Murphy seeks to reclaim post on Lexington-Richland 5 School board

Former Lexington-Richland 5 school board member Kim Murphy is seeking to return to the panel amid unresolved questions about where she lives.

Murphy is challenging Robert Gantt, the board leader who spearheaded her ouster in 2013 for alleged nonresidency in Richland County.

She brushed aside questions Monday about that question, saying “I was wrongly removed because I stood up to the board on key issues.”

A Tea Party favorite, Murphy crusades against what she considers overspending and mismanagement in schools with 17,000 students along the north side of Lake Murray that are among the best in South Carolina.

Those views put her at odds with other board members, but they deny her removal was a political vendetta as claimed by conservative groups.

Confusion about the location of her home in the Chapin area is unsettled.

The other six board members decided that that long-observed county borders are incorrect after reviewing an updated survey by state geographers requested by Gantt that put her just inside Lexington County.

Murphy didn’t mount a candidacy in 2014 after losing a legal challenge to her ouster.

Residency in Richland County is required to hold the post which she held and is seeking again.

Adjustments to county borders proposed in that area were never adopted by the Legislature and other agencies, Murphy’s lawyer J. Lewis Cromer said. That means her home is still in Richland County, he said.

“We haven’t done anything with that,” Lexington County election director Dean Crepes said of revising borders around the homes of Murphy and her neighbors.

Murphy’s decision could encourage political foes to seek to take her off the ballot for alleged nonresidency. Gantt couldn’t be reached for comment.

“I’ve been through this before and I know that it can be rough,” Murphy said. “But I am ready to tackle the challenges ahead.”

All but two of 18 incumbents on Lexington County’s five school boards are seeking re-election at the Nov. 8 ballot, with Ed Harmon in Lexington 1 and Jondy Loveless in Lexington-Richland 5 retiring. Filing for the nonpartisan races ended Monday.