Years of Ethics Complaints Against Bobby Harrell By SC Policy Council Finally Gain Traction
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced Monday that he had turned the SLED investigation report on Ethics violation allegations against House Speaker Bobby Harrell over to a State Grand Jury.
With the State House opening it’s 2014 session the following day, Harrell is placed in a serious political situation. He called on state authorities to release their findings to the public, which will not happen with the case going to a Grand Jury where proceedings are secret.
The Attorney General’s office has had the SLED report in house about one month for review before deciding to send it to the Grand Jury.
South Carolina Policy Council President Ashley Landess has been boldly alleging ethical misconduct by the speaker for at least two years. She could get no support for her charges from the House Ethics Committee and was virtually ignored by the Speaker. Eventually she turned her allegations and supporting evidence over to the Attorney General.
Landess alleged that Speaker Harrell used his office for financial gain by using influence to get a permit to for his pharmaceutical business. She further alleged that it was unethical for Harrell, as Speaker of the House, to appoint his brother to a committee that screens judicial candidates and picks the top three for each vacant bench, from which the Legislature then chooses.
Harrell’s hometown Charleston newspaper in 2012 accused the Speaker of being unable to account for money withdrawn from his campaign account and had used the funds for personal expenses.
Landess and the Policy Council were joined in the ethics complaints by Common Cause director John Crangle.
In a note to S. C. Policy Council supporters, Ashley Landess wrote:
“Your generous support allowed us the opportunity to bring some accountability to the most powerful politician in the state. As you know, if elected officials are allowed to operate above the law, we can’t expect them to protect our freedoms. This fight is far from over, but today’s decision sends a powerful message to the state’s political elite that SCPC and its supporters won’t be intimidated – nor will we back down.”
The long term goal of a coalition of organizations including the Policy Council is to make South Carolina the most honest and free state in the republic.
Crangle was more direct in his assessment. He said that the Attorney General’s decision to send the case to a Grand Jury means that Wilson has likely found serious violations.
“I think that Bobby Harrell is history. I think that it’s going to be the end of his political career. I don’t see how he could survive.”
