Ex-SC House candidate punished for taking campaign money for personal use
A former State House candidate for office was publicly reprimanded and fined by the House Ethics Committee on Wednesday after he used money from his campaign account for personal use.
Michael Kearney, a Democrat who in 2016 unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Republican state Rep. Samuel Rivers for Berkeley County’s District 15 seat, was hit with 15 counts of violating the state’s ethics laws last month by the State Ethics Commission after he failed to file 13 campaign disclosure reports that showed he spent $1,527.47 in campaign funds for personal use. A complaint filed in Richland County also states Kearney made three $300 ATM withdrawals on the same day in July 2016.
The complaint shows that Kearney, as recently as July 2018, took money from his campaign account and spent it at restaurants — $19.59 at Waffle House and $16.09 at Red Lobster, for example — gas stations and businesses on about 20 separate occasions.
Kearney also was cited for transferring $360 from his campaign account into another savings account, the complaint said.
Last year, House Ethics Committee staff identified Kearney due to a number of factors, the complaint said, including failure to file campaign disclosure reports and Statement of Economic Interests and failure to respond to written and verbal correspondences from committee staff. Wells Fargo Bank was served a subpoena, and through that subpoena, staff found that Kearney diverted campaign funds for personal use, made impermissible campaign withdrawals and failed to file certain reports and report bank activity, the complaint said. The committee then sent the complaint to the State Ethics Commission.
Multiple attempts this week to reach Kearney were unsuccessful.
But Wednesday, Kearney’s attorney, Dwayne Green of Charleston, said his client, a first-time candidate, was remorseful.
“This is not rare,” House Ethics Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, told The State on Tuesday, referring to the the type of complaint. “This is the first time that we’ve had a complaint that they’ve (State Ethics Commission) found probable cause come to our committee.”
Smith said the complaint was a direct result of an ethics law that took effect in 2017.
As a result of that law, all ethics complaints, except rule violations, are sent to the State Ethics Commission, where they are investigated for probable cause. The idea behind the law change was to end the practice of legislative committees investigating their own members. The complaints become public if there is a finding of probable cause.
Smith’s committee can agree or disagree with the State Ethics Commission’s finding of probable cause. If they agree, they can have a hearing, settle the case or dismiss it altogether after they review the evidence.
Lynn Teague, with the League of Women Voters which backed changes to the state’s ethics laws, told The State Wednesday the fine indicated that the tightened ethics laws were working, adding that fining Kearney was “probably appropriate.”
Despite the case, however, Teague said lawmakers could do more to close any remaining holes in the law.
“There are still a lot of holes in our ethics laws,” Teague said, pointing to laws governing conflicts of interest and a lack of regulations over so-called “dark money,” money given to nonprofits that subsequently donate or spend money to further a candidate or cause. “It’s so easy for the public to write it all off because they think that (all politicians) do it. It is not true that everyone up here is corrupt.”
As part of a consent order agreed to on Wednesday by Green on behalf of Kearney and the House Ethics Committee, Green repaid in full the $1,527.47 he spent and filed all campaign disclosure reports. He must also file a final report within 30 days.
Additionally, the consent order said any campaign funds left in the account will be donated either to the Children’s Trust or another charitable nonprofit, he must provide all campaign bank records for final audit and he must pay $500 in fines — split into 10 monthly payments, to be paid on the first of each month — to the House Ethics Committee.
Green said he and Kearney feel that the consent order is “gracious, fair and appropriate.”
“And I just want to personally, on behalf of my client, thank you all for your understanding in this regard,” Green said. “He is very remorseful.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
