Judge orders Richland County voter board to pay $38,740 bill

The Richland County Board of Elections and Voter Registration and its current and former members were ordered Monday to pay $38,740 to a nonprofit watchdog foundation controlled by activist Ned Sloan.

The order to pay up from Master-in-Equity Joseph Strickland is the latest chapter in a 18-month legal saga over the debt owed Sloan’s foundation.

“If you don’t pay, you can be held in contempt of court, which can result in a fine or incarceration, do you understand?” Strickland asked elections director Samuel Selph.

“Yes, sir,” Selph said.

The money, if it is paid, will come from taxpayers and not from board members personally, Strickland said.

“I’m optimistic but not yet satisfied,” said Sloan, 86, of Greenville, said after the decision.

But payment of the $38,740 owed appears to remain up in the air.

The latest order to pay up comes after a court ruling in February 2015 that the voter board owed Sloan $34,980 in attorney’s fees in a dispute he won over the panel’s membership. That amount has increased with interest.

Strickland seemed stunned to learn that Sloan and his foundation, the S.C. Public Interest Foundation, are still waiting.

“I was shocked to hear they hadn’t paid,” board lawyer Alex Postic told the judge, adding he has asked Richland County Council to pay the bill several times. “There was always talk of doing it. It never happened.”

Council members so far are taking a hands-off position since board members are appointed by the Legislature and are independent of most aspects of county oversight.

“If he (Strickland) ordered the Board of Voter Registration and Elections to pay the judgment, that would be a clear sign that the court understands that the board is a separate legal entity not under the supervision or control of Richland County,” county spokeswoman Beverly Harris said.

The matter reached a head several months ago when Sloan’s lawyer, Jim Carpenter, obtained a court order for board members to come and show cause why they they should not be personally liable for the outstanding legal bill.

One board member, Elaine Dubose, told The State she was shocked to find out a lien had been placed on her property and she and her husband could not refinance their home.

Sloan’s foundation won the legal fees after it prevailed in a court battle over the make-up of the five-member voter registration and elections board.

Postic told Strickland he was “shocked that someone wants to hit public servants for attorneys’ fees. This is an almost thankless job.”

But Carpenter told the judge that to get paid legal fees that were due his client, he needed “to include as many deep pockets as I can lay my hands on.”

This story was originally published August 22, 2016 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Judge orders Richland County voter board to pay $38,740 bill."