FIVE ORGANIZATIONS OF THE UPCOUNTRY COALITION OF CONSERVATIVE CITIZENS TO EXPOSE GREENVILLE COUNTY COUNCIL’S DISREGARD FOR THE LAW

AMERICANS HAVE HAD ENOUGH COALITION WILL JOIN RINO HUNT, GREENVILLE COUNTY TAXPAYER’S ASSOCIATION, GREENVILLE 9-12 PROJECT AND GREENVILLE TEA PARTY IN CONDEMMING COUNCIL’S ACTION

Leaders of five liberty movement organizations in the Upcountry will hold a press conference to expose the Greenville County Council’s “disregard” for the law and continued wasteful spending. The press conference will be held at 5:30 PM on Tuesday, December 7, 2010, in front of the County Council Chambers, 301 University Ridge, Greenville, SC. County Council meets soon thereafter at 6:00 PM.

“I chose this date because of its significance in our American History. On that date in 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and soon thereafter America entered WWII. Today our elected officials are attacking American citizens by ignoring the constitution, their oath of office, taxing and spending as if there is no tomorrow, and we are here today to let county council know that ‘we the people’ are not going to be fooled anymore. We will fight them every step of the way or replace them,” stated Harry Kibler, the press conference organizer and founder of RINO Hunt. He continued, “It was not long ago that Mr. Ned Sloan sued the Greenville County Council for its inappropriate use of the slush fund, or as council likes to call it, discretionary fund. The court sided with Mr. Sloan, because the law requires that every item funded must be voted on by the county council. Council had to pay $60,000 in court fees to defend its illegal activities. And they are considering filing an appeal that will use more taxpayer dollars. To add insult to injury, council found a way to skirt the ruling by bundling all the individual councilmen’s pet projects into one item, and asking for unanimous consent, which they got. In my opinion, this may not be illegal, but it certainly is a moral slap in the face of the voters.”

Roan Garcia-Quintana, Executive Director of the Americans Have Had Enough Coalition commented, “Here again we have a government entity in Greenville that has found a way to get around a law. Our school district found a loophole in the law to build schools with money, which it did not have and the voters would not approve. That scheme costs the taxpayers over $1 Billion and when you add the interest on the loan, it will probably be close to $2 Billion. Now our Greenville County Council took the judge’s ruling literally and skirted its intent by putting all of the county council members’ pet projects into one line item so that they could “vote” and pass it.” He added, “The fact that our County Council gave money to an organization that continues to promote the boycott of our state is ludicrous! Council should disclose before they vote what’s in the bundle and allow for public input. I am willing to bet if that had been done, some of these pet projects would not have been funded. It does not matter what the dollar amount is, their actions are less than honorable.”

Jim Keasler, a long-time member and former leader of the Greenville County Taxpayer’s Association stated, “We don’t need this kind of pork in our county. There is no way these expenditures can be justified. We need to eliminate these funds and roll them into the general operating budget, where it is much needed. Our Sheriff needs more deputies. Let’s use these funds to help law enforcement.”