COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A group of state senators sent the appointment of a former state representative to run the South Carolina Conservation Bank forward Thursday even as one of them called the recommendation “extraordinarily wrong.”
Sen. Dick Harpootlian said during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing that ex-Rep. Mike Pitts was one of the least qualified applicants to run the board which buys land for protection and public recreation.
“The public is sick to their stomach,” said Harpootlian, a Columbia Democrat who won the seat in a special election on a platform to weed out corruption after the seat’s previous occupant pleaded guilty to using campaign money for personal use. “His sole qualification is being a legislator.”
The committee unanimously sent Pitts’ nomination to the full Senate, but did it without a favorable recommendation. Senators couldn’t remember the last time that happened.
Pitts spent 15 years in the House as a Republican representing areas around Laurens. The Conservation Bank board offered him the $115,000 a year job at the end of October. He resigned his House seat Jan. 3.
Pitts pointed out the bank board picked him unanimously. He said his goal is to get the bank back running right with good people in place. Oher board members have suggested Pitts’ relationship with other lawmakers will help them get the trust of the Legislature to give the agency a more reliable source of money.
But Harpootlian said Pitts’ only qualification is he was a legislator and he didn’t even do that the right way. Harpootlian pointed out Pitts voted last year against a proposal banning a former lawmaker from becoming the bank director until they spent a year out of office.
Pitts first suggested there was a malfunction in the House and his vote then was recorded wrong. Then he suggested someone else pressed his vote button, but after Harpootlian pointed out that was illegal, Pitts said he doesn’t remember the spring 2018 vote, perhaps as a side effect of a December heart attack.
“There was no quid pro quo. There was no deal cut. There was no agreement between the board and myself about this position at all,” Pitts said, “I’m under oath. I take that seriously.”
Thursday’s vote sets up a rare fight on the Senate floor over a nomination. Some senators pointed out their role is to determine if an agency’s nominee is qualified, not if they are the best qualified candidate.
Harpootlian said Pitts doesn’t reach that threshold.
“You understand the perception here is you feathered your own nest,” the senator said.
After his nomination was sent forward, Pitts told Harpootlian he didn’t take his harsh questioning personally.
“I under no circumstances tried to deceive this committee,” Pitts said.
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