Charleston Currents #13.02 | Nov. 9, 2020
POWERFUL. Two bald eagles perched last week on a steeple at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in West Ashley. Charleston City Councilman Ross Appel spotted the pair during a run. He rushed home and grabbed a camera to snap this shot. Great work, councilman!
TODAY’S FOCUS: South Carolina played key role in Biden victory
COMMENTARY, Brack: Meet the Hartsville man who can make you laugh
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Morris Financial Concepts, Inc.
NEWS BRIEFS: Statehouse will be different for Dems in 2021
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Orange archway
CALENDAR: City Paper to offer 2020 SUCKS virtual concert with McCain, Hall
South Carolina played key role in Biden victory
At the Feb. 26 endorsement of Biden in Charleston were (l-r): former Charleston councilman Paul Tinkler, former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, S.C. Sen. Marlon Kimpson, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, Charleston County Auditor Peter Tecklenburg, Biden. | Photo by Adam Schultz / Biden for President
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It can be argued that without South Carolina, Biden wouldn’t be president-elect.
In February, he won the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina. It was his first big win that preceded a string of wins built on the strong backing of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the Palmetto State’s kingmaker. Clyburn’s endorsement of Biden in late February is widely viewed as the key to Biden’s win here, which was key to securing the nomination.
Hollings in 2016
But much earlier, the late U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, who was chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 1972, tapped Biden as the Democrat for Washington senators to support in the Delaware race for U.S. Senate. Then 29, Biden was a county councilman and unknown to many.
“He ended up taking a chance on me,” Biden said in April 2019 at Hollings’ funeral. “He saw something in me that I wasn’t sure that existed, but he believed in me. I can say, without fear of contradiction, that that made me believe more in myself.”
Hollings was the first person that Biden called, other than family, when he won the Senate seat.
“He was there when I was on top of the world,” Biden recalled. “He was also there for me when I was at the bottom.”
Six weeks after the election, Biden’s wife and daughter were killed in a grisly traffic accident.
“Aside from my family, the first people to bring me back from that black hole that I found myself in were Fritz and Peatsy [Hollings] — and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said. “That’s literally true, those of you who know our relationship. He convinced me to do what I didn’t want to do — to come and be sworn in. He convinced me to stick around.”
Charleston area should benefit during Biden administration
The Charleston area has a special place in Biden’s heart. As a U.S. senator, he developed close ties with the state through relationships with Hollings and another U.S. Senate colleague, Strom Thurmond, a Republican. He gave eulogies at funerals for both.
More recently, Biden’s friendship with Clyburn, third in line in the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives, led to a key endorsement when Biden’s presidential campaign needed a kick.
Those ties give a deep knowledge of the Lowcountry to the president-elect. And that could pay off in big ways, officials said. Not only could the area generate new revenue streams from the federal government for infrastructure improvements, but locals could secure positions in the administration to craft policies favorable to the state.
“South Carolina’s primary was a pivotal moment for Joe Biden,” said S.C. Rep. J.A. Moore, a Hanahan Democrat who in January was state co-chair for the presidential campaign for Kamala Harris, the California senator who became Biden’s running mate and is now vice president-elect.
Moore said the Lowcountry would benefit over the next four years because Biden and Harris will rely on aides who worked in the state and understand South Carolina’s needs.
“Who better than people in the Lowcountry to know about the flooding and transportation solutions that are needed?” he asked. “The hope is that one of the priorities will be the banning of offshore drilling and support additional protections against offshore drilling,” he said.
Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said Saturday on Facebook that he would communicate local needs to Biden, who Tecklenburg endorsed for president.
Tecklenburg
“My plan is to hit the ground running with our federal representatives and the new administration to ensure we have the resources we need to truly tackle covid, flooding, traffic, affordable housing, public safety and racial reconciliation,” Tecklenburg said. “Those are our top priorities here in Charleston, and we’re going to do everything we can to make them top priorities in Washington next year as well.”
For years, Biden also has visited and vacationed in the South Carolina Lowcountry — so much so that he has introduced himself as being from Delaware by way of Pennsylvania, where he was born, and South Carolina, which he has grown to love.
‘We’ll have a much stronger relationship with his administration than any other president of either party,” observed Charleston native Bud Ferillo, a Biden delegate in 2020 who now lives in Columbia.
Charleston County Democratic Party Chair Colleen Condon said Biden won Charleston County by 13 percent — “the biggest win for a Democratic presidential candidate in several decades.” In Charleston County, Biden got 121,485 votes compared to Donald Trump’s 93,297 votes.
“A Biden presidency stands for hope,” she said. “It means a better economy for all. The stock market is rising. It means a country where integrity is valued, where all can afford health insurance, where all can get a quality education.”
Charleston Realtor Ed Sutton, who lost a race for S.C. House on Tuesday, said Biden and his wife, Jill, understand the needs of South Carolina’s veterans.
“Last year, my wife and I hosted Dr. Jill Biden for a Veterans Day event and we were deeply impressed with her knowledge of the Veterans Administration medical system and her commitment to cutting wait times for treatment,” said Sutton, a major in the U.S. Air Force Reserves who pilots C-17 transport jets. “A Biden presidency is a win for Lowcountry veterans.”
Meet the Hartsville man who can make you laugh
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a guy over in Hartsville who you can bet on to give you a good laugh, particularly if you like politics. The good news: His humor works for Republicans, Democrats and anybody who loves Dollar General, lard and Bea Arthur as Maude.
Just about every day, he’ll bring a smile to your face on Facebook through some wry observation, witticism or old-school joke that evokes the clean humor and one-liners of Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Steven Wright and Bob Newhart.
Meet Andy Williams, South Carolina’s equal opportunity political goofball. Sometimes he’s serious. Sometimes he’s full of prunes. Always though, he’s pithy with just the right thing to make you stop taking everything so seriously when you can’t get away from too-serious people openly displaying emotions on their sleeves.
On Tuesday night as election returns rolled in slowly, Williams wanted things to move along. Rather than complain, he joked:
Williams, right, with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott in a 2016 photo.
“Hey Australia, can you tell me who won the election? I want to go to bed.”
Two minutes later came another zinger:
“This is more math than I signed up for. #USA”
Then came this perfectly-timed question: “Anything good on TV tonight?” That was followed by “I just want to pursue my dream of sleeping again” and “America needs a cold shower.”
Williams’s humor is often so simple that it’s complex. Sometimes, it seems shallow and slapstick. Other times, it’s rich with cultural insights.
Democrats love Andy Williams. So do Republicans. Years ago, he worked in Washington for Republican icon Strom Thurmond and then in Columbia for Democratic legend Fritz Hollings. He’s got thousands of friends. And he’s got pictures with politicians from Nikki Haley to Tim Scott.
Williams offers refreshing political observations that often are laugh-out-loud funny. What’s really amazing is that his stream of one-liners comes day after day, year after year, always ready to pounce onto your funny bone.
Just after midnight on election night: “Can someone just go pull a groundhog from its hole in PA and tell us if we’re going to have darkness for four more years?” Four minutes later: “Y’all, it’s not looking good for Kanye. #ElectionNight”
In the wee hours of Wednesday, President Trump claimed victory in the presidential contest, despite all votes not being counted. This led Williams to observe, “As long as we’re claiming things today and tonight in America, and anything seems to be appropriate to claim by some, I’m claiming that I’m younger and thinner than I really am.”
When a friend observed she needed to learn to keep her political thoughts to herself, Williams answered, giving insight into the methods of his sparkle: “I haven’t done anything. That’s the darn point. There is not a bit of political material on my page, only some general political humor and buffoonery. My page isn’t about any division or hurtful nonsense.”
As he proved Wednesday: “I LIKE it when it gets dark earlier. I like the nightlife. I like to boogie.” Or this: “When I became an adult, I was so unprepared for how expensive ziplock bags are. Carry on.”
His comments often include references to all things Maude and Golden Girls. He’s also keen on Scooby Doo, Piggly Wiggly, disco, Dionne Warwick, Charlie Brown, Charles Nelson Reilly and Burt Reynolds. And he’s got a special place in his heart for his hometown, church, missionary work and political volunteering, as he showed Tuesday in a polling location in Darlington County. A voter started crying when she wasn’t let inside her precinct because rules prohibit wearing campaign material (she wore a Trump shirt).
“As most of you know, I always, always wear a blue blazer, ‘on duty anywhere,’ so guess what ole Andy did? I said to her, ‘Put this on, button it up, and go in and cast your vote.’ When it comes to my job, I have to be helpful and fair to all. I conduct my life that way, today everywhere else. We do what we have to do for our neighbors. It doesn’t matter what side you are on. We just need to love each other more. I’m also a sucker for a lady crying.”
Thanks, Andy. We all can use a little more common sense and humor in our lives.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Charleston Currents, and publisher of the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
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Statehouse will be different for Dems in 2021
By Andy Brack | The $200 million spent in South Carolina on the U.S. Senate race between Republican Lindsey Graham and Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison sucked the oxygen out of down-ballot Democratic campaigns.
“Nationalizing the election just killed down-ballot races,” said one key Statehouse insider who asked not to be named.
More than 71 percent of South Carolina’s registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday, a 4-point increase from 2.1 million voters in 2016 to 2.5 million this year.
In last week’s Statehouse races, state Democrats lost three S.C. Senate seats, further eroding a minority already in peril. In the S.C. House, they’re lucky to have lost only two seats this week, which is a net loss of one position for 2021 after they picked up a coastal seat in a fall special election.
As it stands for the 2021 legislative session, South Carolina Republicans tightened their grip on power. They’ll open with 30 of 46 seats in the state Senate. In the House, they’ll start at 81 of 124 seats in the House. If the House GOP picks up just two more seats — a distinct possibility if districts are further gerrymandered next year following redistricting — House Republicans will have a supermajority. That would mean they wouldn’t have to have Democratic help to override vetos or make major procedural changes. Read more of the story from Statehouse Report.
In other recent news:
Climate plan update. The City of Charleston is updating its Climate Action Plan and is seeking public participation to ensure the plan reflects citizens’ vision for Charleston’s future. How to get involved:
- Take the city’s Climate Action Plan survey.
- Attend virtual meetings to learn more.
- Volunteer by serving on a subcommittee focus group.
2021 jazz season announced. Charleston Jazz has announced 12 shows on six dates for its 2021 season, including a March 27 humdinger that will highlight the legacy of big bands. Other shows will showcase the World of Jazz (April 17), Symphonic Swing (May 22), Jazz on Broadway (Sept. 18), a “Groovin’” tribute to Dizzy Gillespie (Oct. 23) and Holiday Swing (Dec. 4). Shows will be at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Charleston Music Hall. More info and tickets.
Virtual chili cook-off to be Nov. 21. Emmy Award-winning celebrity dog trainer Brandon McMillan will roll up his sleeves to help shelter animals in the 20th anniversary presentation of the Charleston Animal Society’s annual Chili Cook-off. This year, the event has been reimagined as an online experience to allow anyone to participate. The two-hour event will be streamed on Facebook Live on Nov. 21. Learn more and register a team.
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Tell us what you love about the Lowcountry. Send a short comment – 100 words to 150 words – that describes something you really enjoy about the Lowcountry. It can be big or small. It can be a place, a thing or something you see. It might be the bakery where you get a morning croissant or a business or government entity doing a good job. We’ll highlight your entry in a coming issue of Charleston Currents. We look forward to hearing from you.
Orange archway
We bet just about anybody who lives in South Carolina, as well as many visitors, have seen this curious orange archway. But where is it? Send to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo
Our Oct. 30 photo, “Where is this door?” was easy for many veterans of the Mystery Photo. It showed a slightly retouched photo of the door of the Hibernian Hall on Meeting Street in Charleston. A key clue: the harp gate.
Congrats to these readers who identified the door: Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant; Jim McMahan, Susan Highfield and Stephen Yetman, all of Charleston; Charles Boyd of Hanahan; Charlie Morrison of Mashpee, Mass.; Jay Altman of Columbia; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Don Clark of Hartsville; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va.
Graf shared some research: “Hibernian Hall was originally built as a meeting place for the Hibernian Society, an Irish benevolent organization founded in 1801 which had a healthy membership in the port town of Charleston in the early to mid-1800s. The building itself was constructed in 1840, and held an architectural distinction as one of the first semi-public buildings to be built in the southern city in the pure Greek style of architecture.
“The modest Greek-style columned structure holds a distinctive role in both Charleston and American’s legacy as the meeting place for a faction of the 1860’s national Democratic Convention, and ever since, this once marginally notable structure has risen to fame as one of the most important meeting venues in the South.”
- Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
2020 SUCKS virtual concert to feature McCain, Hall
Staff reports | Is there anyone who doesn’t think 2020 has just sucked?
At 8 p.m. Nov. 17, the Charleston City Paper will offer a virtual mini-concert called 2020 SUCKS, a City Paper Concert for Charleston with Charleston favorite Edwin McCain as well as Country artist, Lauren Hall.
At the end of the concert, the City Paper will announce the winners of the 2020 City Paper Music Awards. The weekly newspaper also will share some funny short videos and messages recognizing its 2020 Best Of Charleston sponsors and winners. The Nov. 18 print issue of the newspaper will showcase winners, too.
- Buy your tickets for just $10 through CityPaperTickets.com. A portion of ticket proceeds will benefit the Charleston Animal Society
Also on the calendar:
Redux art auction: Nov. 9 to Nov. 21. Redux Contemporary Art Center’s 18th Annual Art Auction will be held in-person and virtually with more than 150 pieces are available for purchase. The auction is the organization’s primary fundraising method each year. Visitors can see the artwork in the Redux gallery art space at 1056 King Street and in these partnering businesses throughout Charleston: Haegur (1102 King Street); Harbinger Café (1107 King Street); Monarch Wine Merchants (1107 King Street, Suite B); J. Stark (498 King Street, Suite 100); Ted’s Butcher Block (334 E Bay St); and Haven’s Fine Framing (1070 Johnnie Dodds Blvd, Mount Pleasant). All of the auction artwork will be up for bid online via Bidr. The virtual auction will go live on the Redux website on Nov. 9 and remain open through Nov. 21. During the auction, Redux will be open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
Holiday Festival of Lights: Nov. 13 to Dec. 31, 2020. The annual event, now in its 31st year, opens Nov. 13 and will offer a dazzling array of displays and about 2 million lights at James Island County Park. The festival will be open every evening nightly from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. You can take a heartwarming cruise along the three-mile display of glimmering lights with your closest companions. The driving tour features over 700 light displays, most of which were created in-house by park staff. For details, visit HolidayFestivalofLights.com.
Bourbon talk: 6 p.m., Nov. 17. The Charleston Library Society will host a discussion certain to enthrall bourbon drinkers. Julian Van Winkle and Wright Thompson will meet via Zoom to discuss Thompson’s book, Pappyland: A Story of Family, Fine Bourbon, and the Things That Last. Free, but RSVP required to receive the Zoom invitation.
Virtual book launch. 5 p.m. Nov. 19, Buxton Books, Charleston. Poet Eugene Platt will do a virtual reading from his new book of poems, “Nudas Veritas,” from the bookshop, hosted by owner Polly Buxton. To RSVP, please email Monica at Monica@buxtonbooks.com. More info.
Antigone at CofC: Livestream performances at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 19 and Nov. 20. The College of Charleston’s Department of Theatre and Dance will present Sophocle’s classic Greek tragedy, “Antigone,” with a modern twist in an adaptation by Peabody Award-winning playwright Emily Mann. Theatre students comprise the cast. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and the military and $8 for students. Show and ticket information is available at showtix4u.com/events/cofcstages.
New Safe Sounds show on Nov. 21: Doors open 6 p.m; Show begins 7 p.m. on Nov. 21, Firefly Distillery, North Charleston. The distillery’s socially-distanced concerts are back with its fall Safe Sounds series. The next show features Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses. Tickets are $175 for four and can be purchased in advance at citypapertickets.com.
Freedom Ship of Robert Smalls exhibition. Through Nov. 22, City Gallery, Prioleau Street, Charleston. The gallery will offer free viewing of The Freedom Ship of Robert Small, an exhibition of large format reproductions of artist Jonathan Green’s illustrations for Louise Meriweather’s children’s book of the same name. A new edition of the 1971 was published in 2018 with Lowcountry artist Greens pictures. Gallery hours are limited due to coronavirus. Tickets are free, but must be reserved online. More info.
From Etchings to Pastels: Through Nov. 29, Lowcountry Image Gallery, The Charleston Museum. The museum has partnered with the Pastel Society of South Carolina to present new interpretations of etchings stemming from the Charleston Renaissance Movement about 100 years ago. Learn more.
- If you have any online events, drop us a line (editor@charlestoncurrents.com) and make sure to put “Online event” in the subject line. Similarly, if you’ve got cool ideas for stuff to do while in isolation at home, send them our way.
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As more people stay home to deal with the coronavirus crisis, people are looking for things to do. You can find some fun things to do online in our calendar section below, but let us also encourage you to FORWARD your issue of Charleston Currents to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. It’s got a great price, as you know: Free! We hope they’ll enjoy our coverage.
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