After thinking about it a couple of days, I wrote and faxed letters this morning to Governor Mark Sanford and Attorney General Henry McMaster asking for their intervention to stop the $1.14M payment to Mr. Preston. I also asked that reprimands and or charges be brought against the five council members who created the circus on Tuesday night. This is one issue I cannot let fall by the wayside without at least letting my feelings be known. It is probably a waste of time but it is not right for a man who has done nothing but cause discension in this county, who has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees, who has thumped his nose repeatedly at the council and the taxpayers, etc. etc. etc to walk away with $1.14Million of our taxpayer dollars. He should be fired plain and simple and walk away with nothing. If anyone else wants to write letters and fax them, Mark Sanford's fax # is 803-734-5167; Henry McMaster's fax # is 803-734-6679.
After thinking about it a couple of days, I wrote and faxed letters this morning to Governor Mark Sanford and Attorney General Henry McMaster asking for their intervention to stop the $1.14M payment to Mr. Preston. I also asked that reprimands and or charges be brought against the five council members who created the circus on Tuesday night. This is one issue I cannot let fall by the wayside without at least letting my feelings be known. It is probably a waste of time but it is not right for a man who has done nothing but cause discension in this county, who has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees, who has thumped his nose repeatedly at the council and the taxpayers, etc. etc. etc to walk away with $1.14Million of our taxpayer dollars. He should be fired plain and simple and walk away with nothing. If anyone else wants to write letters and fax them, Mark Sanford's fax # is 803-734-5167; Henry McMaster's fax # is 803-734-6679.-disgusted
Here's your answer. "It's a local County matter." Bye, bye.
Oh congrare Ms. Republikin. That's what you Joey Preston wannabes try to make the people of Anderson County think - - there's just nothing we can do. Have you ever heard of a little thing called ethics? Probably not. But what happened on Tuesday night is a clear violation of several S. C. ethics laws. So, it is not a local issue. Bye, bye to you to.
Oh contrair Ms. Republikin. That's what you Joey Preston wannabes try to make the people of Anderson County think - - there's just nothing we can do. Have you ever heard of a little thing called ethics? Probably not. But what happened on Tuesday night is a clear violation of several S. C. ethics laws. So, it is not a local issue. Bye, bye to you to.
-disgusted
Oh she's just being glib, ignore her. A few suggestions for you;
To have the Ethics Commission look into this you need to send a complaint with attached statement and proof of the violation to the Ethics Commission. They do not accept faxed complaints. You will also have to sign your name. Be clear what violation(s) you believe took place such as collusion, FIOA violations, breech of fiduciary duty to the county, etc. Go back and read the comments in the AIM web site from ElCid. That blogger offers a longer list of possible violations.
go here: http://ethics.sc.gov/rulesofconduct/law.htm You can find the complaint form on the web page. You might have to file a complaint for each member of Council you feel is guilty of an ethics violation.
SC Ethics Commission
5000 Thurmond Mall # 250
Columbia, SC 29201
The Governors Office will not intervene in county politics. They have received many calls this week.
The AG will only intervene if there has been criminal activity such as collusion. (A DVD copy of the meeting will cast enough of suspicion that there was.) Collusion A secret activity undertaken by two or more people for the purpose of fraud. (Fraud Intentional misrepresentation or concealment of information in order to deceive or mislead. It is illegal. (from http://www.investorwords.com/2081/fraud.html)
A civil law suit might work and you could most likely make it a class action suit as angry as people are. Then again it would take people who are not just outraged but are willing to try to do something about it like you are. If you go that route make sure it's people you KNOW & TRUST as opening any meeting to everyone will insure the meeting discussion will be reported right back to the very people you feel wronged you.
Unless you are in R Wilson or Floyd's district, call the Council person who does or in the cases of McAbee, Greer & Thompson will represent you and ask what if anything is being done or how if in any way you can help them and the county.
Good Luck
Maybe we should ask Henry and Mark to investigate Dan Harvell, MC Wilson,Bob Waldrep Rick Driver, et. al. After all we want to be fair and balanced don't we? I know Wilson Driver and Harvell have never heard of a little thing called ethics. If Rick Driver had any ethics, morals or a sense of conscious, he would put a stop to all the rumor mongering, inuendos, and outright lies that he and his callers spew.-elliefant
C Wilson is facing an ethics investigation, The blogger seems to be suggesting that everyone be fairly investigated.
Also Ethics violations are not for private citizens. LOL In this instance it will not be C Wilson and Waldrep. 
Oh congrare Ms. Republikin. That's what you Joey Preston wannabes try to make the people of Anderson County think - - there's just nothing we can do. Have you ever heard of a little thing called ethics? Probably not. But what happened on Tuesday night is a clear violation of several S. C. ethics laws. So, it is not a local issue. Bye, bye to you to.-disgusted
Ethics violations? This is the part where I hand you the box of straws and say hang on . . .
In the COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION ... this action was wrong, illegal, unethical, typicial, etc etc (add your own adjective at your leisure).
In the EYES OF THE LAW ... this action WAS legal, WAS voted upon, and WAS approved. Now you may not like what happened, but it did ... it did happen with the individuals YOU elected in 2006. This past June and again in November, you, most likely, voted to CHANGE the individuals that represent YOU. Until the new council is seated, the existing body, no matter how "lame duck," is still in charge.
As for the AD and the Governor . . .
The AD most likely will not take action. Contractual buyouts are actually fairly common in practice, both in the private sector and in the public sector. In terms of legality of buying out the contract, the council was well within their legal right to do so. As the method of how the buyout occured is what is really in question (or what CAN be questioned), you enter into a very sticky realm of he might have said/she might have said . . .
Supposition does not a court case or intervention make. No smoking gun here folks.
The Governor stands to gain NOTHING for getting involved in this matter. As a lame-duck Governor trying to push the last of his agenda in Columbia, his focus is making sure that his mark is left on STATE government, not some local government. Then there is the whole issue of WHAT, if ANYTHING, could he do.
Now, to borrow from JD, if you want to play INSIDE, INSIDE Politics, you could point to the fact that the AD essentially "green-lighted" Howard Rich activities in the state by saying Mr. Rich has commited no wrong-doing in his fund-raising efforts to fund candidates that push his (Mr. Rich's) agenda, based on the existing structure of state law.
Since Howard Rich helped to fund the Governor last cycle and other key supporters of school choice, transparency in government, etc etc, and seeing that the AD ruled that such activities were above board, expect that if one of the two says no ... not going to look into it ... the other would follow suit.
The use of political capital ... now THERE is an example of where transparency, no, a scorecard, is required to keep up and understand.
... I'm certain the dots can be connected here, am I right, JD?
- SSHM
Let me be very clear. First of all, Rick Driver and Dan Harvell are not spending $1.14M of taxpayer dollars frivoulously. I have no say in what they do or do not do and neither does the Attorney General or the Governor. Secondly, Ms. Wilson and Mr. Waldrep from what I can tell are being prevented from doing the job they were hired to do - - they certainly voted against the $1.14 million dollar debacle. I am not a Rick in the morning listener, I am not a member of Dan Harvell’s group, and I am not beholdin to any member of the Council. I am plain a simple a taxpayer in Anderson County. There were S. C. laws broken on Tuesday night and it needs to be investigated by someone outside Anderson County. The Governor and the Attorney General are the next step in the hierarchy who can make that happen. I have sat back and listened to others complain day after day about how embarrassed they are by the political environment in Anderson. It is time for the citizens of Anderson County to step up and take back their government. I finally decided that rather than be a complainer I would at least express my feelings to the powers that be. I only provided the fax numbers for those that might want to use them. If you’re satisfied with the way things are so be it.
No, SSHM, the dots cannot be that easily connected. It would be nice if they could be, but, sadly, they are not always obvious. Your obsession with all things Howard Rich is right up there with Rick Driver's obsession with all things Joey Preston. You both keep seeing non-existent dots and trying to connect them with magic markers.
Conspiracy theorists on both sides do serve a useful purpose though. They often amuse me on a slow Saturday morning, although I do sometimes have a bit sympathy for all those in so much pain - especially those who don't even realize how bad they're hurting.
. . .those in so much pain - especially those who don't even realize how bad they're hurting. [image]-jdtippett
Breakfast rollup from Sonic ... it will do that to you every time.
The AG has a Constituents Advocate office.
Just to clarify about the AG. That office will only provide legal advice and opinions to public officials, not to private citizens.-pappy
The AG has a Constituents Advocate office.-1-opinion
No argument, but the search in the AG web site can't find it. Do you have an URL for it ?
Oh congrare Ms. Republikin. That's what you Joey Preston wannabes try to make the people of Anderson County think - - there's just nothing we can do. Have you ever heard of a little thing called ethics? Probably not. But what happened on Tuesday night is a clear violation of several S. C. ethics laws. So, it is not a local issue. Bye, bye to you to.-disgusted
You wish !
If you’re satisfied with the way things are so be it.-disgusted
So be it!
If these 5 Council were worth their salt and are truly working for the best interest of the county then I am sure wanting to protect us from this kind of problem in the future they did so by adding an arbitration clause to Cunningham's contract. It should expressly state it covers all discrimination, harassment , wrongful termination, employment contract claims and all disputes relating to employment or termination of employment are addressed by arbitration. Please tell me it's in the contract and they are not completely incompetent fools?-1-opinion
As individual voters, we don't get to negotiate the contracts. Ta, ta.
That's another one's opinion.
Pappy you have a message in your in box
a labor attorney they chose not to listen to . .And you know that, how? Maybe they DID listen. Attorneys usually give you two or three options. They usuaully say they can defend any approach but give you the option of what course of action to take. IT's very clever of them. They get paid either way.
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