Tag: Conway mayoral election

The Veil is Lifted on Richardson Campaign Expenditures

The Ken Richardson campaign for mayor of Conway finally filed its pre-election campaign disclosure report with the S. C. Ethics Commission late at night on October 26, 2023, four days late.
Earlier in the day of October 26, 2023, Grand Strand Daily published a story which posed the question, “Is there some required information about donations and/or expenditures that the campaign did not want to make public before last night’s mayoral debate at Coastal Carolina University?”
After viewing the pre-election report filing, it seems that question was directly on-point.
When people donate money to a candidate, there is some expectation the candidate will be a good steward of the money donated and money will be spent in the local economy, if at all possible.
Richardson followed these principles in his previous campaigns for school board chairman and for Congress. He publicly pledged that campaign expenditures would be made within the county in the school board race and within the 7th Congressional District in his race for Congress. He challenged opponents to do the same.
Those principles and promises have been cast to the wayside in this election by the Richardson campaign.
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Richardson Campaign Misses Campaign Disclosure Report Deadline

According to South Carolina state Ethics Law, a candidate for state or local office is required to file a campaign disclosure report within 10 days after $500 is raised or spent by the campaign. After the initial filing, the candidate must file quarterly reports to the S. C. Ethics Commission.
Campaign disclosure reports are public records of campaign finances, donations and expenses, which allow the public to view how much and from whom a candidate receives donations and how much and to whom campaign expenditures are made. The reports are designed to provide voters with a transparent view of a candidate’s campaign financing.
A pre-election disclosure report is required to be filed 15 days prior to election day. A quarterly report may be combined with the pre-election report if the quarter ends within 30 days of the date on which the pre-election report is required.
The date for filing a pre-election report for the upcoming November 7, 2023, election for Conway city offices was yesterday, October 23, 2023, according to the Ethics Commission.
One candidate, Ken Richardson who is challenging Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy, failed to file a pre-election campaign disclosure report by yesterday’s required deadline.
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Richardson Campaign Ad Criticizes Length of Mayoral Proclamation not its Content

There was finally a comment last Thursday about Conway Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy’s Proclamation for LGBTQ Month in a full-page ad by the Ken Richardson for Mayor Campaign.
Richardson claimed in a local podcast that he had over 300 phone calls urging him to run for mayor after Blain-Bellamy issued the proclamation. Richardson claimed 41 ministers called him to support his candidacy. Some of these ministers publicly called the LGBTQ lifestyle an abomination and requested the mayor to rescind the proclamation.
Rather than criticizing the content of the proclamation, the Richardson campaign chose to criticize that it proclaimed June as Pride Month while national holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Veterans Day are only celebrated for one day. It’s not the content of the proclamation, it’s the length it covers.
The criticism, however, is like comparing apples to oranges. National holidays are one-day paid holidays from work. I guess the Richardson campaign is not aware of other special months recognized by various proclamations at the national level and also recognized by state and local governments. There is National Mentoring Month, Stalking Awareness Month, Slavery and Human Trafficking Month, American Heart Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, American Red Cross Month, National Autism Month and, yes, National Military Appreciation Month, to name a few.
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Richardson Campaign Calls Mayoral Proclamations Divisive

The fourth edition of full-page ads promoting the candidacy of Ken Richardson for Conway mayor was published in local media last week. The first three ads were basically a world salad of claims without any specifics.
Last week’s ad hit a new level of inscrutability. It claimed in part, “…Yet, lately we’ve seen division seep into our city’s fabric. The current mayor’s unilateral proclamations have left us feeling fractured…”
Wondering what caused claims of division and fracturing, I did a random search of Conway City Council Agenda to find these supposed divisive horrors. There were mayoral proclamations issued for “National Garden Week”, the “50th Anniversary of the United Way”, “Donate Life Month”, “Conway 10 and Under Fast Pitch Softball State Champions”, “Conway 12 and Under Fast Pitch Softball State Champions”, and to “Sargeant Major KaJuan Butler for 30 years of service in the U. S. Army”.
The ad for the Richardson campaign mentioned “unilateral proclamations” (plural) not any specific proclamation. Again, the public is being treated to general statements with no specificity from the Richardson campaign. General statements that fall into the category of word salad.
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