Since May 2007 PRESORT STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID CHARLESTON, SC PERMIT NO. 137 POSTAL PATRON
Volume 22 • Issue 6
FREE
March 20, 2026
Rom Reddy Announces Campaign for Governor of South Carolina Launching Immediate Seven Figure Statewide Ad Plan Will Not Take Donations or Endorsements: “this campaign is between me and the voters.” By Reddy for Governor Campaign (Charleston, SC) Rom Reddy, businessman, founder of DOGESC and a seven-figure donor to President Trump, today announced that he is running for Governor of South Carolina, launching an immediate seven figure statewide two week advertising buy. In an unprecedented move, Reddy said he will not accept any campaign donations for the upcoming primaries nor will he seek endorsements. “Self-governance is making your case to the citizen directly and not clouding the issue with special interest money and endorsements,” Reddy said. In explaining his late entry into the race, Reddy added “I have always believed the role of government is to protect and defend our God given rights. Instead, government has taken this power and weaponized it against the citizen. We have the highest income tax rate of any red state, property taxes that are a life sentence and government spending that has doubled in the last decade. However, we are at the bottom in education, roads ,median family income and health care and at the top in crime and the growth of the agency state. In other words, we are a red state run like a blue state. This has to stop.” Reddy is a graduate of the Wharton Business School and has spent his entire career in the private sector starting or turning around businesses primarily in American manufacturing. He plans to spend the next few months touring the state and meeting and talking to everyday citizens. “There are two lanes in this race. In one lane are all the other candidates with over 50 years in government who take money from PAC’s, corporations and special interest but claim they have your back. In the other lane is me, a successful private sector guy who has rejected special interest money and will be a voice for the voiceless,” Reddy added. For more details visit www.reddyforgovernor.com.
A move closer to preserving Captain Sams Spit BY THERESA STRATFORD For The Island Connection
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ould there finally be an answer to the decades-long Captain Sams Spit fiasco? Possibly, as was explained at a community-wide meeting held by the Town of Kiawah Island on March 2. The Town wanted to bring the community together to explain a settlement agreement entered into by the Town, the Kiawah Island Community Association (KICA), the Conservancy of the Sea Islands (formerly the Kiawah Conservancy), Kiawah Partners and the state of South Carolina. Over the past two years, the town has commenced many executive sessions during Town Council meetings to discuss the ongoing litigation surrounding Captain Sams Spit. Finally, the community is getting some answers as to what is going on with this 150-acre isthmus located on the southern tip of Kiawah Island between the Kiawah River and the Atlantic Ocean. At the community-wide meeting, Kiawah Island Mayor Bradley Belt provided an overview of the terms of the agreement and the conditions that must be met before it is implemented. He noted that the terms of the agreement would protect Captain Sams Spit in its natural state in perpetuity and ensure continued public access to Beachwalker Park and the beachfront areas of the Spit. The terms are not yet set in stone because several actions still need to be taken, including approval by the SC State Fiscal Accountability Authority, appropriation of the State’s funding commitment by the General Assembly, court approvals and satisfaction of various closing
conditions. The good news, however, is that the settlement agreement would resolve two separate ongoing lawsuits. One is the lawsuit filed in 2024 by the Town, KICA and the Conservancy against Kiawah Partners. The suit seeks to enforce provisions of the now-expired development agreement between the Town and Kiawah Partners requiring portions of the Spit to be conveyed to KICA and undeveloped areas to be deed-restricted and a conservation easement granted in favor of the Conservancy. The other case is a suit filed by Kiawah Partners in 2009 claiming that the denial of a requested permit to construct an erosion control device along the banks of the Kiawah River constituted an unconstitutional taking of property. Currently completely owned by Kiawah Partners, this settlement would divide the property into three. The highlands parcel will be conveyed by Kiawah Partners to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The Oceanfront parcel will be conveyed by Kiawah Partners to the State of South Carolina. The parcel, which includes Beachwalker Park, will be conveyed by Kiawah Partners to the Town. Before this conveyance by Kiawah Partners, however, they will record a conservation easement in favor of the Conservancy. It prohibits any structures from being built on the Spit and prohibits activities that are inconsistent with the conservation purposes and values of the easement. In addition, the parcel to be conveyed to the Department of (Continued on page 11)