Sun News Endorses Bill McKown
Incumbent District 28 Sen. Dick Elliott, a Democrat, faces a stiff re-election challenge from Republican Bill McKown, a former Surfside Beach Town Council member, state Aeronautics Commission member and Horry County Airport Advisory Committee member. Some regard McKown, a businessman who established residence in the North Strand-based district to seek Elliott’s Senate seat, as an interloper. Some, us included, worry that McKown is too brash to be successful in the S.C. Senate, where 19th century manners and customs still matter.
But we’re still recommending McKown for election over Elliott on Nov. 4 because he’s more clearly in tune with the needs of the district and has the skills to pursue them. Whether the subject is a new governance system for the dysfunctional District 28 town of Atlantic Beach, the determination to see Interstates 73 and 74 through to construction, the governance of Myrtle Beach International Airport or aggressive cutting of the state’s budget while protecting programs vital to the district, McKown would make the better senator. If he can learn to adjust his Type A personality to the measured pace of Senate work, he could quickly become effective.
Don’t take our word for it.
These recommendations, in the end, are merely the opinions of The Sun News editorial board. Civics is hard work. Readers should review the candidates’ qualifications and make up their own minds about which ones to support. If the newspaper’s thinking is useful to voters, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine too.
In that spirit, we have videotaped the candidate interviews on which our recommendations, in part, are based. Readers who want to research the candidates further can find the videos at
MyrtleBeachOnline.com/opinion.