Van Winkle ends campaign, endorses McBride for Myrtle Beach mayor

A candidate for Myrtle Beach mayor dropped out of the race and endorsed another candidate.

Monday Keith Van Winkle announced he has withdrawn his name as a candidate for mayor.

Van Winkle made the announcement at a press conference at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

The candidates running for Myrtle Beach mayor now include incumbent John Rhodes, and candidates Bill Howard, Mark McBride, Beatrice Catalano and Matthew McCarty.

Van Winkle said he is endorsing a man he said will help take back Myrtle Beach for all the people. “So my campaign ends today, but my campaigning to re-elect Mayor Mark McBride begins today, yes, Mark McBride for mayor of Myrtle Beach.” Van Winkle said he withdrew from the mayor's race because he said he's been let down by the current administration and most of his disappointment centers around what he said is a lack of transparency and honesty from Mayor John Rhodes.

Rhodes said with televised council meetings and online access to the city's finances, the city and its business are very transparent.

Van Winkle said he decided to run for mayor because he said he had a desire to put an end to what he said is four years of nonsense under the leadership of Mayor Rhodes. "I've been around politics long enough to know that often the more people who run, the better it is for the incumbent and I want to say this is one incumbent that just has to go.”

Van Winkle said he is concerned over what he said are legal challenges that Rhodes is facing. ”South Carolina law requires that anyone who is associated with an organization that receives government money and contracts has to report this yearly.”

Van Winkle said Rhodes has not provided all of the contents of statement of economic interests to the state ethics commission for several years, when it comes to the annual Beach Ball Classic. Van Winkle also said Rhodes has legal challenges because he failed to disclose compensation paid by the Beach Ball Classic for several years.

Rhodes, who provided News13 with a copy of the 2009 statement of economic interest that shows how the money for the Beach Ball Classic was used the previous year said, "I have always filed the ethics report and filed it properly."

Van Winkle also said he is concerned because in the 2009-2010 Myrtle Beach budget, city council, including Rhodes voted unanimously to give Rhodes $50,000 for the Beach Ball Classic.

City spokesman Mark Kruea sent a copy of the minutes of the city council meeting on February 24, 2009 to News13. The minutes state that Rhodes recused himself from the vote on a motion to appropriate $50,000 for the Beach Ball Classic. Kruea also said that the vote was not on the city’s budget for the fiscal year 2009-2010; instead the appropriation was made during the fiscal year 2008-2009.

Rhodes said the money is grant money from the city. And as for Van Winkle’s claim that he voted to give the classic the money, Rhodes said, "When any vote is taken on anything that has to do with the Beach Ball Classic, then I recuse myself from that and I’ve done it every time so there's no problem there."

Van Winkle said he thinks it’s important for people to know about what he said are legal challenges because transparency and honesty go hand in hand in government and right now the mayor's office doesn't have either.

Rhodes said since there are seven votes required to make anything happen on city council, he doesn’t' have the power to make decisions on his own. Rhodes also said he expects the mayor's race will be close and he's not taking anything for granted.