Is Curtis Loftis still a shoo-in after $1.8 billion accounting error? | Opinion
Should he stay or should he go?
That’s the question at the center of the Curtis Loftis chronicles, the South Carolina political saga that is building to a crescendo so loud it will make any punk rock song by The Clash seem quiet by comparison. Some powerful politicians in South Carolina want Loftis to step down as state treasurer. They want him to resign or be removed. He is refusing to leave, quietly or otherwise.
Loftis wants to win a fifth four-year term in the 2026 election. This column is about why he shouldn’t.
Once a Republican politician so successful he contemplated a challenge to Gov. Nikki Haley in 2014 and had his name discussed as a potential gubernatorial candidate again in 2018, Loftis has become the most embattled state official since Mark Sanford made it home from Argentina.
Before becoming state treasurer, Loftis’ financial acumen consisted of running a pest control company and his public service consisted of running a Christian humanitarian group. If only his first opponent, incumbent Converse Chellis, a fellow Republican, had been successful at saying Loftis wasn’t qualified to be state treasurer when Loftis first eyed the office 15 years ago.
But Loftis arrived on the political scene in 2010 with a splash, ousting the sitting state treasurer to win the job in the GOP primary by criticizing him for accepting handouts like a state-provided Chevy Tahoe — a “taxpayer-funded luxury SUV” — and slacking on the job. Reports at the time said Loftis accused Chellis of working the equivalent of three days a week, an assumption the incumbent said was based on his meeting schedule and not all the hours he spent in the office.
Given that poor assumption, South Carolinians should have known to question Loftis’ judgment as state treasurer. But there was no hint then that he would be reckless on the job himself. His hard-headedness even won him favorable coverage in reputable national outlets like Governing.
The next three elections, Loftis barely broke a sweat seeking re-election. He easily dispatched a Republican challenger in 2014 with no other candidates in the race, then handily defeated a Democrat and a third-party candidate in 2018 and beat that same third-party candidate in 2022.
It’s this current term where his situation has become untenable. He is mired in a massive accounting scandal that has led to departures of his top aides, the resignations of South Carolina’s comptroller general and state auditor and an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Senate Finance Committee has recommended Loftis’ removal, and the full Senate has set a hearing for April 21 when it will consider voting to remove him from office for willful neglect of duty.
Can you believe we’re paying Loftis $164,000 a year? He’s turned the office into a clown car while crashing it into a scandal.
In the simplest terms, the state treasurer manages, invests and has custody of more than $75 billion in public funds and tries to ensure the state maintains a strong credit rating. Knowing what to report and when is crucial. At issue now is what Loftis knew about serious accounting errors that emerged publicly in 2023 and why he didn’t call anyone’s attention to a $1.8 billion blunder five years earlier.
Staying silent about a major accounting error as the state enters the bond market making inaccurate representations about its finances is not something state treasurers should do. It’s illegal, and it’s something that the SEC will eventually have something to say about.
It’s also something whoever runs against Loftis should have something to say about, too.
Which brings us to the 2026 election.
Loftis had previously said he wouldn’t seek re-election, perhaps hoping to withstand legislative calls for his ouster and any additional pressure from the SEC to step down. Loftis’ departure — which would give the SEC assurances of a clean break from a failed past — would thus help the state of South Carolina move past a scandal that threatens to increase its borrowing costs and could potentially bar it from borrowing large sums of money for any number of pressing projects.
But now he’s changed his mind, saying he will run again. It would be embarrassing for South Carolina if he not only survives this term but wins another.
This past week, Loftis and his attorneys asked the state Supreme Court to stop the Senate’s hearing, arguing it doesn’t have the authority to do what it’s doing to remove him from office. Whether that removal process should start with the House of Representatives — and whether there are the votes to remove Loftis from office in either chamber — are questions in need of answers.
As is the question of how much popcorn South Carolinians should have on hand April 21 if that contentious Senate hearing actually occurs. If so, it will be an important chapter in the Curtis Loftis chronicles. But ultimately it’s only one chapter, not the final one. Which is why another state treasurer candidate must come forward.
Loftis’ hope is that people aren’t paying attention. He calls this a witch hunt to gain control of the public’s money when he’s the one mismanaging it.
For those like me who think Loftis has outworn his welcome and must exit for the financial health and well-being of the state, the immediate priority needs to be finding a smart, responsible person with fiscal expertise to run against Loftis in next year’s election for state treasurer.
If Loftis clings to his seat until the election, someone will have to wrest it from his hands. Maybe that someone is you. You could definitely do a better job.
That’s no joke. Loftis is not fit to be state treasurer, and he should finally face a serious challenger who can beat him and restore the office to a level of seriousness and service that it demands and that the people of South Carolina deserve. That someone needs to step up now.
This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 6:00 AM.