Who, what is next in SC State House corruption investigation?

Shock, sadness, speculation were among the emotions percolating Thursday among S.C. State House members and observers, a day after Republican godfather and iconic political consultant Richard Quinn Sr. was indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy and illegal lobbying.

Along with Quinn, special prosecutor David Pascoe and the State Grand Jury on Wednesday indicted two former lawmakers – ex-state Reps. Jim Harrison, R-Richland, and Tracy Edge, R-Horry – and added new charges against two already indicted lawmakers – Rep. Rick Quinn, R-Lexington, and state Sen. John Courson, R-Richland.

Speculation about who and what might be next was stoked by Pascoe’s press release Wednesday saying “this is still an ongoing investigation.”

Pascoe did not elaborate, leaving it anyone’s guess whether more indictments are down the road.

“It’s just sad. I hope there’s not more to come, but it sounds like there might be,” said state Rep. Kirkman Finlay, R-Richland.

Ties to the Quinndom

Especially disheartening, Finlay said, was the indictment of Harrison – a friendly, popular legislator who was in the House from 1989 to 2012, when he was appointed to a $155,000-a-year job overseeing the Legislative Council, which writes state laws. Harrison has been suspended from that post pending the resolution of the charges against him.

Like the four others indicted this week, Harrison was charged with criminal conspiracy – a conspiracy allegedly revolving around Quinn Sr., whose firm helped elect lawmakers — almost all of them Republicans — and then strategized for companies with business before the Legislature. All four indicted this week either worked for Quinn Sr. or were associated with him in some way.

Adding to the uncertainty was the vague language in most of the indictments. That lack of specificity didn’t bother the only two lawmakers who, before being elected to the State House, were solicitors, or criminal prosecutors.

Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, former 15th Circuit solicitor, said, “The purpose of an indictment is to put the defendant on notice of the crime with which he’s been charged,” adding that is what Pascoe did.

“I never liked putting a whole lot of my evidence in an indictment,” Hembree said, adding doing so is “really not fair to the defendant because ... you don’t want to undermine his right to a fair trial.”

Hembree also said Pascoe’s statement that the investigation is ongoing “certainly implies that he is not at the end of road. Of course, when you issue new indictments, you never know where they are going to take you. There may be people that have things they want to tell you now they weren’t inclined to tell you before.”

House Speaker Pro Tem Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York, former 16th Circuit solicitor, said he is not concerned with the lack of details in the indictments because prosecutors and grand juries usually have evidence to back up any charges. “If it isn’t specific enough, I’m sure you will see a motion from the defense.”

Pope said Pascoe faces a major task in concluding the political corruption cases were he has secured indictments – either by getting a guilty plea or taking the defendants to trial. “But if things continue to present themselves, he would follow any path the investigation would allow.”

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said the indictments may lead lawmakers to study whether the state’s existing ethics laws need to be strengthened.

“We probably need to review and potentially even strengthen some of the existing ethics laws to provide greater deterrents for bad acts and to give the public confidence that we are being responsive to this terrible situation."

Questions of political motivation

State Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, said, “If there is wrongdoing, then those who do wrong need to be held accountable.”

But Taylor also questioned Pascoe’s motivations.

"My one concern with the prosecutor, David Pascoe, why does he, a Democrat, why does he only look at Republicans?” asked the Republican. “That's all I'm going to say. ... It leads one to wonder about his motives, particularly as we move into 2018 and into an election year."

Even Democrats — who hold a minority of the seats in the S.C. house and state Senate — said Thursday they were shaken by the latest indictments.

“This is horrible,” said S.C. Democratic Party chair Trav Robertson, who said he took no comfort in the fact that all of the indictments secured thus far have been of Republicans. “No one wants this to happen. This makes South Carolina look bad.”

But, said Robertson, the special prosecutor should go as far as the evidence takes him. “It is time to drain the swamp.”

S.C. GOP chairman Drew McKissick said Robertson was trying to politicize the judicial process.

“Sadly, it’s not surprising coming from a leader of a party that spent so much time and energy covering up for the likes of Hillary Clinton and Harvey Weinstein,” McKissick said. “He should remember the proverb about people living in glass houses.”

He added, “We believe that a fair judicial process should be allowed to play itself out, but after several years and millions of dollars spent, it would seem that a credible investigation would manage to trip over a few Democrats by now, even if by accident.”

Firing back on twitter, Robertson said, “You can try to spin it, but simply this culture of corruption belongs to you and your Republican Party, Mr. Chairman.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Who, what is next in SC State House corruption investigation?."