Tag: Auditor

Candidate Filing One Week Away, Silly Season Has Already Begun

Filing for elective office in the county is one week away which will begin what can only be called the “silly season” when facts are few and far between.

However, in one race, the one for a new county Auditor, “silly season” began last August when local CPA Clark Parker announced his candidacy for the position of Auditor and his various pronouncements and posts since.

When Parker announced his campaign last August, he said he could “contribute a lot to the needs of the county” and that “it is important that we collect all our taxes that are due to the county.”

Shortly after his announcement, local media reported Parker was delinquent in paying personal property taxes for tax years 2012, 2017 and 2018. Those delinquent taxes were paid by Parker after the information became public.

Parker was reportedly taking campaign advice from a group of advisors. One or more of those convinced Parker to begin placing campaign yard signs. County ordinance forbids such campaign signs from being placed until 45 days before election voting. Election voting for the Republican primary is June 9, 2020. Signs cannot be placed until near the end of next month, but Parkers were out last fall.

A Facebook post encouraged supporters to take a picture with one of the signs. The best picture was supposed to be rewarded with free dinner for two at Rioz Brazilian steakhouse.

One of Parker’s campaign operatives, Johnny Fryar, was a guest on Talking Politics, hosted by John Bonsignor and myself. I notified Fryar of the illegal timing of the signs. He tried to argue the point with no knowledge of the ordinance. Sometime after the show, the campaign signs were removed.

Since that time, other Facebook posts on Parker’s campaign page have called him the “technology candidate” even though he does not understand what technology the county has and does not understand that county technology is not controlled by the Auditor.

He has also called himself the “2nd Amendment candidate” although I haven’t the slightest clue what the right to bear arms has to do with an office that prepares tax bills for the county. Nor does Parker.

This is a campaign with no message other than throwing a bunch of stuff against the wall and hoping something sticks with voters.

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First Republican Candidate Poll

Grand Strand Daily has acquired a copy of results from a recent poll on some of the Republican candidates in Horry County and several key races in this election cycle.

Polls such as this are not uncommon this early in the primary period as PACs, campaigns, business groups and donors are interested in where respective candidates are starting and what work must be done to make them viable.

Grand Strand Daily is in no way associated with this poll, but was able to obtain a copy of the results.

According to information provided, polling was conducted over four days. Only registered Republican voters who participated in at least two of the last three Republican primaries were contacted. A total of 347 interviews were completed for the poll sample.

The polling was very limited to ascertain only name recognition and favorability factors for the candidates listed.

Results from the poll questions were as follows:

Questionnaire

I am going to read a list of 12 declared candidates for elective office in Horry County in 2016. Please tell me if you have ever heard of or are familiar with this person. If you do not know this person, just respond ‘Don’t Know’. If you do know or have heard of this person, please tell me if you view this person ‘Favorably’, ‘Unfavorably’ or ‘No Opinion’.

Candidate Don’t Know Fav Unfav No Opinion

Robert Seth Rabon 68%/236 42 12 57

Lois Eargle 31%/108 169 69 109

Scott Pyle 49%/170 94 23 60

Luke Rankin 29%/101 166 51 29

Dennis DiSabato 56%/194 69 41 43

Angie Jones 69%/239 23 65 21

Jonathon Hyman 76%/263 44 12 28

Gary Loftus 42%/145 80 42 80

Dick Withington 61%/212 12 79 44

David Jordan 58%/201 68 31 47

Rene Elvis 72%/250 36 48 13

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