Tag: SC House

Hembree, Rankin, Williams and Flow Control

Three state senators trying to block legislation that would make monopoly flow control of solid waste disposal illegal throughout South Carolina stated their case recently in an opinion piece to local media.

Greg Hembree (R-28), Luke Rankin (R-33) and Kent Williams (D-30) authored bi-partisan opposition to the Business Freedom to Choose Act that has already passed the S.C. House and is under consideration in the S.C. Senate.

Prior to the bill (H3290) being filed for the current legislative session, it was known that it would face opposition from these three senators and, quite possibly, only from these three senators.

Their stated reasons for opposition are a combination of obfuscation, bogeymen and cherry picking of facts to attempt to form a reasoned argument.

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IRS Complaint Lodged Against S.C. Rep. Mike Ryhal

Grand Strand Daily has learned that S.C. House District 56 representative Mike Ryhal and RAN Enterprises, LLC, a business owned by Ryhal, are being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service for alleged discrepancies in required tax filings.

The investigation reportedly stems from complaints to the IRS by several former employees of Rotelli’s restaurant, the business Ryhal operates under RAN Enterprises, LLC. The employees said their W-2’s for tax year 2012 show considerably less wages than they actually earned.

The employees said they were fired by Ryhal after each refused, in December 2012, to sign an individual, back-dated statement saying they were sub-contractors of Rotelli’s for tax year 2012.

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SC House Passes Flow Control Ban

The S.C. House ended the month of January by passing third reading on the Business Freedom to Choose Act (H3290), which would make Horry County’s solid waste flow control ordinance illegal.

The fate of the county’s monopoly on solid waste disposal for all solid waste generated in the county now rests with the S.C. Senate.

According to information we are hearing, Sen. Luke Rankin and Sen. Greg Hembree will fight passage of the bill in the Senate, which would act to the detriment of the citizens they represent.

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The Internet Sweepstakes Clean-Up

Raids on internet sweepstakes cafes continued in Horry County yesterday and, for the first time we can confirm, several locations within the city limits of Myrtle Beach were targeted by SLED officers.

For the first time since internet sweepstakes cafes began operating in Horry County over two years ago, there is a consistent policy being carried out that the games are illegal throughout the county.

Prior to yesterday’s raids, internet sweepstakes cafes were declared illegal by a county magistrate and subject to closure and confiscation in the unincorporated areas of the county, but were allowed to operate unimpeded by law enforcement within the Myrtle Beach city limits.

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Haley’s Ethics Defense

Gov. Nikki Haley’s defense for alleged ethics violations during her time as a House member became obvious this week when the House Ethics Committee voted to hold a full scale investigation.

Haley’s lawyer has said she did nothing more than other lawmakers do and to investigate Haley’s actions would bring those lawmakers’ actions into question. He said he would provide the committee with a list of lawmakers who work for lobbyists’ principals.

That’s the old ‘everybody’s doing it so it’s okay’ defense.

Haley claimed the original investigation (of which there was none) was dismissed based on fact, but the investigation has now been reopened for political reasons. Haley asked that she be left alone to “do her job”, whereupon she almost immediately left for Wisconsin to campaign for Gov. Scott Walker in his recall election.

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Haley’s Ethics Problems

The ethics investigation into actions of Gov. Nikki Haley while she was a member of the House could cause the governor considerable problems with ethics laws.

In a complaint to the S .C. House of Representatives, Republican activist John Rainey alleged Haley “traded on the influence of her office (representative) for her personal benefit and the benefit of those paying her by (1) lobbying a state agency, (2) failing to disclose that her reason for recusing herself from voting on legislation was because the legislation’s beneficiary was secretly paying her, (3) failing to abstain from a vote authorizing payment of public money to a corporation paying her, (4) soliciting money from registered lobbyists and lobbyist principals for the benefit of her employer and (5) concealing all of this activity by making false and incomplete public disclosures.”

The S.C. Ethics Commission defines a lobbyist, “as any person who is employed, appointed, or retained, with or without compensation, by another person to influence by direct communication with public officials or public employees.”

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Candidate Qualifications Remain In Doubt

So far we have had two orders from the S.C. Supreme Court, a recertification of eligibility of candidates by the S.C. Republican and Democratic parties and an ongoing challenge in federal court with respect to the upcoming June 12th primary elections. Yet, there are still difficulties with the candidates currently certified to appear on the ballots.

Despite very strict rulings by the Supreme Court on Section 8-13-1356(B) with respect to certification of non-incumbent candidates, by our tally 10 challengers for S.C. House seats remain in violation of those rulings but are certified for inclusion on the ballot. (See link below)

This would be egregious by itself considering all the questions that have already been raised about the qualifications of candidates for the upcoming June primaries. However, it is not the only question that remains unanswered about candidates for those elections.

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SC House Conundrum

With less than a day to go for candidate filing for this year’s election races, the Horry County legislative delegation, especially house members, are in for quite a change.

Thad Viers resigned his seat recently due to his ongoing legal problems and George Hearn has decided not to seek re-election. Incumbents Nelson Hardwick and Liston Barfield will face challenges to re-election. A new House seat will be filled to essentially represent Carolina Forest in the General Assembly.

We are also told that there could be one more surprise, a kind of musical chairs, before filing closes at noon Friday.

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The Garbage War in Horry

A Senate bill to eliminate flow control of the garbage stream throughout the state moved one step closer to approval last week when it passed out of the Senate Medical Committee by a vote of 10-3.

A similar bill having already passed the SC House, the only thing standing between a garbage war in the courts between Horry County and the State of South Carolina is passage of the bill by the full Senate and Governor Nikki Haley’s signature.

Horry County currently is the only county in the state to mandate flow control of its waste stream by county ordinance 02-09. The ordinance requires that all waste generated in the county must be disposed at the Horry County Solid Waste Authority landfill on Hwy 90, giving the SWA monopoly control over the county’s waste.

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