WHO WANTS TO BET

Who wants to bet the "lawmaker" who didn't pay his/her taxes was NOT a Republican? If it was, now THAT would make a headline.

WHAT A CRYING SHAME

We are certain that most of the old timers out there remember when shark fishing from the Folly Beach pier wasn't against the law. The process was pretty simple. The fisherman dumped "chum", a mixture of blood and guts, into the water and waited for the sharks to arrive. It didn't take very long before the water was alive with the large tooth monsters. Then, the fisherman would bait his large hook with half of a mullet and go to work.

In case no one has noticed, we have a similar feeding frenzy going on in the local media right now. The only difference is, sharks are not the target. This frenzy is aimed at Congressman Henry Brown. Channel 5 News and WTMA radio have aired stories concerning remarks allegedly made by the Congressman on the night of the Republican Primary run-off election. According to these TV news stories and topics of discussion on WTMA talk radio, Henry Brown called the voters of Berkeley County "fools" for reelecting Dan Davis, Supervisor. These stories have been edited for effect and have spread through the county like wildfire. The big problem is THE BASIC STORY IS NOT TRUE.

On the night of June 22nd, we were at the Musicman where Mr. Brown was holding his election night party. When the news came in that Mr. Davis had won the election, the TV news crew approached Mr. Brown for his comments. We were standing directly behind the interviewer and listened to every word that was exchanged. At no time did Mr. Brown refer to the voters of BC as fools. During the lengthy interview, he did say he thought the voters of BC "HAD BEEN FOOLED" by Mr. Davis' false statements during the campaign. As any thinking person knows, there is a wide canyon between saying someone has been fooled and calling someone a fool. But, we have to assume certain members of the media are not numbered among the thinking people. They created a firestorm over something that was never said.

Mr. Brown attempted to correct the misstatements made on WTMA by calling in to set the record straight. It was embarrassing to listen to the disrespect heaped upon Mr. Brown as he tried to correct the false reporting. The host would ask a question of Mr. Brown and, before Mr. Brown had any chance to answer, the host would pepper him with yet another accusatory question. The host of the show even went so far as to allow callers to join the pile-on.

The most egregious misleading report came from Channel 5 news. After the WTMA hatchet job, a reporter from Channel 5 called the Congressman for an interview. Realizing he had been placed in an untenable position, the Congressman refused the interview by saying, "I said what I said and I stick by it". Even after the Congressman said he refused to go on the record, the Channel 5 reporter recorded this remark and included it in the report, giving the false impression that Mr. Brown had admitted saying what he was accused of saying. As we all know, "cut and paste" can create anything you want. This was not the best example of honest reporting.

GE&P has received numerous calls from BC voters who saw the Channel 5 report and are" very angry that the Congressman could say such a thing about them". They believe this story simply because it was on TV news. We tried to correct their wrong impression but failed. The damage is done. People are convinced the story is true. The Congressman will carry this black mark to his grave. No one will ever see the raw footage from the original interview. Why would Channel 4 run this footage? That would prove a really hot story to be a crock and what would that do to viewership?

Congressman Brown, our numbers here at GE&P are, admittedly, small but we would like to offer you our sincere apology for the treatment you have received from the media and some citizens of BC over the last few days. We appreciate your years of service to Berkeley County. It breaks our hearts and shames us that these citizens choose to reward your years of faithful service with this verbal lynching. What a crying shame.

BORING, BORING, BORING

Received yet another Dan Davis mailing. Since it only contained the same old lies, we will refer you to the posts of June 18th and 19th.

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.

HOW MUCH MORE???

Now, Dan Davis is claiming he had the Hwy. 311 water line installed to support industry. We all know just how much industry is located on Hwy. 311. There's Grooms' deer processing, which employs......................uh....................Mr. Grooms. And then, there's the sweet shop just on the other side of Pinckneyville. Oh wait, the Sheriff closed that down because of drug activity. And, of course there's .......uh........uh........uh....... There's nothing else. There's not even large enough tracks of land to support industry, even if someone would agree to part with any of the land, which no one will.

Mr. Davis' lies aren't even any fun any more. Folks are getting very angry.

THIS IS OUR SHOCKED LOOK

We realize this is getting a bit monotonous but we must report and let you decide. We just received yet another Dan Davis mailer literally dripping with endorsements. WHERE DOES HE FIND THESE PEOPLE?????? We spent two hours on the phone this afternoon asking old time residents of BC if they knew any of these folks. The results were astounding: One retired school board member, one fire chief, and one would be stalker. The identity of the others was a complete mystery to everyone we spoke with. Even if these folks are from BC, how can they be so uninformed?

One stated he was very impressed with the number of jobs Davis had brought to the County. Really? We gained 80 jobs and lost 800. Now, that's something to aspire to.

One said Davis had run a totally positive campaign. Why doesn't she mention the puppets Davis has engaged to go around spreading unfounded rumors about his opponent?

One said Davis "never does favors for friends" and "stands up for the taxpayers". Why didn't she mention the $2.24 Million water line to secure Pinckney's support on Council or Davis stealing 29% of our property tax relief while raising the water rates by 30%?

One mentioned that Davis "dedicated 24 hours a day to keeping BC strong". Does this include the hours spent at the flea market and at Geranimo's?

One brought Washington into the conversation, AGAIN.

One said he admired the fact that Mr. Davis "built his own business from scratch". We wonder if this gentleman has ever looked at the incident reports concerning activity at the flea market? PSA: If your lawnmower turns up missing, give us a call and we will be happy to make a suggestion as to where to go look for it. Remember, always record your serial numbers.

One man said he couldn't vote for someone who slings mud. Sir, there is a huge difference between "slinging mud" and itemizing a person's official record of behavior.

Finally, one person claimed Mr. Davis had achieved a budget surplus this year. Mr. Davis took $10 MILLION from the BCW&SA fund balance. He took $1 MILLION from the Economic Development fund. He took $4 MILLION from the FILOT fund that rightly belongs to the School System. He enacted another one cent sales tax. He depleted the BC fund balance by over $5 MILLION. And, he has failed to contribute more than $1 MILLION to the County retirement fund. Even when you include all these ill-gotten gains, this year's proposed budget does NOT contain a surplus.

We would encourage everyone to look at the long list of prominent people who have either endorsed or are supporting Henry Brown for Supervisor. Then look at the list of those who endorse and support Mr. Davis. This alone should send a message.

A LEOPARD DOESN'T CHANGE HIS SPOTS

For the benefit of those of you who weren't around this area for the Republican Primary in 2006, you need to be aware of Dan Davis' campaign style in that election. A flyer from Mr. Davis arrived in the mailboxes of many voter the day before the election. This flyer detailed an accusation that Jim Rozier, the incumbent, had spent taxpayers' money to purchase a stadium box for himself at Clemson. The big problem with this accusation was that it was totally false. The issue had been put to rest by an extensive investigation weeks prior to the mailing. The local newspapers had run articles disproving all the charges. Mr. Rozier had provided a cancelled, personal check with which he had purchased the box. Clemson had provided a certified letter saying the BC check upon which the allegations were based was payment for a legitimate venture between BC and Clemson. These small facts did not deter Mr. Davis. He sent out the flyer anyway. When he was confronted with his actions after he won the election, he said, "The mailing was already in the pipeline and couldn't be stopped". Everyone believed he couldn't stop the mailer with a full three week notice. SURE.

Well, Mr. Davis seems to have decided to repeat his successful activities of 2006 in his reelection campaign against Henry Brown. He is hoping that just enough voters are gullible enough not to look beyond the misleading headlines of the P&C. We would like to start with the issue of Mr. Brown's stock purchases in 2009 as reported in the WSJ. GE&P has read the entire article and, to begin with, we are baffled as to why the Journal would have published this piece of questionable journalism in the first place. After reading the piece in its entirety, we could find no there there. The article admits that Congressmen are allowed by law to buy and sell stock. The Journal said there were no violations found, either legal or ethical. So, exactly what was the point of this article? Mr. Brown and others legally bought and sold some stock. ???????????WHATS YOUR POINT?

One of Mr. Davis' unfortunate puppets, however, opted to edit the article and make it appear that the Congressman had done something wrong. The redacted email points to the passage of the Stimulus Bill as proof there was misconduct on the part of Henry Brown. HELLO, Mr. Brown voted AGAINST the Stimulus Bill. And, as no small point of interest, has anyone asked exactly WHO was the puppet who disseminated this contrived story? We would suggest everyone focus their attention on the Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce. Does anyone know of any "special" friend Mr. Davis might have over at the Chamber? Does anyone care that this deliberately misleading story was sent out from the Chamber's email list? Were there any taxpayers' dollars involved in this activity? Follow the lead of the P&C and don't bother to ask Mr. Davis any of these questions. We are positive he had nothing to do with this. We would even go so far as to imagine he wasn't even aware this was happening. Just ask his and see.

Now, GE&P would like to give you a heads up on, possibly, the next fabricated issue. We aren't sure Mr. Davis will have the time to pull this one off, but there is a chance. We wouldn't put anything past him. We digress, on to the issue. Through third parties, GE&P has learned that Congressman Brown's staff members have received a few casual calls from the press inquiring as to how they separate their time between staff work and campaign work. Being veterans of Mr. Davis' campaign style, GE&P smells a rat. Could it be that we will all receive a mailer on Monday accusing Mr. Brown of using his Congressional staff for campaign reasons? No, not even Mr. Davis could be THAT obvious.