Ravenel says redemption is his goal now

By CLIF LeBLANC - cleblanc@thestate.com

A week before reporting to federal prison, disgraced former state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel is working on his personal redemption and hoping voters might one day trust him with another public office.

As the millionaire developer prepares to serve a 10-month sentence May 29 for cocaine use, he insists he is not a drug addict and does not need further treatment.

He said he’s searching for answers and a new direction.

“I’m 45. I’m going on this 10-month involuntary sabbatical to figure out what I’m going to do with the second half of my life,” Ravenel said Wednesday from a club chair in the living room of his home in Columbia’s upscale Heathwood neighborhood.

“Prison. I can deal with that. Public disgrace is going to take far more than 10 months to recoup from. It will take the rest of my life.

“Of course, the first step is to keep in check my personal demons.”

During a three-hour interview after the state Real Estate Commission revoked his broker’s license, Ravenel explained himself, his choices, his faults, his fate.

He calls himself a “recreational user” who had a midlife crisis. Most of his life, Ravenel said, he was drug-free and health-conscious.

“I did not do that much cocaine. I did not use drugs during the 2004 U.S. Senate race. I’ll take a lie detector to that.”

Yet he acknowledged using while he was the state’s top financial officer.

SPIRALING TO DISHONOR

Ravenel attributes his plummet from a political rising star to what he calls “the lowest vermin on the face of the Earth” to arrogance and a self-destructive streak.

After his close loss in the Republican primary and the end of an important romantic relationship, Ravenel said he felt defeated and depressed despite his wealth.

He would not disclose his net worth.

But he said his Charleston-based Ravenel Development Corp. owns about 25 smaller companies and has built 70 commercial projects in 10 states.

Still, a life of luxury was not enough for the son of former state senator and U.S. congressman Arthur Ravenel.

Ravenel said the worst of his drug use was from spring 2005 through spring 2007 when he was arrested.

“I would say I would use about 2 grams of coke every month for two years.

“Prior to 2005, I was practically drug-free. I probably did maybe 3 to 4 grams the entire balance of my life.”

He acknowledged buying and using at most 50 grams of cocaine in his lifetime. He disputes a government report that puts the total at 77 grams.

Ravenel said he used cocaine “maybe three or four times” while treasurer, “on my own time on weekends or maybe vacations.

“I want it stated that I discharged my duties in a way that reflected well on the office.”

’FESSING UP OR DENIAL?

He said the first time he used cocaine was during a trip to the Bahamas when he was 18 and a rising senior at St. Andrews High School.

At The Citadel, Ravenel used “a couple of times.”

Then, “I went 15 years without doing it” until a 1999 vacation in Aruba.

He told investigators he did not use again until a 2002 New Year’s Eve party.

By the spring of 2005, when he was in his downward spiral, Ravenel began hosting and attending parties in his Charleston mansion district where cocaine was common.

“Here, have a little bump,” he said other users would tell him. “Next thing you know, it’s ‘Do you have a bump?’ Then, ‘Let’s go buy a bump.’ That’s how it happened.

“I’m fairly strong-willed. I’m fairly disciplined. This is something I allowed myself to do. I would have stopped.”

He said his 30-day stay last summer at Sierra Tucson, a private treatment clinic in Arizona, determined that he does not have an addictive personality.

“My father asked the doctor, ‘Is Thomas an addict?’ ‘No, he’s not an addict,’” Ravenel said the doctor responded.

Tests he underwent found no bipolar disorder, only that Ravenel had a “slight tendency to sabotage my success.”

“For the most part, I was pretty normal.”

He cited his personality test results, which found he is impulsive and takes chances “without regard for consequences.” He also has an “avoidant personality.”

Ravenel said it shows other traits: nonconformist, charismatic but self-defeating and that he feels “unworthy of happiness and success.”

More recently, Ravenel said he attended a few Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. “I couldn’t relate to it. I don’t consider myself an addict.

“I’m not in denial.”

Ravenel hesitated once during the interview when asked why he used cocaine while he was treasurer even after he had been tipped to a criminal investigation.

He shifted in his chair, folded his hands and struggled for words.

“I wish I could answer that question.”

APPROPRIATE SENTENCE?

A friend will drive Ravenel to Jesup, Ga., next Thursday, where he will be assigned to a minimum-security prison that has no barbed wire.

Ravenel said his attorney told him that a private citizen “would have gotten PTI.” Pretrial intervention allows first-time offenders to undergo treatment, perform community service and remove a charge from their record.

“I should definitely be punished because of my position. I should do six months.”

To prepare for prison, he has read a couple of books by other white-collar criminals and talked to people he knows who served time. That includes Charles “Pug” Ravenel, a distant cousin, who ran for governor in 1974 and was sentenced, then later pardoned, for investment fraud.

The former treasurer said his sister Renee Brockinton, 54, will run his company while he is incarcerated. He intends to keep up with the business through 15-minute phone calls inmates are allowed hourly.

Ravenel said his business is thriving after a slowdown when he first was indicted June 19, 2007.

“Nobody said, ‘I’m not doing business with Thomas Ravenel.’ Business is better than it’s ever been.”

Ravenel resigned his $92,000-a-year post July 24, then pleaded guilty to felony cocaine conspiracy and was sentenced March 14.He broke his silence last week and began a media blitz after an article in The State, which was based on investigative records of his case.

Ravenel contends the article misrepresented his drug use, especially that cocaine fueled his business success and fed his U.S. Senate race.

“The truth is damning enough,” he said after the article ran.

Ravenel said he is contemplating writing a book that might help others and has not given up on running for office.

Though state law bars convicted felons from holding public office for 15 years, Ravenel said he believes he might be eligible for Congress or the U.S. Senate.

“It’s in my blood,” he said of public service, adding, “I don’t know if I can ever be a viable candidate.”

He is confident he has more to offer.

“I do want to spend the rest of my life redeeming myself. I want to come out of this process a wiser person ... someone I can be proud of.”

Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664.