Lawmakers delay vote on governor’s Ports Authority nominees, citing probe

Anxiety over an ongoing State House corruption investigation on Wednesday took its first palpable toll on state government.

Lawmakers on Wednesday pushed back a vote on S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster’s two nominations to the S.C. Ports Authority board, citing a need to further investigate the nominees’ ties to a political consulting firm implicated last week in an indictment of a GOP state senator.

State investigators also are reviewing S.C. Ports Authority records detailing its hiring of the Richard Quinn & Associates firm, headed by veteran GOP consultant Richard Quinn, for consulting services.

“If there were not an investigation ongoing that has now caused two members of the General Assembly to be suspended, had there not been subpoenas issued to the State Ports Authority and other questions raised, they probably would have moved forward today,” said state Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley. “But we want to make sure that we thoroughly check their testimony with the record. ... We’re going to do a little more homework. We want to be absolutely certain on everything.”

Another long-time client of Richard Quinn, McMaster has nominated Kenneth Jackson, a senior vice president at Cayce-based SCANA utility, and William Jones, a Bluffton attorney and University of South Carolina trustee to fill expired terms on the Ports Authority board.

The vetting panel’s delay Wednesday underscores an unease that has enveloped the State House because of special prosecutor David Pascoe’s ongoing probe.

Those anxieties have escalated since last Thursday’s indictment of state Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, who is accused of converting his campaign funds to personal use through Richard Quinn and Associates, a Columbia-based firm that consults for some of the state’s most powerful Republicans, including McMaster.

Lawmakers Wednesday asked both of McMaster’s nominees about their ties to the Quinn firm.

Jackson said SCANA has an ongoing contract with the Quinn firm but said he played no role in hiring the firm. Jackson said the Quinn firm conducts surveys for SCANA but has not advised him personally.

Jones was asked about his law partner’s relationship with RQA. State Rep. Weston Newton, R-Beaufort, reportedly spent $2,350 with the firm in 2012 for consulting. “We’re different folks,” Jones said.

Both said they did not believe the Quinn firm played any role in their nominations.

Jackson said the governor asked him four to six weeks ago to serve on the board, while Jones said he had expressed interest in a board position when McMaster was still lieutenant governor. Both said they were not advised by Quinn’s firm to take the positions.

The pair would replace two board members appointed by former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, current chair Pat McKinney and board treasurer Mike Sisk.

McKinney, a political rival of McMaster who in 2014 unsuccessfully ran against him for lieutenant governor, last year raised questions about the Ports Authority’s payments to the firm, which included $369,000 between 2012 and 2015, according to The (Charleston) Post and Courier.

Pascoe’s ongoing probe now is looking into that relationship, and the agency has provided state investigators records on its business dealings with Richard Quinn and Associates and another Quinn partnership. The Ports Authority has said it hired those firms “for statewide public relations consulting services and for production of statewide grassroots awareness campaigns.”

The vetting panel will meet later to take a vote on each candidate, Grooms said. Their nominations would then go to the Senate Transportation Committee and then the full Senate for confirmation.

“We have a new governor. They are his first high-profile appointments,” Grooms said. “I want to be fair to the governor. I don’t want to needlessly hold them up, but also with an investigation going on right now, a small tie to Richard Quinn and Associates needs to be thoroughly vetted.”

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 11:19 AM with the headline "Lawmakers delay vote on governor’s Ports Authority nominees, citing probe."