Rep. Vida Miller

It is always interesting to find out who is contributing to re-election campaigns of our elected representatives, especially in an election year, to see if our representatives are actually representing their constituents or other entities.  

According to a recent media report, Democratic state Rep. Vida Miller has raised about $22,000 for her re-election campaign.

 A review of her campaign finance report is revealing as to where the money is not coming from – the constituents she represents.

 In the eighteen month period since the last election, Miller has managed to get financial contributions from only eight individuals she actually represents, totaling just $1,000 or less than five percent of total contributions for the election cycle.

 Where did the rest of the money come from?

 Outside special interests, big corporations, and other politicians.  Almost a third of Miller’s money came from healthcare insurers Blue Cross and Select Health of SC (an HMO), healthcare related PACs, and drug maker Bristol Myers Squibb. Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, Time Warner, Phillip Morris, and Coca-Cola Bottling are also helping fund Miller’s re-election.

 PACs representing the interests of payday lenders, manufactured housing, alcoholic beverages, trucking, and car dealers have all given money to Miller.

 Liberal Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn even gave Miller the maximum contribution allowed by law presumably because Clyburn wants Miller re-elected because she stands with Clyburn and the Obama administration on policy.

 Miller’s campaign financing is symptomatic of what ails politics today. An entrenched long-serving incumbent that in reality is beholden to interests well beyond her constituents.  

Linda Caswell

Pawleys Island

Alvin Greene

There are several definitions for the noun “character.” For this letter I am going to consider only two of them. First, “moral or ethical quality” : a man of fine moral character.

Second, “an account of the qualities  or peculiarities of a person or thing” : Alvin Greene, the Democratic challenger for the U.S. Senate seat  in the State of South may be considered to be a “character.”

 What in the world were the leaders of the South Carolina Democratic Party thinking when Mr. Greene was allowed to be a challenger in the primary election?  Perhaps the State Democratic leaders were too busy with the Governor’s primary race to pay much attention to the Senatorial primary race? After all, Mr. Greene was running against a well-known  party hack, excuse me, a well known party favorite. See what happens when over-confidence and careless work habits gets in the way of good old fashioned hard work and vetting of a proposed candidate.

By law, just about anyone can be a U.S. Senator. The Constitution requires only that you have reached your 30th birthday, reside in  the state you represent ( this rule is dubious considering N.Y.’s Senator Clinton ), and have held American citizenship for nine years. What the Constitution doesn’t say is that the candidate for a U.S. Senate seat should be a person of high moral character. Here is the weak link in the investigative chain that the State Democratic committee overlooked. Mr. Greene has been charged with a felony ...  Of course, if he is indicted he will be forced to withdraw his candidacy. An investigative reporter looked into Mr. Greene’s military record and found his periodic performance evaluations conducted by his immediate superiors to be unsatisfactory. Why didn’t the Democratic committee conduct a similar investigation well before the primary election?

All the attention has been on Mr. Greene in this sorry state of  affairs and not on his opponent in the primary election, Judge Rawl. Was Judge Rawl such a poor candidate that the voters decided to flip a coin to choose who they would vote for?  This is a very important political position and if the Democratic Committee selected a stronger, well-qualified pair of candidates, not all of this nonsense would have occurred. Some prominent South Carolina Democrats blame the Republican Party for performing dirty tricks. I hope the Republican Party  is above such unprofessional practices. If it proves to be true, then let the punishments begin. Let’s be honest, does anyone think that Senator Jim DeMint is in danger of losing the next election?

If by some strange quirk of fate Senator DeMint loses his Senate seat to Mr. Greene, the newly elected Senator will be joining what is known as “the world’s most exclusive club.” That “club” in the past contained distinguished members such as Bob Dole, Howard Taft, Hubert Humphrey, Barry Goldwater, Scoop Jackson, and George McGovern just to name a few. Can anyone imagine Mr. Greene growing in stature to the high professional level of the aforementioned senators and the same level of political awareness as most of the present group of U.S. senators?

Art Blenk

Pawleys Island

Safe Families

Safe Families has been talking, writing, and talking some more for over four years about domestic violence (DV).

How to turn around the deplorable DV statistics for South Carolina and specifically for Georgetown County from bad to measurably better?

From the get go, we addressed the issue from the standpoint of finding a way to make a significant, permanent change in the way battered women, abused men and their families received services and were processed through our social and legal systems.

We then started talking in earnest about the possibility of one day opening a Family Justice Center (FJC) right here in the City of Georgetown.

 This was no random idea, we discovered, but a proven working model that was saving lives in communities all across the country.

The first center picked its name very, very carefully, polling professionals and victims alike to get at the heart of the Family Justice Center philosophy.

In reality, each facility is a “Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence,” obviously a very confusing and unworkable title!

Instead, the founders decided they wanted to put the words “family” and “justice” in the name for their new center, and Safe Families has embraced their reasoning.

 As domestic violence impacts every member of every family configuration — mother, father, children of all ages, the elderly, the disabled, and even the pets —  then the center would by definition need to address the needs of “family” with all its variables.

With the word “justice” a center is charged with a more complex task: What is really going on in this family, what is the truth? The harm that has been done will need to be repaired; the conditions that created the violence will have to be altered, with clear and consistent consequences for perpetrators.

This is not about helping victims to “feel better,” this is about building new lives through profound and lasting change.

To this day Safe Families is still talking about a Family Justice Center, but now we are talking about the one going into the former medical clinic at 1530 Highmarket Street in Georgetown!

The vision at long last has a home, and we are working feverishly towards a fall opening. Yes, an actual Family Justice Center in OUR community where“family”  and “justice” will come together as the name surely promises.

Safe Families and our many partners are committed to protecting families from violence and finally, finally, it’s not just all talk!

Gillian Roy, President

Safe Families

of Georgetown County