Tag: Kathy Ward

Solicitor Jimmy Richardson Endorses Allen Beverly for Probate Judge

Horry County Probate Judge candidate Allen Beverly picked up an important endorsement this week when Horry County Solicitor Jimmy Richardson endorsed his candidacy.
“Allen Beverly has studied under Probate Judge Kathy Ward as her Assistant Probate Judge and is ready to bring the same drive, compassion and honesty to Horry County,” said Richardson in his endorsement statement. “I am pleased to endorse Judge Beverly in his candidacy to continue the great service we have come to enjoy.”
Beverly is seeking to succeed Judge Kathy Ward as she has chosen to retire rather than seek another term in office.
Endorsements are funny things. Some can mean quite a lot to a candidacy, others virtually nothing.
In the case of the Richardson endorsement, Beverly gets a nod from not only a popular incumbent in Richardson, but also a man whose judgement is respected by the employees in what can be called the ‘courthouse crowd’, which is extremely important to any countywide candidacy.
In addition, Richardson is not a buddy politician endorsing a friend, he is knowledgeable of the work of Beverly since the Solicitor’s Office and the Probate Court judges interact in the special Drug Court, which is one of the areas under the auspices of the Probate Judge.

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Allen Beverly Announces Candidacy for Probate Judge

Allen Beverly, the current Chief Associate Probate Judge, last week announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Horry County Probate Judge.
The current Probate Judge, Kathy Ward, has decided to retire and will not seek another four-year term in office.
Probate Judge is the only judicial position in South Carolina elected directly by the people.
Beverly is a Horry County native with longstanding family roots in the local area. He and wife, Jennifer, have been married for 12 years. The couple has two children, Hampton age 8 and McLaurin age 4.
Beverly is a graduate of Coastal Carolina University and Campbell University Law School. After graduating from law school, he was hired as an associate in the Greg Martin Law Firm in Conway. Beverly concentrated in the areas of Real Estate and Probate law.
“I was fortunate to be hired by Greg Martin out of law school,” said Beverly. “Everybody liked Greg and he had a good practice where I could learn as a young attorney. Real Estate and Probate were the areas I gravitated to.”
When Martin passed away in 2008, Beverly took over his law practice. He remained in his attorney practice until opportunity came knocking in 2019.
“Judge Ward needed an associate judge in the Probate Court and she called me to ask if I was interested,” Beverly said. “I never considered being a judge up to that point but I decided to accept the opportunity.”

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Handicapping the Race for County Council Chairman Nomination

Since filing for office closed March 30th, my friend and cohost on “Talking Politics”, John Bonsignor, has been trying to make the case that Johnny Gardner is not a serious challenger to incumbent Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus in the June 2018 Republican Primary election.

One thing John and I have proved through the years is that we can disagree (often) without being disagreeable.

I recently wrote about Gardner receiving the endorsement of Horry County Professional Firefighter Local 4345 IAFF. John responded with a diatribe on why Lazarus has nothing to worry about from Gardner in the primary, in John’s opinion.

John and I have lived in Horry County for over 30 years each, so I want to go back through history a little to demonstrate that an incumbent officeholder is not a shoe-in candidate for re-election.

It is often difficult to defeat an incumbent officeholder, but far from an impossible task.

Sheriff Philip Thompson was an underdog when he first ran for the office in 2000 against incumbent Teddy Henry. I remember Chicken Bog socials with Thompson speaking from the back of a truck to voters throughout the county. Accompanying Thompson on these journeys were off-duty officers from the Horry County Police Department showing their support for him. Ultimately, Thompson obtained the support of a majority of county employees and that made the difference in the election.

Melanie Huggins for Horry County Clerk of Courts and Roddy Dickinson for Horry County Treasurer, both in 2004, are other interesting examples. Incumbents were retiring from both offices, but Huggins was opposed by former Clerk of Courts Billie Richardson, coming out of retirement to run again. Dickinson was opposed by Robert Rabon, later to be Horry County Republican chairman. Richardson and Rabon had more money and the support of political insiders, but Huggins and Dickinson won primarily on the strength of a majority of county employees and their friends who supported them.

When Huggins and Dickinson retired, Angie Jones for Treasurer and Renee Elvis for Clerk of Court both won election to their current offices in 2016 on the strength of major support from county employees.

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Anti-Incumbent Fever Rages in Horry County Primaries

Anti-incumbent fever raged through Horry County primaries Tuesday as five of six incumbents running in contested primaries lost.

One of the causes for the upsets, if you can call them that, was the pitiful, approximately 13%, voter turnout countywide.

The only survivor was S.C. House District 56 representative Mike Ryhal who won in a rematch against challenger Dennis DiSabato who Ryhal defeated two years ago to win the new house district seat.

The two biggest surprises of the night were the losses by incumbent S.C. House District 104 representative Tracy Edge and by Horry County District Three council member Brent Schulz.

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The Battle for Horry County Probate Judge

It is not often a race for probate judge takes center stage in an election cycle, but that is exactly what is happening in the Republican Primary contest for Horry County Probate Judge.

The race pits three term incumbent Horry County Probate Judge Deirdre Edmonds against Kathy Ward, a former Associate Judge of the Probate Court, who worked under Edmonds for nearly 12 years.

On the basis of qualifications, this is no contest. It goes to Judge Edmonds hands down!

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The Choice for Probate Judge in Horry County

The Probate Judge Republican primary battle in Horry County brings to light some interesting details about South Carolina’s legal system.

On the surface, there may not seem to be much separating the two candidates with incumbent Probate Judge Deirdre Edmonds being challenged by one of her former associate judges, Kathy Ward.

But, that’s where South Carolina law steps in. With its head stuck in the 19th Century, you don’t even have to be a graduate of a law school or have passed the bar exam to be a candidate for Probate Judge in this state, thanks to its 1895 Constitution.

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Plot to Stop Lindsey Graham Faltering

What does it tell you that the Tea Party’s best candidate to challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham is a former Democratic operative who ran the Michael Dukakis campaign in South Carolina?

Det Bowers officially filed yesterday to challenge Graham. While he is now talking about right wing issues such as illegal immigration, Obamacare, term limits and balanced federal budgets, it is Bowers’ former Democratic associations that reportedly bring hope to stopping Graham.

The thought process is that Bowers will attract at least some of the crossover Democrat vote in the June open Republican Primary that was expected to fully support Graham. It is hoped that this will bring Graham’s vote in the first round of the primary to under 50% forcing a runoff.

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