COLUMBIA, SC (AP) - The State Ethics Commission has opened a public inquiry after receiving a
complaint from a Democrat claiming the Republican Gov. Nikki Haley's campaign
misreported more than $1.3 million in contributions.
A hearing is scheduled for July 18, officials told The Associated Press on
Tuesday. The allegations are detailed in a complaint obtained by The AP and
confirmed by Herb Hayden, executive director of the Commission. They mark the
panel's second consecutive investigation into a sitting South Carolina
governor.
The complaint - initially filed in July by Bridget Tripp, an employee of the
state Democratic Party - accuses Haley of misreporting more than $1.3 million
in contributions by failing to maintain proper records of donors' occupations
and not disclosing contributors' addresses.
Candidates are not required to report their donors' occupations but must be
able to furnish a list if requested, Hayden said. Contributors' addresses are
needed in case their identities need to be verified.
The Commission has been investigating Tripp's complaint since last summer,
Hayden said, working with Haley campaign staff to sort out the missing donor
information.
In a March 29 notice, the Commission notified Tripp that it would convene a
July hearing over seven allegations concerning the governor. One count
addresses the failure to keep records of donors' occupations. Six others deal
with individual contributors' addresses; in all, those six donors gave a total
of about $4,000 to Haley's campaign, according to online disclosures.
Hayden said Tuesday that campaign staffers have been able to nail down
addresses for all but two of the contributors, but hundreds of donors'
occupations are still missing.
Tripp asked the Commission to refer the case to Attorney General Alan
Wilson, noting that "Commissioners are appointed by the Governor, the
subject of this complaint. ... By referring the case to the Attorney General,
the Commission can avoid any appearance of bias or impropriety while investigating
the office responsible for their appointment."
Hayden said Tuesday he did not think the investigation into Haley's finances
would rise to the level of possible criminal prosecution, which would trigger a
referral to Wilson's office.
The July 18 hearing will be similar to a trial, at which a panel of three
commissioners will hear arguments from both sides and then determine if laws
were broken. If so, Haley could face possible fines up to $14,000 - $2,000 for
each charge. It will be a closed proceeding unless Haley opts to make it
public.
The investigation is the latest in a string of ethics queries surrounding
the first-term Republican. Last month, a circuit judge dismissed a lawsuit
accusing Haley of breaking ethics laws while she was a legislator, saying such
issues should be handled by either state ethics officials or a legislative
panel.
Haley has said she would not waive confidentiality to any legislative ethics
investigation.
A spokesman for Haley's office referred comment on the ethics commission investigation
to campaign attorney Butch Bowers, who couched the complaint as a political
stunt by state Democrats.
"These are routine matters that occur with virtually every
candidate," Bowers said. "And the only reason a complaint was filed
against Gov. Haley was because she won."
State Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian disagreed, saying South
Carolina residents will have no faith in the state's laws if their own governor
breaks them without consequence.
"Winning doesn't allow you to commit illegal acts to get there. If
being the winner does that, then we don't need an ethics (law)," he said.
"We have a GOP governor, just like Mark Sanford, who can't abide by the
law. When you have the chief executive of the state who can't abide by the law,
why should anybody else?"
Haley's predecessor, Republican Mark Sanford, paid $74,000 in ethics fines -
the largest in state history - after the commission reviewed his use of state
planes, campaign cash and first-class travel after his revelation that he had
an affair with a woman in Argentina.
The man who served as Haley's second-in-command also faced an ethics
investigation, a probe that ultimately resulted in his retreat from office. The
Ethics Commission announced it had begun an investigation into former Lt. Gov.
Ken Ard's campaign finances in February 2011, just three months after the
Republican was elected. A month later, the Commission levied 106 civil
violations against Ard, who agreed to pay $48,400 in fines and reimburse the
state more than $24,000. The state grand jury ultimately indicted Ard with
seven counts of campaign finance crimes, prompting his resignation and guilty
plea, which resulted in a probationary sentence, fines and community service.
South Carolina's governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately and
do not run on the same ticket. Glenn McConnell, former President Pro Tem of the
state Senate, was sworn in as lieutenant governor last month.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Governor Nikki Haley
