Brown: Oil's boy tries to stick it to SC

Let's hope voters clearly see how the local environmental nightmare, Rep. Henry Brown, wants to stick it to South Carolinians by pushing offshore oil drilling.

According to an editorial in the Myrtle Beach Sun News, he may have created a real campaign issue for himself this year that will lead to his ouster:

As we have noted before, the prospect that gas and oil rigs one day could set up off the S.C. coast is daunting. Though any drilling would take place far out to sea, the potential for oil spills that reach shore would come into being. A good case can be made that our federal representatives should do nothing to jeopardize the state's attractiveness to tourists or to harm fragile beaches and marshes.

Henry Brown has been the leadership equivalent of the Exxon Valdez for South Carolina in his six years in the U.S. House. Let's hope voters will clean up his legacy by sending him home in November.

Brown and stealth pollutution?

The Charleston City Paper's Will Moredock offers a hard-hitting column against our challenged Congressman, Henry Brown, by suggesting he is aiding and abetting polluters of various ilk. He chastises Brown for encouraging drilling of oil off the South Carolina coast in his April 12 column:

"The oil and gas industries and their allies are working night and day — and very undercover — to lift this moratorium and open our coast to oil and gas exploration. And in doing so, they could be aided and abetted by none other than Charleston's own 1st District Congressman, Henry Brown (R-S.C.).

"As Brown told the Chicago Tribune last October, "If [oil and gas drilling] is OK for Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, it should be OK for other states ... We are in an energy crisis and we should do everything we can to become more energy-independent — including offshore drilling."

"Curiously, he did not say that to any local media."

What in the world is poor Henry thinking? (Or is that an oxymoron?)

Another Democratic challenger files against Brown

Former N.C. Rep. Ralph Ledford has filed to run in the Democratic primary to win the nomination to run against Henry Brown, South Carolina's sad excuse for a coastal congressman.
Ledford, who now lives in Charleston, recently announced he filed on March 30 to run against Brown, according to a press release. It continued:

Mr. Ledford stated the main reason he filed is that the leadership in Congress must be changed. If we do not change we will continue down the same road as we are going and the present congressman will vote for that same leadership, which has misled the public, for he is totally committed to them.

The present leadership has given us the Iraqi war; the corporate scandals, Enron, WorldCom, Halliburton’s enormous profits; and the Dubai ports deal. Our federal budget has been busted to support the military industrial complex instead of our infrastructure and the social security system, Mr. Ledford stated. In addition, the baby boomers are going to start drawing social security in just two years and the present leadership has pushed the burden down to their children and grandchildren.

Mr. Ledford also stated that with our district being coastal and one of the most pristine areas in the United States, he does not want the environment devastated for it is the backbone of our economy, especially if a storm were to strike this region. The effects of Hurricane Katrina and Rita were catastrophic on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Presently, if this were to occur the same federal leadership, which was a total failure, would be in charge. He stated he did not think that we would be treated any differently. You may contact Mr. Ledford at rwledford@gmail.com or 828-243-9947.