Voters sent clear, contradictory messages to a besieged Beaufort County Council | Opinion
Political pundits and election experts will be studying Tuesday’s results for years to come to analyze how they happened and why so many people weighing competing priorities and conflicting messages voted so differently. I’m talking, of course, about Beaufort County.
More than 105,000 of the county’s voters — or about 75% of all those registered — turned out in force, and did two clear but contradictory things: They re-elected all three County Council incumbents on the Nov. 5 ballot, and rejected a $950 million sales tax hike that the council had put on the ballot, largely because they don’t trust the council to manage public money it’s mismanaged before.
Beaufort County has a reckless recent history of fiscal mismanagement, hasn’t fully disclosed the scope of the problems and couldn’t show voters it could be trusted with a $120 million sales tax increase voters approved in 2018. County officials called that tax hike crucial. Yet voters rightly wondered why only 12% of the projects — four of 34 — are completed now. Two are in construction; 20 are in design.
This year, the council sought to collect more money, promising — again — that it would be overseen and spent well, and arguing — again — that the projects were essential for the region.
Voters weren’t fooled. They opposed spending money for a long list of vague projects — and some legitimate ones like the U.S. 278 and Lady’s Island corridors — by a 55% to 45% margin, even as neighbors in Jasper County OK’d a similar sales tax hike by a similar 10-point spread.
The same budgetary pressures and inflationary concerns weighed on voters in both counties, so really one factor is behind the measure’s defeat in Beaufort County. Even council members say it was distrust of the council.
Yet voters decisively re-elected incumbents in the only three Beaufort County Council races on the ballot instead of holding them responsible and showing them the door for their lax oversight, questionable decision-making and terrible transparency.
Democrat Gerald Dawson won a sixth term with nearly 59% of the vote over Republican challenger Adam Biery, Democrat York Glover won a third term unopposed, and Republican Logan Cunningham won a second term by a 2-1 margin over Democrat Sarah McCarty.
Those races weren’t close. So why did voters retain council members but reject their handiwork? Partly it’s because Dawson and Glover are the longest-serving board members on a board without term limits, and incumbents build community connections challengers can’t match. And partly it’s because of the state’s straight-party voting.
“No one trusts the council, in my opinion,” said Council member Paula Brown, who won the most votes of eight council members elected in 2022 and who has been one of the few voices both clamoring for more council transparency and willing to return interview requests on the 11-member council.
Brown, Tom Reitz and David Bartholomew were the only council members who even favored discussing a $350,000 report on the county’s fiscal misdeeds in public in June. It still hasn’t been released. And they and council member Anna Maria “Tab” Tabernik were the only four to even reply to questions from a reporter in July while the county sheriff tore into the council majority for its secrecy and for accepting the report’s apparent conclusion that “there was no evidence of criminal activity.”
Brown said Tuesday’s tax vote clearly demonstrates distrust, and explained the council vote by noting the fact that more than half the voters in Beaufort County checked the “straight-party” box for all the Republicans or all the Democrats on their ballots. Choosing that option, of course, means voters care more about the political party than the actions of their council members — even though Republicans and Democrats can fix a pothole and talk to the media — or not — the same way.
Brown and Reitz were the lone council votes against putting the sales tax measure on the Nov. 5 ballot. Reitz’s Election Day takeaway? “Let us learn from this vote that not only do they not trust us, but we don’t need more money until we finish what we started.”
Asked about Tuesday’s results, Bartholomew said, “I know we need to do a better job of communicating with the public.”
Truer words were never spoken, so it was with great hope that I called Dawson and Cunningham to congratulate them and ask what message they might take from the election.
Dawson said he was grateful for the continued support of his constituents and their satisfaction with his leadership. He said there would always be some disagreement or dissatisfaction because nobody is perfect and also acknowledged the council didn’t do a good job explaining the 2024 referendum or showing many accomplishments from the 2018 sales tax increase.
That’s a step forward.
Cunningham didn’t return the call.
That’s a step back.
This story was originally published November 8, 2024 at 12:40 PM.