Panel punts vote on controversial SC nominee, setting up battle on Senate floor
A controversial nominee to head a state agency will get a vote on the S.C. Senate floor.
But a panel of senators Thursday pointedly declined to endorse Mike Pitts for the job, citing concerns about how the ex-lawmaker ended up being nominated to head an agency whose budget he once oversaw.
Still, the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced Pitts’ nomination to the Senate floor for a vote on the former Republican state representative from Laurens.
State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, hit Pitts on the timeline of his pursuit of the Conservation Bank job. Two weeks ago, Pitts testified he had recused himself on votes related to the Conservation Bank in last year’s legislative session, expecting he might seek the executive director’s job.
House records show Pitts abstained from a vote on the Conservation Bank’s budget in March 2018, citing a potential conflict of interest. But Harpootlian criticized Pitts for voting against a proposal in May that would have stopped legislators from taking a job with the Conservation Bank for a year after leaving office.
Pitts told senators Thursday he didn’t recall the vote. He later apologized to senators for “clouds in my memory,” blaming a heart attack he suffered in October.
“In the House and Senate voting is very different,” Pitts told the senators. “The decorum in Senate is very well-organized. ... The House is chaotic.”
But Harpootlian said the House journal provides a legal record of Pitts’ vote.
State Sen. Danny Verdin, R-Laurens, questioned if the vote mattered, noting the bill passed the House 97-0. But Harpootlian said senators can’t know what Pitts said to his fellow lawmakers ahead of the vote.
“I’m sure if I asked him, he would say he didn’t talk to anybody,” Harpootlian said. “It becomes a credibility issue.”
Pitts said the House Ethics Committee’s attorney told him that he did not have to recuse himself until he had made a decision to apply for the Conservation Bank job. Pitts said he didn’t make that decision until about a week after the job became available.
Pitts applied for the job in August 2018. However, he has said he only decided to accept the job after he suffered an Oct. 20 heart attack during a hunting trip to Montana. The Laurens Republican resigned his S.C. House seat Jan. 3.
A year earlier, Pitts sponsored legislation that would have placed the Conservation Bank under the control of the state Department of Natural Resources, effectively eliminating the job he now seeks to hold. But when the bank’s 2019 budget went through a House subcommittee, chaired by Pitts, its request was increased by more than $200,000 and a full-time position was added to its staff.
Mike McShane, the board’s vice chairman, told senators the increase was due to the cost of the board moving its headquarters to a new location. The new position was added to hire a full-time attorney, reducing the scope of the executive director’s job, he said.
McShane said the board agreed to hire Pitts in hopes of improving its relationship with the Legislature after the bank was criticized for misspending $3 million in 2017 and its long-time director resigned. Harpootlian was critical of that reasoning.
“You’re hiring a lobbyist,” Harpootlian said.
At a previous hearing, Pitts was criticized for past controversial positions he took as a lawmaker, including his opposition to removing the Confederate flag from the State House grounds.
However, a House colleague, Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, spoke Thursday in support of the former Republican legislator.
“I consider him a friend,” Clyburn said. “Mike Pitts is a real human being, committed to helping South Carolinians and committed to conservation.”
In apparent reference to Pitts’ Confederate flag stance, Clyburn told senators, “We’ve not always agreed on things, but he has not been disagreeable.”
Pitts said he appreciated the support of Clyburn and state Rep. Lonnie Hosey, both African-Americans, saying he hadn’t expected the men to speak on his behalf.
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 11:49 AM.
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