Where did new President Trump’s campaign spend money in SC?

The largest recipient of Donald Trump’s campaign spending in South Carolina was a S.C. legislator now under indictment for misconduct in office.

The Trump campaign spent $333,792 for strategic consulting provided by Geechee Communications, a company run by state Rep. Jim Merrill, Trump’s S.C. campaign director.

Last month, Merrill was indicted on 30 counts of misconduct and ethics violations as part of a long-running probe of corruption probe into the S.C. State House. The allegations against Merrill are not related to his work for Trump’s campaign.

Geechee’s numbers were included in a two-year breakdown of spending by the Trump campaign with the Federal Elections Commission.

Public entities

Some of Trump’s campaign money ended up in public coffers as, for example, the candidate paid to rent public facilities.

For instance, the city of Myrtle Beach was paid a total of $12,000 for rentals of its city-owned sports center and other properties. The campaign also paid $6,699 to use the Charleston Area Convention Center. To rent other venues, Trump’s campaign paid $6,395 to the Florence Civic Center, $5,210 to Winthrop University and $4,880 to the Beaufort County school district.

Some law enforcement agencies also were compensated for providing security.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, for example, received $210 for providing security for an Anderson event. Sumter County was paid $11,000 for providing security and renting the county’s convention center.

Major S.C. players

One elected official also collected money from the Trump campaign.

S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis received $5,850 from the Trump campaign after it rented facilities from the Lexington Republican.

Others who may be known to South Carolinians also cashed in:

▪ Nancy Mace, the first woman to graduate from the Citadel and an unsuccessful candidate for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2014, received $57,091 for field work on Trump’s campaign.

▪ Jeff Taillon, Trump’s S.C. political director, was paid $55,377.

The tree farm

One of Trump’s most high-profile appearances in South Carolina came at Lexington County’s Harmon Tree Farm, where he received the endorsement of Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster. It was the first endorsement Trump received from a statewide elected official.

Harmon Tree Farm was paid $3,000 by the campaign.

A year later, Trump nominated S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, paving the way for McMaster to become governor.

Where did they stay?

Trump’s team had a clear favorite when it came to looking for a place to stay in the Palmetto State.

▪ Marriott hotels received $35,983 from the campaign while staffers were in South Carolina.

▪ Holiday Inn came in second, making $12,566 from the S.C. campaign. Of that, $6,715 came from renting space for an event.

Lights, camera ...

Besides Geechee Communications, the largest recipient of Trump’s spending in South Carolina was Production Design Associates, a Charleston-based production and audiovisual company, that was paid $243,583.

The only other six-figure recipient in South Carolina was ACS Sound and Lighting of Columbia, paid $114,015.

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 5:12 PM.