Columbia, SC (WLTX) – A grand jury report into the State House Corruption investigation was released on Tuesday by First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe.
The two-year investigation started after former South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell pleaded guilty to six counts of misuse of campaign funds on October 23, 2014.
The 270-page report highlights the findings of the investigation, detailing testimony from more than 30 witnesses, which include former AT&T South Carolina President Pamela Lackey, Palmetto Health CEO Chuck Beaman and USC President Harris Pastides.
According to the report between 2018 and 2016 AT&T, Palmetto Health, South Carolina Association for Justice, the University of South Carolina and SCANA Corp. all paid a monthly retainer fee to Richard Quinn & Associates for general consulting services, including governmental and public affairs consulting.
The grand jury investigation discovered that retainer was there to help foster relationships with lawmakers in the South Carolina General Assembly, “relationships that a typical lobbyist did not possess.”
As a result, those lobbyist’s principals will have to pay back the state and amend the lobbyist disclosure forms sent into the SC Ethics Commission, to including dealings with Richard Quinn and Associates.
The South Carolina Association for Justice will have to pay $30,000, AT&T will have to pay $60,000, SCANA Corp. will pay a $72,000 payment, USC agreed to a $90,000 payment and Palmetto Health with pay the state $100,000.
The grand jury concluded that current laws regulating ethics are weak and are encouraging lawmakers to make changes.
They were also concerned that Attorney General Alan Wilson’s actions “impeded the investigation.” The report says that 13 months were lost from the start of the investigation in 2014 into former Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell and that Wilson sat on a report linking former lawmakers Rick Quinn Jr. to the investigation at that time.
The delay meant that the statute of limitations on potential federal crimes, like money laundering, ran out. Those crimes have a four-year statute of limitations.
Wilson is also a client of Richard Quinn, Sr., owner of Richard Quinn and Associates. Quinn, Sr. is also a political consultant, prominent in the report.
Wilson called the statements a political smear against his campaign, as he is running for a third term this year.
Because of the investigation, four lawmakers pleaded guilty. They include Bobby Harrell, Jimmy Merrill, Rick Quinn Jr and John Courson.
None of them are serving prison time.