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SANFORD TO ENDORSE FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF’S SENATE BID
Gov. Mark Sanford’s diabolical scheme to pick off numerous legislative opponents with a slate of loyal cronies never really reached fruition. There was chatter all over the state that Sanford supporters would rise up and oust the “status quo” politicians from Columbia, but when the filing deadline came and passed, little materialized.
One race that has, however, is the already-dirty showdown in State Senate District 46 between incumbent Catherine Ceips and the governor’s former top aide, Tom Davis. And get this: Sanford will be endorsing him today in Beaufort.
Sanford backed Ceips’ opponent in last year’s special election following the resignation of Scott Richardson to become director of the state Department of Insurance.
I think Sanford supporting Davis is about as shocking as when I endorsed Sen. John McCain before the South Carolina GOP primary. McCain went on to victory and I’m confident that my endorsement had a lot to do with that.
So we’ll see if Sanford has the same kind of pull I do.
(Photo: FITSNews)
The 12-member Savannah River Maritime Commission was charged by the state legislature to represent South Carolina in matters…
Mike McShane, director of the Department of Natural Resources, said he thinks ambiguity was by design.
“It gives broad powers to be figured out by the commission,” McShane said.
Dean Moss also is general manager of the Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority and a member of the Savannah River Committee, which deals with water-use issues between Georgia and South Carolina.said “the group has a lot of authority to get the state committed to something without having to check in with someone”.
http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/410268.html
Govendevelopnor Sanford’s Brother-in-law
Charges that Beaufort Mayor Bill Rauch abused his office during the McLeod Farm annexation process were dismissed this week by the State Ethics Commission.
Local real estate agent and former mayoral candidate Billy Keyserling told the commission in August that Rauch had offered in May to vote in favor of the proposed annexation of 1,005-acre McLeod Farm in exchange for favors from Keyserling. Keyserling said Rauch wanted him to serve as treasurer of Rauch’s re-election campaign staff and write a letter to TheBeaufort Gazette, praising Rauch’s work.
The Ethics Commission did not attempt to determine whether Keyserling’s allegation was true, executive director Herb Hayden said. Instead, the commission ruled that Keyserling’s allegation was irrelevant because the owner of McLeod Farm withdrew the petition for annexation.
“After careful review, the commission concludes that (Rauch) did not violate (section) 8-13-705(B)(1) because that section requires that the public official actually be influenced in the discharge of his official duties,” the commission wrote in its decision. “Here, the petition in question for which the official responsibilities of respondent were to have been exchanged was withdrawn and respondent was not actually influenced.”
Hayden said his staff presented an argument against dismissing the case, but the nine-member commission rejected that argument.
In response to Keyserling’s allegation, Rauch said Thursday, “I don’t want Billy Keyserling to be my campaign treasurer. It’s as simple as that.”
Rauch further said he was unaware that Keyserling had an equity interest in McLeod Farm until after Keyserling contacted the Ethics Commission.
On May 10, when Keyserling claims that his attorney, David Tedder, was contacted by an attorney representing Rauch, Keyserling owned 25 percent of 38 acres called Old Seabrook Landing that was part of the proposed McLeod Farm annexation. The McLeods were also selling their property through Keyserling’s real estate firm, Coldwell Banker Platinum Partners.
Annexation of McLeod Farm would have raised the permitted number of houses from approximately 330 to 1,985.
Keyserling stood behind his allegation Thursday and stressed that an Ethics Commission investigator found probable cause, which prompted the Ethics Commission to file a complaint against Rauch. He also said he found the commission’s decision troubling.
“If I interpret the law as the Ethics Commission did, it says any politician or public official can go out and offer a vote or services in exchange for something of value, and if they don’t suck somebody into it, it appears they’ve done nothing wrong,” Keyserling said. “When you interpret the law like the commission did, the politician is only guilty if the politician lures someone into their fold and gets them to commit a crime before (the politician does).”
Ethics Commission members could not be reached for comment Thursday.
In 2004, Rauch narrowly defeated Keyserling in a costly and bitter mayoral election. Keyserling and Rauch also squared off for mayor in 1999.
“You’ve got somebody who ran against (me) twice and was involved in a proposed real estate development … so when they didn’t get the zoning they wanted, it’s almost like it’s inevitable that a charge like this comes up,” Rauch said. “This sort of thing is an unfortunate reality of public life today.”
http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/411256.html
Contracts on the table for sale of Port Royal railroad
Two agencies this week will get a look at a contract that would see the shuttered Port Royal Railroad turned over to a local water utility.
Service along the 25-mile stretch of rail line that runs from Port Royal to Yemassee ended in 2003, and both the S.C. State Ports Authority and the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority are considering a deal to turn the line over to the utility.
The Ports Authority’s board of directors will look at the contract Wednesday, and the utility’s board will see it Thursday. Control of the rail line has been up in the air since service stopped five years ago.
Ideas that would turn the line into tourist or recreational attraction have been batted around, and the utility has said it would use the rail’s right of way to run its lines.
Dean Moss, executive director of the water utility, said Monday that he doesn’t expect the contract will be approved until May.
“There’s still a little bit of work to do on the contract,” he said, “but I wanted the board to have the ability to look at it and discuss it.”
Moss said the big issue — the price — has been agreed upon, though it won’t be released until the contract is signed.
Byron Miller, spokesman for the Ports Authority, wouldn’t comment on the contract other than to say it’s a deal with the utility.
Once the deal is completed, Moss said the utility would consider additional uses for the property.
“(The utility) plans to buy that right of way … for use as a pipeline right of way,” he said. “We assume that local governments or other citizen groups would want to make other uses of that right of way, and we will, at the appropriate time, be willing to sit down and discuss all of those things.”
A recent decision by the Surface Transportation Board cleared the way for the rail line’s sale.
The board in February decided that the line had not been abandoned, which means its right of way shouldn’t revert to the previous landowners.
Landowners with property near the line filed a petition in December 2006 asking that the panel declare the railroad abandoned.
http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/414533.html
Port appointment dominates Senate debate
http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/427460.html
The annexation of the McLeoud Farm Lasted a year. The real question we should ask is why did Billy Keyserling only raise an issue over the Ethics of the Mayor until after it was turned down by the Town. Obviously it was not a concern when he felt he had the Mayors support…. Billy Keyserling Purchased the best piece and only deep waterfront section of the farm which drastically reduced the value and sale ability of the tract of the Farm.