Category Archives: Government & Politics

Candidates, voters ready for primaries – Tuesday June 12

By Stan Welch – In the upcoming Republican primaries on June 12, the winners will face no Democratic opposition in November in the majority of the cases. The only Democrats running against Republicans are Brian Ryan B. Doyle and Cason Gaither, who will run in their primary to see who takes on Republican incumbent U.S.Congressman Jeff Duncan.

House District 9 Report – Rep. Anne Thayer

One thing that is certain-SC politics is never boring!!

As everyone knows by now, The State Supreme Court ordered the political parties to remove numerous candidates from ballots across the state. The candidates were removed for not filing the proper paperwork at the time of their filing for office. This year candidates were required to file electronically but were also required to file a hard copy with their candidacy application. Obviously there was much confusion across the state as this affected numerous candidates.

Investment in ACOG shows returns to County

By Stan Welch

Each year, Anderson County invests approximately $75,000 in the Appalachian Council of Governments (ACOG), an organization established in 1965, which seeks to leverage local resources into a variety of projects, and to fund those projects through a variety of loans and grants.

Bill would make gold and silver legal tender

The South Carolina House of Representatives recently passed H. 4128, legislation that would let citizens use gold and silver coins as legal tender. The bill, introduced by Rep. Mike Pitts (R-Laurens) and run by Rep. Greg Delleney (R-Chester), is similar to a law adopted by Utah in 2011 and designates the coins as legal tender, eliminates state taxes on their exchange, and sets up a committee to study further monetary reforms.

Congressman Duncan speaks out on national issues

By Stan Welch

Congressman Jeff Duncan presented his views on the nation’s energy policy and its regulatory structure to a group of small businessmen and advocates Monday.

Congressman Duncan has recently introduced H.R. 4301, the Energy eXploration and Production to Achieve National Demand (EXPAND) Act. This bill allows more offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in the OCS, opens up 3% of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for production, approves the Keystone XL pipeline, opens Yucca Mountain for receiving nuclear waste, sunsets energy production tax credits, and eliminates ethanol mandates.

Republican women to meet

The April meeting of the Anderson County Republican Women will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, April 23. at Main Street Deli in Anderson.

Deposition held in Driver libel case

Two year later

By Stan Welch

More than two years after Doreen Montepara filed a lawsuit against WAIM 1230 AM radio station owner Rick Driver, Driver was finally deposed Tuesday afternoon.

Driver, a conservative talk show host and station owner, is being sued for libel by Montepara, along with political gadfly and three time County Council candidate Rick Freemantle and Stan Welch, who once had a show on Driver’s station and who reports for The Journal.

ETV to broadcast Weekly State House program

South Carolina ETV will launch a new program, “This Week in the State House,” on Thursday, to enlighten citizens on the inner workings of state government.

The program will feature Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell as host. He, along with key General Assembly and other state leaders, will discuss a broad spectrum of issues that affect the state, as well as reviews of weekly happenings at the State House.

House District 9 report – Rep. Anne Thayer

By Representative Anne Thayer

Dear Friends,

The House of Representatives is on furlough the first two weeks of April. The furlough coincides with the half-way point in our legislative session. The two week furlough shortens the session and saves the taxpayers approximately $100,000.

I am pleased to report SC’s unemployment rate has declined for the seventh consecutive month. Our unemployment rate fell from 9.3% to 9.1% in February. This is still a high unemployment rate, but it is good to see the rate moving in a downward direction. We will continue to strive to get more people back to work in the private sector.

Clardy wants to take town in different direction

Makes formal announcement for mayor

By David Meade

After a lot of prayer and making sure he is running for the right reasons, Phillip Clardy formally announced Tuesday that he is running for Mayor of Williamston. Clardy, 40, spoke to about 35 people in front of the Williamston Municipal Center, stating that the first time he ran for the office 13 years ago, he was a lot younger and there were some things he would do differently.

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