Columbia mayor hopeful Rickenmann questions Housing Authority voter turnout effort
Columbia mayoral candidate Daniel Rickenmann on Wednesday called on officials to investigate efforts by a public housing agency to get voters to the polls in Tuesday’s runoff election, saying Columbia Housing Authority resources should not be “redirected in support of political activity.”
Rickenmann, a District 4 Columbia City Councilman who faces Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine in the Nov. 16 mayoral runoff election, issued a news release Wednesday afternoon that called on U.S. Reps. Jim Clyburn, a Columbia Democrat, and Joe Wilson, a Lexington County Republican; state Attorney General Alan Wilson and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general to “investigate and ensure the Columbia Housing Authority is focused on serving the people.”
Rickenmann’s release included a copy of an email that his campaign says was sent Nov. 8 by Columbia Housing Authority board Chairman Ernest Cromartie III to the organization’s CEO, Ivory Mathews, with other members of the housing authority board copied on the message.
State Ethics Commission records indicate that attorney Ernest Cromartie has donated twice to Devine’s campaign this year. But the email does not mention any candidate by name, nor does it reference any specific city race, including the mayor’s race. Tuesday’s runoff elections also feature a race for an at-large Columbia City Council seat.
The email sent with the news release said that several board commissioners were concerned about low voter participation from housing authority residents and housing voucher recipients, and directed several action items ahead of the Nov. 16 runoffs.
Among those action items included:
▪ Robocalls to residents and voucher recipients every day up until election day reminding them to vote.
▪ Daily text messages to residents and voucher recipients to go vote.
▪ Personal calls to residents who were displaced from the Marion Street high rise apartments (which has been closed for redevelopment) reminding them to vote and offering transportation to the polls if it is needed.
▪ Knocking on doors in Columbia Housing Authority properties and offering residents transportation to the polls, to include creating a transportation schedule that would include vans in “rolling rotation” that could get residents to polling places.
The email says that “at each of our properties we need to physically get the vote out.”
“Voter engagement is important to this board and HUD, as I know it to be important to you, as well,” the email says. “As such, reallocation of resources (personnel time, use unrestricted funds, etc.) is authorized where needed to accomplish this goal. We have less than a week to get this done, please update the board daily on progress, successes and ongoing efforts to empower our residents through voting.”
Mathews, the housing authority CEO, issued a statement on the matter late Wednesday afternoon.
“Under my administration, Columbia Housing has not and will not redirect staff or financial resources to any impermissible voter activities,” Mathews said in the statement.
The statement from the housing authority said it has focused its CH Votes campaign on “voter registration, voter education and voter mobilization” and that, because some of the “mobilization activities” mentioned in the email “fall outside the scope of the CH Votes campaign,” Mathews reached out to HUD for input on Monday. No action has been taken on Cromartie’s request, and the housing authority is awaiting HUD’s response.
The housing authority release did not specify which parts of the request fell outside the scope of its voter campaign.
In his news release, Rickenmann points out Cromartie’s donations to Devine’s campaign. State Ethics Commission records show Cromartie, a Columbia attorney, has donated a total of $850 to Devine’s campaign this year. Ethics Commission records also indicate housing authority board members Selena Pickens ($100), James Chatfield ($300) and Anne Sinclair ($1,000) have donated to Devine this year.
The State left a message for Cromartie at his law office Wednesday afternoon. The paper also left a message for Sinclair.
A Housing Authority spokeswoman confirmed Cromartie sent the email to Mathews and the other board members, but declined further comment.
“I want every citizen in Columbia to vote,” Rickenmann said. “But money designed to serve the most vulnerable among us should never be redirected to serve the political interests of insiders. This is the kind of behavior that has left people behind in Columbia for over a decade.”
When reached by The State, Devine was quick to note that her name is not mentioned in Cromartie’s email, nor does the email encourage residents to vote for her or any other candidate.
“My response is, ‘What’s the problem?’” Devine said. “The Housing Authority for many years has encouraged voters. ... We all should be encouraging increased voter turnout everywhere. My position is, with the Housing Authority especially, when it’s a lower wealth community, predominantly African American, and a lot of people don’t have transportation or access to the polls, we should want the Housing Authority to do what they can to encourage people to vote.”
When asked if she thought her campaign was being shown any favor by the Housing Authority with its voter turnout push, considering board members have donated to her campaign, Devine said she didn’t think so, again noting that the email to Mathews and the commissioners did not name any candidate or race.
“I’m not sure why this is an issue, unless you are concerned and want to suppress the African American turnout,” Devine said.
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 3:15 PM.
