TheSunNews.com: Politics

Protests filed after election hearing in Atlantic Beach

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:13 EST

A hearing of challenged ballots in Atlantic Beach held Thursday booted one woman out of the winner's circle of Town Council candidates and leaves questions about who will ultimately sit on the council.

The two write-in candidates, Windy Price and Carolyn Cole, were named the winners in the election Thursday.

After Tuesday's election, incumbent councilwoman Charlene Taylor had the second largest number of votes, but after the commission voted to accept 28 of the 39 challenged ballots, most of which voted for both Price and Cole, Taylor came up short for the votes needed to win one of the two council seats.

Myrtle Beach mayoral hopefuls ready for runoff

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:46 EST

Though the Myrtle Beach mayoral runoff was inevitable with a five-way race, at least one political expert says Tuesday night's election results offered some twists.

"One thing that's surprising - and, I think, a barometer for the runoff - is [Councilman] Wayne Gray's decisive win," Coastal Carolina University political science professor Paul Peterson said. He said the fact that the other two council incumbents are still in the race is an indication that the May motorcycle rallies and the 1 percent sales tax for tourism promotion weren't as heavy factors as people thought they would be.

"Gray's win indicates it wasn't just the policy issues," Peterson said, because all four incumbents are still in the race. "Maybe much of the discontent with [Mayor John] Rhodes was more about personality."

Graham, Clyburn feted for racial harmony

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:34 EST

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Sen. Lindsey Graham, both sons of the segregated South, grew up in parts of South Carolina that were much farther apart than the mere 175 miles between them.

Tonight, the two men - a black Democrat from Sumter in the Midlands and a white Republican from the small Upstate town of Central - will share an honor that the Jim Crow laws of their youth would have prohibited.

The Columbia Urban League will present to Clyburn and Graham its annual Whitney M. Young Award in recognition of their efforts to advance race relations in South Carolina.

Myrtle Beach voters favor familiar faces for top offices

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:49 EST

In a repeat of the 2005 election, the two Myrtle Beach mayoral frontrunners - Mayor John Rhodes and former mayor Mark McBride - will face each other in a showdown.

They'll continue to duke it out until a runoff is held in two weeks, because neither earned 50 percent of the votes plus one Tuesday. Rhodes, though, holds a large lead over McBride.

With 5,389 votes cast in the mayoral race, an outright winner needed 2,694. Rhodes earned 2,540, and McBride earned 1,472.

North Myrtle Beach keeps mayor, council

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:17 EST

The face of the North Myrtle Beach City Council will remain the same with the re-election of Marilyn Hatley to her third term and the return of three incumbent council members.

Hatley defeated her three opponents: Gary Montgomery Stephens, C. Gene Sheppard, and Dawn M. Lampen. Council member Gregory Duckworth defeated his opponent James Blaine Robertson for the Windy Hill seat.

Terry White and Robert Cavanaugh ran unopposed for the Ocean Drive seat and an at-large seat, respectively.

Write-in takes the lead in Atlantic Beach

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:16 EST

An incumbent and a write-in candidate who was eliminated from the ballot are in the lead for two seats on the Atlantic Beach Town Council.

Windy Price - who was left off the ballot because of questions surrounding her residency and because of turning in a form late - received 40 votes in Tuesday's election.

Incumbent councilwoman Charlene Taylor received 39. Josephine Isom, also an incumbent, garnered 32 votes, with write-in candidate Carolyn Cole shortly behind with 28 and long-time town critic Paul Curry collecting 5.

Conway City Council election results

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:09 EST

Three seats

Randy Alford (i) | 594

Complete election results for Horry, Georgetown, Brunswick counties

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:49 EST

Here's a look at all the races covered in today's paper and what page they are on:

South Carolina

Myrtle Beach

Aynor election results

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:18 EST

Town Council

Two seats

John Gardner (i) | 47

Briarcliffe Acres election results

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:19 EST

Mayor

Ken Corbett

(i, unopposed)| 204

Mudslinging trend accompanies Myrtle Beach campaigns

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:55 EDT

On the outside looking in, this year's municipal election in Myrtle Beach might appear interesting.

But from the inside, it's nasty.

"This is the dirtiest election season," said Myrtle Beach City Councilwoman Susan Grissom Means, a longtime political insider and daughter of former Myrtle Beach Mayor Robert M. Grissom. "I've never seen as much mudslinging as I have this year."

Donation info out for Myrtle Beach contests

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:51 EDT

The 18 candidates for Myrtle Beach City Council this year have raised more than $200,000, with more than half the donations going to the four incumbents.

With five days to go until voters cast their ballots, the most recent filings are almost all available for public examination and show how different financial support has been for incumbents and challengers.

This has been a particularly contentious campaign, with much of the focus on the city's efforts to quell the May motorcycle rallies, flavored with questions about campaign contributions.

Myrtle Beach City Council to review tax report

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:25 EDT

People will get their first look at how the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce is spending the tax revenue raised by a controversial citywide sales tax implemented this summer.

At today's Myrtle Beach City Council meeting, chamber representatives will present their first quarterly update on out-of-market promotion expenses as the council requested.

The update follows the chamber's promise to be transparent with how the money is spent, city spokesman Mark Kruea said.

McBride holds public meeting

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:30 EDT

About 100 people gathered Thursday to hear former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride lay out reasons he believes the incumbents should not be returned to office next week, and he laid out a few initiatives he believes should get him elected again to the mayor's seat.

During a meeting at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, McBride said he supports making new development pay its share in a 50-50 deal with the city, redesigning streets to better control traffic and expanding the city by taking in at least part of Lewis Oceans Bay Heritage Preserve.

The former mayor, who is in a five-way race for the seat he lost to current Mayor John Rhodes in 2005, spoke for most of his one-hour-and-45-minute presentation about why he's running, citing people who asked and encouraged him to make a bid for the seat this year.

Election Day: Area voters making their final decisions today

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:29 EST

Election Day is here, and for most area cities and town, the results should tell the story by Wednesday morning.

But predictions of runoffs in at least two races - Myrtle Beach mayor and City Council - and perhaps in the also crowded Georgetown and North Myrtle Beach mayor's races, mean the suspense may linger.

With five candidates for Myrtle Beach mayor and 12 candidates for three open council seats, the majority of the council could turn over today. But political watchers predict the slugfest for mayor won't be over in one voting. The May motorcycle rallies and the 1 percent sales tax are galvanizing issues that prompted some first-time candidates to jump into this year's race.

Voting tips can ease trip to polls

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:57 EST

Registered voters in Horry and Georgetown counties and Brunswick County, N.C., will be asked to cast ballots in several hotly contested local elections Tuesday.

For first-time voters, and as a reminder for the seasoned ballot casters, we talked to the elections commissions in all three counties about the rules and some helpful hints for special circumstances. S.C. polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m., and anyone still waiting in line at 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote. In Brunswick County polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Here are some tips from Donna Mahn, director of the Georgetown County department of Voter Registration and Elections; Lynn Marlowe, assistant in the Horry County department of Voter Registration and Elections; and Greg Bellamy, director of the Brunswick County, N.C., Board of Elections:

Q. | How can people find their polling place/precinct?

Myrtle Beach mayor candidates offer goals, plans

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:37 EDT

Here's how the Myrtle Beach mayoral candidates responded to a series of questions about the city.

Beatrice Catalano

1. What are your goals and priorities for the city?

Election drama splits Carolina Shores

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:54 EDT

Regardless of who wins Tuesday's municipal election in Carolina Shores, there will those who feel the town has been saved from an unpleasant future.

The campaign has unfolded like a Greek drama, with complex characters who revolve around and support or tear down two central characters, one a hero and one a villain, depending on the side voters have chosen. .

Only one of the central characters, though, is running for office. The other exists mostly offstage in the campaign, yet has become central because he represents the change two other candidates hope to bring to town government if elected.

Panel fines Easley $100,000

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:10 EDT

Former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign was ordered Friday to pay $100,000 as state elections officials called for a criminal probe in the first official sanctions against Easley stemming from a stream of investigations since he left office in January.

The board's five members voted unanimously Friday to ask the Wake County district attorney to examine whether crimes occurred, largely related to previously undisclosed airplane flights taken by Easley while he was a candidate and piloted by a political ally, McQueen Campbell.

"There has been evidence received of election law campaign finance violations that suggest that Mike Easley and others may have violated North Carolina law," board chairman Larry Leake said.

Briarcliffe Acres haggles over unfinished home

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:36 EDT

Several Briarcliffe Acres residents, including some candidates for Town Council, say a home in the town that has remained unfinished for more than four years is an unsafe eyesore, and they want the town's laws enforced and the situation resolved.

One of those candidates, Joe Eritano, said a permit apparently was issued in early 2005 for Lot #65, but it continues to be a major eyesore affecting the value of residents' property.

"There needs to be a major change in the manner in which our building permits are issued and monitored," Eritano said.