The Week

Sorry for the long post … It has been a busy week. And, out side of Clemson losing, it’s been a pretty good one.

Real estate tax bills were sent out by the Auditor’s Office at the beginning of this week. Though it is always a difficult time for folks to pay their tax bills, this year’s bills for homeowners should have been a pleasant surprise because we were able to give an additional $3 million in credits to the tax bills this year. That means that homeowners’ bills increased from $0-$8 per $100,000 of a property’s value – meaning bills were substantially the same as last year. Hopefully, that is some good news.

Last Saturday I was asked to speak at the Lexington Democratic Party’s monthly meeting, and it was a great crowd at the Tri-City Leisure Center in West Columbia. I spoke on the current political environment in both Washington and at the Statehouse, and the dire need we have for more choices at the ballot box other than the ideologues who currently dominate our policy debates.
*** Of course, during that speech I had to miss my son’s soccer game (the first I missed all year) in which he scored three goals. I asked him if I should miss the next one so he could score a bunch more and he said: “No daddy, I’ll still try to score a goal even if you show up next time.”

On Wednesday I was at a fundraiser for my Citadel classmate, Solicitor Dan Johnson, where I was able to see several old friends and meet some new ones. It would not surprise anyone back during The Citadel days that Dan would succeed (I cannot claim the same for me) and I was happy to support him. I left that fundraiser to fellowship with many more old friends at the annual dinner for the Urban League which had a fantastic attendance to support their efforts in the community and listen to Mayor Steve Benjamin’s speech.

On Thursday, I attended a meeting of the SC Association of Counties Legislative Committee where we reconsidered support for a number of issues for the upcoming legislative session.

And today I was able to go to one of my favorite monthly meetings, the Columbia Luncheon Club, one of the founding groups in the Midlands that brought white and black residents together during the Civil Rights movement. They still meet every month to discuss issues vital to the Midlands under the umbrella of the Chamber of Commerce’s Community Relations Council. It is a group where you feel better every time you leave one of their meetings.

Tomorrow, I will be speaking to the Lower Richland Democratic Breakfast at nine in the morning at the Garner’s Ferry Lizard’s Thicket.