Last year, Trent Kernodle filed a complaint with the South Carolina Ethics Commission accusing me of using my Town email and the Town website to influence the 2014 James Island Public Service District election. He complained that I used my Town email to ask the candidates questions and then evaluated their answers and shared the results with voters.
These accusations were false. I did not use my Town email for these purposes. My Town email was mayorwoolsey@jamesislandsc.us. (It is now bwoolsey@jamesislandsc.us.) I used my gmail account, mayorwoolsey@gmail.com. This is a free gmail account that I created in 2010, shortly after being elected Mayor. It does not belong to the Town.
I did not use the Town website to influence the JIPSD elections. I used my personal blog, "Mayors Corner." This is a free blog that I created in late 2010. It does not belong to the Town.
The Ethics Commission investigators agreed that Mayors Corner is my personal property and that I have a first amendment right to speak out on matters that I consider of concern to the citizens of the Town. They agreed that I did not use the Town email to write the candidates to ask them questions or communicate the answers or my evaluation of the answers to voters.
However, the investigator discovered a link on the Town website to my personal blog. If you went to the Town website, and then went to the section of the website for elected officials, and then went to the section for the Mayor, you would find my picture, my Town email, my personal cell phone, and a link to my personal blog, Mayors Corner.
The investigator also claimed that there was a link on the Town's website to my campaign facebook page. However, that was false. The link on the Town's website was to the Town's facebook page. The investigator most probably found something shared from my personal facebook page, "Mayor Woolsey" to the Town facebook page. And there was a link on my Mayor Woolsey facebook page to my campaign facebook page. The investigator admitted that he wasn't very familiar with facebook and this accusation was dropped.
The Ethics Commission decided that because Mayors Corner included posts that were aimed at influencing the result of the election, and that during the 2014 JIPSD election campaign, I had left a link to my personal blog on the Town website, I was in that way using the public property, that is, the Town's website, to influence an election. For that violation, they fined me $1000 and imposed a $250 administrative fee.
Kernodle's false accusation turned up a single link on an obscure section of the Town's website, and so I had to pay a hefty fine.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Bullet Hole Found at Payne Church Sunday Morning
A bullet-hole was found in the front door of Payne Church on Camp Road early Sunday morning. I attended worship service with the congregation in the Fellowship Hall while Charleston County Sheriff's Deputies investigated the church building. The most likely time that the bullet was fired was late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
Pastor Junious and the congregation did the right thing by carrying on with their worship.
But this is intolerable.
Please help us stop terrorism on our Island.
Keep an eye out for our local churches. If you hear a gunshot, call 911.
If you have any information about who is doing these hateful crimes please call Crimestoppers at 544-1111 or use tip411
Help bring this to a stop
Pastor Junious and the congregation did the right thing by carrying on with their worship.
But this is intolerable.
Please help us stop terrorism on our Island.
Keep an eye out for our local churches. If you hear a gunshot, call 911.
If you have any information about who is doing these hateful crimes please call Crimestoppers at 544-1111 or use tip411
Help bring this to a stop
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Saturday, Sept. 12--James Island Pride Clean Up and Dedication for Ben Rd., Jeffrey, and Lemontree Rd.
This Saturday will be busy for the Town of James Island. Starting at 9:00, James Island Pride will be holding another regular Community Clean-Up.
Volunteering is a great way to benefit your community. We can not keep James Island beautiful and litter free unless there are volunteers willing to donate a little time and effort into making this Community Cleanup a success. Beyond being unsightly, litter presents a threat to wildlife and public health. Pitching in and cleaning up some trash is an easy way for anyone to help out.
Pick up 'Lunch Ticket' and Supplies between 9:00-9:30am. Lunch provided, served at 11:00am for volunteers at Town of James Island.
We Provide:
Water
Safety Vests
Work Gloves
Trash Bags
& Lunch
What to Bring:...
Comfortable Shoes
Sunscreen/ Bug Spray
Your Friends!
Pick up 'Lunch Ticket' and Supplies between 9:00-9:30am. Lunch provided, served at 11:00am for volunteers at Town of James Island.
We Provide:
Water
Safety Vests
Work Gloves
Trash Bags
& Lunch
What to Bring:...
Comfortable Shoes
Sunscreen/ Bug Spray
Your Friends!
At 11 there will be a dedication ceremony for three roads that have been paved in the Town--Ben Road, Jeffrey Road, and Lemontree Road. This will be at Stephen Washington Park, which is the City of Charleston Park located at the corner of Honey Hill Drive and Fort Johnson Road.
The Town initiated both of these paving projects. The Town contributed its own funds and requested matching funds. Some of the matching funds for the Ben Road project came from the 1/2 cent sales tax. The matching funds for Lemontree and Jeffrey came from the Charleston County Transportation Committee, which is made up of representatives of local governments and disburses funds provided by the state. Charleston County Transportation managed both projects on behalf of the Town. Thank you.
The Town initiated both of these paving projects. The Town contributed its own funds and requested matching funds. Some of the matching funds for the Ben Road project came from the 1/2 cent sales tax. The matching funds for Lemontree and Jeffrey came from the Charleston County Transportation Committee, which is made up of representatives of local governments and disburses funds provided by the state. Charleston County Transportation managed both projects on behalf of the Town. Thank you.
I plan to combine the two activities, picking up trash along Fort Johnson, Ben Rd., Jeffrey Road, and Lemontree Road so that they will all be nice and neat before the ceremony.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Town 1 Kernodle 0
As reported last month, the afternoon before our July 23 special meeting, the Town received a letter from one of the out-of-town attorneys working with Kernodle threatening to seek a preliminary injunction against the Town unless we agreed to postpone consideration of our budget amendment that had passed first reading at our July 9 meeting. We were given a deadline for the morning of July 23 to respond.
The budget amendment levied a 20 mill property tax, provided a $2,948,058 tax credit to zero out the tax for all taxpayers, and budgeted $840,000 to build a new Town Hall and $200,000 to maintain a reserve. The Town did not meet Kernodle's deadline and they filed a request for a preliminary injunction on the afternoon of July 23. That evening, Town Council passed the budget amendment 3-2 on second and final reading.
The hearing for the injunction was held this morning. It all started an 9:30. There were many motions on other cases before Judge Dennis, but when it was our turn, it lasted only a few minutes.
Kernodle and the out-of-town attorney introduced themselves. Our Town Attorney, Bo Wilson introduced himself as did Danny Crowe, former general counsel of the Municipal Association of South Carolina, who the Town has also retained to help defend us from the Kernodle legal attack.
Judge Dennis asked Kernodle what he wanted. The out-of-town attorney spent about 2 minutes explaining that this was a dispute about the Local Option Sales Tax statute and that they wanted the Town to distribute the funds received from the Property Tax Credit funds to property owners on James Island. (They are suing the Town to make us carry out Kernodle's campaign pledge to "mail the checks.")
The Judge said that this was something like a case in Berkeley County, and what did they want to enjoin. The out-of--town attorney said they wanted the Town to not dissipate the LOST funds that it is holding. That took about a minute.
Judge Dennis said that this is clearly a case at law and that we are talking about a Town.
DENIED!
Our lawyers never had to say a thing.
It was all over in a few minutes.
The budget amendment levied a 20 mill property tax, provided a $2,948,058 tax credit to zero out the tax for all taxpayers, and budgeted $840,000 to build a new Town Hall and $200,000 to maintain a reserve. The Town did not meet Kernodle's deadline and they filed a request for a preliminary injunction on the afternoon of July 23. That evening, Town Council passed the budget amendment 3-2 on second and final reading.
The hearing for the injunction was held this morning. It all started an 9:30. There were many motions on other cases before Judge Dennis, but when it was our turn, it lasted only a few minutes.
Kernodle and the out-of-town attorney introduced themselves. Our Town Attorney, Bo Wilson introduced himself as did Danny Crowe, former general counsel of the Municipal Association of South Carolina, who the Town has also retained to help defend us from the Kernodle legal attack.
Judge Dennis asked Kernodle what he wanted. The out-of-town attorney spent about 2 minutes explaining that this was a dispute about the Local Option Sales Tax statute and that they wanted the Town to distribute the funds received from the Property Tax Credit funds to property owners on James Island. (They are suing the Town to make us carry out Kernodle's campaign pledge to "mail the checks.")
The Judge said that this was something like a case in Berkeley County, and what did they want to enjoin. The out-of--town attorney said they wanted the Town to not dissipate the LOST funds that it is holding. That took about a minute.
Judge Dennis said that this is clearly a case at law and that we are talking about a Town.
DENIED!
Our lawyers never had to say a thing.
It was all over in a few minutes.
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