The Buzz on SC Politics
Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State’s politics and government team.
If the state’s finances are your thing, than this was the week for you.
South Carolina’s Senate passed a $550 million bond bill that would pay for railroad and barge improvements to the port in Charleston.
After several days of debate and long floor speeches on whether it is right for taxpayers to be on the hook for the more than half-a-billion dollars worth of improvements, senators approved the measure with a caveat. The S.C. Ports Authority will have to payback $150 million of the loan through a per-container fee.
This measure, which goes to the House, would ensure the Ports Authority has some “skin in the game.” Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman initially was against the idea, but eventually agreed to it, in order to move the bond bill forward.
But another agreement was hashed out to help alleviate some concerns over the large investment in Charleston. State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort helped broker a deal for the Ports Authority to convey its share of ownership in 1,500 acres in Jasper County to Jasper County to allow for the county to work with the Georgia Ports Authority to build the long-promised Jasper Ocean Terminal.
Nuke news
Three years of investigation, an official with ties to the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project is going to prison.
Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh pleaded guilty Wednesday in state and federal court to conspiracy fraud charges involving a cover-up of financial troubles connected to the failure of the company’s $10 billion nuclear project.
He’ll be sentenced at a later date. But he has agreed to two years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Mary Lewis made clear Wednesday Marsh and others had participated in a deliberate plan that went on for months to hide the extent of SCANA’s financial troubles from the public, from regulators and from investors.
But, she added, “He was not Bernie Madoff.”
Another SC agency director out, another incoming?
A second South Carolina department head was fired this month.
Mary Poole, director of the state’s Department of Disabilities and Special Needs board after a 5-1 vote.
It’s unclear what led to her ousting. All five members who voted against Poole’s position either declined to comment to The State or did not respond to repeated requests. Poole had held the position since 2018 at a salary of $171,404 a year. She was hired to replace Beverly Buscemi after the agency came under fire, particularly from the Legislature, after serious allegations were made of abuse, neglect and other critical problems.
“Mary Poole dedicated her life to serving people with disabilities. Under her leadership, DDSN made more progress toward providing that service than had occurred in decades. I was in complete disagreement with the action, and my public vote reflected that,” said chairman Gary Lemel, the only board member to vote to keep Poole in place.
DDSN has tapped the agency’s attorney Constance Holloway as interim director.
At another agency, the state’s Department of Public Safety may finally get a permanent director.
Buzz Bites
▪ A mostly Republican coalition of lawmakers and state leaders want a do-over on the ballot question about whether the state schools superintendent should be a governor’s appointment or elected by voters. You’ll remember that in 2018 this same question came up and voters said no, by about 60%. Should a proposal, however, take effect that question will pop up again next year.
▪ The electric chair could be making a comeback in South Carolina. A pair of bills that would make the chair the default method of execution are on the House and Senate calendars.
▪ A House bill could block transgender women and girls from competing in high school and middle school women’s sports.
▪ South Carolina’s U.S. Attorney Peter McCoy told President Joe Biden he will resign his post this Sunday, an action in sync with any political appointee tapped by a former president. Who Biden will name to succeed McCoy, a former lawmaker, has not been announced.
▪ New DNC chairman Jaime Harrison is pledging to play a larger role in next year’s midterm elections than the group has in more than a decade, McClatchyDC reports.
▪ Corporate heavyweights are throwing support behind hate crime legislation, calling on the South Carolina Legislature to send the bill to Gov. McMaster. “We will be actively working to support this legislation to see that it becomes law,” a Walmart representative told reporters. Neither the House or Senate have so far moved on similar bills.
▪ Gov. Henry McMaster asked the South Carolina agency over the state’s electric power grids to review them to see if they could face problems like what happened in Texas during the recent winter storm, the Associated Press reports.
▪ A federal judge temporarily blocked South Carolina’s new “fetal heartbeat” abortion ban last Friday, a day after Gov. Henry McMaster signed the state’s restrictive new abortion bill into law. Attorney General Alan Wilson said his office will continue to vigorously fight the judge’s ruling. U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the new law’s implementation for 14 days. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court has not decided whether to take up Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.
▪ Sen. Lindsey Graham visited former President Donald Trump this past weekend to discuss the Republican Party’s future, the South Carolinian told reporters. Trump is slated to speak at CPAC, where he’ll address his next moves ahead of 2022.
▪ South Carolina-based Democratic ad-maker AJ Lenar has helped co-found a new firm called Declaration Media that’ll join a “crowded landscape of advertising firms pitching their services to Democratic candidates and causes,” Politico reports.
▪ U.S. Reps. Jeff Duncan and Nancy Mace teamed up on a bill that would prohibit the transfer of those detained at Guantanamo Bay to the United States.
▪ A legislative effort to prioritize South Carolina teachers for COVID-19 vaccinations has stalled in the House and may be dead after failing to advance out of committee again Tuesday.
Mark your calendar
March 3
Joint House-Senate session to elect college and university board members, noon
March 8
House Legislative Oversight Subcommittee hearing on state Department of Health and Human Services, 2 p.m.
March 11
House Legislative Oversight Subcommittee hearing on state Department of Commerce, an hour after House adjourns
March 22-25
Budget week in the S.C. House
Before we adjourn
After a bill was filed in the U.S. House that would bar twice-impeached presidents from being buried at Arlington National Cemetery, one S.C. lawmaker filed his own bill in rebuttal.
S.C. Rep. R.J. May, R-Lexington, filed a bill that would allow twice-impeached presidents, like former President Donald Trump, to be buried on the S.C. State House grounds.
The bill, was filed Thursday, would require the state Department of Administration to offer up the State House grounds as a burial location to Trump. If the former president accepted the offer, the department would then have to scout out a location and put up a grave marker.
“South Carolina is pushing back against liberals in Washington,” May said in a statement about the bill.
Who pulled together this week’s newsletter?
This week it was reporter Emily Bohatch, who is part of The State’s State House team.
Keep up with her on Twitter @emilybohatch or send her story tips at ebohatch@thestate.com.
Make sure to sign up for our weekly politics newsletter that will come straight to your inbox each week. Tell your friends to do the same. For even more South Carolina-focused political news, you can chat with us on Facebook at the Buzz on South Carolina Politics, email us tips at thebuzz [at] thestate [dot] com and follow our stories at scpolitics.com.
