Brad Dean Faces Questions From Puerto Rico Press, Blames MyrtleBeachSC.com

Questions have been raised by the media in Puerto Rico about monies that the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce president, Brad Dean, handed out to politicians, in sequential cashiers checks, distributed by his organization in 2009.  Those articles were written in 2009 by David Wren of the Sun News.  Mark Kelly, a former local lobbyist, would later sue the Sun News in regards to those very news items.  At the time of those articles, the IRS and the FBI were investigating those payments.  Those investigations later ended with no arrests.  Only Shep Guyton, the former Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Board President, has had any charges brought against him. Those State of SC ethics charges and fines are still outstanding and awaiting trial.

Mr. Dean did not appear to recollect the details of the matter, however, as he explained it to the press in Puerto Rico.

Said Dean, “These allegations of corruption, fraud, and illegal political contributions are untrue. I believe, now you are going to have to help me, because  I haven’t actually seen this, but I believe they come from MyrtleBeachSC.com.”  Dean, however,  was then corrected when he made those statements by members of the press attending who told him they had read them elsewhere.   Regardless, Mr. Dean went on with his same narrative,  “The MyrtleBeachSC.com site is not a credible news organization. The source that has been referred to, and if there are other sources that I am not aware of, is not a credible news organization.  It is owned by an individual that has been a constant critic of mine.”

The truth, however, happens to be far from the story Mr. Dean told.  The Myrtle Beach Sun News and journalist David Wren wrote an entire episode of ongoing investigative reports about those payments.  How Mr. Dean could re-remember that highly publicized chapter of his own life in a new way is a mystery?

Mr. Dean then later brought up testimony of over 18 pages of Myth versus Fact propaganda that the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has archived online about our news site and me personally.  He used this to “bolster” his evidence that the stories written in 2009 were not true.

We responded to a request from Oscar J. Serrano, Editor in Chief, of NotiCel™, among Puerto Rico’s most distinguished and leading news organizations:

David Hucks

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We then located a cached copy of a key article in the Sun News’ reporting and posted a copy with the Facebook Live-Stream press conference made by Mr. Dean. We did that so the press members in Puerto Rico could decide for themselves.

 

We believe Mr. Dean should not have included our news team in his response to those questions about his actions in 2009.  MyrtleBeachSC.com writes often about sunlight and government accountability.  We offered Mr. Serrano a line by line, parcept by parcept response to the legally parsed words that someone in authority at the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce chose to put online about MyrtleBeachSC.com.

While we wish Mr. Dean all the best in his new role, we would prefer that he leave our company out of the issues he faced in 2009, as we chose not to report on those matters as they were being investigated that year.   Mr. Dean clearly lied to the people of Puerto Rico.  What he chooses to do with that now is his to own.