Politics

Secrecy, Intimidation and the Obama Administration

A recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalists says the Obama administration is the most aggressive administration to pursue leaks to journalists since the Nixon administration’s plumbers unit during the Watergate investigation.

This from a president that promised more openness in government while he was running for election in 2008.

Information provided from the Obama administration generally falls into the category of that which makes the administration look good.

Otherwise, it’s overclassify information, nearly unprecedented attempts to control leaks and significant surveillance on journalists to attempt to intimidate them and learn the identity of their sources.

Myrtle Beach International Airport

WestJet End Game

Horry County Council will vote on a proposal to pay the county’s approximately $570,000 bill to WestJet Tuesday night bringing an end to the WestJet guaranteed revenue saga.

The proposal, which gained approval of the Administration Committee, last week will have the county’s current set aside portion of accommodations tax money, $250,000, paid to WestJet immediately.

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce will pay the other $320,000 and recoup that money over the next few years from annual accommodations tax set aside funds the county receives.

Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Myrtle Beach – A Tale of Two Cities

Two neighborhood watch meetings in Myrtle Beach in recent days highlight the great divide that separates the city, according to several candidates in this year’s city election.

A meeting of the Withers Swash Neighborhood Crime Watch group was filled with complaints about three home invasions, one that included a rape of a woman with a gun, an armed robbery, drug deals in church parking lots, prostitution arrests and a shootout on Maple Street, among other incidents all in the last month.

To say the group attending the meetings was irate is to minimize the feelings in the room. However, being on the south end of the city, the neighbors are used to serious crime and minimal police presence.

Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Horry County Nixes Reality Show

According to the latest information from inside Horry County Government, a reality show looking to film during a bike rally won’t become a reality in Horry County.

A production team from PSG Films, the group that films “Alaska State Troopers”, initially got approval to ride along with Horry County police during last week’s fall bike rally.

However, there was not enough time to sell sponsorships, so planning moved to the 2014 spring rally.

Then some Horry County officials not necessarily sympathetic to bike rallies heard about the plans. You know, ‘Take Back May’ and all that.

Horry County and the WestJet Guarantee

Horry County has finally made public the full extent of the cost to county taxpayers for the deal the county signed with WestJet to bring the Canadian airline to Myrtle Beach International Airport.

According to a press release from Horry County Public Information Officer Lisa Bourcier, the county expects to owe WestJet $570,000 by the end of the year.
The county entered into an incentive agreement with WestJet in order to attempt to open up new markets to the airport.

It was our original understanding, from members of council, that the county was guaranteeing WestJet against loss, in the first year of these new routes, up to $1 million.

Executive Producer Talks “Big Talk”

One month into the new politically oriented television show, “Big Talk”, Donald Smith the executive producer said the show is coming along as he expected.

“You always go through a learning cycle in the beginning getting the lighting and sound right and melding the personalities on the set,” said Smith. “We are right at the point I thought we would be after one month.”

Talking politics is considered a no-no in polite society, especially when there are three people with strong opinions doing the talking. The three, Jack Murphy, Jon Bonsignor and Paul Gable encompass most of the political spectrum between them.

Brenda Christy Book Signing

Retired Myrtle Beach police officer Brenda Christy will have the first public viewing of her book on the real inner workings of the Myrtle Beach Police Department in conjunction with the last two days of the fall Harley Davidson Rally.

Christy will be available to discuss and sign her book, “Superlative Soul or Nefarious Soul”, Thursday October 3rd and Friday October 4th at Myrtle Beach Harley Davidson, 4710 South Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach.

In her book, Christy outlines the treatment she received at the hands of senior staff after being called “a thorn in my side” by Chief Warren Gall.

Coast RTA Asking County for Specifics

Coast RTA is asking Horry County Council to give specifics in writing defining “good faith effort” as it relates to the council’s prior request for increased representation on the Coast RTA board.

This request for increased representation held up initial approval, by council, of FY 2014 fourth quarter funds for Coast RTA of approximately $263,000.

The population of the Coast RTA board is determined by current state law. County council currently gets to approve one board member, council member Gary Loftus at this time.

County council would like to appoint three members to the Coast RTA board, which it believes to be in line with its grant contributions of approximately $1.06 million per year (six-tenths of a mill) to the Coast RTA budget.

HCSWA Board Just Doesn’t Get It

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority (HCSWA) board ignored business while spending one-third of its meeting time Tuesday night in what appeared to be a choreographed criticism over the verbiage in emails sent by board member Dan Gray.

The entire exercise was utterly ridiculous, but it did accomplish its probable goal of altering the discussion from what the HCSWA board and staff is not doing to chastising the one board member who has the courage to point out what the board and authority should be doing.

The email that offended the board members is quoted below in its entirety. It was sent in reference to the public meeting held by the authority recently to discuss plans for HCSWA property after closure of the landfill.

Curtis Loftis Wins Battle for Public Fund Accountability

An agreement between S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis and the S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission (SCRSIC) is expected to be finalized tomorrow allowing four members of Loftis’ staff greater access to supporting investment documents of the state’s public pension fund.

Loftis has already signed the agreement and the SCRSIC board, on which Loftis serves, is expected to vote its approval tomorrow.

Since taking office nearly three years ago, Loftis sought to have members of his staff in the Treasurer’s Office get greater access to SCRSIC documents in order to help him (Loftis) conduct proper due diligence on investment decisions by the commission.