WHAT WOULD THE FOUNDERS SAY?

During the birth process of this great nation, the Founders realized early on that a "free press" would be essential if this new form of government was to survive. They considered this element so vital to our nation's success that they equaled it in import to "freedom of speech" and "freedom of religion". In the Federalist Papers, the Founders explained that the "press" carried a huge responsibility along with its freedoms. The "press" would be responsible for keeping the masses informed as to the conduct of the government. That was the original plan.

Jump forward to 2010. Today, it seems our newspapers have only one goal in mind, sell large volumes of advertising. Reporting the truth and keeping the public informed has been relegated to a secondary or even non existing goal. Point in fact: The P&C editorial supporting the reelection of Dan Davis, Supervisor of Berkeley County.

Being as no name was attached to this endorsement, we don't know to whom to address our comments. We would assume you know who you are, unless the P&C simplified this effort and just let Dan Davis write it himself.

The first reason given for this endorsement was all the road improvements BC has experienced due to the new one cent sales tax initiated by Mr. Davis. So far, the only activity we've seen is the decimation of a few score ancient oak trees along Hwy. 17A. The majority of the roads we travel are still in the same deplorable condition as they have been in for years. Several people, including GE&P attempted to get the P&C to report on the $4 MILLION spent on the debacle of a new intersection at Hwy. 6 and Hwy. 311. This wasted money could have been used to pave Hwy. 6 from the old Cross fire tower all the way to Moncks Corner. The P&C reported little to nothing on this subject.

The next justification for reelecting Mr. Davis, according to the P&C, is all the economic development attributable to Mr. Davis' efforts. The article includes Moulton Logistics and Gildan, as examples. They don't mention that neither Mr. Davis nor his crack economic development team knew anything of either of these additions to BC's job market until after both concerns had already established themselves. Since the FILOT agreements were already in place for these locations, there was no need for negotiations with BC government. Neither does this article include the fact that BC, under Mr. Davis' leadership, has lost ten times as many jobs as it has gained. The "industrial park planned near Jedburg" was not the brain child of Mr. Davis. Credit for this project has to go to its creator, John S., whom Mr. Davis fired soon after the plan was underway. And, for the P&C to include the pie in the sky "likely spinoff development from the Boeing expansion" as an accomplishment of Mr. Davis, strains credibility.

The "green energy" bragging point should have included the fact that both these projects are costing the taxpayers money, not saving it.

The P&C is correct in saying Mr. Davis served as city administrator of Hanahan. What they neglected to say is, when Mr. Davis was hired for this position, the city of Hanahan had a surplus of $2 MILLION. When he "left" the job, the city had a $3 MILLION deficit.

Finally, the article says Mr. Davis "provided a steadying hand" on County Council and "dealt capably with budget difficulties". In fact, Mr. Davis formed a coalition of 2 Democrats and 2 RINOs to offset the votes of the 4 Conservatives on Council. This resulted in him casting the tie-breaking vote on many items of wasteful spending during the last 2 years. Several of these votes involved suspicious infrastructure projects that benefitted his supporters. The P&C was made aware of these questionable activities but refused to investigate or report on them. When citizens investigated the issues independently and provided the P&C with documentation of irregularities, the P&C still refused to report on them.

When it comes to financial issues connected to Mr. Davis, the P&C neglected to report on the problems with the FILOT situation with the school system. They didn't think it was important to report that the schools had been short changed over $4 MILLION by Mr. Davis' attempt to "balance" his budget. They didn't think it was important to report that Mr. Davis took $1 MILLION from the BC Economic Development Fund for the same reason. They didn't think it was important to report that Mr. Davis approved, without the knowledge of Council, a $2.24 MILLION water line to the front door of one of Mr. Davis' supporters on Council. They didn't think it was important to report that, for the third year, Mr. Davis is arranging events so he can take 29% of the property tax relief from the citizens of BC. P&C has written several scathing articles about Charleston County Council trying to take a mere 10% from their citizens. The P&C didn't think it was important to mention that Mr. Davis has depleted the fund balance by $5 MILLION. The P&C didn't think it was important to investigate where the $10 MILLION taken from BCW&SA was spent or for that matter, whether the "taking" was even legal. All they said was he "dealt capably with budget difficulties".

The issues included here are only covering those mentioned in the P&C endorsement of Mr. Davis. Credible, documented information on all these issues, and countless others, has been provided to the P&C from several sources over the last two years. Routinely and repeatedly, the P&C has refused to report on them. It has become increasingly apparent that the P&C will not touch a story derogatory of Mr. Davis, with a ten foot ink pen. Now, without even the slightest consideration of any facts, the P&C has chosen to endorse the behavior of Mr. Davis.

We have always thought the goal of journalism was to answer the "who, what, when, where, and why" and to maintain at least a shadow of their original civic responsibility. Isn't it sad that the Tri-County area doesn't have a real newspaper?

NOTE TO THE P&C: Our puppies thank you.