SPA Rejects Lobby Plan

By Peter Hull, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

Jan. 5–The State Ports Authority has ditched a plan to use two outside lobbyists to promote its effort to build a shipping terminal in Jasper County.

On Thursday, the ports authority said it changed course.

“We decided to bring on some outside help to counteract a very well-funded propaganda crusade being waged by SSA,” said Columbia real estate developer Bill Stern, chairman of the SPA, referring to SSA Marine, a Seattle-based shipping company that has been aligned with Jasper County in the effort to construct and operate the terminal on an 1,800-acre site on the Savannah River. “But over the past several weeks … we’ve seen an unprecedented level of support.”

SPA spokesman Byron Miller said the two lobbyists were retained in August to push the agency’s position on the project, not to seek any state funding for the proposed expansion.

Stern said he and other port officials changed their minds after hearing some “philosophical concerns” about state agencies using tax dollars to hire outside lobbyists.

“Given the support that has been expressed to me directly in recent days, the need for contract lobbyists has been mitigated,” he said.

State Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, who is opposed to state agencies using outside lobbyists, blasted the SPA’s original lobbying proposal. He requested that the agency reconsider the move in a letter last month to Gov. Mark Sanford. Merrill said Thursday that he appreciated Stern’s willingness to rethink the decision.

“I think (Stern) understands that in the final analysis he may have done more harm than good,” Merrill said. “The fact is, a majority of the leadership in the General Assembly has expressed sympathy for (the SPA’s) position.”

The SPA and Jasper County officials have been battling each other in court over which has the right to develop the property into a new container terminal.

Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled that while the county can build its own port on the property, the SPA has more power to seize land for public purposes.

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