Scandal or sour grapes? Myrtle Beach chamber interfering in elections, ex-candidate says

David Weissman
·2 min read

A former candidate for a state House seat is accusing the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce of illicitly using taxpayer money to meddle in local elections.

The allegations are included within a lawsuit filed by Lake Agency SC, LLC, which is a chamber member. The chamber illegal actions are making the Surfside Beach insurance agency and other members potentially liable, the complaint states.

Brian Sweeney, who ran as Republican in 2022 for the District 106 seat, operates Lake Agency SC, LLC, though the lawsuit doesn’t specifically reference his or any other particular race that the chamber improperly influenced.

Neither Sweeney nor his attorney responded to multiple requests for comment. The chamber doesn’t comment on pending litigation, according to President and CEO Karen Riordan.

The Myrtle Beach chamber receives public money through the Tourism Development Fund, a 1% sales and use tax, and Accommodations Tax Revenue, the complaint notes, with most of that money required to go toward marketing the city to potential tourists.

But the chamber is funneling some of that money to support preferred candidates through a scheme that includes awarding overinflated contracts to companies set up by former employees and directing those entities to contribute to certain campaigns, Sweeney alleges.

The scheme also involves supporting certain “spoiler” candidates as a way to split the vote of opposition candidates or discourage legitimate candidates from running, the lawsuit states.

The complaint doesn’t offer any specific proof to support the allegations.

Sweeney lost the District 106 Republican nomination in run-off to Thomas “Val” Guest, an attorney who went on to win the general election for the seat previously held by Russell Fry.

Candidate Val Guest and his wife, Jeanne, left. Candidate Brian Sweeney and his wife, Marilyn, right.
Candidate Val Guest and his wife, Jeanne, left. Candidate Brian Sweeney and his wife, Marilyn, right.

Guest did not respond to a request for comment about Sweeney’s accusations.

Guest did raise $27,000 more than Sweeney, and much of those donations came from local business leaders, including those serving on the chamber’s board of directors, The Sun News previously reported.

The Myrtle Beach chamber was previously intertwined in a campaign finance scandal in 2009 when 14 corporations with ties to the chamber were used to give cashier’s checks totaling $183,000 to several local political candidates, previous Sun News reporting shows.

The checks drew the attention of the FBI and Internal Revenue System, though no criminal charges were ever filed.

Robert “Shep” Guyton, a former chairman of the chamber, later admitted to unintentionally violating the state’s Ethics Act in relation to those contributions, The Sun News previously reported. Guyton was reprimanded and fined by the S.C. Supreme Court.