Strand secures seat of power with Hardwick
Nelson Hardwick's new position leading a key House committee gives him direct control over issues important to Horry and Georgetown counties, such as environmental laws governing beachfront and marshland development, fishing, hunting and agriculture.
A civil engineer in private practice who has worked with environmental regulations for years, Hardwick is well acquainted with such rules and how they affect development.
But equally important to Horry County and its interests is that the committee post puts him in the House leadership that decides what bills will advance and how they will be shaped.
Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach, has aspired to the job since he was elected six years ago. But he agreed the chairmanship of theAgriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee is also significant because of the additional power it gives him.
"It's all in the numbers," he said.
Hardwick and the other five resident Horry County representatives are only six of 124 members, so their clout is not proportional to the importance of Horry County to the state's economic engine and it's hard to persuade other members of the area's needs, he said.
"Now, I'm one of the six guys that all the legislation in the state of South Carolina goes through," Hardwick said. "It is powerful, and I say that very humbly."
It's a lot easier to sway the five other folks who lead the other committees that deal with legislation during those weekly meetings to set the action agenda, he said.
In the upcoming session, he will be able to be a voice for Horry County and the coast when legislation is discussed in those meetings, a voice that has not been heard in some time.
"It's a big deal," said former state Rep. Tom Keegan, who is now a district aide to U.S. Rep. Henry Brown. Hardwick was elected to District 106 in 2004 after Keegan decided not to run again.
"It's a huge plus for the Grand Strand and the coastal counties," because of the coastal and environmental issues that come through the committee, Keegan said.
Further, "it's a huge personal honor for Nelson and it shows his ability to network," as well as that "he is effective and very popular" with the committee members, Keegan said.
Hardwick's election came Thursday at the end of a two-day House organizing session in which officers were elected and committees appointed. The speaker appoints members to committees, but the panels elect their leaders.
Hardwick wanted the job two years ago but was beaten by Jeff Duncan. Duncan, of Clinton, did not seek re-election to the state House, instead running for the U.S. House 3rd District, a seat he won. The vacancy left a path open for Hardwick to try again.
His victory also gives coastal residents a voice in the House leadership that has been missing since former Rep. Billy Witherspoon of Conway retired in 2008. Witherspoon was also chairman of the Ag Committee. Three of the other committee chairmen are from the Upstate, and two from the Midlands.
"I just felt like we really needed to get somebody from along the coast," Hardwick said.
He said other members often don't know what he is talking about when it comes to coastal issues such as tourism impacts or beach renourishment, and many seem to think Horry County's people are wealthy so they don't care what its residents want.
Most of Horry County's businesses are small business, and its workers are minimum wage earners, and that's what he intends to keep in mind when reviewing legislation and how it might affect people, he said.
His views on environmental rules lean toward private property rights and common sense solutions, Hardwick said. He also believes the rivers and beaches should be kept clean because they are part of the quality of life that residents enjoy.
One thing that could come through his committee is a revision to the Beachfront Management Act. Recommendations for revisions several years ago went nowhere because they were too far-reaching, Hardwick said.
The committee that studied the existing law and suggested changes had no beachfront business owners or homeowners on it, and the retreat from the shoreline the panel proposed was too stringent, Hardwick said.
A new committee is studying the issue again, and it has a makeup more to his liking. One member is Rep. Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach.
"We need to have a retreatment policy," but it should be to put money in the bank and buy the property if the owners want to give it up after a hurricane, he said.
He also thinks the rules should allow temporary swimming pool enclosures like those many Myrtle Beach area hotels have, but the owners have been ordered to remove them because they are illegal.
Despite his approach to environmental rules, conservationists are hopeful that Hardwick's leadership will be helpful to their cause.
Waccamaw Riverkeeper Christine Ellis said because Hardwick is a Conway native, he likely has an appreciation of the Waccamaw and other rivers. She said he has an "improving record" on environmental issues and received a score of 80 from the League of Conservation Voters last year.
"I'm optimistic that we can count on his support for conservation issues and environmental protections as chair of the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee," Ellis said.
Nancy Cave, director of the north coastal office of the Coastal Conservation League, was also optimistic.
"I congratulate Rep. Hardwick and I hope he will treat all persons coming before his committee fairly and with the willingness to hear all sides of an issue, putting the best interests of both citizens and the environment first before politics," she said.
This story was originally published November 21, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Strand secures seat of power with Hardwick."