An email ‘smear’? Conservative group targets candidate for top SC judge’s post

A group that bills itself as “conservative” has sent out an email targeting a candidate for the S.C. Court of Appeals as being a “liberal, Democratic” donor.

The email from South Carolina’s Conservative Future makes the claim against state Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, a 10-year sitting judge running for an open $193,143-a-year Court of Appeals seat.

The email says Benjamin “was a partner in a law firm that donated thousands to liberal Democratic politicians.”

But the email doesn’t say that those donations were made at least 11 years ago before Benjamin became a judge, that many law firms typically give to candidates or that as a sitting judge Benjamin has never donated to any political candidate.

Benjamin, 48, says she avoids political activity including gatherings and does not contribute to political candidates.

“Judges are nonpartisan, and I take my oath seriously,” Benjamin told a State newspaper reporter last week. “I am fair and impartial to everyone who appears before me.”

This email, clearly meant to dissuade the state’s 170 lawmakers from voting for Benjamin just days before the General Assembly on Wednesday elects new judges, has caused a buzz in some legislative circles. Judges’ races are supposed to be non-partisan and free from politics. The email calls on the Republican majority in the Legislature to vote against Benjamin.

Under the S.C. judicial ethics rules, judges are prohibited from a wide range of political activities, including giving money to candidates. Although judges are allowed to vote, they cannot endorse candidates or even attend political gatherings.

Asked by the State newspaper for evidence that Benjamin is a “liberal, Democratic” donor, Ryan Gillespie, spokesman for South Carolina’s Conservative Future, said, “Judge Benjamin was a partner for ten years at her small, family law firm that donated thousands to liberal South Carolina Democrats. With a supermajority Republican legislature, we simply should not be electing Democratic donors to judgeships in South Carolina.”

The group’s email attacked another judicial candidate and labeled both as “liberal, Democratic donors.”

South Carolina’s Conservative Future is based in Greenville. Its internet page says it was founded by John Warren, a Republican businessman said to be pondering a run against Gov. Henry McMaster in 2022. Warren ran against McMaster in the 2018 GOP primary, coming in second and forcing McMaster into a runoff, which Warren lost, picking up 46% of the vote to McMaster’s 54%.

At Benjamin’s hearing in November before the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, the group that screens judges, no evidence was presented about any alleged political activity by Benjamin. None of the commission’s Republican, Democratic or citizen members raised any questions about alleged improper political activity.

Judge Benjamin’s husband is Steve Benjamin, Columbia’s mayor. While Columbia city officials are not identified by party, Steve Benjamin has always been known as a Democrat. On her judgeship disclosure form, Benjamin disclosed several contributions by her husband to Democratic candidates. Judge Benjamin says she is not responsible for her husband’s donations.

“I miss out on a lot of chicken dinners that Steve goes to,” said Judge Benjamin with a laugh, adding she doesn’t miss attending political events at all.

At Benjamin’s November screening commission, she was praised by a number of members:

▪ Pete Strom, a lawyer and former U.S. attorney, said, “I want to say that you’ve done an outstanding job. I think you call the balls and strikes like they should be. ... You’ve got a diverse experience, unlike a lot of the candidates that we see, and I think you’ll make an excellent member of the Court of Appeals.”

▪ Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, a lawyer whose political positions are usually on the liberal side, told Benjamin that while he disagrees with her decisions sometimes, she is an “excellent judge. ... I think that you are on the more conservative side ... you are just not one of those that you’re going to give any bond that anybody requests.”

Benjamin can give tough sentences.

In 2019, she gave a 21-year sentence to a Lexington County woman, Catherine Crumley, for a DUI crash that killed a motorcyclist, Larry Williams, when she crossed over a center line and hit him head-on, killing him instantly. Benjamin ordered a pre-sentence investigation into Cromley to help her with sentencing.

“That sentence is higher than what we typically see in the state of South Carolina for felony DUI,” said Kimberly Cockrell, a victims’ advocate with MADD, an anti-drunk driving group that monitors DUI court cases. (MADD does not endorse candidates for public offices or judicial posts.)

Benjamin’s experience includes approximately 10 years as a state judge hearing criminal cases ranging from DUI to murder and civil cases from medical malpractice to wreck cases. She has worked as a prosecutor in Family Court and as a domestic violence prosecutor in former State Attorney General Charlie Condon’s office. She also was a City of Columbia municipal judge for seven years.

Judge Jerry “Jay” Vinson of Florence County, 60, her opponent, has been a Family Court judge since 2004. In that job, he handles “all sorts of things” including dividing property and custody disputes and what is in the best interest of children.

In their hearings, both Vinson and Benjamin stressed that a judge should enforce the law, not set policy, and be cordial and respectful to all those appearing in court. This is Vinson’s second try for a Court of Appeals seat; it is Benjamin’s first.

Vinson told The State he had “no part” in the email attacking Benjamin and criticized those who would politicize judges’ races. “Lawmakers have made it very clear they don’t want that as part of the process.”

State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said he knows both Benjamin and Vinson, and both are qualified.

“It’s regrettable that people are trying to inject politics into the third branch of government, the judiciary,” Hutto said. “Judges are supposed to be fair and neutral and detached, and both of them are.”

State Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, called the email part of a “partisan smear campaign. ... This is hitting below the belt.”

A sampling of Republican state lawmakers said they plan to vote for Benjamin.

“She has great set of credentials, and I’ve had a number of my constituents out of my district called me on her behalf. That always has merit, when folks call and give you their knowledge on a candidate ” said Rep. Chip Huggins, R-Lexington, who is voting for Benjamin. Huggins, who gets numerous emails, was unsure if he received the email alleging Benjamin was a liberal, Democratic donor.

State Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Lexington, said he had heard about the email, but hadn’t seen it. Ballentine said he will support Benjamin because she has a lot more quality experience than Vinson and she is from the Midlands.

“I don’t know how folks make their decisions, but I would surely hope it’s not based on who gets the most emails on one side versus the other,” Ballentine said. “The justice system is supposed to be blind, so I don’t think we are supposed to see R’s (Republicans) and D’s (Democrats).”

Jonathan Edwards, University of South Carolina assistant professor of rhetoric and speech, said the email sent by the conservative group that labels Benjamin a “liberal, Democratic” donor is an example of what is called an “ad hominem” attack.

“It’s an attack on character — not an attack on any position,” Edwards said. “It tells nothing about any of (her) rulings, nothing about how (she) might adjudicate decisions or the kinds of judgments rendered in the past.”

Dealing thoughtfully with complex issues requires time and effort, Edwards said.

An email attack of this kind that puts a label on someone “makes it easier to put a person in a box and say, ‘This is a good person, or this is a bad person’.... This is not an example of a thoughtful engagement of issues.”

State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, said, the “liberal” label on Benjamin “clearly doesn’t fit.” Benjamin is an extremely competent judge who has ruled against him and ruled for him, and her decisions are apolitical, Harpootlian said.

South Carolina is one of two states in which the 170-member Legislature elects judges. Supporters say this type of selection, as opposed to popular elections or other methods, provides adequate screening for quality candidates and keeps politics out of the process.

Critics charge there is a lack of transparency, and good candidates sometimes don’t get to be voted on, since the screening commission can only forward the names of three qualified candidates to state lawmakers.

A third candidate for the Court of Appeals seat, Administrative Law Judge Deborah Brooks Durden, dropped out of the race last week — a tacit acknowledgment that Benjamin and Vincent were ahead of her in corralling pledges of support from the lawmakers who will vote on the race this coming Wednesday.

This story was originally published January 31, 2021 at 5:00 AM.