Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

Hopefuls condemn Myrtle Beach flier on Chamber president and wife

An anonymous flier attacking Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce President Brad Dean and his wife caused a unified outcry Saturday from candidates in next month's Myrtle Beach city election, and the four challengers the flier apparently endorses said they had nothing to do with it.

Circulating in both the city and the Internet, the flier states that it is "Time for Rebellion" and that it is time to unseat the incumbent City Council members running for re-election, describing mayoral candidate Mark McBride and City Council candidates Mike Lowder, Karon Mitchell and Adam Parness as "representatives that listen."

It has a picture of Dean, references to the 1-cent sales tax for tourism and the running off of the "most profitable group of tourists," and it attacks Dean's wife and questions her citizenship. Dean's wife is from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, which makes her a U.S. citizen.

"Lately, I've come to expect my personal share of pointed criticism from bloggers, anonymous Web sites and political hacks, but to assault my family with mean, ugly lies is a despicable act that has hurt each of us very deeply," Dean said. "For some people, attacking others behind a veil of anonymity seems to be a game, but the end result divides our community and sometimes hurts people in a very personal way."

At a candidates' forum Saturday sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, McBride publicly apologized to Dean and his wife.

He called whoever put the flier together a "piece of garbage."

"You don't talk about someone's wife," he said to the crowd gathered at the Myrtle Beach Train Depot. "I have the highest appreciation and respect for Brad Dean."

When each candidate was given a chance to give a two-minute pitch to the audience at the end of the forum, council candidate Mike Lowder also addressed the issue.

"I do apologize to Brad Dean. Mike Lowder was in no way, shape or form involved in this cruddy, dirty, low-dog written paper that was passed around," he said. "That's not how I operate. I operate in issues and issues only."

Mitchell and Parness were both out of town and did not attend the forum but expressed strong reactions to the flier's distribution.

"I am very, very upset," said Mitchell, who said she was in Texas for a church conference and had not yet seen the flier on Saturday. "You do not attack people's character or their family. ... Nobody can seem to find out where it's coming from, don't know who would've done it. It's awful. I know nothing of it and would never ever have anything to do with something like that."

A few hours after he was notified about the flier on Friday, Parness made a post to the Facebook page for his campaign.

"You know what I hate about politics, it's all the negative, last minute, ugliness that occurs. I would never allow, condone, or engage in 'dirty politics', because quite frankly as much as I want to serve, I just don't need the job bad enough to hurt my family, friendships, business relationships, or others," he wrote. "So, if you were the recipient of any disgusting and desperate material, either for me or against me, be rest assured that I, nor anyone in my campaign, have had anything to do with it."

Parness said he was not surprised, but saddened by it.

"This is not Chicago, for crying out loud," he said. "This is Myrtle Beach."

The four incumbents running in this year's Myrtle Beach City Council race - Mayor John Rhodes and councilmen Wayne Gray, Chuck Martino and Randal Wallace - were listed below the other four candidates with lines crossing out their names.

Wallace, the only incumbent to appear at the NAACP forum, said afterward the flier further proves that this is most vicious campaign he's ever seen.

"Brad's become a target, and that's really uncalled for because they've had nothing to do with this election or any of the decisions that we've made. While he's a public figure, he's not an elected official, he's an employee of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce," Wallace said.

"I'm shocked that somebody would attack him. If it had been aimed at one of us, I'd say it's a typical campaign, election-time smear piece."

To go after Dean's family was "unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable," he said.

No other candidates at Saturday's forum publicly addressed the flier. Mayoral candidates Bea Catalano and Bill Howard continued their calls for change, drawing the audience members to their feet. Council candidate Don Emery described his pro-rally stance, while Keith Compton called for the continued development of the city.

In his address, McBride mentioned that incumbent councilman Wayne Gray had also seen the flier. Contacted after the forum, Gray also denied any connection to it.

"I don't know who produced it, I don't know what they intended for it to do, but it's shameful that someone would write such things," Gray said when contacted by phone after the forum.

"It's just shameful that someone is either that mad or that jealous or that hateful. Truly the person must have a deep anger and hatred for the world and for society or for whomever and I'm sorry that they're in that state of mind that they'd do such a thing."