SC Senate leader’s daughter wins college board seat

A Florence pastor replaced on a college board Wednesday by the daughter of an influential state senator said S.C. lawmakers should consider a ban on electing their relatives to prized seats overseeing universities.

Karen Leatherman, daughter of Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman, unseated Mary Finklea from Francis Marion University’s board by a 126-11 vote of legislators.

Karen Leatherman was one of at least six relatives of lawmakers who won college board seats Wednesday.

While wishing Leatherman the best, Finklea said legislators ought to change the rules that allow the election of their family members to college boards as part of the ongoing ethics reform debate.

“We won’t even encourage that on our church council, much less a public board,” Finklea, a pastor at Florence’s Cross and Crown Lutheran Church, said at the State House.

Neither Karen Leatherman nor her father — a Florence Republican, considered the state’s most powerful politician— offered any criticism of Finklea’s two years on the Francis Marion board. Karen Leatherman said she had not met Finklea until they faced each other for the board seat. Hugh Leatherman said he had never met the pastor.

“I’m a little disappointed that being good at the job was not good enough,” Finklea said.

Asked if she thought the vote was fair, Finklea said, “I hope and trust people chose by the qualifications. I can put my head on the pillow and rest easy at night.”

Karen Leatherman said her father, a 35-year lawmaker who heads the Senate and its budget-writing committee, had an influence on the vote. But, she added, her background set her apart for the seat on the Florence college.

“The biggest thing is that I’m from Florence. I have a business in downtown Florence, and I am an alumni of FMU,” she said. “That speaks for itself.”

Finklea, who grew up in Charleston, did not graduate from Francis Marion.

The race for the at-large seat at the state’s seventh-largest college posed a challenge to lawmakers.

“So Senator Leatherman's daughter and a pastor. Our job never gets easier, does it?” Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, who heads the board that reviews candidates for college boards, said after a review of the candidates in March. (Peeler’s brother, former Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler, was re-elected to the Clemson board.)

Only one senator, Spartanburg Republican Lee Bright, and 10 House members voted Wednesday for Finklea.

Karen Leatherman’s father has deep ties to Francis Marion. Hugh Leatherman is a member emeritus of the university’s board. A science building at the school also is named after the senator as well as a professorship in public service.

Karen Leatherman said she has been thinking about running for college’s board for at least two years, adding she wants to help her alma mater continue boosting its health-science work.

“I just want to give back to the university that got me started,” said Leatherman, whose term runs through 2020.

Incumbents on college boards usually do not face competition. Just five races were contested among the 47 college board seats to be filled. As other candidates withdrew, however, the only remaining contested race Wednesday was between Finklea and Leatherman.

Hugh Leatherman, who has said he did not think lawmakers would vote for his daughter because of him, did not vote in the race.

“Karen will do an outstanding job,” he said after his daughter won. “She’s dedicated, and she’s her own person.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 12:25 PM with the headline "SC Senate leader’s daughter wins college board seat."