Is partisanship on Hilton Head Town Council its own doing? A reader thinks so

Council should reflect

In reply to Hilton Head Councilman David Ames about the election hyper partisanship, I agree a thousand percent. The emphasis should be kept on local issues; potholes could care less if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. However, over Ames’ long service on Hilton Head Town Council, I contend his inaction has contributed to the (destructive) partisan climate of which he complains. Example, there have been numerous calls for Chamber transparency, with Council utterly negligent in requiring disclosure of their expenditures. In fact, I spoke before Council asking why extremely large vendor invoices, in the tens of thousands of dollars, were on Chamber letterhead and not on the vendor’s letterhead. That anomaly alone should have warranted an immediate examination by Council. It did not. Then there’s the extravagant Italian vacation by Mayor McCann and town manager, the offsite meetings by McCann and others uncovered by this newspaper, the secret emails between Town and county officials, and on and on. And Ames wonders why people have fallen prey to extremism? When elected officials espouse high minded ideals, yet stand by and allow outrageous and/or potentially illegal conduct, what we have seen in this last election is the unfortunate result. Councilman Ames should take a good, long look in the mirror

Mare Deckard, Port Royal

New epidemic

The recent controversies over national politics with regards to the Hilton Head town council and the BCSD school book removal must be seen in the broader national context. Both of these issues are supported by the efforts of ultra right wing nationalists and GOP PACs who wish to impose their political agendas on local governments, school boards and more in all fifty states. Groups such as 1776 Action, Moms For Liberty, and others have dedicated themselves to suppressing what they deem as “unpatriotic” ideas while aggressively engaging in a campaign of thought-control and political subterfuge for power, sometimes using threats against teachers, school librarians, liberal politicians and others. Its a nation-wide epidemic, and reasonable Beaufort county residents on both the left and right should be concerned and vigilant in opposing these radical and dangerous forces.

Duncan Aspinwall-Winter, Bluffton

Realtor corruption

Corruption in S.C. real estate transactions can be simply “the price of doing business” for realtors because the SC Real Estate Commission is essentially a “self-regulation organization. “

In other words, violations of real estate rules can be interpreted merely as “traffic citations” where violators pay a minor penalty fee rather than waste the Commission’s efforts and man-hours in a genuine investigation of wrong-doing.

This is typical of a number of professions and their legal representatives who are insulated from oversight and accountability by the procedures offered by the professional associations that represent them. The U.S. Court System is happy to offload these pestering cases that clog the system.

So, calling out a fraudulent transaction in an S.C. real estate sales procedure by a buyer or seller is unlikely to result in true oversight or accountability for the violator involved. This bestows confidence on S.C. realtors to risk violating the system for their own advantage, with minimal risk, and deprives the consumer of any recourse for an alleged wrongdoing they experienced.

Is this an example of why many Americans have little faith in American institutions?

Kate McClintic, Beaufort, SC

Kayne, Trump dinner

Dinner guests: Kanye West, Nick Fuentes. White supremacist. Holocaust denier. Displaced music artist with a big mouth and a twisted perspective. “Just having dinner with friends.” These should be red flags. An abundance of lawsuits, twice impeached should be red flags. But there is still a wide swath of people who love this man. Why?! Stick to hosting wrestling matches Donald! You have no business leading a country. Get together with Kid Rock and have a BBQ, leave the important stuff to people who know what they’re doing. Not that they know what they’re doing, but we really don’t need a narcissistic power hungry clown calling the shots.

Sandon Preston, Hilton Head

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