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State Senate candidate debate: Davis slams Ceips over port nominee delay

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Against the Wild West backdrop of Montana's Grizzly Bar in Bluffton, state Sen. Catherine Ceips and her challenger got into a shootout over whether she has delayed a local developer's appointment to the state Ports Authority for political reasons.

Tom Davis, Gov. Mark Sanford's former chief of staff, is challenging Ceips for her Senate seat representing Beaufort County.

The ports appointee, Bluffton's Doug Robertson, was at Friday's debate and said he'd been told the rationale for his stalled nomination was a $3,500 donation he made to the group ReformSC, a political organization that has backed the governor and opposed Ceips in the past. The group seeks to reform state government by unseating entrenched politicians.

Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, a vocal Sanford critic, has taken responsibility for the hold-up of Robertson's nomination, arguing that the Senate should not be rubber-stamping nominees associated with ReformSC.

Robertson's nomination was unanimously approved by a Senate committee before being held up by the full Senate in a closed-door session. Historically, appointees have sailed through Senate confirmations with the support of their local senators.

At the debate, Davis said Ceips has a history of shying away from tough fights on local issues of importance, like the ports confirmation, and instead spends her time on what he called "glitzy" goals, like a resolution condemning the country group the Dixie Chicks.

He said the county stands to benefit from having Robertson confirmed as plans to build the Jasper Port with Georgia take shape.

After the debate, Ceips said she's worked to get Robertson approved by the Senate's Transportation Committee. During the full Senate's closed-door consideration, she said she vouched for Robertson, saying, "I've known him for a long time and he's very qualified."

Davis -- who has served on the ports board -- was asked whether Ceips was working against the Robertson confirmation. He said, "There's absolutely no question" she's working against it.

Ceips maintained that another senator was slowing down the nomination and said Davis was wrong to politicize the issue.

Bluffton Rep. Bill Herbkersman, who's following the confirmation, said regardless of who is responsible for Robertson's stalled nomination, Ceips should be fighting tooth and nail to get Robertson on the ports board.

"Personally, I wouldn't let a legislator from another area put the block on (a local nominee)," he said.

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