Your SC politics briefing
Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State’s politics and government team.
The SC Legislature is still a week-and-a-half from coming back to Columbia, but even in their “off time” it’s been busy as ever.
We’ve got Heritage Act and execution news. State lawmakers also screened the nominee to lead the Santee Cooper Board, and another official involved in the VC Summer nuclear debacle is set to plead guilty.
Here’s this week’s news:
Supreme Court takes up Heritage Act
For the first time in 21 years the SC Supreme Court heard oral arguments over whether to keep or toss out a controversial 2000 state law protecting some of the state’s most controversial monuments and statutes.
The Heritage Act was drafted as a compromise to take the Confederate flag down from atop the State House. You’ll recall it was last debated by lawmakers in 2015 when they removed the flag entirely from the complex after a state senator and eight other Black churchgoers were murdered by a white supremacist.
The state’s high court is focusing on the entire law, but specifically on the two-thirds “super majority” vote threshold the law requires to alter or change any monuments, memorials or statues. It’s an almost near impossible vote to get and likely unconstitutional because you can’t bind future state legislatures.
The five justices did not rule on the matter, a decision that could take weeks or months.
Nuke news
There was a major legal development in the case against executives involved in the V.C. Summer nuclear project.
Carl Churchman, top former Westinghouse official who oversaw the construction, will plead guilty to a felony charge of lying to the FBI, a charge that carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.
Court documents out this week said Churchman falsely told an FBI agent that he was not involved in communicating how the project was going to officials with SCANA, the now defunct Cayce-based power company that embarked on the nuclear expansion.
This is a big development in the case because it shows prosecutors are turning their attention to Westinghouse, brought in by SCANA to oversee the project.
In a seven-page plea agreement, Churchman agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Speaking of nuclear, Peter McCoy (the former US attorney who oversaw the nuclear debacle) got his first taste of being in the legislative hot seat this week as the Public Utilities Review Committee started the confirmation process of his nomination to be the next Santee Cooper chairman.
If confirmed, McCoy says he aims to have the utility regain trust of the ratepayers, lawmakers and business partners. He also declined to say whether he would be in favor of sale of the utility as lawmakers in both chambers debate that.
“I don’t think it is ethically appropriate for me as a potential board member to make that statement, given that decision has been removed from me when I decided to vacate my position to vacate my position in the South Carolina House of Representatives and move on to being the U.S. attorney,” McCoy said.
Hours after McCoy’s hearing, lawmakers met to hash out differences over a Santee Cooper reform plan.
There was no resolution, but Senate Judiciary Chairman Luke Rankin made it clear the Senate was adamantly against exploring a sale.
We’ll see if six lawmakers can come to a resolution next week when they’re scheduled to meet again.
Unraveling of Caslen’s brief tenure
It started with a self-inflicted action that went viral on social media and metastasized into the university’s messiest farewell since the late President Jim Holderman, plagued by financial and secrecy scandals, was forced to quit in 1990.
Now former University of South Carolina President Bob Caslen resigned last week after botching his commencement address.
Unless living under a rock, you’ll recall he referred to USC as the “University of California” and failed to attribute a portion of his speech.
It was a messy few days. Click here for a rehash of how it started and where the process has landed.
School boards on notice
Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law a bill empowering the SC education department, a bill on Superintendent Molly Spearman’s wish list.
Here’s what it does: It authorizes the state schools chief to remove elected school boards in districts with chronically low test scores or significant financial difficulties. And it expands and formalizes the state education superintendent’s ability to intervene in failing districts.
While Spearman has long had the ability to take control of underperforming districts, she had not previously been able to dissolve local boards and lacked a formal mechanism for returning state-run districts to local control.
The new law takes effect July 2022, putting state education officials in the driver’s seat of chronically underperforming districts for a minimum of six years with the option to stay longer if the State Board of Education agrees.
Newly passed execution law already being challenged
Two death row inmates filed a lawsuit last week challenging the constitutionality of South Carolina’s new execution law, which requires inmates to chose between the electric chair and the firing squad.
That news occurred before the SC Supreme Court scheduled the state’s first execution since 2011.
Inmates argued that changing the law after they had been sentenced was a violation of their rights to due process. They also argued that the methods of execution available to them were cruel.
The lawsuit is already scheduled for a hearing on June 7. But in the meantime, the two inmates have requested further stays of execution. The court initially gave them stays of execution because the state did not have the means to execute them, but the Department of Corrections informed the SC Supreme Court last week that the electric chair is ready for use.
Buzz Bites
▪ The May 25 deadline may have been missed to give President Joe Biden a police reform bill. But US Sen. Tim Scott, a key player in the negotiations, told reporters on the Hill that they have made “good progress” and thinks they can “see the end of the tunnel.”
▪ US Sen. Lindsey Graham met with the family of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and other officers who were there the day thousands of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. But Graham said in a statement he still will not support the bipartisan Jan. 6 Commission.
“I oppose the House-passed bill as I believe the Commission approach will turn into a partisan food fight. The December deadline for the Commission to finish its work speaks more to political calculations than fact-finding.”
▪ Freshman US House Rep. Nancy Mace joined the chorus of other Republicans and Democrats in Congress who rebuked colleague Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s comparison of COVID-19 vaccination IDs to the yellow stars the Nazis made Jews wear during the Holocaust. But she wouldn’t go as far as some others calling for her to be removed from the GOP Caucus or censured.
“Everyone has the right to their free speech, no matter how horrible many of us may find what they say. Voters decide who goes to Congress – not other members or the media.”
▪ South Carolina lawmakers are weighing whether to ban the ownership of non-native venomous snakes — a move that would restrict sales at the popular Repticon exposition in the St. Andrews area.
▪ Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says the state’s new law to stop catalytic converter thefts is a game changer.
▪ Lawmakers hope to pass legislation to next year that would allow “SC Dreamers” to more than 100 types of jobs in the state, after it didn’t cross the finish line this year.
▪ Ed McMullen, Trump’s former ambassador to Switzerland and 2016 campaign chairman, says he has no want to ever run for elected office. He told reporters Monday he’s focused on business, less politics, but kept the door open for future diplomacy or State Department work.
▪ House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack went to a Rowesville farm to promote loan forgiveness program for disadvantaged farmers.
▪ Rachel Stein, who has served as Congressman Clyburn’s district press secretary since January 2019, is leaving South Carolina to become the deputy communications director for the North Carolina Democratic Party.
▪ Did you report unemployment income on your 2020 state income tax returns? You’ll probably want to file an amended return with South Carolina, as the first $10,200 is now not being taxed by the state.
▪ SC House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford wants a lottery encourage people to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
▪ Former SC Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott were tapped to participate in a forum about the future of the GOP. Haley, a likely 2024 Republican presidential contender, is planning to headline an event next month for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, reported the Des Moines Register.
▪ Happy belated birthday to Gov. McMaster. He turned 74 on Thursday.
Mark your calendar
Monday, May 31
Memorial Day, state holiday
Tuesday, June 1
House and Senate meet to negotiate Santee Cooper reform package at 10 a.m.
Wednesday, June 2
House Ways and Means Committee meets to pass out a revised budget at 10:30 a.m.
Monday, June 7
A court will here arguments at 10 a.m. on the constitutionality of South Carolina’s new execution law
Tuesday, June 8
The SC Legislature returns to the State House
Before we adjourn
Today, we’re saying goodbye and sending well wishes to veteran McClatchy reporter and our Senior Editor Jamie Self, who heads off to the opposite side of the country for a new job.
A big loss and we’ll miss her but we’re very happy for her.
Jamie is joining INEWSOURCE, an investigative nonprofit based in San Diego, California, to be the deputy managing editor. Jamie’s career with McClatchy started 10 years ago, with a first stop at the Rock Hill Herald and the last eight years with The State covering politics and state government, as well as working on the projects team.
Jamie was a stellar reporter on a team that dug into the “Quinndom” and its grasp over the State House. She helped detail the state’s spending failures, leaving agencies bone dry to actually fix problems. She diligently covered the governor’s office and held Gov. McMaster and his predecessor Nikki Haley accountable. And before teachers took the State House complex, she wrote a comprehensive series about why teachers were leaving the classroom.
She also was a total boss, pregnant with twins while she covered the 2016 Republican National Convention.
Around the State House, she was known as the “velvet hammer” — a tough reporter, tough questioner, always polite and calm.
“Jamie’s the complete package: fair, flexible, good listener, smarts, tolerant, great story sense, gets to the heart of the matter, hard worker, conscientious, multi-tasker and a good b.s. detector,” said reporter John Monk.
For me, Jamie has been the best editor I’ve had in my career. She helped me grow as a reporter and writer and is someone who pushed me to make my stories better and would not let me settle or leave a question unanswered.
But it’s fitting Jamie is heading to the West Coast, as reminded by my colleague Maayan Schechter.
Jamie succeeded longtime politics editor Steve Brook, who would often remind reporters he’d like to leave the newsroom once in a while. As any editor would, he’d often ask Jamie how much more time she needed on a story. One minute turned into five, maybe 10 or more.
Often, Steve would tell Jamie, referring to her as “Pasadena,” that she was on “California time.”
Who put together this week’s newsletter?
This week it was reporter Joseph Bustos, who is part of the State House team. Keep up with him on Twitter @JoeBReporter or send her story tips at jbustos@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.
