South Carolina government corruption
From Sunshine Review
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| Report It • | The Good • | The Bad • | The Ugly | |
South Carolina divided over taxpayer-funded lobbying for in-state universities
Many of the public universities in South Carolina use tax dollars to employ lobbyists. The expense for these lobbyists is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The College of Charleston, for instance, employs two lobbyists; with salaries of $81,600 and $85,000 respectively. Other universities that employ highly-paid lobbyists include Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, and The Medical University of South Carolina [1].
Private emails could be fair game for FOIAs in South Carolina
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford unintentionally created a new public record by conducting state business from a private email account.
"Private email accounts routinely used to conduct public business can create a FOIA situation," said an open records attorney.
Governor Mark Sanford set a new precedent for the disclosure of personal emails, amounting to just under 200 of the 3,000 emails his office released last week.
Rec Commission Continues to Evade Public Disclosure
"One of the issues the Richland County Recreation Commission board has been talking about behind closed doors, and refusing to identify before doing so, apparently has come to light — the retirement of commission director Lewis Leopard.
No less, the commission, a special-purpose district critics assail as an unaccountable fiefdom, is being tight lipped about Leopard’s retirement package, too.
As reported exclusively in Free Times on April 1, the commission board is engaged in a practice that appears to violate the S.C. Freedom of Information Act."
FOI case in Anderson moves forward
"An attorney for Anderson County is seeking to have a lawsuit thrown out that contends the county did not follow the state’s Freedom of Information Act rules.
Attorney Kurt Gibson filed paperwork Monday asking that the lawsuit contending that Council Chairman Eddie Moore did not follow FOIA guidelines be dismissed."
Bluffton holds second closed session
"The Bluffton Town Council met again Tuesday in a closed-door session that was described only vaguely, despite a requirement in the state's Freedom of Information Act that public bodies announce the specific reasons for secret meetings.
The meeting came a week after the council held a similar closed-door session without announcing the specific reason.
The FOIA states that a public body must say specifically why it is going into executive session before doing so. Opinions from the state attorney general's office underscore that requirement.The opinions, issued in 1988 and 2004, were provided by the attorney general's office last week."
Public bodies cannot act outside of the law
"A representative democracy cannot function in secret.
The state Freedom of Information Act specifically forbids secrecy, and outlines a number of ways that the public's right to know supersedes a government body's desire for secrecy.
Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka and the Town Council need to study the Freedom of Information Act. Bluffton needs to hire a town attorney who knows the law and appreciates how important it is for public officials to obey the law. Town attorney Terry Finger gave the Bluffton Town Council bad advice Tuesday when he told the council it could thumb its nose at the Freedom of Information Act."
Businessman adds lawsuit against Anderson County
"Another lawsuit against Anderson County was filed Monday afternoon.
The suit, filed in Anderson Circuit Court, claims that Council Chairman Eddie Moore, in his official capacity, refused to follow the Freedom of Information Act and missed a 15-day deadline on a request for public information.
It could not be determined at press time how many lawsuits are now pending against the county, but at least a half-dozen have been filed since the new council took office in January."
SC Audits and information
"School districts shouldn't have to pay for additional audits when a more open spending process would produce the necessary result.
State Rep. Joey Millwood has introduced a bill that would force school districts to pay the Legislative Audit Council to study their spending. He wants the council to audit 20 percent of the state's school districts each year.
Millwood's bill is a response to the news of spending at Spartanburg County School District 7, where parents and taxpayers were distressed to learn that the district had made an agreement to pay $325,000 to the Country Club of Spartanburg so district golf teams could play there."
Scott’s suit against SJS dismissed
"A judge has dismissed a lawsuit by former state Sen. Randy Scott that sought to block the Summerville Journal Scene from obtaining tapes of closed hearings held last May during Scott’s DUI trial.
Despite the dismissal, however, the Journal Scene still has not obtained the audio recordings."
Will the S.C. House protect integrity of election process?
"The results of the Minnesota Senate recount are still in doubt two months after the election because of questionable decisions being made by the Minnesota Canvassing Board. But South Carolinians need not look beyond their borders for such political high drama.
The Palmetto State boasts its own electoral soap opera, complete with inaccurate voter registrations and a state election commission that refuses to enforce the law."
City Council discusses Willowbank condo lawsuit
"Just a bare quorum of Georgetown City Council met in a special meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss one of several lawsuits. The specific case being discussed was the Willowbank condos lawsuit.
Another series of issues with Thursday's meeting had to do with apparent violations of the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Executive sessions are permitted for the purpose of receiving legal advice. However, an executive session has to come after a formal opening of a meeting of a governing body, such as a City Council. Members must vote in public to go into executive session, and when that session is concluded the Council members must return to a public session and specifically state that no votes or actions were taken while in executive session.
None of that happened Thursday afternoon."
Sheriff to stop limiting records access
"The Beaufort County sheriff says he'll give the media reasonable access to crime reports on weekends and holidays after the South Carolina Attorney General's office said limiting access to weekdays violated the state's open records law.
The Island Packet of Hilton Head and The Beaufort Gazette had objected to a new policy Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner adopted in November that blocked the media from looking at reports on weekends and holidays when administrative office are closed. Reports are processed by administrative staff who work Monday through Friday, Tanner said."
Where did the money go?
"County treasurer reported that nearly a million dollars has been spent from the landfill fund, but neither Brown nor Pasley has provided any information on where this money has gone.
Williamsburg County Supervisor Stanley Pasley told The Weekly Observer on Dec. 10, that he believed in open government, and the rest of the requested records would be provided shortly, however, as of deadline day, Friday, Dec. 19, none have been received from the county supervisor’s office or the county treasurer, though they are nearly a month past due."
Exclusive: As Gaston leaders prospered, town suffered
"For years, as the town sank deep into debt, Gaston officials and some relatives got jobs, bonuses, cell phones, meals and mileage reimbursements on the public’s dime.
The former police chief, who questioned how tens of thousands of dollars in traffic tickets were handled, found himself locked out of the offices of the town administrator and mayor.
Town Council members — who say they were unaware of any problems — failed to act or adopt formal, written rules of good government."
School data charges vary widely among districts, panel finds
"Identical public records requests sent to every state school district resulted in huge disparities in cost estimates for the information, the South Carolina Policy Council says.
Florence District 5’s estimated charge for the records was $464. Greenville County Schools’ estimate was $35,000.
“The public has a right to this information,” said Bryan Cox, a spokesman for the Policy Council, a Columbia research organization.
“It is public record, and it is supposed to be provided to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. But what we have in practice is exorbitantly high fees, which make it nearly impossible for the average citizen to see how school districts are spending public money.”"
Pasley balks on Freedom of Information requests
"Williamsburg County Supervisor Stanley Pasley has not responded within the prescribed fifteen-day deadline to Freedom of Information requests.
The Weekly Observer has filed requests concerning landfill finances with County Treasurer Pearl Brown, who has provided a portion of the requests, but stated to the Observer that the part of the request had been turned over to Pasley, because only he could provide the information. The records sought are all specifically identified in state law as public records."
Sheriff seeking legal opinion on release of crime reports
"Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said he has asked the S.C. Attorney General for a legal opinion he hopes will put an end to a dispute between his office and The Beaufort Gazette and The Island Packet.
Tanner said he sent a letter Monday asking S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster if he believes South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act allows the Sheriff's Office to deny public access to incident reports on weekends and holidays."
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office withholds crime reports
"Incident reports -- summaries of criminal activity that occurs in Beaufort County --are being withheld from public review under a new Sheriff's Office policy that is being inconsistently applied.
Crime reports were not accessible Thursday or Friday at the Hilton Head Island substation and will not be available today or Sunday, according to a Sheriff's Office policy put in place Nov. 3. The new policy states that "incident reports will be available for review during normal office hours" -- 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday."
Police might be violating open record laws
"Charleston police are violating the state's open record laws by withholding key information about crime victims, witnesses and events from incident reports released to the public, one of the state's foremost experts on sunshine laws said.
After years of releasing crime reports in their entirety, Charleston police recently began blacking out names, addresses, phone numbers and other important details from the documents, claiming the information falls within privacy provisions of the state Freedom of Information Act.
"That's nonsense," South Carolina Press Association attorney Jay Bender said. "There is no justification for that. Once it goes in the public record, there is no privacy aspect to it.""
DHEC keeping secrets
"Locked in a government storage room are files that tell the story of a leaking nuclear waste landfill near Barnwell.
But when environmental lawyer Bob Guild asked to see the documents one day five years ago, state regulators only gave him a thin folder.
Landfill operator Chem-Nuclear had persuaded regulators to withhold many of the files, arguing the information included trade secrets. Without the records, Guild lost a court case that could have forced tougher disposal practices at the 37-year-old landfill."
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