Tom Rice, Gloria Tinubu Win Impressively

Tom Rice, Gloria Tinubu Win Impressively

By Paul Gable

Tom Rice and Gloria Bromell Tinubu secured the nominations, in impressive fashion, of the Republican and Democratic parties respectively for the new 7th Congressional District. The two will meet in the November general election to see who goes to Washington.

Both scored significant double digit wins in defeating opponents Andre Bauer (Rice) and Preston Brittain (Tinubu) on Tuesday’s primary runoff elections.

We offer our congratulations to both.

Based on turnout in the primaries and the makeup of the district, Rice has to now be considered the serious favorite to become the new Congressman from South Carolina in November.

That having been said, I am sure there are some out there, looking for a personal statement from me. So here we go.

Personally, I have not been impressed with Rice’s performance as county chairman and don’t expect anything different from him in Washington.

If, as Tip O’Neill often said, all politics is local, we are much better off with Rice in Washington.

The county needs elected officials who will concentrate on issues within the county instead of personal agendas. The Solid Waste Authority is the first to come to mind, one that should have been dealt with by council already.

The rumor around the court house is that Rice will be taking Brad Lofton with him to Washington as the economic development person on his staff. I applaud this move, if it is made, as another significant plus for the future of the county. We don’t need any more corporate bailouts with public money like the AvCraft debacle.

This assuming Rice wins in November. I hope he does then we can get a new chairman who is interested in improving Horry County and move forward with the goal of getting the job done.