District 56 Election is this Tuesday, October 24th
When Dwyer Scott first began his campaign to represent his community in District 56, his opponent, Tim McGinnis – former WPDE TV 15 news anchor, was already a well known name. Scott knew that going in.
What Scott could not have fully known, however, was that his actual opponent in the race is a Myrtle Beach tourism lobby.
The Myrtle Beach tourism lobby has held a firm grip on the county and the state for now over the past decade. It is represented by Brad Dean of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber and his member associate, oceanfront property manager Steve Chapman, a cousin to the powerful Brittain Resorts hotel family.
This tourism lobby group, now running ads in District 56 on TV and doing mailers under the name ” Citizens For Conservative Values” has poured large sums of money into the race in support of Tim McGinnis.
Horry County residents, however, are very uncomfortable with a city of Myrtle Beach hotel lobbyist group purchasing ads in an attempt to “buy” an election in the Carolina Forest and Longs communities. The hotel lobby is best known for offering low paying jobs, as well as, blocking and tackling to keep the downtown city of Myrtle Beach trapped in an era that Carolina Forest residents say time has long since passed.
Comments Myrtle Beach SC News spotted on social media this week include:
#JustSayNoToChamberCandidates
IS IT LEGAL?
Bill Warner, Captain, USNR-retired, is a campaign expert who has worked in high profile federal elections. Warner, a retired attorney and a resident of Carolina Forest, posted an editorial on the legalities of the campaign efforts by the Myrtle Beach Tourism Lobby on GrandStrandDaily just today. Says Warner, who worked with the Mitch McConnell campaign, “It’s strange to me, but maybe not to those steeped in the reigning political culture around here, that even if simply out of ignorance or negligence, those involved are juggling hand grenades, not tiddlywinks.” “The IRS regulates 527’s and, based on a pretty consistent record of their use to attempt to circumvent campaign finance rules, has kept a close, wary eye on them for years. In my opinion, if the Enforcement Division in Washington gets even a whiff of this one they’ll be on it like a rockfall,” Warner added.
AUDIT THE CHAMBER?
With monies pouring from this lobby group directly into candidate campaigns, whose elected officials then turn around and write legislation taxing local residents in direct support of funding for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber, voters in the city of Myrtle Beach, as well as, voters in Horry County are now calling for annual, ongoing, independent, public financial audits of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
The not for profit receives over $32 million annually in corporate welfare. Its C.E.O. Brad Dean makes over $419,000 annually.
The election is this Tuesday, October 24th. MyrtleBeachSC.com asks all District 56 voters to make it to the polls.