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Tag: mike fanning

  • Fanning, McDaniel win big

    Sen. Mike Fanning and wife Stephanie, with Rep. Annie McDaniel and Gladden Williams. | Contributed

    WINNSBORO – In the Democratic Primary on Tuesday, State Sen. Mike Fanning (Dist. 17) and House Rep. Annie McDaniel (Dist. 41) both took home big wins to represent their party in November for second terms.

    Mosely

    Fanning kept his seat with 7,823 votes (67.93%) to former House Dist. 41 representative MaryGail Douglas’s 3,694 votes (32.07%). District 17 covers Fairfield, Chester and part of York County. Fanning did not immediately return The Voice’s phone request for a comment.

    Fanning will face Republican candidate Erin Mosley of Chester in the November election.

    McDaniel, with 4,811 votes (71.01%) resisted newcomer Charlene Herring of Ridgeway with 1,964 votes (28.99%). She will serve a two-year term.

    Brecheinsen

    “I just want to thank the voters in District 41 for re-electing me,” McDaniel said. “The strong showing shows they appreciate the style of service I’ve provided them, and I want them to know that I’ll continue to be a public servant and for them to stay involved in the political process and hold us governmental officials accountable.

    McDaniel will face Republican candidate Jennifer Brecheisen of Chester in the November election.

  • Fairfield polls open Tuesday at 7 a.m.

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County polls will be open from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

    State Senator Mike Fanning, House Rep. Annie McDaniel and Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery all face challengers in the June 9 democratic primary.

    Fairfield Clerk of Court Judy Bonds and Fairfield County Coroner Chris Hill are both running unopposed in the primary.

    Senate

    Winnsboro’s MaryGail Douglas is running against Fanning in Tuesday’s primary for the Senate seat. Douglas previously served six years in the House (District 41.) Fanning, a resident of Great Falls is finishing out his first term in the Senate representing Fairfield and parts of Chester and York Counties.

    House

    Democrat Charlene Herring is challenging Annie McDaniel for the House District 41 in the primary. Herring served 12 year as mayor of Ridgeway and is on the Board of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce. McDaniel is completing her first two-year term in the House. She previously served 18 years on the Fairfield County School Board.

    Sheriff

    Sheriff Will Montgomery, who has served six years as Fairfield County Sheriff, has one challenger in the primary, Ed Jenkins. No republicans are running in that race.

    Unopposed

    Bonds, clerk of court, and Hill, coroner and Sheriff Will Montgomery are all three running unopposed.

    • Montgomery
    • Bonds
    • Hill

    Elections Delays

    The rescheduled general elections for the Town of Ridgeway and Town of Jenkinsville residents will be held on Tuesday, July 14. The Ridgeway election will seat two town council members, and the Jenkinsville election will seat two town council members and the mayor, according to Fairfield County Voter Registration Director Debby Stidham.

    Stidham said her office will accept absentee applications only until Friday. Absentee ballots for the primary will be accepted through Tuesday.

    For information about candidates, elections or voting, call Fairfield County Voter Registration at 803-635-6255.

  • Fanning: ‘Good Ole Boys’ over

    Some Committee Members Closely Connected to Fairfield

    WINNSBORO – S.C. Senator Mike Fanning advertised last February for applicants to fill positions for four part-time Fairfield County magistrates and one full-time chief magistrate, all of whom would be up for reappointment in May. At the same time he advertised for applicants to fill positions for four part-time Chester County magistrates.

    To emphasize the fairness of his application process, Fanning posted the following on his Facebook page.

    “’The Good ‘Ole Boy System is Over!’ Now, an unbiased committee of out-of-county experts (who do not have established ‘connections’ to folks in our community) will review applications & interview finalists…making recommendations for appointment to this critically important judicial position(s).”

    In another notice, Fanning said the selection committee would be comprised of current and former magistrates from outside the county.

    Contrary to Fanning’s post, some of those committee members appear to have decidedly ‘established connections’ to Fairfield County and to Fanning, and not all of them were current or former magistrates, according to applicants interviewed by The Voice.

    Two applicants for the Fairfield positions said they met with different selection committees and that each committee consisted of three to four members.

    Applicant Mattie Stewart Smith, a retired attorney with 36 years of experience, told The Voice that she and at least two other applicants were interviewed on April 5 by four committee members: Chester County Chief Magistrate Angel Underwood, Underwood’s husband (then-Chester County Sheriff) Alex Underwood, a man with the last name of Gore and Fanning.

    Other members on selection committees were reported to include employees of the Chester County Sheriff’s office.

    Angel Underwood grew up in Fairfield County and graduated from Fairfield Central High School, records show.

    Underwood, who was suspended from her duties as Chief Magistrate in May 2015, handled more than 100 cases in which she should have told parties involved that she was married to the county’s sheriff, according to court records. After serving a year’s suspension, Underwood was issued a public reprimand by the S.C. Supreme Court but allowed to return to the bench.

    Underwood’s husband, Alex Underwood, another member of a selection committee for Fairfield magistrate applicants, served as Sheriff in Chester County from 2011 until he and two of his deputies were indicted in early May on charges ranging from conspiracy to falsifying evidence, records state.

    WBTV in Charlotte reported on Fanning’s appointment of the four new magistrates in Chester County after several viewers had brought up the issue of Fanning’s close ties to the Underwoods. Angel Underwood was the only Chester magistrate reappointed.

    On the day the FBI raided the Sheriff’s office in April, Fanning posted on Facebook, urging the community to stand by Alex Underwood. The station pointed out that Fanning posts photos of him and the Underwoods together socially, including at a dinner the weekend before the new magistrates in both Fairfield and Chester were named.

  • Feaster appointed Fairfield Magistrate

    Feaster

    WINNSBORO – Blair resident Russell Feaster was appointed Fairfield County Magistrate Judge by Senator Mike Fanning on April 18. The magistrate seat became available when former magistrate, Russell Price, was named Director of the Fairfield County Recreation Department.

    Feaster, a Blair native, holds a degree in Business Administration from Voorhees College and served 19 years with the S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED), retiring as an inspector in 2009. Feaster retired from the South Carolina Army National Guard in 2012 with the rank of Colonel after more than 31 years of service. He received numerous military awards and honors, and was the first African American inducted into the Palmetto Military Academy Hall of Fame in 2006.  Feaster is currently employed by Savant Learning Systems as Captain of South Carolina Field Operations.

    Feaster is a member of St. John AME Church, where his wife, Reverend Yvonne B. Feaster, is the pastor. The Feasters are the parents of four children.

    Feaster recently formed The Feaster Foundation, a non-profit, 501c (3), organization whose mission is to uplift, inspire and encourage youth to realize their full potential through education, spiritual growth and personal development.

    Additional magistrate seats will be up for appointment next year, Fanning said.

  • Update on SCE&G lawsuit

    WINNSBORO – Last week attorneys for South Carolina Electric and Gas Company (SCE&G) argued in the Sixth Circuit Judicial Court for a change of venue for the lawsuit filed against them by Fairfield County.

    Attorneys for Fairfield County argued that the trial should remain in the county where the incident (the abandonment of reactors two and three at V.C. Summers nuclear plant) occurred.

    A decision from Judge Paul Burch is expected by next week.

    Attorneys for SCE&G said in court that it would be necessary to move the trial to Lexington County since some county officials, including County Administrator Jason Taylor, Senator Mike Fanning and certain County Council members had poisoned the public by saying negative things about SCE&G which created the situation where the people of Fairfield could not be expected to rise to the level of giving a fair judgement.

    The County’s attorneys argued, essentially, that the people of Fairfield County have a right to trial here in Fairfield County.

    “Even if the trial is not held in Fairfield County where the plant is, by law it must be held in the circuit which includes Fairfield, Lancaster and Chester counties. Holding the trial in Lexington County is not an option,” McKensie said. “Legally it must be held in the county or at least in the circuit.”

  • Candidate Faces Probe in Fondling Allegation

    Report: Inappropriate Relationship with 16 Year Old

    Mike Fanning

    COLUMBIA – The state’s highest law enforcement agency has opened an investigation into allegations, based on an incident report filed last week with the Hampton County Sheriff’s Department, that Mike Fanning, of Mitford, and currently the Democratic nominee for S.C. Senate District 17, had an “inappropriate relationship” with a 16-year-old female student when he was her teacher at Estill High School beginning in 1993, a spokesperson for the S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED) confirmed Tuesday.

    The offenses, as stated in the incident report, which was filed Sept. 29, were ‘fondling – forcible.’

    According to the woman who filed the report and who is now 40 years old, the relationship with Fanning, who she said was her history teacher at the time, began in the spring of 1993, her junior year in high school, and progressed in intensity, lasting until the fall of 1994 during her first semester of college.

    The woman told The Voice last week in a phone conversation that she did not have contact with Fanning again until they both showed up at a mutual friend’s birthday party about 10 years ago. She said he contacted her last fall via Facebook to say he was planning to run for political office and wanted to know if she was proud of him.

    “After I thought about that for a while, it bothered me,” she said, “because I felt he was contacting me to find out if I was going to cause him any problems in his campaign.”

    Other documents obtained by The Voice refer to separate allegations by two female students in May 1998, of inappropriate touching that allegedly took place in Fanning’s home and that resulted in Fanning being suspended with pay from his high school teaching position in Columbia.

    Fanning was not charged as a result of the allegations, and other documents indicate that he passed a non-law enforcement administered polygraph examination in connection with the accusations. Documents from July 1998 further state that the Richland County Sheriff’s Department did not press charges due to ‘not sufficient evidence for criminal prosecution,’ and Fanning was subsequently reinstated to his teaching position.

    Fanning is the Executive Director of the Olde English Consortium, a 501(c)3 non-profit that, according to its website is an “educational collaborative seeking to promote excellence in education through collaboration.”

    In the Nov. 8 general election, Fanning will face Republican candidate Mark Palmer for the district that includes parts of Chester, Fairfield and York counties.

    Fanning had not, at press time, responded to The Voice’s phone messages.