Ethics Commission to hear complaint against Attorney General Alan Wilson

The S.C. Ethics Commission will decide Wednesday whether to drop charges that Attorney General Alan Wilson accepted $11,500 in improper campaign contributions.

Wilson attorney James Smith, a Democratic state representative from Richland County, is asking the commission to drop the charges.

The Ethics Commission cleared Wilson in January of allegations that he accepted improper contributions to his 2010 and 2014 campaigns. The Lexington Republican refunded more than $40,000 to donors who contributed more than state law permits during the 2010 election cycle.

Thirty-seven complaints originally were filed against Wilson by a Wisconsin woman, Krista Thom. However, the commission dismissed those complaints, in part, because Thom would not cooperate with its investigation into the state’s top law-enforcement official.

The commission itself then refiled eight of the allegations, said Ethics Commission director Herb Hayden.

Wilson’s campaign finances were scrutinized after he started investigating then-House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. Harrell resigned last year after pleading guilty to campaign finance irregularities.