Incumbents, others missing as Myrtle Beach races heat up with first public debate

Only two Myrtle Beach mayoral candidates showed up to the first public debate of the race as they compete to unseat incumbent John Rhodes on Nov. 7.

Brenda Bethune and Ed Carey debated each other at the Myrtle Beach Recreation Center on Sunday afternoon, with Rhodes, Mark McBride and C.D. Rozsa missing from action.

“As far as I can tell, the incumbents are not going to show up,” Randle Stevens, chairman on the South Strand Republic Club that hosted the event, said. “Why, for sure, I don’t know, but in my opinion it’s political suicide not to face your voters.”

Stevens said that McBride cited “religious reasons” for not attending.

Rozsa posted on his professional Facebook page that he was not in attendance due to a family emergency.

“The city, residents and businesses are important to me,” Rozsa said in the post. “But family comes first.”

Bethune and Carey tackled subjects that have been at the forefront of the race so far including public safety, transparency in the government, the proposed children’s museum and library as well as bringing jobs and businesses into the area.

When asked what the key issues are in the City of Myrtle Beach, Bethune said, “When I think about the City of Myrtle Beach I don’t just look at our own borders. What happens in Myrtle Beach affects our entire state. We didn’t just wake up in 2017 and realize that we had challenges that need to be addressed. We are not a family-friendly beach anymore and we need to change our brand image.”

Bethune hopes to “think outside of the box” and look toward cities with similar issues to see how they worked to solve their problems.

When asked the same question, Carey said, “What I’ve seen over the past 11 years as a resident is a process that is not open to economic development. Our system’s broke. We need to look out of the box and open it to everyone. Our government is here for two reasons and that’s public safety and property rights, and we’ve failed those both.”

Ann A. Dunham, Matthew Hardee, Mike Hobeika, Brooks Myers, Gregg Smith, Keith VanWinkle and Jackie Vereen – who are running for seats on City Council – also debated Sunday. Incumbents Randal Wallace and Mike Lowder were not in attendance.

“Myrtle Beach has always been a family-friendly beach for years, and it didn’t start changing until the late 80s, early 90s,” Stevens said. “And it’s gone slowly downhill since then. I’m hoping that whoever gets in office will look after the whole of the town and solve the problems.”

Other debates will be hosted before election day.

The Myrtle Beach NAACP, along with the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, is hosting a debate for city council candidates on Oct. 18 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Myrtle Beach Train Depot.

Mayoral candidates will debate on Oct. 26 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Myrtle Beach Train Depot.

WMBF News is hosting a mayoral candidate debate on Oct. 24 from 7 to 8 p.m. It will be featured on NBC, on WMBF’s website, Facebook and mobile apps.

Our Grand Strand news alliance partner WPDE will also be hosting a mayoral candidate debate on Oct. 30 from 7 to 8 p.m.

This story was originally published October 15, 2017 at 7:35 PM with the headline "Incumbents, others missing as Myrtle Beach races heat up with first public debate."