Category Archives: Midlands

Requiescat In Pace, Rod Shealy

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Rod Shealy, in a photo from his Facebook page.

John O’Connor of The State tweets that the “Family of S.C. political consultant Rod Shealy says he died this afternoon at MUSC.”

This sad news has already provoked a suitably quirky tribute, as follows:

PhilBaileySC

Tomorrow will be Hawaiian Shirt Day on Pub Politics to honor our friend Rod Shealy.

Mr. Shealy

As I was pulling this together, John posted the following at thestate.com:

Influential South Carolina political consultant and newspaper owner Rod Shealy died this afternoon at the Medical University of South Carolina, according to his sister Lorri Unumb. He was 56 years old.
Shealy died of bleeding on the brain, Unumb said, possibly related to the brain cancer he was diagnosed with in 2008. Unumb said Shealy had fallen and broken his hip over the weekend, but was optimistic the cancer treatments at MUSC were working.
Shealy specialized in advising long-shot candidates to victory, such as longtime friend and client Lt. Gov Andre Bauer. Shealy – a protégé of Lee Atwater — also had a penchant for pushing the limits of campaign law in search of an advantage.
The Irmo resident pled guilty in 1992 for failing to report a campaign contribution after he was accused of hiring a black fisherman to run for office to help drive Lowcountry turnout for his sister’s bid for Lt. Governor.
Unumb has a son with autism, and said Shealy helped her draft and find legislative support for a bill requiring autism insurance coverage that is now law. A big Jimmy Buffet fan, Shealy was instantly recognized by the Hawaiian shirts he wore.
“Politics was a profession and a passion, but it was also a fun game,” Unumb said, referring to Shealy enjoying the intellectual challenge of elections. “Intuitively he just understood people. He was just one of them. He identified with the common folks.”
Rod was a guy much loved by his allies, and disparaged by others — including yours truly at times, although I had developed a fairly cordial relationship with him in recent years. He may have done some highly questionable things and associated with some unsavory types — which I’m sure he himself sometimes had occasion to regret — but he certainly added some color to local politics. And he was very good at his job.

Whoa! Anton Gunn drops out to take federal post

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This just in:

Dear Friends, Constituents of House District 79 and the people of South Carolina,
As your State Representative, I have been blessed with the honor of serving you and taking your concerns and voiceswith me to the State House. This is a privilege that I have taken very seriously. Thank you for entrusting this office to me. I have not taken the opportunity for granted and I have served you each day with purpose and passion. My goal has always been to make our state and community better by improving the health, safety and well-being of all South Carolinians. By making sure our government was responsive and accountable, I have worked across the aisle to move closer to that goal. While serving as your Representative, I have done my best to help people and to serve with integrity, honor and humility.
It is with these thoughts in mind that I have been faced with a very honorable yet tough decision. Recently, The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius has asked me to accept a presidential appointment to serve as the Regional Director of the United States Department of Health & Human Services in the South (Region IV). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the United States government’s principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. It plays an important role in our nation. Whether helping children, seniors and the disabled, or protecting our public health, this agency plays a critical role in our nation’s security.
I am humbled by the consideration to accept this senior position. It is not every day that a person is given an opportunity to either serve their country broadly or to continue the pursuit of re-election for House District 79. This decision weighed upon me heavily as I consider it a privilege to be of service in any capacity to the people of this state. After much prayer and deliberation with my family, I believe I can benefit the people of my district and South Carolina by answering the call to serve as the Region IV Director in the US Department of Health and Human Services in Atlanta, Georgia.
Therefore, I will not be seeking re-election as your State House Representative. As most of you know, I have always considered South Carolina to be my home. After graduating as a Gamecock, this is where I chose to live, marry and raise my family. While living here for nearly 20 years, my experiences with the people and my ties to the community have always been my motivation to seek public service.
This is not only a tremendous honor for me personally but a tremendous opportunity for our state. There are dire human service needs in South Carolina and across the Southern Region. As regional director, I will be able to have a greater impact on the quality of life for South Carolina’s seniors, children, disabled and the working poor.
As the Secretary’s senior appointee in the Southern Region I will continue to work on these issues that I have been passionate about while serving as your representative. The commitment to God, family, community and my fellow man are the values that I will carry with me into this next endeavor.
My family and I ask for your prayers and understanding.
Sincerely,
Anton J. Gunn

OK, I’m stunned. And saddened. Anton has easily been one of the most promising young lawmakers in the State House.

Also, does this mean that Sheri Few wins this time? Wow, what a loss.

Big day for Pawmetto Lifeline

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First, a disclaimer: Pawmetto Lifeline, previously known as Project Pet, is a client of ADCO. We did their new Web site, which launched today. I wrote some of the copy for it. That’s why I was at the groundbreaking today.

Now, to my report…

Project Pet has been around since 1999. It started with the activism of some well-connected local folks such as Deloris Mungo, Samuel Tenenbaum and a host of others. With the groundbreaking today for the organization’s new home on Bower Parkway (near Harbison), it’s about to take a giant leap into realizing the dream of the founders and others who have worked to advance the cause over the past decade. Here’s an excerpt from the Web site:

In 2008, more than 23,000 companion animals entered the municipal animal shelters in Richland and Lexington counties. More than 19,000 of these animals were euthanized.

What we are all about is reducing that number to zero. That’s the dream, and we’re going to make it a reality. Actually, perhaps “dream” is too insubstantial a word. We are approaching our goal systematically and pragmatically. We have developed, and are well on the way to implementing, a solid plan employing specific, identified solutions – solutions that have been proven to work. Wishful thinking is not our way.

How will we know we’ve succeeded? When no healthy, treatable, adoptable pet is euthanized in Lexington or Richland counties. A giant leap in that direction was the ground-breaking Aug. 12 on our new facility on Bower Parkway – the Meyer-Finlay Pet Adoption Center of Lexington and Richland Counties.

Of course, we’ve already accomplished a great deal. Since 1999, Project Pet – now Pawmetto Lifeline – has been the conscience of compassion for the Midlands community and a vital area resource for humane care for our abandoned and homeless animals. Our legacy is one of devotion to responsible and compassionate care for the homeless animals of our community, and of fostering the animal-human bond. The core purpose of Pawmetto Lifeline is to promote and practice the principle that every life is precious.

Since our founding, we have rescued over 6,000 animals that would have been put to death otherwise.

When our new home is ready, we’ll be able to do so much more.

We will be able to rescue an additional 2,200 cats and dogs annually from shelters – up from our current rate of 800 annually – which means 3,000 animals that otherwise would not have a chance will live full and healthy lives. More than that, we will be working to break the cycle that has in the past led to hopelessness for so many helpless creatures: With the addition of full-time vets and a medical clinic housed in our new building, we will be able to spay and neuter more than 30,000 animals annually.

In our new building, one staff veterinarian will be able to spay or neuter 7,560 animals each year. But we aren’t going to have just one vet – eventually, we will house four. That adds up to a potential 30,240 procedures per year!

An important thing to note: This operation is a public-private deal. Richland and Lexington counties have formed a partnership with Pawmetto Lifeline to address the over-population issue of companion pets in the two counties. The counties are depending on the organization to provide:

  • an aggressive spay and neuter program that includes a mobile component that will focus on rural areas.
  • a no-cost spay/neuter voucher program
  • adoptions for a minimum of 2,400 dogs and cats from the two counties’ animal shelters.
  • an education program that focuses on proper care for companion pets, including not only such basics as food, water, and shelter, but proper annual medical care.
  • animal behavior training.
That’s why there were several officials from the two counties at the ceremony. From Richland County Council there were Jim Manning, Norman Jackson and Bill Malinowski. From Lexington County Council, Debbie Summers, Smokey Davis, Johnny Jeffcoat and John Carrigg.
Also sitting front and center was Austin Meyer, who with his wife gave the biggest chunk of money to build the new center — $1.5 million. Which is why the center is named for them and their family. Austin, a member of the prominent local Finlay family, is quite a story on his own. He’s the creator of the wildly successful X Plane flight simulator — which I hear recently ran the Microsoft version right out of the sky. And he lives here. Bet you didn’t know that.
Anyway, it was a big day in the lives of thousands of critters in the Midlands — and folks who care about them. It was hot, but there was quite a celebratory atmosphere now that this big day has arrived. The center is to be up and running in Fall 2011.

I gave blood again. So should you (he said with an inflated sense of his own moral superiority)

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Yep, those are my shoes. They need polish...

Sorry about no Virtual Front Page last night. I was giving blood instead.

I did the Alyx system again, the process in which they draw out TWO pints of blood, take the red cells out of it, and put what’s left back (along with a tad of cool saline, which chills one ever so slightly on a hot day). Nice things about this: The needle is smaller (I don’t know how, since it has two channels, but it is) and therefore less uncomfortable — and you don’t get called to give again for 16 weeks, rather than the usual 8.

It was fine. I’m feeling a tad iron-poor this morning (I can sense that there are fewer things carrying oxygen to my brain, or something), but I think I did sleep a little better last night. And the iron will return.

Anyway, they’re short of all sorts of blood as always, not just my “universal donor” O positive.

So you should give, too. Be like me. ‘Cause I’m such a heckuva guy.

Just ran into Nikki Haley. She looked well…

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I ran into Nikki Haley at lunch today, at M Vista on Lady Street. She was there with Rob Godfrey and Tim Pearson of her campaign.

I think it was the first time I’d conversed with her since that time at Starbucks on Gervais shortly after the 2008 election. That day, she had a young woman in tow whom she introduced as being “with my campaign,” and I thought that was odd. The ’08 campaign was over, and it was early for a House candidate to be having meetings about the next campaign. I was probably the most shocked guy in South Carolina when it came out a month or two later than she was running for governor — it just seemed so totally unlikely that she would see herself as ready for that. It was the beginning of me seriously wondering about Nikki…

Anyway, Nikki was pleasant and charming as always when I went up to chat with her today. I don’t think Rob or Tim were all that thrilled to see me, though. They certainly didn’t smile, but then we guys don’t, do we, under such circumstances? Nikki did, but then ladies do.

We didn’t talk shop. She did the standard thing polite people do when other topics are awkward — she asked after my family. Then she asked how I was doing, and I told her that I was with ADCO and having lunch with my colleagues over there, and gave her one of my ADCO cards. She said I was probably glad not to be at the paper any more, and I thought that was perceptive of her. Or a good guess. Maybe it was just an understated slap at the paper; I don’t know. So I asked how she was holding up, and she said great, and I said something about how things had probably gotten a lot less crazy in the last few weeks, and she agreed. And then she asked me again about my family. So I began to dismiss myself, thinking I should wish her all the best but wanting to be honest, and ended up saying something totally inane like, “Well, as long as you’re enjoying yourself; that’s the thing…”

My ADCO friends thought it odd that I had gone to speak with her. Maybe they thought I was showing off, as in That Brad! He’ll just do any crazy thing! But that’s because they only know about Nikki and me through what I’ve written on the blog lately. They don’t realize that I’ve known her for years, and we’ve always had a very cordial relationship. I’ve happily endorsed her twice — in 2004 and 2008 (those were the only elections in which she had opposition), and always enjoyed chatting with her. I always had good hopes for her — before she embarked on her quest to become the new Mark Sanford and darling of the Tea Party, South Carolina’s answer to Sarah Palin. Which is deeply unfortunate.

So it was nice to see her, even though there was that slight awkwardness.

Benjamin joins Ogletree, Deakins law firm

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Just got this release…

OK, never mind! I was going to copy a couple of grafs out of the release here for your perusal, but it’s a blasted PDF file, and you know how sometimes you can copy text out of a PDF and sometimes you can’t? This is one of those where you can’t, which is another occasion for me to say, as a blogger who values convenience and accessibility in information online…

I FRICKIN’ HATE PDFS, AND DON’T KNOW WHY PEOPLE INSIST UPON USING THEM!!!

OK, that’s out of my system.

Anyway, the release, which you can find here, says that Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, one of the nation’s largest labor and employment law firms, has hired Steve Benjamin effective Aug. 1.

I guess it’s kind of hard keeping a small law firm (Benjamin Law Firm, LLC) going when you’re distracted by the all-consuming “part-time” job of being mayor. Maybe someday we’ll get all grown up and have a full-time mayor in this town, and then the mayor won’t have to make arrangements on the side to feed his family. In the meantime, this kind of move makes sense: Going with a large firm that can afford to give you lots of leeway on your time…

Richland Dems can’t count either!

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Ya gotta love it.

Just now, I received a fund-raising message from Richland County Democrats that boldly asserts in the headline:

Get Active! 99 Days to the Election!

OK, so that means Richland Democrats agree with Nikki Haley, but disagree with Rob Miller, as to how many days there are until the election. Right?

Yo! Boyd! Get a calendar!

Leon Lott’s just saving the world, isn’t he?

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First, my twin, Sheriff Leon Lott, magnanimously agrees to solve one of the city of Columbia’s knottiest problems by taking over its police department.

Now this:

Lott heads to Iraq to train police forces

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has been invited to travel to Iraq to train Iraqi police forces.
The sheriff traveled to Iraq at the invitation of the U.S. Army and the S.C. State Guard where he is a provost marshal, said sheriff’s department spokeswoman Monique Mack. Lott will be at the Iraq Police College for two to three weeks.
While in Iraq, Lott will teach courses in community policing and will talk about the importance of having women on a police force, Mack said.
– Noelle Phillips

Ol’ Leon’s just saving the world, isn’t he? He’s pretty much got my endorsement for his next election sewn up.

Next: Mideast Peace!…

Steve Benjamin’s fast start

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It may look like the mayor is deeply involved in some problem facing the city, but actually he's "taking orders" from his wife./photo by Brad Warthen

Steve Benjamin wants to get a lot done as Columbia’s new mayor, and his first city council meeting is testimony to that: Right off the bat, he’s moving on getting Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott to take over the city’s troubled police department.

That’s real action, and of the sort that the city needs more of.

I dropped by the new mayor’s office yesterday to see how he’s getting along — which was a new experience for me, actually. I never visited Mayor Bob in his office before. (When I was at the paper, I didn’t get out much, and when I did it was usually to the State House, not local gummint offices.) Of course, it was a different office. There was nothing particularly remarkable about this one. It’s bigger than my office at ADCO, but not as well air-conditioned. It’s not as nice as the corner office I had at The State (which had formerly been the publisher’s office). Somewhere in the middle — a Mama Bear office. It had nowhere near the impressive drama of Joe Riley’s office in Charleston. There, the visitor can hardly see The Mayor seated behind his desk and gloriously backlit by a huge cathedral window, letting the visitor know he is in The Presence — which is perfectly appropriate, since I think Mayor Joe is America’s best mayor. Steve had a window behind him, but that was about it.

I mention those details because when I had lunch with ex-Mayor Bob yesterday he referred to an Adam Beam story that Bob felt implied Steve was being grandiose in taking the city manager’s office for himself — but I think Bob was being extra touchy on Steve’s behalf there. I thought Adam’s reference was sort of neutral. In any case, there’s nothing grand about the office.

Anyway, during my visit Steve touched on a number of things he wants to move on, from small to large:

  • He showed me mockups of highway signs that are to go at all the entrances to Columbia, saying “Welcome to Columbia, Home of the 2010 NCAA College Baseball National Champion University of South Carolina Gamecocks.”
  • As for his idea about getting the USC Law School to move into the office space formerly occupied by SCANA, “That’s something that I want so bad that I can taste it.” Ideally, a private 3rd party would buy the building and lease it to the university so that it stays on the tax rolls, but if that doesn’t happen it’s not a deal-breaker. He’s working on the USC trustees one at a time, and is finding some support for the move. There are some who still want to build a new building, but the Main Street idea is far more practical, and would do so much to further the continued revitalization of that corridor.
  • Speaking of which, he wants to get the streetscaping of Main Street finished. He thinks it’s an oversight that that didn’t get into the mix of projects that would be funded by the sales tax increase for transportation that will be on the ballot in November. Beyond that, he has a number of ideas about further enhancing the city center, including — this would be down the line, probably with federal dollars — a restoration of City Hall and a revamp of the space between it and the county courthouse, getting rid of the parking lot and tying the buildings together better.
  • Trolleys. He wants to bring them back at some point, not as part of the overall transportation strategy, but merely as an aid to tourism. With the convention center up and running and busy and the new convention hotel and the Vista still booming and Main Street coming back, he sees much more potential for the trolleys than was there when the used to ride around empty.
  • An industrial park. He sees Columbia as badly needing a place to put large businesses if it manages to recruit them. He sees the city as needing something — probably on the south end of town — like the space that the aforementioned SCANA moved to across the river.
  • Speaking of across the river — he continues to be all about regional cooperation, from the airport to the convention center (which is in need of expansion — we’re losing a lot of conventions for which it is too small, from what I hear). And he doesn’t see that running one way. He wants the city more involved in helping to promote the Lake Murray area and other parts of the Midlands.

He’s restless and ready to get moving. Which is promising.

Nikki’s secret meeting to try to woo business

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Well, this is ironic…

When I was typing this post back here about how Nikki Haley is trying to compensate for the fact that the Chamber backs Vincent Sheheen, I got a call from Henry McMaster. Actually, first I got an e-mail from Trey Walker asking for my phone number, then I got a call from Henry.

What was Henry calling about? Well, let me back up a day…

At the end of Monday’s Columbia Rotary Club meeting, I ran into Henry (he and I are both members) on my way toward the door. It was the first time I had run into him since he lost the primary, and we chatted for a minute about that. He said something about wishing he could roll time back a couple of months, which prompted me to ask him what he would do differently, to which he responded that there really wasn’t anything he could have done to achieve a different result. Too much tumbled Nikki’s way in quick succession — the ReformSC ad, the Sarah Palin endorsement, the wave of sympathy arising from the Will Folks stuff — not to mention having Jenny Sanford out there working for her.

I sensed that Henry was, at least in spirit, not entirely thrilled with his new role as supporter of the GOP nominee. But he’s a good soldier, and he quickly roused himself to do his duty. As I was about to walk away and Crawford Clarkson was approaching, he grabbed my arm and said hey, he wanted to invite me and Crawford to a special meeting on Thursday at noon at the Wilbur Smith building.

He said it was a chance for business people to get answers to the questions they have about Nikki Haley. Nikki will be there to answer them. “And you’re a business man now, right?” he said to me. You betcha, I said.

Questions? At the Wilbur Smith building? Questions like, what did Nikki do for Wilbur Smith for that 40 grand, aside from having “good contacts”? Well… actually, all sorts of questions, Henry said, such as about her position on this bill or that one… I didn’t press him further, because I figured I’d find out Thursday, right?

And the best part? Henry said the media wasn’t being invited. So as a business guy, I’d have a scoop. Nice being a businessman, huh?

That was yesterday.

Today, Henry called me rather flustered. He said it was a “totally closed, no-press event.” That meant somebody like me, who would turn around and write about it (and I would, too), was NOT invited. “They’re right emphatic about it,” he said.

He told me how embarrassed he was, and I knew he was. I thanked him for calling — after asking if our former Rotary president, and president of ADCO, Lanier Jones could go instead of me. Lanier’s a businessman, and he doesn’t blog.

Henry said the meeting was getting really crowded, and he didn’t know, but he’d check.

I feel bad for Henry.

Free Times list: “Cabal That Controls Columbia”

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I’m way busy on deadline for an ADCO project, but in the meantime I thought I’d give y’all something to chew on: The Free Times’ list of “The Secret Cabal That Controls Columbia: The Power Elite in the Capital City.”

First, that publication’s own disclaimer, which takes a bit of the oomph out of the pitch: “OK, first things first: We don’t really think the people on the list that follows constitute a cabal — we just needed a zippy title to get your attention.”

That said, on to the list:

  • Ben Arnold
  • Steve Benjamin
  • Sue Berkowitz
  • Marvin Chernoff
  • Bob Coble
  • Tameika Isaac Devine
  • Eric Hyman
  • Alan Kahn
  • Leon Lott
  • Darla Moore
  • Steve Morrison
  • Cathy Novinger
  • Tom Prioreschi
  • The Quinns (Richard and Rick)
  • Ed Sellers
  • Rep. James Smith
  • Ann Timberlake
  • Jean Toal
  • Don Tomlin
  • Jack Van Loan
Well, they certainly got that last one right — my good friend Jack, the Godfather of Five Points. In fact, I really feel like a connected guy reading that list, as I know all but one person on it, and most of them pretty well. With those kinds of connections, I ought to be a mover and shaker myself.

But there are some flaws here. First, not only isn’t this not a “cabal,” but in truth no one “controls” Columbia. And there seem to be omissions from the list. There’s James Smith, but not the other Hardy Boy, Joel Lourie. There’s Eric Hyman, but not Harris Pastides.

But go to the piece, read the explanations, and judge for yourself. And speak out — who is on the list who shouldn’t be, and who isn’t who should?

Big, beautiful balloons in Blythewood

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Should have posted these last night, but didn’t get to it until now. I was reminded when I saw the picture in the paper this morning from the Blythwood Balloons, Blues and Bar-B-Que festival Saturday evening and thought, “That’s a nice picture, but not as beautiful as the ones I took.”

Of course, mine had granddaughters in it, which is an unfair advantage.

I was a little disappointed that the balloons didn’t actually take off, slip the surly bonds and all — at least not while I was there. While I was there, they were tethered and taking folks up and down for short rides. Which was nice, but not as awe-inspiring as a bunch of hot-air balloons floating away.

And it was just the perfect night for it…

Hail the conquering heroes, say the 42,000!

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I have a rather unpleasant trait in common with Mark Sanford: I’m not crazy about crowds, or group enthusiasm. Confronted with such, like our governor, I tend to make ironic or disparaging remarks. So it was that while waiting for the triumphal procession to begin on Main Street today, I grumbled about the helicopter hovering directly overhead that to my ear was becoming as obnoxious as a neighbor’s leaf blower, and wondered whether Ray Tanner would have anyone whispering in his ear as he passed, “Respica te, hominem te memento” or “Memento mori.”

Which, let’s face it, is obnoxious on my part. Definitely not one of my best traits, as my wife, who has heard a surfeit of such, can attest.

So it was that I was happy to have my grouchiness dissolve once the parade got under way, as I remembered once again how thrilling the victory was the other night. Talk about your contact high. This really was a wonderful communal event for our state, and for Columbia. Did you notice the glorious goofiness of EVERYBODY, including the ballplayers, being so busy taking pictures that nobody seemed to stop just to experience the event? That was understandable. Nobody wanted to forget this. It was that special.

And by the end, even I was in just as good a mood as everyone else. And as I walked back to the office with ADCO President Lanier Jones, I heartily agreed as he marveled at the tremendous juxtaposition of things to celebrate:

  • The new mayor’s inauguration, an exciting new beginning for Columbia.
  • The tremendous victory of our National Champion Gamecock baseball team.
  • The start of the July Fourth weekend.
  • The beautiful weather, which was far, far more pleasant than we have any right to expect in Columbia in July.

Actually, Lanier didn’t mention that last one; I added it on my own. Aren’t you proud of me?

Beyond that I’ll add this: Have you ever seen that many people assembled downtown for something so unquestionably positive for our city and state? (Something I heard a number of people marveling at.) This was a very special moment.

And how many were there? I just got the official estimate from our new mayor: 42,000 people were there today!

Huzzay, Gamecocks!

Cayce Mayor Elise Partin’s fund-raiser

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The reception occurred during a rainstorm, and once or twice we lost lights -- which made for some moody photos. That's Mayor Partin in the pool of light at right, listening to a supporter./Brad Warthen

On Tuesday night I dropped by a fund-raiser for Cayce Mayor Elise Partin, who’s up for election this year, to see who was there and stuff.

As it happened, I missed the mayor’s announcement of a grant for the Airport Corridor project she’s worked so hard on — to beautify the gateway to the Midlands and give a better impression to visitors. It’s typical of the way she works not only to improve her town, but the whole region. Which is why I hope she gets re-elected. The promise I saw when we endorsed her two years ago seems to be bearing out.

Since I missed her remarks, I didn’t have much substance for a post beyond noting who was there at the reception in the new Southern First Bank building (I didn’t want to ask the mayor to repeat it all for me that night; she needed to spend time with her guests). For the rest I had to wait for a press release, which I just got today.

As to who was there, here are some of the names:

  • Lexington County Sheriff James Metts (apparently Leon Lott was there, too, but I missed him)
  • former Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler
  • Mayor Bobby Horton of West Columbia
  • Mayor Pat Smith of Springdale
  • County Councilwoman Debbie Summers
  • County Councilman Bill Banning (my own councilman and neighbor)
  • Home Builders Association of Greater Columbia Executive Director Earl McLeod

And close to 150 others. Seemed to me like she had a pretty good cross-section.

Here’s the press release:

CAYCE, SC   Nearly 150 residents, friends and supporters ignored the June 29 summer storm to come to Southern First Bank to meet their Mayor, Elise Partin. It was a kickoff fundraiser for Partin’s re-election campaign, though the Mayor herself preferred to call it a “friendraiser.”

Justin Strickland, Southern First president, joined by some prominent Cayce residents and area elected officials, hosted the event and encouraged everyone’s continued support of Partin. “She just burst on the scene a year and half ago and she hasn’t slowed down since,” Strickland said. “She really cares about businesses and individuals and wants to make Cayce the best place to be in South Carolina. We need to keep Elise Partin in office!”

Partin addressed the crowd and reminded them of her original campaign promises. “In less than two years we managed to accomplish or begin to address just about every element of that platform,” she said. Flanked by Mayors Bobby Horton and Pat Smith (West Columbia and Springdale, respectively), Partin pointed to one success in particular. “I’m happy to announce that Cayce, West Columbia, Springdale and Lexington County came together with the support of the rest of the Midlands to work on the Airport Corridor – the gateway to the Midlands. And I am also happy to announce that we just got approval for a Department of Transportation grant to
get started on that improvement!”

Mayor Horton and Mayor Smith both spoke on Partin’s behalf and urged supporters and volunteers to keep her in office. Partin promised she would continue to work on issues such as:

  • Ensuring fiscal responsibility and guaranteeing open communication and transparency
  • Fortifying Cayce neighborhoods to continue to attract business
  • Prioritizing the public infrastructure investments – sidewalks, drainage, safety and more so that we can improve the quality of life in Cayce.

“My family and I love Cayce,” she said. “It is my privilege to serve you and I am humbled by your support for my leadership. It motivates me even more to work with you, for you.”

For more information on Mayor Elise Partin, visit her website: www.elisepartin.com, find her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter @elisepartin.

Gene Partin; Justin Strickland, President Southern First Bank; Sheriff James Metts; and Elise Partin, Mayor of Cayce. /courtesy of Partin campaign

The Benjamin inaugural breakfast

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I’m backdating this because I’m catching up. I’m saying that so you’ll have an explanation when you go, “Huh? That wasn’t there on Thursday!”

Anyway, I thought I’d provide a glimpse of the breakfast at the Cap City Club. My wife and my daughter the dancer went along, as the event was a benefit for Columbia City Ballet. William Starrett and I both wore seersucker, but I swear we didn’t coordinate it in advance. We sat across from George Zara and John Kessler from Providence Hospital and Mrs. Kessler.

Below you will see the Fourth Estate posing with the … what Estate would the new mayor be (I’m not sure it fits into that model)? In any case, Adam Beam of The State and Steve Benjamin are having their picture taken by the Fifth Estate, a phrase which as you know I continue to belabor in the hope that it will catch on.

Whoa! On his last day, Mayor Bob bites back

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There has been little love lost between Mayor Bob Coble (who today becomes former Mayor Bob Coble) and Kevin Fisher since Kevin ran against him several years ago.

So it is that there is some sharp criticism of Bob in Kevin’s column about his departure from office. Sharp, but not out of bounds. In fact, much of it is written with the same crusty, edgy sort of good will that went into his column about me when I left the paper. I enjoyed his column about me, but then, I’m in the political criticism business. (Also, I was a couple of sheets to the wind from free beer when I read it, at Goatfeathers on the night that I left the paper.) I can enjoy a column for being well-done, even if it isn’t exactly hagiographic. In fact, I’d probably object if ol’ Kevin started to put a halo on me.

Bob responds in a way that makes me smile because of the irony of it. Part of Kevin’s criticism of him is that Mayor Bob was TOO nice. Oh yeah, says Bob?, and responds by giving him some sharp elbows in this letter to the editor:

Dear Editor,

Kevin Fisher writes in his latest op ed piece that, “everybody likes Mayor Bob. I know I do. And he knows I do. Moreover, I dare say he likes me.” – Kevin Fisher City Watch (Sept. 5, 2007). I do like Kevin. Moreover, I admire Kevin for his political courage. If I had gotten the number of votes he received in the last two City elections after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money, I would have been too embarrassed to keep writing those columns in The Free Times. But Kevin, despite the humiliation and complete rejection by the voters, soldiers on with “Joe Azar” like determination. He is one tough hombre.

I’m gonna miss this repartee between these two wacky kids…

Everybody wants to party with Steve

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Just got this from Steve Benjamin:

Dear Friends,

We woud like to issue a correction. Due to overwhelming response, the Township Auditorium’s Box Office has completely sold out of free tickets.

We apologize and hope that everyone will not only come out to the One Columbia Inaugural Gala but the other events that we have planned for this.

Guess I’ll leave the tux in the closet. But I am going to the breakfast tomorrow morning.

By the way, did you know that Steve has his own official emblem as mayor-elect, a la Obama? Not something I’d want to make a big deal of, but I thought it worth a mention. I liked Obama (and still do), so I only made gentle fun of his seal at the time. I like Steve, too, and have great hopes for Columbia’s future with him as mayor. I really think he’ll do well. But the seal… while it’s nothing much to look at (he shoulda come to ADCO if he wanted something snazzy), it does seem a tad pretentious. Or is it just me?

The Midlands Aviation Summit today

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Went to the Midlands Aviation Summit today at the convention center, which was the community’s chance to hear airport consultant Michael Boyd of Boyd Group International (above) assessing the state of, and future prospects for, Columbia Metropolitan Airport.

As you can see below, there was a pretty decent turnout of concerned folks. They ran the gamut from professional ecodevo types from the Chamber, the Midlands Alliance and Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports & Tourism to business travelers with a beef about the cost of parking at CAE.

Some main points from what he said:

  • “That scraping sound is not an iceberg.” The fact that Southwest chose Charleston and Greenville and not Columbia is not a huge deal. Southwest is what it is, and he doesn’t see it as the cure for Columbia’s ills. It’s not “the giant sucking sound.”
  • While we might have challenges with fares and losing passengers to Charlotte, for business purposes CAE provides what Columbia needs — connections to where business travelers need to be.
  • Main thing travel into and out of Columbia needs to be is reliable, to not have our flights be among those that get canceled when there’s a rainstorm.
  • Airlines don’t care about our civic enthusiasm. They don’t want to view cute or pleading videos. Don’t send them the mayor. What they care about is whether they’re going to make any money, because nobody’s taking risks these days.
  • No, don’t start your own airline. Air South? “We don’t talk about that in polite society.”
  • What can civic-minded folks who want to see the airport grow as a boost to the local economy DO? Check out the local airport first. Don’t assume it can’t meet your needs. Give it a chance.
  • We just don’t have enough traffic — enough passengers on big enough airplanes — to bring down fares. When someone pointed out that smaller airports such as Florence and Augusta have lower fares, he said he had no idea why. “I used to be in airline pricing, so I have no understanding of it whatsoever.”
  • The cost of parking is not a problem.

On that last one I had to challenge him. When he said “Nobody cares about the cost of parking,” several people around me muttered, “I care.” I told him that, and also told him that I hear all the time from people who have run the numbers, and come out ahead paying for the gas to drive to Charlotte and park there. I added that even if it didn’t make sense, even if it were totally irrational, it would still be a real problem we had to deal with. Airport Executive Director Dan Mann told me afterward that he gets it. Perception is reality.

(It occurs to me that next time local governments want to invest money in boosting air travel, rather than starting an airline, maybe they could help the airport lower those parking costs. I realize it’s based on the need to pay for the capital investment, but maybe there’s some way to restructure the debt. Or something.)

On the lower pricing in Augusta and Florence… I was glad someone brought that up, and somewhat disappointed he couldn’t tell us why that was the case. But it occurs to me that there must be some reason, his joke about the illogical nature of pricing aside. And if we could find out that reason, and apply it here, it would help.

Based on what Mr. Boyd said and a brief conversation with Dan Mann after the presentation, the thinking seems to be that Columbia’s best chance for expansion of air service lies with Delta, not USAirways. So our local economic developers in the air transportation field are likely to be looking more to Atlanta, less to Charlotte.

That huge, gigantic, enormous Confederate Flag rally Saturday

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Just now I was cleaning up the storage card on my Blackberry (a.k.a., my Double-Naught Spy Camera), and I ran across this shot I took at the intersection of Main and Gervais at 1:17 p.m. Saturday.

This was the huge rally to support the Confederate flag on the North lawn of the State House.

What rally, you ask? Well, it’s right there in front of you. Look about 50 feet past the monument — see that knot of flags back there? All clumped up together? What you can’t see too well in this low-res photo is that they are all massed together in front of a camera, with the State House steps behind them, trying to make it look on camera as though the lawn is just PACKED with Confederate flag supporters. At least, that’s what it looked like was happening from where I was. Maybe there was something else on that tripod, I don’t know.

Best part of this picture? I think, based on his comments here, that that’s our own Michael Rodgers counterdemonstrating in the foreground (in the red shirt), being confronted by what I think is a counter-counter-demonstrator, but I didn’t stick around to find out, because the light turned green.

In my day, I’ve seen some flag rallies. I’ve seen some pretty big pro-flag gatherings, that fairly filled the space before the steps, with re-enactors and all sorts of pomp — groups numbering three or four thousand. And of course, I’ve seen the historic King Day at  the Dome in 2000, when 60,000 gathered to say take it down.

And therefore, I can say without fear of contradiction, this was pathetic.

Today begins the great Convergence!

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Folks getting ready for ConvergeSE at ADCO last night. You'll note that I am, indeed, the only one around here who dresses like a Mad Man./Brad Warthen

No, I am not the Keymaster, and I am not awaiting the Gatekeeper. This convergence is a little less cosmic, but only a little.

I mentioned yesterday that I’m working at ADCO. Well, today things are fairly quiet here because the ADCO Interactive folks are over at ETV hosting a series of extremely advanced workshops in Web development and convergence and other mysterious new media stuff. These confabs are being conducted by some of the leading kahunas on the forefront of new media.

I’d be over there, except Gene Crawford (the jefe of ADCO Interactive) told me it would all be over my head. I am, however, allowed to attend the speeches that will be given tomorrow over at the Swearingen Center. Supposedly, they’ll talk down enough to me for me, a mere blogger, to follow.

If you want to know more about this event, check out the Web site. Or if that’s too inconvenient, here’s an excerpt from the press release:

ConvergeSE 2010 is intended for Web designers and developers, business executives, marketing professionals, content creators and students. Whether you’re a seasoned expert or a newcomer to the Web, you’re sure to discover something that will spark your creativity and get you motivated.

The conference, a southeastwide expansion of last year’s successful ConvergeSC, will feature such speakers as Neil Patel of Crazy Egg and Kissmetrics, Kevin Hale of Wufoo, Robert Tolar Haining of Condé Nast Digital, Aarron Walter of MailChimp and Brandon Eley of brandoneley.com.

The conference “will take you from front-end design to the development technologies used to build websites and web apps, then also help you learn strategies to sell your services or application as well as build community around it,” says organizer Gene Crawford of unmatchedstyle.com and period-three.com. “It’s that well rounded, multi-disciplinary approach to Converge that makes it a little unique I think. We give each speaker 30 minutes to get their point across and then it’s off to another topic, fast and furious.”

Who should attend ConvergeSE 2010? “Anyone who works with the web or on the web,” said Crawford. Which today means pretty much anybody.

When and Where is it?
Friday, June 25, 8 am-5 pm, Workshop Day
ETV
1041 George Rogers Boulevard

Saturday, June 25, 8 am-5pm, Conference Day
University of south Carolina
Amoco Hall
Swearingen Engineering Center
301 Main Street