Tag: Horry County Council District 3

Dennis DiSabato Announces for Horry County District 3

Dennis DiSabato announced recently that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for Horry County Council District 3.

DiSabato is a 2000 graduate of the State University of New York Binghamton and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School in 2004. He is a member of the bar in New York, New Jersey and South Carolina.

DiSabato moved to Carolina Forest in 2006, currently residing with his wife Laura DiSabato in the Sawgrass East community. He operates a law office on Renee Drive in the Carolina Forest area, focusing on residential and commercial real estate transactions, real estate and commercial litigation and estate planning.

Since moving to Horry County, DiSabato has been active in local issues. He is a founding member of the Carolina Forest Civic Association, serving as that organization’s president from 2010-2012 and 2013-2014.

DiSabato is a graduate of Leadership Grand Strand Class XXIX, a member of the Coastal Carolina Sertoma Club having served as that organization’s president from 2008-2012. He is also a member of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and is a founder and past president of Horry County Citizens for Responsible Government.

DiSabato said infrastructure issues will be one area of focus if he is elected to serve the citizens of District 3.

“Revitalization of the downtown and south end areas of Myrtle Beach to bring jobs and businesses back into that area is important,” DiSabato said. “In the Carolina Forest area, road issues, especially widening of Carolina Forest Boulevard are important needs.”

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Vote Today Horry County Council District 3

Vote today in the Republican special primary runoff for Horry County Council District 3.

The runoff candidates are Myrtle Beach native Bubba Owens and New Jersey transplant Bob Kelly of Carolina Forest.

District 3 covers the south end of Myrtle Beach from 38th Ave. North to Market Common and across the waterway for a portion of Carolina Forest.

Voting precincts involved are:

• Carolina Bays (split precinct)
• Carolina Forest #1(split precinct)
• Coastal Lane #1
• Coastal Lane #2
• Emerald Forest #1
• Emerald Forest #2
• Jet Port #1 (split precinct)
• Jet Port #2 (split precinct)
• Myrtlewood #1
• Sea Oats #1
• Sea Oats #2

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

Any voter registered in Horry County District 3 is eligible to vote today. Primary elections in South Carolina are “open” meaning any registered voter, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent, is eligible to vote.

Even if you did not vote in the first round of primary balloting November 3rd, you are still eligible to vote today.

The winner of the primary runoff will face Democrat Jimmy Washington in the special general election December 22, 2015.

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

Any voter registered in Horry County District 3 is eligible to vote today. Primary elections in South Carolina are “open” meaning any registered voter, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent, is eligible to vote.

Even if you did not vote in the first round of primary balloting November 3rd, you are still eligible to vote today.

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Bubba Owens Camp Requests Investigations

The Bubba Owens campaign team is requesting investigations into the attempted bribes and illegal robocalls that have plagued the Horry District 3 special election.

After receiving opinions from two respected attorneys of good standing with experience in the workings of both state and federal election law in particular, the Owens camp is in the process of turning over to authorities all information it has with respect to the Bob Kelly campaign’s attempt to get Owens to drop out of the primary runoff.

According to the Owens camp, this information will include the key November 6, 2015 voicemail that enunciates the bribe along with other supporting voicemails, emails and other documents.

After reviewing the November 6th voicemail sent by Kelly campaign consultant Jim Wiles to Owens campaign consultant Donald Smith, and other evidence, both attorneys came to the same opinion. They stated there is no other way to interpret the November 6th voicemail than that it was a clear attempt to induce Owens to drop out of the race in exchange for receipt of something of value.

A portion of that voicemail states, “… give Kelly a shopping list of what they (Owens and his consultants) want for downtown Myrtle Beach in exchange for Bubba dropping out…”

Both said to say there must be an exchange of money to constitute a bribe, as a college professor opined in a local media, is to totally misunderstand the law. The laundry list for Bob Kelly to commit to represents value in their opinion.

Kelly told several local media outlets that he knew nothing of the Wiles voicemail until it was reported in the media. However, other voicemails and emails included in the evidence appear to contradict that position.

Kelly and his campaign consultant are complaining of recent robocalls, made by a group calling itself “Friends of Bob Kelly”, as being negative hits on him.

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Bubba Owens Again Targeted by Kelly Campaign

The campaign team associated with Bob Kelly has been consistent in its attempts to sling mud at Horry County Council District 3 opponent Bubba Owens.

Yesterday the Kelly camp claimed Owens and his team are responsible for a series of robocalls being made to the voters of District 3.

This mudslinging began as soon as Owens filed for the election and has continued to date.

More recently, Wiles and his buddy Buz Martin have seen fit to include yours truly in their fantasies.

I don’t normally respond to stupid, but, in this case, I believe demonstrating the extent to which Wiles presents a faulty version of facts, whether they be about Big Talk or robocalls, is important for the voters potentially involved in the special Republican primary election runoff for Horry County Council District 3 next Tuesday.

Let me share a portion of a Facebook post Wiles made yesterday.

“New Jersey native Paul Gable and fellow military vet here does his best to flay Bob Kelly and me alive on behalf of his principal, Donald Smith of Lucky Dog Productions. Paul and Donald are business associates in the local Internet TV talk show BIG TALK. As with his two previous blasts at the Kelly Campaign, Paul omits that conflict-of-interest disclosure from his latest hit job.

“Bubba Owens’ Campaign coordinated the content and timing of Gable’s hit job last night with a phony “independent expenditure” group calling itself the Friends of Bob Kelly.”

The name of Donald Smith’s company is Lucky Dog Television Productions. Donald and I are not business associates.

Big Talk was an independent production aired on WWMB CV21, never on the internet. It ran from September 2013 through August 2014.

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Bob Kelly Campaign Offers Bubba Owens Bribe to Quit

Bob Kelly and his consultant Jim Wiles have so little respect for Horry County voters they offered opponent Bubba Owens a bribe to quit the runoff election.

The runoff election for the Republican nomination for the vacant Horry County Council District 3 seat is set for November 17, 2015.

However, Kelly and his henchmen seem to want to avoid that by bringing Northeast big city machine politics to Horry County in the form of a bribe for Owens to quit the race.

If you question the use of the word bribe, its definition in The Free Dictionary is “Something offered to induce another to do something.” Merriam Webster dictionary states, “Something that serves to induce or influence.”

A November 6, 2015 voicemail message from Wiles to Owens’ campaign consultant said, “Team Bubba should put together a shopping list of stuff that they would want for downtown Myrtle Beach for Bob Kelly to commit to in exchange for Bubba dropping out…”

South Carolina Code of Laws Section 7-25-200 states it is unlawful to offer anything of value to induce a person to withdraw as a candidate.

The only question here is whether a court would view the offer ‘give Kelly a shopping list of what they (Owens and his consultants) want for downtown Myrtle Beach in exchange for Bubba dropping out’ as a criminal act. It certainly goes right up to that line, if it does not, in fact, cross it.

We’ll leave that decision to the solicitors and federal prosecutors. But, the message certainly violates the spirit of the law if not the actual letter of the law.

However, in addition to inducement to quit the runoff election, another criminal consideration is that Kelly’s team is offering to commit public dollars to proposed projects for the personal gain for Kelly of Owens dropping out of the election.

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Bob Kelly Goes Negative on Bubba Owens

The special election campaign for Horry County Council District 3 took a negative turn this week with an attempt to smear Republican candidate Bubba Owens.

This was not unexpected as the campaign of Bob Kelly has been trying for weeks to get out what it thought was damaging information about Owens.

The information came from a search of the public index of court records on Owens.

After that search, Kelly’s campaign consultant, Jim Wiles, sent an email to GSD and other media, which, among other things, decried the “22 year criminal record (of Owens) in Horry County” including “two convictions for criminal domestic violence.”

The email went on to claim “15 criminal convictions” and called Owens a “violent felon with a 22 year history of domestic violence.”

A search of the SLED CATCH system, which is the Criminal Justice Information System of South Carolina, reveals only three entries.

Owens plead guilty to unlawful use of a telephone (a misdemeanor) in January 1997 and public disorderly conduct (a misdemeanor) in June 2004.

Owens was arrested for criminal domestic violence (a felony) in 2013, but the charges were dismissed because no probable cause for the arrest was found.

(The SLED CATCH documents are attached at the end of this story.)

Another attached document is a summons for Owens to serve as a federal district court jurist in December 2015. For those of you not familiar with the law, a convicted felon cannot serve on a jury in South Carolina, neither federal nor state.

So, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division records do not show Owens to be a felon. Neither do SC court system records.

One has to wonder, however, why the Kelly campaign, one which claims his career as a police officer as some kind of shining endorsement and touts the words “Zero Tolerance” as if it were a Bible verse, felt the need to stoop so low.

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Candidate Forum Today

A candidate forum for both Horry County Council District 3 and the Myrtle Beach City Council candidates will be held today at the Canal Street Recreation Center.

This will provide a double opportunity for those living on the South end of Myrtle Beach to see and hear the candidates they will be voting for next week.

First round voting for the special election to fill the unexpired term of former council member Marion Foxworth in the county District 3 and the general election for Myrtle Beach city council will be held Tuesday November 3rd.

The forum for the county council candidates will begin at 5 p.m. It will run approximately one and one-half hours. A 15 minute break will occur between the two forums with the city council forum scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m.

Each forum will include opening and closing statements by the candidates and questioning of the candidates on important issues facing local government. The public will have the opportunity to participate in the forums by submitting questions, of particular concern to them, to the forum moderators.

Between the two forums, two appreciation of service awards will be presented.

Former Horry County Council member for District 3 Marion Foxworth will be one recipient. Foxworth resigned from office in August to accept the job as Horry County Registrar of Deeds.

Retiring city council member Susan Grissom Means will be the other recipient of an appreciation of service award.

This forum is being held as the campaigns accelerate into high gear for the final week of electioneering.

South Carolina is known for its hardball (many would call it dirty) politics. One only has to go back to the 2000 smear campaign waged against presidential candidate John McCain in South Carolina.

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