Friday, November 11, 2022

I.G. Report - Holmes' name - how many times???

Do you know how many times Teresa Holmes' name appears in the Report from the South Carolina Inspector General?

92!

That's ninety-two. NINETY-TWO times.

Go to the Report at 

https://oig.sc.gov/sites/oig/files/Documents/Reports/2022/Inspector_General's_Investigation_of_Richland_School_District_Two.pdf

Press (Control + F) for "Find" and enter Holmes in the Search window.

Her name is in the Report 92 times!

Teresa Holmes' last threat?

I have lost track of the number of times that Teresa Holmes has threatened to sic her lawyer on me. I think she never went to a lawyer. If she had done so, she would have been told that she didn't have a leg to stand on.

Now read this message from the soon-to-be former person who was allowed to sit on the Richland 2 school board during the 2018-2022 term-of-office. At 7:42PM on November 9th Teresa dispatched this missile (err, missive) to me:

"Slander may cost you now Mr. Philpot.  I suggest you watch what you say."

Does that sound like a threat to you? I do know that I'll keep at least four feet between us, if she is wearing all those heavy metal rings on her fingers.

Should I hot-foot it to the sheriff's department and have her arrested? What prompted this?

On Wednesday I emailed a number of people at Richland 2 who are in the food chain for FOIA, Open Records laws, preservation of official communications, etc. I wrote:

With the imminent departure of Manning, Holmes, McKie and Caution-Parker from the Richland 2 School Board, will you please make absolutely certain that no official emails are deleted from District-server accounts before or after their departure? When the new school board term starts on November 18, their accounts should be password-locked.

Teresa Holmes used a personal GMail account (docholmesschoolboard2@gmail.com) for official business since her election in 2018. She used that account as if she had been a legitimate Trustee, although she never took the oath-of-office legally. That GMail account should be preserved and under the control of Richland School District Two, to secure your ability to respond to any future FOIA requests made to the District.

Please acknowledge this message and let me know what steps the District will take to preserve its control over these email accounts.

Sincerely,

Gus Philpott

Perhaps there is a lawyer, somewhere on the planet, who can point out to Teresa that nowhere in my message was she "slandered".

My guess? Richland 2 will not demand control over all the official Richland 2 communications in her GMail account. Will that cause a problem in the future for Richland 2?

James Manning replied to my email that Teresa has had a Richland2.org email address "from day one". Oh, really? Why didn't the District publish it, instead of her personal GMail address and require her to use it? Because she is "special"? Privileged? Why? It was available to staff, but not to the general public. 

Why did the District wait until the IG's Report was released to take down her personal email address and publish her District email address?


Ma

R2 Recount - Nov. 11?

A recount of votes in the November 8th Richland 2 school board election is scheduled to start today. Will it? November 11th is a Federal holiday. Will that affect the State of S.C. and the Richland County Elections Commission?

Rumors are flying that a person on the ballot requested the recount, but is that true?

I found this on the popular website called Ballotpedia.

Q. Can a recount be requested?

A.  Recounts may not be requested in this state.

I could not easily find a Statute that pertains to requests for a recount.

I did find this South Carolina law about mandatory recounts. S.C. Code of Laws SECTION 7-17-280. Mandatory recounts.

Whenever the difference between the number of votes received by a candidate who has been declared nominated for an office in a primary election or who has been declared elected to an office in a general election and the number of votes received by any other candidate or candidate not declared so nominated or elected or whenever the difference between the number of votes received by a candidate who received the least number of votes to qualify for a runoff election and a candidate or candidates who did not so qualify shall be not more than one percent of the total votes which were cast for such office therein, the committee or board charged by law with canvassing such votes shall order a recount of such votes to be made forthwith unless such other candidate or candidates shall waive a recount in writing.

Whenever the difference between the number of votes cast in favor of and opposed to any constitutional amendment, question or other issue is not more than one percent of the total cast thereon, the Board of State Canvassers shall order a recount of such votes to be made forthwith.

I added the highlight to make understanding easier. But what is the 1% rule? 

The "1% Rule" is pretty easy to apply if there are only two contenders for a position? But how does it apply in a "Vote for Four" race?

The term-of-office for a new school board begins one week after the election is certified. If the election is certified today (Nov. 11), then the presently-scheduled Special Called Board Meeting on November 18th will hold; otherwise, that Special Called Meeting will have to be re-scheduled, and the swearing-in of the four elected persons will be delayed. Watch www.Richland2.org for the valid date. Check the time, which may have to be clarified.

could delay certification, thus delay installation of new boamembers