Tag: Myrtle Beach city elections

Mayor Bethune is “Miss Lead” on Ho Residency, Other Issues as Voting Nears

(The title of the cartoon accompanying this article is “Miss Lead”)
At a candidate forum hosted by the Myrtle Beach NAACP last week, Mayor Brenda Bethune made a statement that inferred opponent Gene Ho was not a resident of the city.
Bethune brought several pieces of paper to the lectern then said, “Unless something has changed in Horry County, where you pay your 4 percent primary residence property tax is where your primary residence is. (Looking at Ho) And last time I checked your primary residence is in Prestwick.”
Unfortunately for Bethune, she was working from old information. A further check would have revealed that for the current year (2021), Ho is back at his condominium in Myrtle Beach as his primary residence and the home he owns in Prestwick is back at a 6 percent tax rate and is currently being rented.
It is unclear whether Bethune’s statement was the result of incompetent opposition research, incompetent campaign messaging or both.
But why ruin a good sound bite with facts?
Another interesting statement from Bethune during the forum was, “It’s about having empathy and respect for others. That’s how we get equity, diversity and inclusion. And it’s not just about race, it’s about sexual preferences, it’s about if a child decides they want to be a male of a female, it’s about loving everyone.”
I suppose Bethune believed that statement painted her as an empathetic, loving mayor who respects her constituents.
However, the statement runs counter to her actions in office.
Where was Bethune’s empathy and respect when she led the passage of an overlay zone on Ocean Boulevard which restricted mainly Jewish owned businesses from selling products that are readily sold throughout the rest of the city?
In fact, there has been no empathy or respect shown to those businesses and others in the traditional downtown business district during Bethune’s current four-year term. That’s why there are so many empty, commercial buildings in that area.

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Fake News Dominates Close of Myrtle Beach Election Campaign

For a man who has screamed “fake news” at media he doesn’t like, John Rhodes, his campaign and the fake organizations supporting him and the other incumbents are certainly filled with fake news as the end nears.

That’s no real surprise. Hypocrisy is always a mainstay in South Carolina politics.

We have a fake organization, “South Carolina  Industry Project”, sending out mailers supporting the tourism development fee (TDF.)

I suppose Citizens for Conservative Values, active in the 2013 and 2015 campaigns, outlived its usefulness after its recent mailings in support of Tim McGinnis considering all the verbal acrobatics (fake news) McGinnis went through to distance himself from knowledge of them.

One of those mailers asks “What do Geico, Go Daddy and Myrtle Beach have in common?”

I would say nothing.

Geico and Go Daddy are private corporations, Myrtle Beach is a public incorporated city. Geico and Go Daddy use earned revenue to advertise their products and services to potential buyers.

Myrtle Beach uses public tax dollars from a specially created sales tax to fund advertising for some member businesses of the Myrtle Beach Area of Commerce so those businesses do not have to spend revenue on advertising.

Geico and Go Daddy are businesses spending advertising dollars in the exercise of free market capitalism. Myrtle Beach gives the Chamber public dollars to use for advertising in a form of corporate welfare.

That’s what happens when you have a plutocracy rather than a democracy as your form of government!

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Myrtle Beach City Election Issues

Less than three weeks remain before filing officially opens for the upcoming Myrtle Beach city elections.

Already a number of people have emerged to announce their intention to run against the four incumbents up for reelection. While I’m sure there will be a large field of challengers, we won’t know exactly who is in the race until filing closes.

In the meantime, there are some interesting dynamics developing for this year’s election.

In the past few months, council has drawn criticism for the threatened use of eminent domain to take control of several properties in the Superblock after secretly purchasing approximately 10 other properties in that area.

After being exposed, the city announced a plan to redevelop the area with a new, $10 million building to, reportedly, house Chapin Memorial Library and a new Children’s Museum.

There are questions whether eminent domain taking of a property can be used for such a purpose and whether $10 million of taxpayer money is best spent on this project when public safety needs, among others, are critical at this time.

Shootings on Ocean Boulevard and in other parts of the city highlight the amount of violence that has infringed on Myrtle Beach streets. After the Father’s Day weekend incident during which eight people were wounded on Ocean Boulevard, the city placed barricades on one section of Ocean Boulevard, ostensibly for crowd control, but in front of retail stores and restaurants which occupy an area the city would also like to see be redeveloped.

The businesses in the area of the barricades reported drops in sales of 30-60 percent from previous years numbers.

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Chambergate Investigation Still on Track

David Wren of the Sun News reported yesterday that the Chambergate investigation into 2009 political donations, by a host of local LLC’s that had no income, was continuing.

The article stated an investigator with the IRS had confirmed the investigation was ongoing into political donations by these LLC’s whose principals have ties to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

According to Wren’s article, the investigator contacted the Sun News last week requesting documents the paper had obtained regarding the political donations.

This report confirms rumblings we have been hearing for some months now that the investigation was continuing and indictments from a federal grand jury would be coming down in the case.

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