Why did SC Supreme Court reject Loftis bid to stop Senate hearing into $1.8B error
The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday a planned hearing in the Senate over whether to remove Treasurer Curtis Loftis can go forward.
Loftis in recent filings argued the state constitution on whether a statewide elected official can be removed for willful neglect was being used improperly.
In their response, Senate lawyers said Loftis’ efforts would create a constitutional crisis.
The court said Loftis’ lawsuit was not “ripe” for the court’s consideration one page ruling on Thursday.
Monday’s historic hearing in front of the full state Senate will set up a possible first vote on whether Loftis should be ousted from office over his role in a $1.8 billion accounting error.
“We are prepared to state our case before the Senate on Monday,” Loftis said. “We know this process will be more political theatrics than the formal trial one would expect to overturn a statewide election.”
Following the Senate Finance investigation into a $1.8 billion accounting error, the panel of Senate budget writers recommended removing Loftis from office for willful neglect of duty as the treasurer has ignored calls to resign. It’s a move allowed under the state constitution for actions that fall short of impeachment.
An outside independent forensic audit found the treasurer’s office along with the comptroller-general and state auditor’s office, as well as an independent outside auditing firm knew about the $1.8 billion accounting issue but did not alert the General Assembly.
That same forensic audit found the state’s yearslong accounting issues has found most of the $1.8 billion did not exist, but also no money was missing. Former Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom resigned in 2023 after he disclosed he inflated the state’s cash balances by $3.5 billion over 10 years. State Auditor George Kennedy resigned after the independent forensic auditor issued its report into the state’s accounting issues.
Loftis has been critical of the process and questions whether the decision on his fate had already been made.
“Once the Senate begins these constitutionally-flawed proceedings, (Loftis) will never be able to fully repair his reputation,” the treasurer’s lawyer’s wrote. “A person’s reputation, once tarnished, can never be completely restored to its original condition. It will always carry doubt and suspicion. This is particularly true in the case of a popularly elected official, whose ability to effectively govern depends upon the trust placed in him by his constituents.”
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey and Senate staff insist members minds aren’t made up and they are taking the planned proceedings seriously.
“Most people have not made a decision,” Massey said. “We’re going to allow the Senate presenters to make their case. We’ll allow the treasurer to make his argument, and then it’ll be a decision made. I haven’t made up my mind. I think almost everybody hasn’t made up their mind. They want to hear what the evidence is.”
He added most of the members have not been part of the subcommittee process and don’t know all of the details around the issue.
If 31 senators vote to remove, the resolution will move to the House, where GOP leadership has remained quiet on whether they would even take it up.
Is this hearing really about the 2026 election?
Monday’s hearings are expected to have a high amount of media attention, with cameras rolling and video being streamed.
With Loftis running for reelection, his audience may not be the 46 members of the upper chamber. His audience may be the GOP voting base who will cast ballots in the 2026 primary.
“Our audience is going to be the folks who have an open mind, but mainly we’ve got to make our audience a broader outside public. We haven’t done that in the past,” Loftis told reporters ahead of an appearance in front of the Greenville County Republican Party convention earlier this week.
He said his office kept quiet at the beginning of the Securities and Exchange Commission investigation in an effort to limit its public comments.
“It turned out that I was the person in South Carolina that went quiet,” Loftis said. “So we let the story get out from us, and it’s been a lot of trouble. It’s been a lot of personal grief for me, but we’re going to take that back.”
Loftis, a Republican first elected in 2010, did not face a primary challenge in 2022. In the general election, he received 79.67% against a third-party challenger who received 19% of the vote. No Democrat ran for the office.
But senators sitting as de facto jurors, even though Monday’s hearing will not be a judicial setting but rather a legislative hearing, say they’re not focused on the 2026 election.
“I don’t care about next year as far as that decision-making process goes. Now, I would not be surprised if the treasurer makes it about a campaign commercial, but I don’t think that’s going to be our focus,” Massey said. “If it turns into a circus from the Senate perspective, then it’s going to be hard to get the votes necessary to get there. I fully expect the treasurer to turn it into a circus, because that’s what every day is, but I think most of us are willing to to listen to what the evidence is and then make a decision from there.”
Loftis has been on the offensive recently ahead of the hearing, doing media interviews and speaking at county GOP conventions.
“I need your help. I need you to call your senators. I need you to say ‘I support Treasurer Loftis, and I want you to support him too.’ I need that. I’ve never asked that, ever, and I’m going to win this. I’m going to run for reelection. I’m going to win that,” Loftis told the Greenville county crowd.
