Why Jenny’s curiosity about her husband’s mistress is normal, her amazing insight into the dynamics of her husbands affair, a husband’s susceptibility to extramarital affairs, emotional infidelity and how it begins, should a wife seek revenge, how far should a wife go to reconcile with a cheating husband, and more. http://bit.ly/zjprz You can also access this article through my Infidelity News and Views Blog.

SECTION 7-13-190. Special elections to fill vacancies in office.

(A) Except as otherwise provided in this code as to specific offices, whenever a vacancy occurs in office by reason of death, resignation, or removal and the vacancy in office is one which is filled by a special election to complete the term of office, this section applies.

(B) In partisan elections, whether seeking nomination by political party primary or political party convention, filing by these candidates shall open for the office at twelve o’clock noon on the third Friday after the vacancy occurs for a period to close ten days later at twelve o’clock noon. If seeking nomination by petition, the petitions must be submitted not later than twelve o’clock noon, sixty days prior to the election. Verification of these petitions must be made not later than twelve o’clock noon forty-five days prior to the election. If seeking nomination by political party primary or political party convention, filing with the appropriate official is the same as provided in Section 7-11-15 and if seeking nomination by petition, filing with the appropriate official is the same as provided in Section 7-11-70.
A primary must be held on the eleventh Tuesday after the vacancy occurs. A runoff primary must be held on the thirteenth Tuesday after the vacancy occurs. The special election must be on the eighteenth Tuesday after the vacancy occurs. If the eighteenth Tuesday after the vacancy occurs is no more than sixty days prior to the general election, the special election shall be held on the same day as the general election. If the filing period closes on a state holiday, then filing must be held open through the succeeding weekday. If the date for an election falls on a state holiday, it must be set for the next succeeding Tuesday. For purposes of this section, state holiday does not mean the general election day.

(C) If the office is not one for which there are partisan elections, then the filing must be opened at noon on the third Friday after the vacancy occurs for a period to close ten days later at noon. The filing must be made to the same entity to which the nonpartisan officeholders would normally file for office in a general election year. The election must be set for the thirteenth Tuesday after the vacancy occurs. Both the filing date and the election date are subject to the provisions in subsection

(E)(1) A special election to fill a vacancy in an office is not required to be conducted if fourteen calendar days have elapsed since the filing period for that office has closed and:
(a) only one person has filed for the office; and
(b) no person has filed a declaration to be a write-in candidate with the authority charged by law with conducting the election.
(2) In such an event, the candidate who filed for the office is deemed elected and shall take office on the Monday following certification.
(3) The provisions of this subsection also apply to municipal general elections.

When no person has filed a declaration to be a write-in candidate pursuant to this section, the candidate who filed for the office must be declared the winner by the authority charged by law with conducting the election, and the votes for the election must not be counted or otherwise tabulated. Nothing in this section requires a ballot containing the name of a person who has been declared the winner pursuant to this section to be reprinted to delete the winning candidate’s name or candidates’ names from the ballot.

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t07c013.htm

Statement by Tom Davis re: Governor Mark Sanford

Tom Davis said:

As a state senator with responsibilities to my constituents, I met yesterday with SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd and Attorney General Henry McMaster to determine whether Gov. Sanford had violated any statutory or constitutional obligations. Both have assured me that Gov. Sanford did not break any laws and that he did not spend public dollars in this process.

That said, and as Gov. Sanford knows, he has no margin for further error in this particular matter. South Carolina simply cannot afford any additional embarrassment.

http://schotlinepress.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/tom-davis-statement-re-sanford-and-sled-findings/

Gov. Mark Sanford has reimbursed himself more than $1,800 for expenses from his campaign account in the past 18 months. But Sanford won’t say what those expenses were.

Campaign records show Sanford reimbursed himself more than $1,100 about the same time as two 2008 trips to New York on which he said he met his Argentine lover, Maria Belen Chapur.

• Sanford claimed a $297.89 expense Oct. 7, 2008. Sanford met Chapur for two nights in New York City in September 2008.

• Another expense, $864.90, was claimed Nov. 3, 2008. Sanford met with Chapur in the Hamptons that same month.

Sanford also has reimbursed himself for more than $600 of additional expenses since January 2008.

None of Sanford’s expenses is itemized in his campaign disclosures, filed with the State Ethics Commission. Instead, they are marked only as “reimbursement.”

Under state law, it is illegal for a candidate to spend campaign money for personal use. State law also requires campaigns to maintain receipts for reimbursements for five years. But Sanford declined to turn those receipts, detailing what his expenses were for, over to The State.

Open records experts say the receipts are covered by the state’s freedom of information law and must be made available to the public, including the media.

Sanford’s gubernatorial office did not respond to a State newspaper Freed of Information Act request filed July 8. His campaign, which still has more than $1.5 million on hand, declined to turn over receipts, writing Sanford already had complied with all state and federal campaign laws.

“Were these really reimbursements for actual expenditures or were these fabricated?” asked John Crangle with the government watchdog group Common Cause. Crangle noted elected officials in South Carolina and elsewhere previously have run into trouble for misusing campaign money.

A quickly completed State Law Enforcement Division inquiry found Sanford used no state money to visit Chapur. Sanford told SLED he paid cash for hotel and airfare on the New York and Hamptons trips.

State Ethics Commission chairman Herbert Hayden said campaigns are required to maintain receipts that itemize reimbursements for five years.

Hayden said campaign funds may only be spent on items “directly related to their campaign or directly related to the function of your office.”

But Columbia attorney Jay Bender, who specializes in media law and First Amendment issues, said the public is entitled to see the documents. (Among Bender’s clients are The State and the S.C. Press Association, of which The State is a member.)

“I can’t imagine any reason they would not be covered” by open records laws, Bender said of the receipts. “There’s nothing in the freedom of information law that exempts campaign filings … from disclosure.”

Common Cause’s Crangle said the questions about the campaign expenses are another reason a full investigation — by an authority with subpoena power — should be conducted.

“There’s an awful lot that needs to surface,” Crangle said, “and it looks like it won’t.”

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/903791.html

After Mike McShane heard Friday that two divisions of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources were merging and taking on a new name, his response could be seen as a harbinger of the agency’s future.

“Make sure you use up all that old stationery before you buy new stationery,” said McShane, the new chairman of the board that sets policy for the agency.

…DNR has been hit hard by budget cuts. State funding for the agency dropped from $31.1 million in 2001 to $20.7 million this year.

The 43-year-old Johns Island resident is all about economy and efficiency.

“It comes from my background in engineering,” said McShane, who was appointed in August by Gov. Mark Sanford. “I like to have things lined up.”

Natural Resources board meetings the past few years have been collegial affairs, run by chairman Joab Lesesne, former president of Wofford College. When things got too serious, commissioners Danny Ford or Russell Holliday threw in some down-home humor.

The revamped board includes four businessmen appointed by Sanford — McShane, Mike Campbell of Columbia, T. Smith Ragsdale of Georgetown and Stephen Davis of Greenwood. Sanford hasn’t replaced Lesesne, Malloy McEachin of Florence and Douglas Rucker of Lancaster, but none of the remaining appointees of former Gov. Jim Hodges showed up for Friday’s meeting.

The revamped board hints at a more business-oriented approach. McShane, whose business sells specialized medical devices, sees that as right for the times.

“The budget issues may have forced this agency to go through a revamp anyway,” McShane said. “But there’s no reason we shouldn’t be looking at streamlining.

“We want to make sure every employee of the agency makes themselves invaluable to the agency. And I don’t think that’s unrealistic.”

The agency has shrunk from about 1,000 employees two years ago to 703 now. In its last meeting together, the old board approved a reorganization of the agency’s 17 field offices into four regional offices to save money.

“In a time of unbelievably tight budgets, the agency has got to reshape,” said John Frampton, who took over as executive director in the spring.

Frampton, McShane and the new board will be setting the course. Frampton has been with the agency for 29 years, starting as a field biologist and most recently focusing on land acquisition issues and acting as the agency liaison to Washington.

McShane is a newcomer to the board but not to natural resource concerns. An avid duck hunter, he’s part of a management team that runs the Nemours Plantation Wildlife Foundation. His late father-in-law, Eugene DuPont, put much of his 10,000-acre Beaufort County plantation under a conservation easement and set up the foundation to manage the property.

The thought of a businessman focused on efficiency-setting policy for the Natural Resources Department might scare some outdoors enthusiasts.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/33319/new_chairman_of_south_carolina_department_board_emphasizes_efficiency/index.html

10/02/2006
Michael G. McShane
1501 Ravens Point Road, Occupation:……………CONTRIBUTIONS:
Johns Island,SC,29455 (Conservation Management) $3,500.00 $3,500.00

10/02/2006
GiGi McShane
1501 Ravens Point Road, Occupation:…………..CONTRIBUTIONS:
Johns Island,SC,29455 (Homemaker) ………….$3,500.00 $3,500.00

https://ssl.sc.gov/Ethics/ItemizedContribution.aspx?row_ID=163&candName=%20Marshall%20Sanford&position=SC+Governor&address=P.O.+Box+1413++Columbia%2c+SC%2c+29202&phone=803-779-2972

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Mike McShane, chairman of the board of the Department of Natural Resources

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is a South Carolina State Agency. It is directed by seven-member Board; a board member is appointed…

ALL BOARD MEMBERS ARE APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR including the Chairman.
Michael McShane, Chairman

“a long-standing budget proviso restricts the use of those planes to official DNR business.”

“DNR Board Chairman Mike McShane tells us he wasn’t aware of the proviso, and neither were other board members.”

Mike McShane and the Natural Resources Board are INCOMPETENT and FULL OF IT!

One of the issues raised by news reports on the governor’s flights has been his frequent use of aircraft owned by the state Department of Natural Resources. Mr. Sanford explained that the small DNR planes are cheap to operate, and using them saves the state money.

But a long-standing budget proviso restricts the use of those planes to official DNR business. DNR Board Chairman Mike McShane tells us he wasn’t aware of the proviso, and neither were other board members. On Thursday, the board voted to have the agency follow that proviso to the letter.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/aug/16/ethics-panel-appropriate-bodyto-investigate/

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Mike McShane BROKE THE LAW

The Natural Resources Board BROKE THE LAW

SCDNR BROKE THE LAW

IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE!

As Davis stated in July, “Accordingly, unless any new facts are disclosed, I think it is time for me and other public officials to get back to work on the serious challenges facing our state. That said, and as Gov. Sanford knows, he has no margin for further error in this particular matter. South Carolina simply cannot afford any additional embarrassment.”

Does unsanctioned, excessive spending of our tax dollars count as sufficient enough error? Or maybe the relentless reinforcement of South Carolina’s integrity-lacking image meets your high standard of embarrassment?

As constituents, we need to keep in mind Davis’ surreal perspective: “(Sanford’s) complete fall from grace may well allow something to get done.” Such perverse thinking is as far from reality as Sanford was from the Appalachian Trail. On the contrary, every step and endless vacation day Sanford takes is scrutinized.

Shame on all South Carolinians for tolerating and enabling Sanford and his friends of a feather. They are merely a reflection of our own sin of apathy and lack of integrity.

Dianne Skripek

Hilton Head Island

http://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/letters/story/935132.html