Politics

Curtis M. Loftis Jr., South Carolina’s treasurer

The Tough Fight of Curtis Loftis

Despite continuing efforts to embarrass and silence him, SC Treasurer Curtis Loftis continues to criticize the SCRSIC for poor performance.

Loftis was subjected to allegations in 2011 that he and Mallory Factor were partners in what was called a “pay to play” scheme involving state retirement funds.

Despite the best efforts of members of the SC Retirement System Investment Commission, Gov. Nikki Haley, then state senator Greg Ryberg and others, Loftis was cleared of all allegations by SLED and the SC Attorney General’s office.

Currently, he is facing an Ethics Commission hearing alleging Loftis used his influence as a state constitutional officer to include a business associate and friend as a lawyer in a lawsuit against the Bank of New York Mellon.

I predict these allegations will be found just as baseless.

The good ole boys and their confederates just can’t stand a politician who looks out for the public good first.

And Loftis is not criticizing without reason. The SC retirement system is consistently among the bottom few performers of public pension funds in the nation despite paying hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in fees and giving the underperforming staffers at the SCRSIC generous annual bonuses with more taxpayer dollars.

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Saving HCSWA Recycling Deal?

As expected, a full court press was applied yesterday to try and save the HCSWA – Charleston County recycling deal.

Unfortunately, this appears to be a full court press applied at the wrong time, in the wrong place for the wrong reasons.

The press is being applied to the council members who voted “No” on second reading of a budget amendment needed to allow the recycling deal to continue. With enough pressure, it is hoped that at least two will change their minds and vote to pass second reading after a reconsideration motion.

In other words, the press is strictly in the political arena while the problems are in the institutional oversight of solid waste matters within Horry County.

These are exactly the same types of problems that led Horry County Council to pass a flow control ordinance governing all solid waste in the county only to realize five years later that the ordinance was flawed in concept and needed to be amended.

The debate was fully political, not about policy. A few members of HCSWA staff combined with a few members of county staff to make dire predictions about what would happen to solid waste handling within the county if flow control was not enacted.

None of the dire predictions were true, as experience has taught us since 2009.

The HCSWA fought against amending the flow control ordinance, including spending over $1 million with a lobbyist, again with dire predictions that were just as false.

In fact, the amendment, which allows construction and demolition debris to be taken to any approved landfill, works in favor of the citizens of Horry County be reducing the amount of space used in the landfill thereby extending its life.

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Council Nixes HCSWA – Charleston County Contract

Horry County Council failed to pass second reading of a budget amendment that is required for the HCSWA to take recyclables from Charleston County.

A budget amendment requires an absolute super majority vote of council, nine “Yes” votes, in order to pass.

The amendment received a vote of 7-4. A vote of 9-2 was required to pass second reading. Horry County Council District 3 is without a member pending a special election this fall to replace Marion Foxworth who resigned after the August 18th council meeting to accept the Registrar of Deeds job.

Without a budget amendment approved by county council, the Horry County Solid Waste Authority has no authority to contract with Charleston County to take recyclables from Charleston County.

But, the HCSWA already has signed that contract and has been processing recyclables from Charleston County since late July.

And, it’s not the contract itself that caused four council members to vote against the budget amendment Tuesday night.

Rather, it’s the process, or lack of it, that the HCSWA used to come to an agreement with Charleston County in the first place.

According to past statements by several HCSWA officials, Charleston County first approached the HCSWA in late May 2015 about taking recyclables for processing at the HCSWA material recovery facility on Hwy 90.

At that point, the HCSWA should have informed Horry County Council what was being discussed and the ramifications for the HCSWA budget, which is part of the overall county budget approved by council.

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SC State Farmers Market Problems

By Paul Gable
The Legislative Audit Council recently released a report documenting ongoing problems at the SC State Farmers Market in Lexington.

The report was conducted at the request of members of the General Assembly.

The overall conclusion of the report is that the market is unable to sustain itself without the injection each year of taxpayer dollars.

A rebuttal at the end of the report by SC Secretary of Agriculture Hugh Weathers and his department disagrees strongly with the findings.

The SC State Farmers Market has been a political football since the SCDA determined the former market site in Richland County was not viable even though $4.4 million in taxpayer dollars had been spent to develop it.

However, former Agriculture Secretary Les Tindall opposed the relocation because he said the market made money without the need of taxpayer dollars with the help of rent it received on USC football home game days from parking fees.

A resolution to relocate the site passed the SC General Assembly on May 8, 2008. SCDA officials said there was no official commitment to Lexington County until the resolution passed even though an incentive agreement for the new site had been signed by Lexington County and the developer in December 2007.

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Myrtle Beach International Airport

The New Horry County Transportation Committee

The Horry County Transportation Committee held its inaugural meeting Thursday.

Appointed by Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus, after the Airport Advisory Board was discontinued several months ago, the committee members are Gary Loftus, Chairman and Johnny Vaught, Bill Howard and Lazarus.

The committee will provide initial oversight of issues for the full council on airports, Coast RTA and the railroad.

With the railroad sale now completed, R.J. Corman, the new owners, are clearing the track in preparation of fixing the line and bridges so that the portion in North Carolina to the SCDOT bridge across the waterway at Myrtle Beach can be opened for traffic.

Lazarus said Corman wants to open the track as quickly as possible for service to those former users and possibly new economic development opportunities associated with rail freight.

In time, it is possible that special passenger excursions, dinner trains, and the like will be run from Myrtle Beach to Conway, but that is for the future.

The largest undertaking over the next several months will be committee involvement with a comprehensive airport master plan for the county’s four general aviation airports – Myrtle Beach International, Grand Strand in North Myrtle Beach, Conway and Loris.

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International Drive Compromise Rejected

The Coastal Conservation League has rejected the latest effort at compromise over International Drive offered by Horry County.

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, Horry County offered a compromise that did not include bear tunnels.

Those sources say the CCL is insisting on one bear tunnel be included in the project.

According to Horry County officials, including a bear tunnel at this late date would require a total re-engineering of the project costing more than $1 million additional and would delay the start of construction for up to as much as two years.

No official agency, such as SCDOT, SCDNR, SCDHEC and the US Army Corps of Engineers, sees a need for even one bear tunnel in the project because the bear population in the area has seriously dwindled since the 2009 fire that swept through part of the Lewis Ocean Bay Preserve.

Additionally, an effort to harvest some of the remaining bear population allows for hunting of bears with a special permit during a portion of the year.

No word has been received on whether the CCL has requested a contested hearing over the International Drive project in the Administrative Law Court, but that move is expected by Horry County officials.

It is now questionable whether the CCL was ever negotiating in good faith with Horry County or whether this was just another delaying tactic since a SCDHEC committee rejected the request by the CCL for a final review of the International Drive project.

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International Drive Latest

Letters are still being exchanged between Horry County and the Coastal Conservation League as the court filing deadline looms.

After the second meeting between Horry County officials and the conservationists ended abruptly with the demand of an additional $1.6 million payment from Horry County to The Nature Conservancy, Horry County sent a letter to the CCL to see if there were still possible areas of agreement.

According to sources close to the negotiations, the CCL answered with a letter and the county responded to that letter yesterday.

According to those sources, the CCL request for a $1.6 million payment from Horry County and the bear tunnels have been removed from the CCL demands.

Those two events would seem to put the two sides close enough together so that an agreement could be reached avoiding a request by the CCL for a contested hearing in Administrative Law Court.

However, as we have seen with this issue, nothing can be taken for granted.

In the meantime, the group from the Hwy 90/Carolina Forest area that went down to demonstrate in front of the CCL offices in Georgetown Wednesday is to be congratulated.

Citizens’ entrance into the political discussion that is the International Drive issue is important for both sides to understand.

The chant of “What do we want? International Drive, When do we want it? NOW” sums up the citizens’ position on the issue.

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Why Donald Trump Matters

The following letter casts light on why Donald Trump and his message have caught on with average Americans across the nation.

His message resonates with them while those we call mainstream politicians of both parties don’t.

This was sent to me by my good friend John Bonsignor yesterday. It is just too good not to be shared. If you have seen it before, read again. If not, read to the end and think about it.

900 teachers just got laid off from the Los Angeles Unified School District. They are $650,000 over their annual budget. The following letter from an English teacher helps to explain one area that looms large over California’s educational crisis.

It is sad what is happening to our great country all because our politicians are afraid they will miss out on a vote. What a travesty!

THIS ENGLISH TEACHER HAS PHRASED IT THE BEST I’VE SEEN YET.

THIS SHOULD MAKE EVERYONE THINK, BE YOU DEMOCRAT, REPUBLICAN OR INDEPENDENT.

FROM A CALIFORNIA SCHOOL TEACHER – – –

“As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large Southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels.

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park , etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.

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Update: International Drive and the CCL

Propaganda and dissimulation have entered the International Drive debate in the form of an email sent by the Coastal Conservation League yesterday.

Evidently opposed to the First Amendment rights of Horry County citizens who plan to picket the CCL offices today in support of International Drive, the email said, “These people are smearing the conservation community, peddling misinformation, and resorting to other nefarious tactics in the name of paving and widening International Drive in Horry County.”

These citizens are neither smearing the conservation community nor peddling misinformation!

After last week’s attempt to obtain $1.6 million from Horry County for an agreement to drop opposition to International Drive, the CCL is playing the bear card again.

One other area of propaganda must again be addressed.

The email said, “SCDNR’s original conveyance of Heritage Trust property to Horry County in 2010 for the construction of this road included the condition that underground bear passageways be included. Three years later, Horry County asked SCDNR to eliminate the underground bear passageways in exchange for a handsome sum of money that wasn’t included in the first contract.”

What the email doesn’t say is that a fired roared through the area seriously depleting the bear population in the interim between the original conveyance and the agreement to eliminate the underground passageways.

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Residents protest International Drive delays

The delays on beginning the International Drive project are becoming more and more of a concern to citizens of Carolina Forest and Horry County in general.

The breakdown in talks between Horry County officials and representatives of the Coastal Conservation League and SC Wildlife Federation last week resulted in more meetings among concerned citizens groups in the county.

Normally, the Coastal Conservation League and its allies depend on the support of the average public to be successful in meeting their goals.

The International Drive issue is working exactly the opposite. Regular citizens, all of whom understand the importance of the road for public safety and traffic inner-connectivity, are increasing their protests against the delaying tactics of the conservationists for no real reason.

And, if the environmentalists are not careful, the public outcry against the stalling of International Drive will manifest itself with other projects. This is definitely true if the propensity of the environmentalists to make demands for money, ostensibly to buy land not needed for mitigation on projects, continues.

Tomorrow, a group of citizens from the Carolina Forest and Hwy 90 areas will descend on the offices of the Coastal Conservation League to register a public protest. Read the announcement below:

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