Former SC lawmaker Jimmy Bales, ex-Richland County educator, dies at 86

Former South Carolina state Rep. Jimmy Bales, a former Richland County educator and county government leader who represented his Lower Richland House district for 22 years, died Saturday afternoon at his home, lawmakers said.

He was 86.

“Richland County and the state of South Carolina have lost a true statesman,” House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, said. “Jimmy Bales spent his life in service to others — as a educator, ... and as a state representative. It was an honor to serve with him and learn from him. He will be missed.”

Bales had been in and out of medical care throughout the past year.

Earlier this year, in his former chamber, House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, asked for continued prayer for their former colleague, later visiting Bales at his home where he presented him the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor.

Bales was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in the late 1990s, a class so small that few members remain.

Lucas and Rutherford were among that class. In Bales’ September farewell address last year, Lucas recalled that period in which Democrats won so many seats they were able to slow down the GOP’s future takeover.

“There were so many Democrats and so few Republicans that the speaker wouldn’t take a team picture with the class of ‘98,” Lucas said. “So, there is no record of the class of ‘98. And soon, all you’ll have to remember of the class of ‘98 is me and Mr. Rutherford.”

Bales was a native of Rose Hill, Virginia, and a United States Army veteran, who received his doctorate in education from the University of South Carolina in 1975.

Passionate about education, Bales worked as a teacher and became the eventual principal of Lower Richland High School and director of Richland One’s Career Education for the district, according to his legislative biography. In the early 1960s, Bales was a probation officer in the Richland County Family Court and served as a trustee on the Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital board.

He served on Richland County’s Council before joining the House in 1999, when he was named freshman caucus chairman.

“Jimmy was always focused on, when I say, not the common man but the people he knew in Lower Richland, the people that were working people. He was very focused on education and the value of education,” said state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a Richland Democrat who served with Bales on Richland County Council. “Water, sewer, roads being paved, things not very sophisticated. But by the same token when we wanted to create a countywide library system and build a new main library, ... Jimmy made the difference on the library, the art museum.”

A ‘true statesman’

Bales, a longtime member of the House’s budget-writing committee, was known affectionately by his colleagues as “Dr. Bales.”

“Jimmy was committed to most importantly to the citizens of his district. He was always wondering what things we would do, how that would affect his district. He always had their concerns, first and foremost,” House budget Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, said. “He loved his community. He loved his state.”

State Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, called Bales an excellent public servant, adding, “he always looked out for his district and looked out for the state.”

Jackson, a close friend of Bales’, filed a resolution to rename the Shop Road extension for Bales.

The State last spoke to Bales after the resolution was filed.

“I stayed over there 22 years, and I had things in the community that I thought would improve the lives of our citizens, and I got money to fund them. And all the delegation voted for it. I am grateful to them,” Bales told The State. “We had a good relationship. There wasn’t any difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. (On) things that helped our community, we all voted.”

Community was what Bales was about, Jackson said.

“A lot of things we were able to accomplish in Lower Richland was his cooperation from the health care center down in Eastover to the Shop Road extension to the substation for law enforcement that’s at Lower Richland High School,” Jackson said. “And the thing about Jimmy is that you would never know it, none of that he ever wanted press conferences or wanted to get any type of pat on the back for it. He just felt it was the right thing to do.”

Despite his health, Bales sought another term in the House last year but lost to a younger newcomer, state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, 35.

Johnson won his primary challenge against Bales and the eventual general election, becoming the Lower Richland House 80 District’s first Black representative in two decades.

Jackson told The State many of Bales’ close friends had hoped Bales would retire rather than seek another term and lose.

But he was determined, he said, and was supported by his colleagues.

“We just felt like he earned the right to go out on his own accord. It did not happen unfortunately,” Jackson said.

Bales’ health took a turn over the past year.

He told The State earlier this year he was no longer driving, adding “my health couldn’t keep up with me.”

Instead, Smith drove Bales back-and-forth from the State House, giving the two lawmakers more time to talk.

“He’s a prince of a man, he’s a gentleman he is,” Smith said. “He is someone that was a true statesman, and someone that I had a lot of admiration and respect for and I was blessed to be able to serve with him for as long as I (did).”

Bales never sought the limelight as a legislator, his colleagues recalled.

But he was not quiet and made sure his thoughts were heard, they said.

“He had a sense of humor, which in my world mattered a lot,” Harpootlian said of Bales, known on the House Ways and Means Committee to snip at his colleagues who would at times speak too long. “But he did it with a sense of, in most instances, with a sense of humor or sort of a ... country gentleman’s cordiality, which I lack totally so it amazed me to watch him be able to do that.”

Whether any conversations stuck out between him and Bales that would be appropriate to share in the paper, Harpootlian said, “No.”

“Not that we could use,” Harpootlian said. “There’s plenty of conversations we had, but not for this article.”

Reporters David Travis Bland, Emily Bohatch and Joseph Bustos contributed to this report.