Tag: Janice Morreale

Richardson Rolls To GOP Nomination

Ken Richardson was the heavy favorite of voters Tuesday as he captured 71 percent of the vote in the Republican primary special election for Horry County School Board Chairman.

Incumbent school board member Janice Morreale gathered 20 percent of the vote to finish a distant second with former Patricia Milley completing the field at 9 percent.

Richardson will face political newcomer Democrat Heather Johnson in the November general election.

Richardson’s campaign centered on safety in the schools, transparency of board decisions and strict oversight of the school district budget.

The Richardson victory continues a recent trend of incumbents with serious opposition in the primaries falling by the wayside.

Last month challenger Johnny Gardner bested incumbent Mark Lazarus for the Republican nomination for Horry County Council Chairman and William Bailey defeated incumbent Greg Duckworth for the GOP nomination for  SC House District 104. The Richardson victory completed the Trifecta Tuesday night.

What is particularly interesting is all three incumbents had significant help from other incumbents during the primary campaigns.

Lazarus had the endorsement of at least 10 of his 11 fellow county council members as well as endorsements from the coastal mayors and members of the county legislative delegation. State legislators Heather Ammons Crawford and Russell Fry ran the Lazarus campaign.

Duckworth had the active support of fellow legislators Alan Clemmons, Greg Hembree, Fry and Ammons Crawford, as well as North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley, contacting voters to push Duckworth reelection.

Morreale, the current school board member for District 5, had a group of her fellow school board incumbents actively contacting voters to push her candidacy.

Continue Reading →

Large vs Small Issues in School Board Chairman Race

The Republican nomination for Horry County School Board Chairman will be decided by voters next Tuesday.

Most campaigns for political office center around a few important issues and questions. The biggest question going into next week’s voting is do you care enough about who will chair the government body that spends the largest portion of the property taxes you pay ($700 million in round numbers) to go out and vote?

Voters will choose between current school board member for District 5 Janice Morreale, former teacher Pay Milley and local businessman and current Chairman Emeritus of the Horry Georgetown Technical College Area Commission Ken Richardson. The victor will face Democrat business woman and former teacher Heather Johnson in the November general election.

Morreale’s campaign theme is ‘Back to the Basics’. However, Morreale seemed to forget one of the most basic rules in politics – Don’t Vote for a Pay Raise for Yourself – when she voted for a 66% pay raise for board members last year.

During the campaign, Morreale has pointed to getting the school district to pay for pool times for swim team members and the cost of transportation for band members to attend away games as two of her accomplishments as a board member. Both, I’m sure, are important to the students and parents they affect, but they are small issues compared to school construction, teacher pay and support and establishing the district wide agendas for board consideration.

Milley’s campaign has said school days are too long, curricula too difficult, nights too short and students too stressed to result in a good learning environment. She advocates 15 minutes of recess for every 45 minutes of instruction and copying the education model of Finland for better student achievement.

Milley acknowledges her issues will require approximately 11 new bills from the General Assembly to allow changes she advocates. Local legislators said those bills are never going to happen.

Richardson has been eyeing the school board chairman seat since the 2016 general election, an election he did not participate in because the HGTC commission was in the midst of a search for a new president of the college.

Continue Reading →

School Board Chairman Primary Nears

Ten days remain before voting takes place in the special primary election for the Republican nomination for Horry County School Board Chairman.

With statewide primary elections last month, the special election has stayed below the radar of many voters. However, the Horry County School Board annual budget is approximately $750 million. No locally elected government agency in Horry County is responsible for spending more taxpayer dollars each year.

Tuesday July 17, 2018 is the date voters will choose between three candidates for the Republican nomination.

The candidates bring an interesting mix of issues to the race.

Retired teacher Patricia Milley is concerned about the mental health of local students, an issue she said she first brought before the Horry County School Board in 1996. Milley claims one in four Horry County students suffer from mental health issues due to school days being too long, school curricula being too hard and nights too short to recover.

Milley proposes less instruction time per school day, more recess periods in the day and changes to easier curricula in the schools. She proposes 11 separate pieces of legislation that must be passed by the South Carolina General Assembly to institute her recommended changes.

Janice Morreale is the current school board member for Horry County District 5. She was first elected to that seat in 2012 with a campaign slogan of ‘Back to the Basics.’ Her signs for the special election chairman race are carrying the same slogan.

Morreale has been a solid school board member during the five and one-half years she has served District 5. However, 2018 has not been a great election year for incumbents facing opposition. While there is no incumbent in the special election for board chairman, Morreale is one of six incumbent board members who voted for a large salary increase for themselves last year. The salary increase issue already cost one board incumbent the nomination for District 6 in last month’s primaries.

Ken Richardson is the third candidate in the special Republican primary election. He is a Horry County native and longtime business man and former owner of Fowler Motors. Richardson has been a member of the Horry Georgetown Technical College Area Commission for 20 years, the past 15 as chairman of that body.

Continue Reading →

Four File for School Board Chairman Vacancy

By Paul Gable

Four candidates have filed for the special election to fill the vacancy on the Horry County Board of Education created when Chairman Joe DeFeo died suddenly last month.

Three candidates filed for the Republican nomination for the vacant seat, incumbent School Board District 5 representative Janice Morreale, former teacher Patricia Milley and Conway businessman Ken Richardson. A special primary election will be held July 17, 2018 to determine which of the above three gains the Republican nomination.

Former Aynor Middle School teacher Heather Johnson filed as a Democrat with no primary opposition.

The winner of the Republican Primary will face Johnson in the November 6, 2018 general election.

Richardson has been a member of the Horry Georgetown Technical College Area Commission for 20 years.  He was associated with Fowler Motors for 40 years, beginning as a salesman and working his way up. He owned the dealership for the last 14 years of his association before selling in 2009. He will undoubtedly be the best financed candidate in the race.

Richardson has been planning to run for the school board chairman seat since January 2017, when he first announced his intention to be a candidate in 2020. DeFeo’s death has moved up that timetable. Richardson has advocated for an open door policy by the superintendent for all teachers and administrators in the school district.

Morreale was first elected to the school board in the 2012 general election. She was reelected in 2016. She has been a solid board member representing her district well. However, as the only incumbent school board member in the race, she will face questions about the pay raise school board members voted for themselves recently and about why most recent school construction has come in over budget.

Milley unsuccessfully challenged John Poston for the School Board District 8 seat two years ago. As a former teacher, she has promoted ideas such as more recess time for students and a shorter school day. Milley believes both would better help students concentrate during classroom instruction.

Continue Reading →
Depressed Voter Turnout is Primary Story

Depressed Voter Turnout is Primary Story

South Carolina held elections Tuesday and almost nobody bothered to show up. Voter turnout, or lack of it, was the story of Tuesday’s primary elections. Less than 10 percent (9.88%) of registered voters statewide bothered to come to the polls.

Low turnout was expected as continuing stories of candidates being struck from the ballot over the last two months dominated the news, but, under 10 percent is horrible. The old Communist Bloc in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union had more voter excitement in the past than this election generated.

Even Horry County with the new 7th Congressional District, four contested House races and one contested Senate race to vote for barely broke through the 10 percent voter turnout threshold.

In the new 7th Congressional District, Gloria Bromell Tinubu may have avoided a runoff and won the Democratic nomination outright after nearly 8,000 votes for Ted Vick were tossed out of the ballot count. Vick dropped out of the race two weeks ago when he was arrested for DUI and weapons possession in Columbia.

Continue Reading →

Candidate Differences Highlighted in Burgess Forum

We are now down to the final week in the primary campaigns with the candidates attempting to separate themselves from their competition.

Recently, the Burgess Community hosted a candidate forum for Republican primary candidates for House District 106 and Horry County School Board District 5. The differences in the candidates were apparent.

The House District 106 race pits incumbent Rep. Nelson Hardwick against Surfside Beach city council member Rod Smith.

In his opening remarks, Smith said Hardwick was not “conservative enough” in his approach to government. Yet, it was Smith who voted for a government monopoly that has caused the loss of jobs in the private sector of the economy in Horry County.

Continue Reading →