Life is tough in Orangeburg County, South Carolina. Median household income is an anemic $34,218. The county’s unemployment rate shot up to nine percent in August. Academic outcomes at the local government-run schools are atrocious.
Oh, and then there’s this …
The numbers (for all of the above) are even worse if you’re black …
Of course life is good for state representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a former Democratic majority leader who has represented S.C. House District 66 (map) in the state legislature since January of 1992.
As vice chair of the influential S.C. House ways and means committee, Cobb-Hunter wields tremendous influence over the state budget – and isn’t afraid to use that influence to her direct benefit.
Anyway, we were tooling around in Google Maps this weekend when we decided to check out the home addresses of a few sitting state lawmakers. We thought it might be instructive to see how our state’s leaders live (ahem) compared to those they are supposed to be serving.
Here’s what we found when we checked out Cobb-Hunter’s home address …
(Click to view)
(Via: Google Maps)
Yeah … nice digs, huh?
And no, your eyes do not deceive you. There are in fact three ponds on Cobb-Hunter’s property bearing the initials “G-C-H” – with a fourth pond under construction on the property bearing the letter “T” (presumably in honor of Cobb-Hunter’s husband, Terry Hunter).
Readers of this news site may remember Hunter – an artist – as being the recipient of $4,500 worth of campaign cash from his wife’s account for drawings and paintings used by Cobb-Hunter to decorate her office.
That’s nice work … if you can get it …
To be clear: We don’t begrudge state lawmakers for having big bank accounts, nice houses and fancy cars (or in Cobb-Hunter’s case, ponds on their properties cut out in the shape of their initials). If these elected officials have worked hard and achieved excellence in their field of endeavor, then they should buy whatever makes them happy.
More power to them …
All we ask is that taxpayers not be put on the hook (directly or indirectly) for their lavish lifestyles.
Anyway, stay tuned … we’ve got addresses for 169 other state lawmakers we look forward to scoping out in the weeks and months to come. And of course we welcome any suggestions from our readers as to properties that warrant our consideration.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our stories? Please feel free to submit your own guest column or letter to the editor via-email HERE. Got a tip for us? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question? CLICK HERE. Want to support what we’re doing? SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Banner via Travis Bell Photography