Tag: Jay Specter

Cam Crawford Wins County Council Primary

Cam Crawford won the Republican primary special election for the Horry County Council District 6 nomination.

Crawford gathered 547 votes (53%) to 482 votes (47%) for opponent Kirk Hanna. The totals are uncertified at this point. They will be certified by the Horry County Election Commission Thursday July 2, 2015 at 10 a.m.

Hanna topped Crawford by 31 votes in the first round of the primary two weeks ago, but Crawford reversed that result to win by 65 votes in the election that counted.

Still to come is the special general election on August 4, 2015 where Crawford will be the only name on the ballot as there is no Democratic nominee. However, a write-in challenge to Crawford is always possible.

However, a successful write-in campaign is extremely unlikely, which means Cam Crawford should be the next Horry County Council member from District 6 after the August election formalities.

The election heated up in the last few days as revelations that Peter Bishop, a one-time employee of Hanna’s construction company Hanco of SC, was arrested on June 11, 2015 for submitting nine fabricated and forged soil compaction reports to Horry County Code Enforcement while working at Hanco.

Over the last 36 hours of the campaign, a mail piece intended to be negative to Cam Crawford, surfaced in some District 6 mailboxes.

Both campaigns denied any knowledge of the large postcard size mailer. However, as the alleged sender, the LGBT Association of Horry County, does not exist, those claims, for one camp, appear to be false.

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Dirty Tricks Hit Horry County Council District 6

By Paul Gable
It took a while, but what passes for dirty tricks has arrived in the special primary runoff election for Horry County Council District 6.
A piece arrived in the mail today for District 6 voters stating the LGBT Association of Horry County supports Cam Crawford.
On the back side of the card it states Crawford will sponsor a county ordinance that will provide tax breaks for same-sex couples.
Such an ordinance is an impossibility to introduce. There is no provision in state law, which is what county ordinances must conform to, to allow for such a tax break. Just goes to show how little the author knows about South Carolina law and county legislation.
Then, when you consider there is no LGBT Association of Horry County, the only conclusion that can be drawn is Crawford’s opponent thinks this mailer will hurt Crawford’s vote count.
The piece looks to be exactly the same stock and typesetting that was used in an attempt to smear Tyler Servant during his campaign for Horry County Council District 5.
Now it has moved over to the special election campaign for Horry County Council District 6.
Is there a common denominator in both campaigns?
Possibly one. Jay Specter managed Chuck Ottwell’s campaign for District 5. The same Jay Specter is managing the campaign of Kirk Hanna for District 6.
Is Specter the common denominator? No way to know for sure, but if this piece does hurt Crawford, Hanna would be the only beneficiary.
Dirty Tricks 2.0 is more inflammatory than its predecessor in District 5 with a final line which reads in part, “let Cam know you are here because you are queer and are queer because you are here.”
I doubt it will work. The attempt backfired in the District 5 race as Servant’s voters were energized to get out the vote in response.
Not only should Crawford’s supporters be energized, but the entire LGBT community as well as all reasonable people who see this for what it is.

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Towering Political Egos

Towering political egos are the bane of sensible political discussion and of the ability of a politician to take a reflective look at him or herself.

It doesn’t take long for the average politician to believe that anyone criticizing them is wrong by definition and that any criticism of them is a mean-spirited personal attack.

Too often this attitude is the result of an inner insecurity that is masked by a false confidence and arrogance.

No, this isn’t meant to be a column on the psychology of politicians. The above is merely an expression of my conclusions over many years of observing the political scene, criticizing many statements, decisions and votes and watching the reactions of those politicians involved.

Word has reached me that I bruised a few egos again this week.

Evidently I hurt some feelings when I called Cam Crawford the stealth candidate for dodging candidate forums in the current Horry County Council District 6 Republican special primary campaign.

I have even been told Crawford’s wife, Rep. Heather Ammons Crawford, was making statements about being mad not only at me, but also at political consultant Donald Smith.

Mad at me for writing that Cam should not be a political candidate if he was unwilling to answer questions from the public and engage voters and the other candidates and mad at Smith for not stopping me from writing those statements.

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Horry County Council District 6 Forum

The South Strand Republican Club hosted a candidate forum Tuesday night for those seeking the Horry County Council District 6 Republican special primary nomination.

As has been the norm over six forums held throughout the district during this special election campaign, five candidates, Blaine Garren, Ric Coates, Chris Stephens, Cary Rowell and Kirk Hanna, showed up.

The sixth (alleged) candidate in the race, Cam Crawford, remained conspicuous by his absence from any forum where he would have to answer questions and engage in debate with the other candidates in the race.

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Coast RTA Moving Forward Despite Distractions

As Coast RTA has attempted to move forward since terminating former General Manager Myers Rollins, it has been subjected to what appears to be a campaign further discredit the agency.

This is not unusual. When a public agency makes the headlines with negative publicity, there is a tendency for some to pile on, especially if they have personal agendas.

The agency has problems, most seriously with its bus fleet which has been allowed to deteriorate while things like island ferries were discussed under the Rollins regime.

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