SC governor won’t reappoint public safety director with rocky tenure
Embattled S.C. Department of Public Safety Director Leroy Smith will not be reappointed by Gov. Henry McMaster, according to a letter obtained by The State.
The decision comes after years of legislative efforts to oust Smith. The S.C. House of Representatives voted to fire him in 2017.
“I have learned that I will not be re-appointed for a third term as director of the South Carolina Department of Public Safety,” Smith said in a written statement to The State. “While this news is disappointing to me on a personal level, my heart has always been geared toward being a team player and supporting the mission of this great organization.”
Smith wrote a letter to his employees Tuesday letting them know his tenure will end in February.
In the note, Smith thanked former Gov. Nikki Haley for appointing him in 2011. Smith also thanked McMaster, a Columbia Republican, “for his continued support.”
Smith also expressed gratitude for members of the department who have supported him throughout his tenure.
“When I accepted this position at SCDPS in 2011, I could not have imagined the opportunities and challenges that lay before me,” Smith wrote. “From day one, my goal was to serve the men and women of this agency and the citizens of South Carolina with integrity, honesty, and fairness.”
The director also listed his achievements in the letter, including a Blythewood memorial to troopers killed while on duty, increasing trooper and officer salaries and obtaining new equipment for the department.
Smith is one of three African American cabinet agency chiefs in South Carolina.
South Carolina legislators approved of the decision not to reappoint Smith.
“I’m happy that the governor finally saw what the House saw several years ago is that the (Highway) Patrol was simply not a good place for our troopers to work,” said S.C. House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, who helped lead the charge to remove Smith’s salary years ago. “They were being micromanaged. Recruitment was down and (retention) was at a dismal rate. So hopefully the patrol can start to recover and get back to the greatness that I think South Carolinians expect.”
State Rep. Eddie Tallon, R-Spartanburg, also expressed approval of the decision.
“I applaud the governor for taking this stance of not reappointing the director,” said Tallon, who has been vocal about morale problems at the agency since his years chairing the House Legislative Oversight Committee on Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement. “I think the director’s a good man as far as a good man goes. Hopefully, with the change of leadership, we’ll see some good changes, starting with the morale of the troopers.”
Tallon continued: “The timing is right to make this change, and I wish Smith well in his future endeavors.”
Before serving in South Carolina, Smith was a member of the U.S. Navy and later became a member of the Florida Highway Patrol. He eventually made the move to South Carolina, and in 2011, was appointed to lead the Department of Public Safety.
In 2017, though, a clash between Smith and members of the S.C. House of Representatives boiled over, and the House voted 76-20 to oust the director. The vote stemmed from complaints of low trooper morale, turnover among the ranks and increasing road fatalities while Smith was director.
From 2013 to 2016, traffic fatalities across the state steadily increased from 767 to 1,020 a year. After 2016, though, the state saw a slight decrease in most years.
Because the Legislature does not have the power to fire the director of a state agency, the 2017 vote amounted to the Legislature expressing that it did not have confidence in Smith.
After the vote passed, though, Smith expressed disappointment in lawmakers’ move.
“I, along with other dedicated employees at the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, work very hard to make South Carolina a safe place for its residents and visitors,” Smith said in 2017. “As always, I look forward to continue working with legislators and other local and state partners on enhancing public safety in the great state of South Carolina.”
House legislators also voted to remove the money for Smith’s salary from the state budget, but state senators later added it back in.
Smith garnered national attention in 2015 after he helped a sun-beaten white supremacist into the air-conditioned State House during a protest against taking down the building’s Confederate flag.
After a photo shared by former Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey went viral, Smith spoke to The New York Times about his decision to help the man.
“I think that’s the greatest thing in the world — love,” Smith told the newspaper. “And that’s why so many people were moved by it.”
The governor has until Dec. 1 to appoint a successor. The pick must be confirmed by the state Senate. McMaster has not yet named an appointment.
“I would like to thank Director Smith for his distinguished service to our state and for his leadership and professionalism,” McMaster said in a statement. “His assistance in making the leadership transition at the Department of Public Safety a smooth and seamless one will be invaluable.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 12:08 PM.
