5th District candidates open their wallets to the public

It helps to be a millionaire if you are running for Congress.

That is one finding in congressional filings by candidates for South Carolina’s open 5th District seat.

In two weeks, voters in the 5th District — which stretches from the S.C.-N.C. line, near Charlotte, to Fairfield, Newberry, Kershaw and Sumter counties in the Midlands — will head to the polls to nominate Democrat and Republican candidates for the open seat. The winners of the May primaries will meet in a June special election.

Four of the five 5th District candidates say they either have millions in income or personal assets, according to required financial disclosures.

As of Monday, five other 5th District candidates had not filed financial disclosures with the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. A House ethics rule requires candidates to make those filing 30 days before a primary — set for May 2 in the 5th District’s special election.

Republican Chad Connelly of Newberry, Republican Ray Craig of Clover, Democrat Alexis Frank of Rock Hill, Democrat Les Murphy of Indian Land and Republican Kris Wampler of Indian Land have not disclosed their finances. Ethics rules require a candidate to file if they raise $5,000 or more for the election. (Campaign fundraising numbers for the special election are not yet available.)

 

Among the five candidates who have filed their financial disclosures:

▪ GOP candidate Sheri Few of Lugoff has the most modest finances.

Few reported she was paid $12,720 last year by U.S. Parents in Education. That non-profit, which Few heads, advocates against Common Core education standards – and has received state money for its efforts to prevent teen pregnancy via abstinence-only education.

Few also was paid $35,282 for sales by HIS Services, a consulting and curriculum-publishing company that Few listed herself as the proprietor, and $32,803 in salary from PF&P Construction.

At the same time, Few said she has liabilities — mortgage and car debts — of between $30,000 and $100,000, according to the broad ranges for income, assets and liabilities used in the federal disclosure.

▪ Tom Mullikin, a Camden Republican, reported he was paid $365,488 by his Mullikin Law Firm last year. Mullikin also made $2,100 from Mullikin Strategies, $75,000 for teaching at Coastal Carolina University and $3,400 for a lecture fee.

Mullikin also reported another $1,600 in accrued interest income, and said he had between $832,000 and $1.8 million in tax-deferred assets.

▪ State Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York, said he was paid $138,614 in salary last year by Rock Hill’s Elrod Pope law firm. He also received a $640,106 distribution from the firm, $31,712 from the state solicitors’ retirement fund and $28,082 in pay as the speaker pro tempore of the S.C. House. Pope made another $6,000 to $17,700 from rental property and interest.

Pope also reported he had between $637,000 and $2.1 million in tax-deferred funds.

Partially offsetting those assets, Pope reported he had between $350,000 and $750,000 in liabilities for a 2006 mortgage and a 2010 home purchase.

▪ Former state Rep. Ralph Norman, also a York County Republican, reported $98,000 in income from his real estate development company, Warren Norman, plus $10,500 from his position as a state legislator – a post that Norman resigned earlier this year to run for Congress.

Norman reported he had between $3.81 million and $16.6 million in liabilities from multiple investments, credit lines and debts on various properties – plus a mule tractor he purchased in 2015 for between $10,000 and $15,000.

But Norman also said he holds assets – land and ownership interests in limited liability corporations – valued at between $43.6 million and $122.9 million.

In 2016, those holdings produced extra annual income in the range of $296,800 to $2.3 million.

▪ Archie Parnell, a Sumter Democrat campaigning on his financial expertise as a former adviser for the Goldman Sachs international finance firm, said he earned $1.1 million from Goldman in 2016, plus $9,000 from an ExxonMobil pension.

Parnell said he earned an additional $215,000 to $1.3 million from various stock holdings last year.

This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 6:32 PM with the headline "5th District candidates open their wallets to the public."