Ports leader who defended payments to political firm had Quinn family business tie

The S.C. Ports Authority board member who voted against suspending payments to a political consulting firm swept up in a State House investigation had a business tie to the firm owner’s family.

Bill Stern of Columbia, a Ports Authority member and former chairman, did not disclose before the vote that he was a former business partner of state Rep. Rick Quinn, R-Lexington. The pair once owned a Congaree riverfront property in West Columbia.

Quinn is the son of Richard Quinn, who owns and runs Richard Quinn & Associates. The Columbia-based firm consulted for the Ports Authority until board members voted to cut ties with the firm last week, citing the State Grand Jury’s interest in reviewing documents related to the agency’s consulting arrangement.

No one tied to the Quinn firm has been charged with any wrongdoing, a point Stern made before the vote, urging other board members to say what the firm might have done.

Stern should have revealed his business former relationship with Quinn before the vote, and recused himself to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, two board members say.

“I probably would have chosen to recuse myself if I had been in that situation,” said outgoing Ports Chairman Pat McKinney, adding that regardless of whether there was a conflict of interest, there is the appearance of one.

Stern said there was no conflict in his defense of RQA or his vote against suspending payments to the firm – which included an $8,100-a-month retainer – when he did not have any business interests with the Quinns.

“I think the point’s being missed here,” Stern told The State newspaper. “What have they (RQA) done? Why are we overriding senior staff to terminate a contract?”

Once business partners

Rick Quinn, who owns Mail Marketing Strategies, and Stern, a successful real estate developer, were partners in a real estate company, SQ Investments, each said Friday.

The company owns and leases property to Stone River, an events facility in West Columbia on the bank of the Congaree River that once was home to the New Orleans Riverfront Restaurant.

Neither Stern nor Quinn provided specifics on when Quinn stopped being a partner in the business, but Quinn said he and Stern partnered on the land deal while he was not a state legislator. He served in the S.C. House from 1989-2004, then was elected again in 2011.

Quinn said he and Stern bought a bank note on the property that later went into foreclosure after the property owner failed to make payments. SQ Investments then purchased the riverfront property in 2010 in a public foreclosure auction, according to property records.

Quinn reported income from “S&Q Properties” on a recent financial disclosure for the previous calendar year, filed last month with the state, after lawmakers were required for the first time to report all sources of private income. Quinn said Friday he thought he was reporting the name of the company correctly and said he would amend his filing.

Stern said his family bought Quinn’s interest in the property after lengthy discussions about doing so. Stern said he has never had any other business relationships with the state legislator or his father.

Politics at play?

The discord between Stern and other board members on the Ports Authority over the RQA contracts underscores how political allegiances and friendships are at play.

Stern accused McKinney and another board member, Michael Sisk, of using the vote to retaliate against Gov. Henry McMaster for the governor’s decision not to reappoint McKinney and Sisk to the board.

McMaster is a longtime client of RQA and ran against McKinney in the 2014 GOP primary race for lieutenant governor.

Stern has invited McMaster, Richard Quinn and Rick Quinn to watch University of South Carolina basketball games in his courtside seats, Stern said.

Sisk, like McKinney, said that if he were Stern, he would have disclosed the business relationship and recused himself from the discussion to “avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.”

“The proper thing for him (Stern) to have done would have been to discuss it with the chairman of the board prior to the board, knowing that was the topic of the meeting,” Sisk said.

Both McKinney and Sisk are serving expired terms on the board until the Senate confirms their successors, whom McMaster appointed.

The two were among five board members who voted to suspend payments to RQA until further board action. Stern and two other board members opposed the action. Board member David Posek declined to comment on whether Stern should have participated in the vote.

Whit Smith also voted against suspending payments to RQA because he said the firm was doing good work for the Ports Authority. Put in Stern’s shoes, he said Friday, he did not know whether he would have recused himself from the vote if he’d had a prior business relationship with a member of the Quinn family.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Ports leader who defended payments to political firm had Quinn family business tie."