COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A widening investigation into potential Statehouse corruption prompted a screening panel to delay voting Wednesday on whether to advance Gov. Henry McMaster’s picks for the South Carolina Ports Authority board.
The Ports Authority oversight board wants to thoroughly review the two nominees’ associations with veteran political and public relations consultant Richard Quinn, said its chairman, Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Charleston.
The connections appear to be small, but amid the investigation, Grooms said, they “need to be thoroughly vetted so everyone’s comfortable moving forward.”
Last week’s indictment on ethics charges of 33-year-veteran GOP state Sen. John Courson of Columbia accuses the 72-year-old of funneling money through Quinn’s firms. Courson says the allegations are false as does Quinn, who wasn’t charged but whose name appeared in investigative documents.
Courson’s attorney, Rose Mary Parham, accuses the special prosecutor leading the investigation, Democrat Solicitor David Pascoe, of conducting a “political, partisan witch hunt.”
Quinn’s name surfaced again in Ports Authority subpoenas provided to The Associated Press and other media outlets this week.
Signed March 7, they sought records of the agency’s payments to Quinn, his son Rep. Rick Quinn, and their firms and asked ports President Jim Newsome to testify. The data was provided, but the subpoena for Newsome’s testimony was withdrawn, said ports spokeswoman Erin Dhand.
The elder Quinn said Wednesday he’s proud of the work done for the ports.
“We’ve done a lot of really good work,” he said.
That work includes public opinion surveys, advertising and designing print materials, Dhand said.
The legislative panel is considering whether utility executive Kenneth Jackson and Bluffton attorney William Jones are qualified for the ports board. Lawmakers delayed voting on whether to send their nominations to the Senate Transportation Committee, where Grooms said they would face further scrutiny.
A year ago, they wouldn’t have faced questions about their associations, Grooms said.
But amid the wide-ranging investigation that’s already prompted the suspension of Courson and a GOP state House member, “we’re going to take our time,” he said. “I’m concerned with the cloud cast over state government in general because of this.”
McMaster’s nominations to the expired terms have nothing to do with the Quinns, said his spokesman Brian Symmes.
His decision “has everything to do with making sure their unwavering pro-business voices are at the forefront of one of our state’s most important economic development engines - and nothing else,” he said.
McMaster, who ascended to the governor’s office in January, is a decades-long Quinn client. Symmes said state law enforcement has not spoken to or sought documents from McMaster as part of the Statehouse probe.
McMaster nominated Jackson on March 9 to replace the governor’s former political rival, Patrick McKinney, who has publicly questioned the ports’ payments to the Quinns.
Both McMaster and McKinney were appointed to the ports board in early 2011 by then-Gov. Nikki Haley. In 2014, McMaster beat McKinney in a four-way primary race for lieutenant governor - a campaign in which both cited their ties to Haley. She re-nominated McKinney to the ports board last year for another five-year term, but senators delayed his confirmation.
As a SCANA executive, Jackson said he’s responsible for recommending whether to continue the utility’s yearly public relations contracts with Quinn’s firms, which date back decades.
Quinn said Wednesday he knows Jackson but not well, as he “recently became the guy I deal with” at SCANA.
On March 14, McMaster nominated Bluffton attorney William Jones, a University of South Carolina trustee, to succeed Robert Sisk on the ports board, whose term expired last month. Jones said he asked for a spot on the board while McMaster - a former fundraiser for the university’s law school - was still lieutenant governor.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.