Former S.C. Rep. Alan Clemmons is in line to be Horry County’s next Master in Equity. A scheduled public meeting last Friday to discuss the appointment was cancelled by (Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce) insider Senator Luke Rankin.
Clemmons was the legislative father of a tax known as the TDF in the S.C. House in 2008. He wrote the language. Senator Rankin was the key sponsor in the Senate. The tax brings in over $24 million to MBACC annually.
Rather than have a meeting open to the press and the public, Senator Rankin chose to have a letter passed around among S.C. Representatives Russell Fry, Representative Heather Ammons Crawford, and other local state delegation members. Greg Hembree stated in a call to MyrtleBeachSC News that he cancelled the meeting.
Hembree stated he passed the letter among local delegates for signatures at Rankin’s request. Hembree also stated he refused to sign the endorsement.
Charles Jordan Jr. was deemed the most qualified person for the job by the S.C. Merit Selection Committee. Jordan was born in Conway. He has 25 years of legal experience operating inside the courtroom.
After the letter was passed around, the other candidates notified our local delegation that they were withdrawing their candidacies.
Hembree told MyHorryNews that he was one of three delegation members who did not sign the letter of recommendation. Although he didn’t want to be specific about his vote, he did say, “It was not the best choice in my view.” The other local delegates who could not endorse Clemmons were William Bailey and Kevin Hardee.
As MyHorryNews reported: Hembree stated the local delegates don’t all have the same influence in the selection process. Their votes are weighted, based on how many Horry residents they serve. That put S.C. Senator Luke Rankin in the most influential spot with 19.44 and Hembree second with 17.83. Several of the delegation members had weightings of less than one-half of one percent.
All MBACC affiliated PAC recipients signed the endorsement including Russell Fry, Heather Ammons Crawford, Stephen Goldfinch, and Tim McGinnis.
Fry is currently running for U.S. 7th Congressional Congress. He, Heather Ammons Crawford and Clemmons have a storied past. Most recently Clemmons followed a group to Columbia, standing in the hallway, advising Fry, Case Brittain, and Ammons how to best draw the lines for redistricting. The lines for State Senator Hembree and House Representative Bailey were notably redrawn.
Hembree’s district now runs from North Myrtle Beach through Carolina Forest. Bailey’s lines were redrawn removing many of his avid Longs area voting block.
Unfortunately for these MBACC insiders, Bailey has strong North Myrtle Beach support regardless of how the lines are drawn.
Representative Russell Fry is now under a huge national microscope.
MyrtleBeachSC News covered multiple articles about the clever way Mr. Clemmons worked to unscrupulously secure the Rankin victory in the last election cycle. It was the kind of effort that would likely get many non-privileged lawyers disbarred.
The days of clever government, as opposed to, resident-minded government may soon come to a final chapter for all of these MBACC slick insiders. June 14th primaries are just ahead.