HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT

October 26, 2023

I did receive the emails I FOIA’d on 10/2/23 from the Town of Irmo in regards to emails between former Town Administrator Bob Brown and Mayor Barry Walker. The emails date between December 31, 2020 and August 27, 2021.

They are as expected, and typical for Barry Walker’s hostile and unprofessional responses, to Bob Brown as he has with many others, residents, myself, past supporters, and anyone not lock stepped with him and his bullying personality.

I have emailed Dennis Courtney Town Administrator and all of Council, including Mayor Walker, asking questions about the previous investigation and if these emails were requested by the investigator; they were not.

I have asked for the investigation to be re-opened with these emails to be given to the investigator, along with names of former employees, who may have had incidents with Mr. Walker. And that both former Town Administrators Bob Brown and John Hanson both be given waivers so that they could speak freely with investigator about their past experiences with Mr. Walker.

Since this is a Council decision, and not an Administrator decision he has emailed me and said that he is not re-opening the investigation, but that it is up to Council.

I have since emailed all of Council including Mayor Walker to request those emails, read them, and decide if they believe there is more to Mr. Brown’s allegations of a hostile work environment and to reopen the investigation.

I am waiting for their response. I do not anticipate one before the election and due to the fact that they do not meet again before the election, but am hopeful that this can be looked at after the election and before the end of the year.

I will be posting the emails, as I get them scanned and available to post, either at my Hardy King facebook page and/or Citizens of Irmo and Surrounding Area facebook page so that you can read his treatment of an individual and an employee for the Town of Irmo.

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Well, it must be Election time here in Irmo again.

October 15, 2025

Yes, I got a campaign brochure in my newspaper box the other day, I guess there is a good reason to keep those things. And thank you Councilwoman Barbara Waldman for it — you have my vote. Some things have changed and some things stay the same. Years ago, when you first ran, and being a neighbor of an individual who I assumed talked to you into running for his benefit, I did not vote for you. But over the years of your service, especially after seeing you stand up to the “bully” attempting to pressure you into seconding some ridiculous item he had on the agenda — and you refused — my opinion of you changed. Since your election, and seeing you do what you truly believe is in Irmo’s best interest, you have gained my trust and therefore my vote. I won’t spend much time commenting on the other candidates — that will be their job to introduce themselves and attempt to convince you to vote for them. But I will mention two of them. One, Gabriel Penfield , who has my other vote, has worked hard during his years of service to the town — improving and making better the things that he could. He is a great council member, has a good heart, and is there to make Irmo better. I will write more about him later. The other candidate, whom I will also write more about later (not too positively, however), is the one I wrote about before — being deceitful about where he lived and not residing at the address he listed on his candidate form. If you remember, he claimed to live in a house in Rose Oak that he hadn’t lived in for a couple of years, and at that time was actually living outside the town of Irmo. Anyway you look at it, it was not honest — it was deceitful. And even if someone who evidently doesn’t know the difference between dishonesty and being truthful tried to claim it was a “minor clerical error,” we all know better. We aren’t ignorant as he believes we are — that’s why he was a one and done. We’ve got two great candidates who have proven they put Irmo first. I urge you to vote to reelect Councilwoman Barbara Waldman and Councilman Gabriel Penfield. Thank you for your consideration. — Hardy King

American Virtues – 2025 Commencement Address

September 23, 2025

The following is adapted from a speech delivered on May 10, 2025, at Hillsdale College’s 173rd Commencement Ceremony.

The Significance of the Recently Released Russia Hoax Documents

September 23, 2025

Within hours of her 2016 presidential campaign loss, a devastated Hillary Clinton attributed her defeat not to the American voters who rejected her, but to Russia, echoing a campaign theme she had been developing for months. “Hillary declined to take responsibility for her own loss” and “kept pointing her finger” at Russia, according to Shattered, a 2017 book about her campaign—“Her team coalesced around the idea that Russian hacking was the major unreported story of the campaign.”