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Anderson Council forum draws crowd, differences of opinion
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Photo by Sefton Ipock
Anderson Independent-Mail Editorial Page Editor Bonnie Williams, right, and Anderson Journal reporter Anna Mitchell take notes as Rick Driver of WAIM asks a question to Anderson County Council candidates Monday.
Photo by Sefton Ipock
Anderson County Council candidates for districts 5, 6 and 7 attend a forum sponsored by the Anderson County Republican Party Monday at the Civic Center of Anderson.
Photo by Sefton Ipock
Anderson County Council candidates for Districts 1, 3 and 4 attend a forum hosted by the Anderson County Republican Party at the Civic Center of Anderson Monday.
ANDERSON COUNTY — For nearly three hours, Republican candidates for the Anderson County Council seats battled it out during a debate Monday evening.
In two separate sessions, Republican candidates for Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 answered questions from WAIM radio talk show host Rick Driver, Anderson Journal reporter Anna Mitchell and Anderson Independent-Mail Editorial Page Editor Bonnie Williams.
In the first session, from 7 to 8:15 p.m., incumbents Bob Waldrep in District 1, Larry Greer in District 3 and Bill McAbee in District 4 met challengers Raymond MacKay and Brooks Brown in District 1, Eddie Moore in District 3 and Tom Allen in District 4.
In the second session, from 8:30 to 9:45 p.m., Council Chairman Michael Thompson in District 5 met challengers L.K. “Brother” Bailey, Tommy Dunn and Skip Gilmer, while Councilman Ron Wilson, District 6, met challenger Rick Freemantle. Councilwoman Cindy Wilson in District 7 met challenger Doug Hooper.
District 2’s Councilwoman Gracie Floyd, a Democrat, is running unopposed.
Anderson County Republican Chairman Lee Rogers said the large number of candidates running this year created the need for the debate. More than 200 people crowded into the Anderson Civic Center Ballroom A to listen.
Session 1 -
Districts 1, 3 and 4
Jobs, economic development and open government were the dominant issues in the debate’s first session. While in districts 3 and 4, opponents criticized the incumbents’ stand on open records and support of County Administrator Joey Preston, opponents in District 1 openly accused the incumbent of micromanaging the day-to-day operations of the county.
“Some council members have abdicated the authority which is invested in council,” Waldrep said. “This council needs to change its attitude about who is in charge.”
Both Brown and MacKay, though, supported Preston’s work.
“If he ran any Fortune 500 company, he'd be given bonuses every year,” Brown said. “When you’re given a multimillion dollar budget and consistently come in under budget, you’re doing a good job.”
For MacKay, the council’s job is not to handle the day-to-day affairs of the county.
“I would not attempt to micromanage the administrator,” he said. “If (the council) wouldn’t concern itself with debating whether or not to get an auditor, or what is a public record, or when the bathrooms in the courthouse are open, they could do a lot more for the county.”
When asked about the fee-in-lieu system and incentives for businesses to come into the county, the candidates in District 1 were split.
Waldrep supported the fee-in-lieu structure, saying it had been in place in the state for 20 years or more and helped to bring businesses into a community.
MaKay said the fee-in-lieu system would provide the county with a 9 to 1 or 10 to 1 return on its investment.
But Brown said that it was a bad system that left the county taxpayers responsible for making up taxes that businesses don’t pay.
Public records and access to them became an issue for all the candidates, especially in District 3.
“What I want is to go back years ago, when if you had a question, you could go to the library and look up the information there,” said Moore. “I think that everything should be posted so that anyone could see anything that’s being spent.”
But Greer called the issue one that was being created and not a real issue.
“Public records are available to the public,” he said. “All they have to do is ask, and you can go see it.”
When questioned about using paving and recreation money allocated to each district to fund fire departments, Greer said it was a necessary expenditure because the fire commission set the millage funding levels for the volunteer fire departments and the council members funding helped pay for fire trucks and other necessary equipment.
Moore said the funding should be handled by the county.
“I’d put a line item in the budget every November,” he said. “I wouldn’t wait until weeks before an election to hand out thousand-dollar checks.”
Economic development was an issue in all districts as well. McAbee said economic development was a part of a councilman’s representation of his district.
“Council sets policy and direction of the county, but a councilman also oversees that his district is well-served,” he said. “Economic development does come into play when you want to see those jobs come to your district.”
But challenger Allen said council members should represent the residents better.
“We have to represent our constituents,” he said. “A councilman should be concerned with your wants, your needs and your desires and try to make those become a reality.”
Both men said growth in their district was an issue to their constituents.
“People are wondering about zoning. Do we zone the county, or do we let state roads (S.C.) 81 and 24 turn into another Clemson Boulevard?” Allen said.
McAbee said the district is one of the fastest growing in the county and that planning and land use and infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, were the biggest concerns he was hearing from his constituents.
Session 2 -
Districts 5, 6 and 7
With a panel of eight candidates, the second half of the Anderson County Republican Party candidate debate was more contentious than the previous session.
In District 5, Thompson met challengers Bailey, Dunn and Gilmer.
All the candidates agreed that infrastructure and economic development were essential to the success of Anderson County, but the candidates varied on how they should pay for that.
Thompson said his work on the council had generated federal and state money for road repairs. Bailey said that while he wanted to cut taxes, the county did need tax money to be spent on roads and bridges. Dunn said the council should be pushing for more state funding, and should be more accountable for the money the county already spends. Gilmer said he would favor more accountability before raising taxes in the county.
The four disagreed, however, on what was the most important issue facing the county. Bailey said his most important issue was lowering taxes.
But Dunn said that the county's priorities needed to be improving roads and bridges and creating an open government. Gilmer said accountability, infrastructure and economic development were the most important. Thompson said the county was slowly moving in the right direction, but what was wrong with the county was the negativity on council.
In District 6, Wilson defended his record as well as his call for an audit of the county books.
“When I came in here, I voted to have a county audit and it was defeated 4 to 3,” Wilson said. “I would vote for it again. I don’t think we have anything to hide and I’d like to see the matter ended.”
Freemantle, his opponent, said he also would support a full county audit.
“My first act … would be to get into a horse race with Mrs. Wilson to see who would get that audit done,” he said. “This is government run amok … when a hired employee tells us knowing where our money goes is confidential; we have a problem.”
Freemantle also said Mr. Wilson contributions to fellow council member Larry Greer "smacked of bribery" and that he had secured an agricultural consultant position for his daughter with the county after receiving “sworn detailed testimony concerning the Cater Lake incident.”
Mr. Wilson said he had not handed out any bribes and that he had not been aware that his daughter had gotten a job with the county until after she secured the position, and that he had nothing to do with her getting the job.
In District 7, debate centered around the 800 MHz system and Ms. Wilson’s votes against it. The county voted to add the system to improve communications among emergency responders.
“I support the 800 MHz system, but when we’re talking about spending $8 million a year, … I thought it should have been handled differently,” she said. “I was not handed a third reading contract until I sat down. … I was concerned about the contract, but not the technology.”
But her opponent said her concern about the contract was a new development.
“Mrs. Wilson has been doing the backstroke on 800 MHz ever since she found out two county firefighters were running for council seats,” Hooper said. Hooper and Dunn are county firefighters. “The $8.5 million price tag, if it saves one life … it’s worth it.”
Both Ms. Wilson and Hooper said the area’s greatest assets are its people, Lake Hartwell and the two nearby universities. Both agreed that economic development was a key concern for the area.
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I think the republican party of Anderson County did themselves a great deal of damage tonight, and I also think that they will suffer not only in this election but if they continue with this agenda it might not be much longer that South Carolina just might return to being a Democratic State.Tonight`s debate was a farce, it was slanted toward anyone who was running against the incombents,other than Bob Waldrep, and Cindy Wilson, who both by the way are very close friends of a local radio talk show host,who also was chosen by the republican party of Anderson County to be one of the three on the panel to ask the questions.The audience was also made up of individuals who were either for or against WAIM RADIO, The candidates and their platforms were secondary.I agree we do need to see some change,but I for one don`t want to see our local government run by a few people who owe their allegiance to a radio talk show host. We the voters and taxpayers deserve better than that.
in response to theflash
It appears that what makes the "talk show host" so popular is he has the means to get his voice out to the masses and speaks for so many voters/citizens in Anderson County.
I can't believe the number of lies that some of the council members told last night at the debate. Greer and Ronnie Wilson, in particular, did not speak even ONE word of truth and the crowd knew it. The Sheriff should arrest them, along with Thompson and McAbee for public lies and falsely representing the taxpayers that elected them. Anyone that supports these people should move to Berkeley, CA, where lies are considered truth in schools, colleges and government. It is alarming that people can sit before honest people and spin their trash as the four bobble-heads did last night. Those four are NOT Republicans and should be kicked out of our party today. They are scared to run for what they really are: liberal democrats.
I've known Mr. McAbee for many years now and he is an honest man. cwilson4 your accusations are unfounded and just an attack on someone that disagrees with the criminals you support on County Council.
This 'vocal minority' crowd is getting old FAST. Democracy is very simple folks, you vote for who you trust to do the best job. Everyone gets to vote and votes for the candidate they feel will do the best job.
It is not a candidates job in this case to oversee the day to day operations. They are to guide and influence the administrators who get paid to do this work.
If your candidate loses or can't get a majority vote you can go to a certain low wattage radio station and voice it and get it off your chest. If it takes over your life and makes you a miserable person, you have a problem.
If all these WAIM crazies keep this up, we will have a red flag flying over our County so high that no industry would want to invest with us. Great work guys. Lets let majority rule around here. If your candidate wins then more power to you, if they lose, realize that you are the VOCAL MINORITY. Take a seat and get a life.
You are right Viaduct. Whoever gets the most votes is the right person for the job. These fruit loops with their incessant chatter about how Anderson County government is "not open and transparent" are simply seeking cover for their anti-Preston candidates who have abdicated their sworn duty as council representatives in pursuit of irrelevant minutiae. Raymond MacKay had the line of the evening when he told Bob and Cindy to quit worrying about stupid stuff like bathroom policy, forensic audits and "what is a public record" and get back to accomplishing meaningful things for the district and the county. Now in fairness to Cindy, she did not abdicate her role as council member, because in eight years she never assumed it to begin with. For 8 years she's used her position as a platform to wage her p*ssing contest with JP and to make a few bucks for herself here and there. Bob actually did abdicate his role as councilman. I don't think he intended to be the trojan horse he became. He just became intoxicated by the attention that Cindy and Bennie Sue gave him for gradually coming over to the obstructionist movement. At this point, he's totally compromised his ability to be the district one representative. Both Bob and Cindy should be dismissed by the voters on June 10th. JMO
Confound it all!!! A 350 job ecomomic development announcement Today for Anderson County. Who in the heck was out doing their job promoting economic development in this county when they should have been helping undergird Bob and Cindy's conspiracy platform of "shadow governments".[acid sarcasm here if you couldn't tell] As voters on June 10th, we must ask ourselves what's more important: 350 jobs announced or what brand of sanitizer is in the urinals at the county road department shop?
I was one of many in attendance last night and have my doubts as to whether or not the author of the above story was actually there. The comments purported to have been made by the candidates in the first session are vastly different from the comments I heard. Allow me to offer some corrections. First of all, and not surprisingly the AIM has failed yet again to even spell names correctly. For the record candidate for Dist. 1 is Raymond MacKay not McKay. At the very least the AIM should be able to get the spelling of names right. Secondly, Ms. Carey states that both Brown and MacKay supported Preston's work. Mr. MacKay did not state support for or against the current administrator. Mr. MacKay did state that (and this is a key part left out of the above article) if he were to find that the administrator was not able to be effective in the performance of his duties he would vote for his removal. Thirdly, regarding the fee-in-lieu system Ms. Carey states that Mr. Waldrep supported the current structure. Correct me if I am wrong but what I heard him say was that he didn't like the system but it had been in place for 20 plus years and it is has become the accepted system for our state. If he truly supports fee-in-lieu then his voting record should reflect that. Finally, I would encourage all, regardless of whether you are a Republican or a Democrat to attend each and every one of the public debates and forums so that you can meet and hear for yourselves what the candidates have to say. If the only source of information that we have to rely on for accuracy in reporting is the AIM then we are in sad shape indeed and many unknowing voters may very well not get the information they need to make a truly informed decision when it comes time to cast their vote. Since the AIM fails time and again to spell correctly, report accurately, do any kind of follow-up stories or employ in true investigative journalism may I offer the following suggestion? For the rest of this political season why don't you just record the proceedings from these public debates and forums and then print the transcripts or post them online for those who are unable to attend so that they know they have a true accounting of what occurred?
in response to 57freebird
If you can call 30 or 40 brainwashed,uneducated individuals a mass and if they feel they need a person of this low caliber to speak for them then I guess your post is correct.But I have always given the people of Anderson County more credit than you do. I think the voters of this county are plenty able to make up their own mind and vote without someone who makes his living with his mouth.
in response to cwilson4
Miz Wilson4 I think your days of trash talking and crusading are about to come to an end, and as far as someone needing to leave Anderson I will agree,but it should be your little group,You and your friends have held up our local lawmakers,and made Anderson County a laughing stock with your child like charades long enough.
Pallbearer and Viaduct,You are definately my kind of people, not only do we seem to think alike but we don`t mind voicing our opinion. I think we should get together for a cup of coffee sometime and really talk some serious politics.
If you want to see TRUE leadership, Vote for Doug Hooper, County Council 7, on June 10th. Let's put an end to the nonsense.
in response to jsargent
I`ll second that motion.And anything that I can do to help make it happen feel free to let me know.
Thanks for making the spelling correction to Mr. MacKay's name.
To flash, viaduct, and 57 freebird, I too think you three should get together for coffee. Maybe between the three of you brave courageous idiots, you can scrape up enough grey matter to make half a brain. You three must be the fools who were applauding the snakes in the grass as they danced to the tune of their lies Monday night. Hooper, MacKay, and Greer, all bought and paid for by Ronnie Wilson, these are your boys enjoy them they won't be important for very long.
ps. to you mr. FAT flash, cwilson is not miz Wilson, your contribution to the grey matter pile will no doubt be the smallest.
My apologies to you 57 freebird, i confused you with the pallbearer, it is he or she who needs to go have coffee with the other two clowns. Although, if you were there, it would probably give you a chance to film one of America's dumbest videos. Again my apologies 57 freebird.
Hey flash...
Be sure and read the Sunday comics as to place yourself in position for serious intelligent conversations...
Otherwise, you will be babbling the same
as you do with your comments..
in response to scarlett
good post, well said scarlett!
in response to theflash
okay sybil, you wouldn't have a hard time talking to yourself over coffee, but making a date with yourself? if your other personalities start answering, you have a problem.
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