SC

High-Profile Firings At SC Ports Agency

MORE TURMOIL FOR PALMETTO PORTS … Three veteran employees of the S.C. State Ports Authority (SCSPA) were abruptly terminated from their positions on Friday, sources close to the agency tell us.  In fact they were reportedly removed from their offices by armed guards of the quasi-state agency’s police force. Steve Connor,…

MORE TURMOIL FOR PALMETTO PORTS …

Three veteran employees of the S.C. State Ports Authority (SCSPA) were abruptly terminated from their positions on Friday, sources close to the agency tell us.  In fact they were reportedly removed from their offices by armed guards of the quasi-state agency’s police force.

Steve Connor, the port’s former vice president of security; Rodger Chishek, the chief of port police; and one other employee – a former information technology specialist whose name we are working to confirm – were “terminated last Friday, March 4th, complete with police escorts,” according to one of our sources.

Each of the employees had been with the agency for more than a decade.

SCSPA officials refused to comment on what led to the terminations, merely confirming that the three employees had “left the port.”

Port watchers were incredulous …

“Why the sudden change?” one source asked.  “What would lead to three high ranking employees of a quasi-state enterprise agency’s police force, one of those forces that keeps our ports safe from dirty and/or nuclear bombs, to be terminated, after hours, on a Friday evening, with a police escort?”

Good question …

Perhaps we should ask U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who three years ago warned that the Port of Charleston would be the site of a nuclear holocaust in the event American troops did not invade Syria.

Anyway …

It’s been a terrible year for the SCSPA, which has seen its budget practices come under scrutiny in the wake of worsening performance data.  Of course that’s not all SCSPA’s fault – it’s hard to stay competitive when your own state’s governor is working to help your competitors (ahem, Nikki Haley).

Things have gotten so bad at SCSPA that some mainstream media outlets in the Palmetto State are finally starting to pick up our narrative of the port’s precarious positioning – including some of the questionable expenses and dubious long-term plans we’ve brought to light in the past.

We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: State government should not be in the business of running a port.  We have no problem with taxpayers owning port infrastructure, but it’s abundantly clear at this point the government-run model of port management is a spectacular failure.

UPDATE: Some early details on the firings, which one source close to the port claims were “justified.”

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16 comments

Pogo March 9, 2016 at 8:45 am

Do any of the jobs require actual work? If the answer is no then where do I apply?

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jimlewisowb March 9, 2016 at 9:23 am

Rather ironic that a State with an advantageous natural resource such as the Port of Charleston is governed by a species of mammal which if it had four legs rather than two would have been eaten by its parents at birth

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otis March 9, 2016 at 12:06 pm

True!

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erneba March 9, 2016 at 10:22 am

They were just recruiting new talent to run SCDJJ.

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shifty henry March 9, 2016 at 10:34 am

See the 1955 film “Betrayed Women” to see how a prison could be managed — starring my currently new favorite actress Beverly Michaels// on youtube and is sorta’ like a female version of ‘Cool Hand Luke’ …..

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erneba March 9, 2016 at 10:48 am

I’ll have to check that one out.

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shifty henry March 9, 2016 at 10:57 am

Beverly Michaels has several movies on YouTube. I don’t have any favorite of hers // Pickup (1951) — Wicked Woman (1953) are a couple I like. She is an odd sort of gal but something about her appeals to me. You can read about her on Wikipedia. For some unknown reason she likes to get physical in her movies.

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erneba March 9, 2016 at 11:14 am

I checked out wicked woman. You expect to see Sargent Friday and Gannon walking up the stairs.

The Colonel (R) March 9, 2016 at 10:35 am

Okay Will, you’ve sort of titillated us with the innuendo – so why were they fired?

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Rocky Verdad March 9, 2016 at 11:16 am

Was determined that after Trump wins the election and trade tanks they’re positions would be redundant.

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otis March 9, 2016 at 10:41 am

Is this tied to drug trafficking?

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Bogart March 9, 2016 at 10:51 am

This is typical of Ohaley and her Gestapo style tactics. She will remove competent, good employees and replace them with cronies, who cannot find their way out of a open ended box!
Haley and her Gestapo love to remove people and do so in this manner! Employees of the Budget and Control Board were handled in the same manner.
Ohaley wants total control of all agencies and monies and removes people from the agencies and programs, replaces them with people of no knowledge, experience, only to create political “yes people” , who will do any and everything she wants, right, wrong, or indifferent.
There was one program recognized by numerous beneficiaries and agencies of the State, other States and Nationally, as exceptional, written as a “Program to follow”, bu others. Ohaley destroyed the program, removed the employees and then moved it to a place she controlled, under her sycophants, it has not been recognized for exceptionalism since!
Just another of the many Ohaley failures!

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Halfvast Conspirator March 9, 2016 at 1:35 pm

I hope this didn’t happen at the Hugh Leatherman Memorial Pork, er, Port Terminal. That would be a besmirch on his good name.

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True American March 9, 2016 at 7:41 pm

SCSPA: South Carolina State Penal Authority- definition: after a combined 70 years of service above and beyond the 9-5, all nighters, answered call while on vacation, lost family time, the Port has found a bullshit lie to let go some of the best, hardest devoted employees! You know who you are sister and you are the devil reincarnated!

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David A. Carroll March 11, 2016 at 9:07 am

There’s no “Haley crony” BS going on here! These people likely were fired for not doing their jobs. The Director probably had inadequate security measures in place, the Chief likely couldn’t investigate lunch money theft and the IT worker probably maintained a trove of useless data that couldn’t be used to pinpoint the driver when in fact it should have pointed directly at him/her! Not everything in Princess Haley’s Guvmint is a conspiracy. Most things maybe, but not everything.

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