Behind the SC State House corruption probe that sent ex-lawmaker Harrison to prison

The sentencing of former state lawmaker Jim Harrison, convicted of perjury, was the latest action in a years-long investigation into political corruption at the South Carolina State House.

The probe secured guilty pleas from four other former lawmakers over the nearly seven years it has been running, and two cases are ongoing.

On Tuesday, State Judge Carmen Mullen sentenced the once-powerful Harrison to 18 months in prison.

Harrison, R-Richland, was found guilty in 2018 of two counts of misconduct for accepting about $900,000 over 13 years from Richard Quinn & Associates, a powerful Columbia consulting firm that prosecutors have described as being at the center of a now-dismantled secretive network of money and influence in the General Assembly.

Harrison was also found guilty of perjury for lying to a state grand jury. Harrison appealed his conviction and sentence, and South Carolina Supreme Court upheld his perjury conviction and 18-month prison sentence but threw out Harrison’s misconduct charges. Harrison was the only former lawmaker to fight the charges against him.

Harrison agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to two misconduct in office charges, known as “Alford charges,” meaning that Harrison asserts his innocence but admits that the prosecution had adequate evidence to convince a judge or jury beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty. There are now no outstanding charges against Harrison.

The judge’s sentence makes the now 70-year-old Harrison the first former state lawmaker to serve a prison sentence out of the five convicted so far in a multi-year investigation looking into corruption inside the General Assembly. The other former lawmakers have all pleaded guilty to various kinds of misconduct while in office, resigned from public office and were given probation.

Harrison will report to prison on Thursday, ending this chapter of the State House political corruption scandal, but the investigation continues.

What is the probe investigating?

The corruption investigation that snared most of the lawmakers was centered around a money-for-influence operation at the State House in which state lawmakers were paid by legendary South Carolina political consultant Richard Quinn’s company.

Quinn was a major player in S.C. political circles. For years he had served as a paid top consultant to campaigns of winning Republican politicians like Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, Attorney General Alan Wilson and Wilson’s father, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson.

Quinn’s firm also had prominent corporate clients like the University of South Carolina, AT&T, Palmetto Health hospitals, what was SCANA electric utility, Unisys technology and the South Carolina Trial Lawyers’ Association. Some corporate clients paid the firm tens of thousands of dollars each month to help when they had bills they were interested in go through the legislature, according to the corruption probe prosecution.

Quinn’s network of influence, which included the S.C. General Assembly, was so wide, and so deep, in both political and business circles, that it was dubbed the “Quinndom.”

In 2017, Quinn was accused of masterminding a ring of influence peddling and was charged with criminal conspiracy and failing to register as a lobbyist. The prosecutor in the case, David Pascoe, eventually dropped all charges against Quinn and allowed Quinn’s firm to plead guilty to failing to register as a lobbyist.

In the same plea deal in which Pascoe dropped charges against Quinn, Quinn also agreed to testify truthfully before Pascoe’s state grand jury, which he did in 2018. Quinn ultimately was accused of lying during that testimony and was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in 2019.

The probe’s beginnings

Almost a decade ago, reports began popping up revolving around then-powerful South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s reimbursements to himself out of his campaign account that included the use of a private plane.

The Charleston County Republican eventually returned some $23,000, saying he lacked documentation for some expenses.

A month later, in October 2012, under pressure, Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson deferred any further inquiry into the Harrell matter to the House Ethics Committee, a layer of oversight that could investigate and punish state representatives.

By 2013, a complaint was filed with Wilson, who asked South Carolina’s leading law enforcement agency — the State Law Enforcement Division — to investigate the matter.

A year later, Wilson brought the case against Harrell to court, but soon, the attorney general’s office faced obstacles. In May 2014, a circuit court judge ordered Wilson and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, to halt the investigation, but that decision was overturned when the attorney general appealed to the Supreme Court.

In August 2014, Wilson handed the case over to prosecutor David Pascoe, the elected 1st Circuit Solicitor, who is based in Orangeburg. Pascoe then assumed the mantle of “special prosecutor,” with authority to investigate allegations against Harrell.

Less than a month later, Harrell was indicted by a grand jury led by Pascoe on charges of using campaign money for personal expenses, filing false campaign disclosure reports and misconduct in office. In October, 2014, Harrell pleaded guilty to misuse of campaign funds, paid more than $120,000 in fines and restitution and resigned his post.

That might have ended the entire State House investigation.

But Pascoe had noticed several allegations of other possible corruption in the General Assembly in a non-public section of the SLED report about Harrell and urged State Attorney General Wilson to pursue them.

Wilson was in a bind, unable to pursue the allegations himself because of his political ties to the remaining potential targets named in the SLED report.

In the summer of 2015, Wilson’s office finally gave Pascoe the authority to continue on as special prosecutor and investigate other members of the General Assembly named in the SLED report.

For more than four years, Pascoe worked with SLED agents and a state grand jury, which has subpoena powers and can operate across county lines, gathering the information that would eventually result in convictions against other lawmakers, including the powerful Harrison. SLED Chief Mark Keel gave the investigation his blessing and kept agents on the case.

In 2016, State Attorney General Wilson tried to fire Pascoe and stop him from continuing the probe, charging that Pascoe lacked authority to convene a state grand jury. But Pascoe fought Wilson and won a victory in the State Supreme Court that allowed the investigation to continue. Pascoe’s investigation also survived numerous challenges in lower courts by lawyers’ for targets of his investigation who claimed Pascoe lacked authority.

Like Harrison, all the subsequent targets after Harrell had ties to the Quinn firm.

Who’s been convicted thus far?

Besides Harrison, these former lawmakers were convicted as a result of the corruption investigation:

▪ Former House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. Harrell pleaded guilty to charges of misusing campaign money in October 2014. He agreed to resign and entered a plea deal in which he has to tell federal and state officials of any other illegal activities by others, including lawmakers, that he knows about. Harrell was given probation.

▪ Former Rep. Rick Quinn Jr., R-Lexington. The younger Quinn pleaded guilty to a charge of official misconduct as part of a deal struck by his father. Quinn’s charge centered around failing to report income from the University of South Carolina, which lobbies the Legislature. Quinn was allowed to resign from the legislature. Quinn was given probation and community service.

▪ Former Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Berkeley. Merrill was indicted on 30 charges of misconduct in office and ethics violations in December 2016. The charges centered around accusations that Merrill unlawfully pocketed more than $1 million from various groups to influence legislation on their behalf. Merrill shortly resigned from his position at the State House. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in office. Merrill was given probation and was required to help the FBI, prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Columbia, agents with SLED and special prosecutor Pascoe in their investigation involving members of the South Carolina General Assembly.

▪ Former State Sen. John Courson, R-Richland. Courson was indicted as part of the investigation in 2016. Courson was subsequently suspended from the General Assembly. The case against him centered around accusations that Courson accepted $159,000 over a six-year period from Richard Quinn & Associates. Courson had an agreement with the firm that he would pay them from his campaign account and then the firm would return the money, the prosecution said. In 2018, Courson pleaded guilty to one count of willful misconduct in office and resigned from his seat in the Senate. He also agreed to cooperate with investigators.

What cases are still pending?

Two cases stemming from the corruption probe are still outstanding. Former S.C. Rep. Tracy Edge, R-Horry, and Richard Quinn himself face charges of perjury and have yet to stand trial.

Both Edge and Richard Quinn were initially indicted in October 2017, Edge on charges of criminal conspiracy, common law misconduct in office, statutory misconduct in office and perjury, and Quinn on a felony charge of criminal conspiracy, as well as a charge of illegal lobbying for failing to register as a lobbyist.

Scant details about the case against Edge have emerged.

Richard Quinn, on the other hand, made headlines for years as he fought his original charges. Quinn struck a deal with Pascoe to reduce his 2017 charges. As part of the deal, Pascoe dropped the conspiracy charges and allowed Quinn’s firm to plead guilty to failing to register as a lobbyist.

On his end, Richard Quinn was required to testify in front of a state grand jury called by Pascoe, which he did in April and May 2018. However, during his testimony, Quinn allegedly lied about the reasons he made payments to Harrison and Courson, according to indictments in the case.

In 2019, Quinn was indicted on 11 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

The remaining prosecutions against Richard Quinn and Edge will be handled by a new special prosecutor, Barry Barnette, the elected 7th Circuit solicitor based in Spartanburg.

(Reporter John Monk contributed to this story.)