SCNewDems Blog

MB Sun News: Mayoral runoff 'one last chance' for a clean race?

If you haven't been keeping up with the ongoing controversy over campaign finance allegations that has sprung up along the Crystal Coast, be sure to check out this piece from last weekend's Sun News.

After Tuesday's elections forced the Myrtle Beach mayoral race into a runoff, the Sun News sees the new election as 'one last chance' to start with a clean slate:

Attacks on family members, anonymous mailers, allegations of kickbacks - the politics in the Myrtle Beach city elections were filthy enough the first time around that we hope the next two weeks will be an improvement.

No matter how they ultimately cast their ballots on Election Day, the intensity of the mudslinging lately has disgusted most voters, all but the most callous of political operatives. Now, with five candidates headed to what is sure to be a heated runoff (Mayor John Rhodes versus former Mayor Mark McBride, plus council incumbents Randal Wallace and Chuck Martino and challenger Mike Lowder), it's a sad possibility that the same style of campaign could continue.

Click here to read the rest of the article over at TheSunNews.com

For more on the runoff, click here.

Sun News: Mysterious contributions reason for campaign finance change?

From the Myrtle Beach Sun News:

The hundreds of mysterious $1,000 donations to local politicians that have caused such stir over the last two weeks are, as The Sun News has reported, both legal and commonplace in South Carolina.

As South Carolina gears up for what's sure to be a heated campaigns season in the lead up to the 2010 governor's election, from this point forward, we'll see more and more money flowing into campaigns around the state.  Candidates are required to disclose who they receive money from--that's not an issue--but unlike 20 other states and the federal government, South Carolina allows corporate contributions requiring only a business name to pass money into a candidate's coffers, up to $3,500.  

What results is a system of untraceable, non-transparent elections in which money can buy results.  The solution?  Here's the Sun News' sugestion:

.The federal government and at least 20 individual states (including North Carolina) all prohibit campaign contributions directly from corporations (they may create "political action committees," but there are strict limits on who may donate into those, and of course, require full disclosure of those donors). We would like to call on our local legislative delegation to support such a change, but at least seven state legislators (Sen. Ray Cleary and Reps. Thad Viers, George Hearn, Alan Clemmons, Nelson Hardwick, Tracy Edge and, to a lesser degree, Liston Barfield) all received the same money.