SC political activist John Rainey passes away

Camden attorney John Rainey, a political and philanthropic fundraiser and former chairman of the S.C. Board of Economic Advisers, passed away Saturday morning at Palmetto Health Baptist in Columbia. He was 73.

A source close to the family said Rainey was suffering from an undisclosed illness.

A conservative – or a “tory,” as he would say in a British reference – Rainey was known for his recent battles with fellow Republican Gov. Nikki Haley.

Rainey’s complaints about Haley’s potential conflicts as an engineering firm consultant and hospital fundraiser while she was lawmaker led to a hearing before the House Ethics Committee in 2012. Haley was cleared of all charges. Rainey continued pursuing charges against Haley to no avail.

Former state Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian called Rainey “the most honorable man of integrity I ever met.”

Rainey had a strict moral compass, said Harpootlian, who as an attorney represented Rainey in his lawsuit against Haley.

“Any public issue he thought involved public trust was either right or wrong. In his view of the world, everything was either right or wrong, black or white.”

Rainey also sued Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges over Hodges’ attempt to oust Rainey from the Santee-Cooper board.

“It’s a real loss to South Carolina,” Harpootlian said.

The son of a Anderson doctor, Rainey was an active GOP fundraiser, raising money for Republican Govs. Carroll Campbell and David Beasley. Later, he encouraged then-little-known U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, a Lowcountry Republican, to run for governor.

In the 1990s, Rainey led the public utility Santee Cooper out of the depths of a corporate scandal. Later, for eight years, he chaired the state's Board of Economic Advisors under Sanford, a period that included the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Rainey also was a major backer of S.C. Educational Television. He was founding legal counsel of the ETV Endowment, past president of the ETV Endowment Board and chairman of S.C. Educational Communications.

Rainey also was executive producer of “Corridor of Shame,” a 2005 documentary that highlighted educational deficiencies along the Interstate 95 corridor in South Carolina.

“We both survived Vietnam for some reason, maybe for lack of space in the beyond back then or to join us to fight other battles the rest of our days,” said “Corridor of Shame” director and producer Bud Ferrillo. “Thankfully, he kept me out of his Republican politics, but we fought many battles side by side for the environment, civil rights, getting the Confederate flag off the (State House) dome, building monuments to neglected South Carolina heroes, rescuing thoroughbred horses from slaughter and fighting for the children trapped in our rural schools.

“He used every minute of every day on more causes than can be counted. He was South Carolina’s indispensable man.”

In addition to being a Vietnam combat veteran, Rainey was a strong supporter of military service, raising money for projects that honored veterans, including the World War I monument in Columbia’s Memorial Park and plaques and palmetto trees honoring World War II’s Doolittle Raiders along Gervais Street.

Rainey also raised money for life-size, bronze statues celebrating two Camden-born national figures — African-American baseball legend Larry Doby and Jewish financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch. And he was the chairman of the fundraising committee for the African-American History Monument on the State House grounds.

Rainey was known for his work in the Republican Party, including backing Sanford’s gubernatorial runs and the presidential bids of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

But it was battles with fellow Republican Haley that marked his last few years.

Haley, the daughter of immigrants from India, said in her autobiography, “Can’t Is Not an Option,” that Rainey insulted her family’s heritage by possibly linking them to terrorists in a private meeting during her 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

Rainey said Haley became unnerved when he raised questions about her non-legislative jobs, including her work as a consultant, which later became part of the subject of his lawsuit alleging ethics violations.

Rainey said he made the terrorist comment in jest when asking if Haley had any family problems like her predecessor, Sanford, who had an extramarital affair.

Rainey also released a thank-you note that Haley sent to him after their meeting.

During her testimony at her House ethics hearing, Haley repeated accusations that Rainey was a racist.

Rainey, who had joined a group of businessmen and sued to get the Confederate flag removed from the State House dome, waited all day in a back room at the State House complex to testify at the governor’s hearing. He never was called as a witness.

Following a private burial Sunday on Pawley’s Island, a memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Columbia.

This story was originally published March 14, 2015 at 11:53 AM with the headline "SC political activist John Rainey passes away."