connection with the S.C. 1st Congressional District seat vacated by the promotion of Rep. Tim Scott to senator.

This is only natural as Sanford once represented a former iteration of the 1st District for three terms in Congress before honoring a personal term limits pledge and stepping away from the seat. Two years after stepping down from Congress, Sanford was elected to his first of two terms as governor.

Sanford’s name is well known as is his strict conservative, libertarian political philosophy. As we have stated before, Sanford was Tea Party before there was a Tea Party.

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The Military and the Fiscal Cliff

As 2012 winds down, we are hearing hourly about the fiscal cliff that the U.S. economy is approaching if our current do-nothing Congress can’t reach a deal on taxes and expenditures.

While much of the present focus is on not raising any new tax revenue and cutting entitlement spending, an overall concept of a budget for the entire U.S. government seems to be seriously absent.

The current fiscal cliff crisis, if you wish to call it that, is two philosophies, left and right, banging heads while no one in Washington attempts to see the bigger picture.

One area which I believe needs further investigation, as well as a reasonable long term plan for what we wish to accomplish, is defense spending.

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Term Limits Proposed for State Legislators

Several prefiled bills for the upcoming legislative session in the S.C. General Assembly propose to establish term limits for legislators serving in the two houses of the body.

The most popular limits, prefiled in both Houses, are six terms for representatives and four terms for senators. The proposed limits in both Houses would be sufficient to allow legislators to be fully vested for retirement and health benefits.

A bill calling for shorter limits of four terms in the House and two terms in the Senate has also been prefiled. In a state where over 90 percent of incumbents who run for re-election are returned each election cycle, this may be the only way of guaranteeing significant changes in the General Assembly makeup.

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Project Blue Dies – RIP

Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation president Brad Lofton announced to county council Tuesday night that the agency was discontinuing work on the infamous Project Blue.

This is the same project that Lofton called “Horry County’s Boeing” several months ago.

When the project was first announced back in June, council was notified it was on a fast track with a drop dead date to open by December 31, 2012.

Even though details of the project were sketchy to council and non-existent to the public for the first few months, the project seemed to be moving forward.

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