Powerful Chairman Won’t Run In 2010

By fitsnews • on September 20, 2008

House Ways & Means Chairman Dan Cooper will not seek re-election to the S.C. General Assembly in 2010, sources tell FITSNews.

Cooper â€“ who along with State Sen. Hugh Leatherman and House Speaker Bobby Harrell has engineered the greatest government expansion in South Carolina history â€“ will become a lobbyist with the firm of Kelley, McCain and Smith Owens as soon as he is legally eligible to do so.

Cooperâ€™s decision to step down â€“ which he has reportedly revealed to several of his colleagues â€“ raises the important issue of whether or not he is already advocating for clients of Kelleyâ€™s firm.

It is also likely to set up a protracted State House showdown for control of Ways & Means … the most coveted of all House committees, which gets the first real shot every year at drafting the state budget.

Sources we spoke with say the battle to succeed Cooper will likely end up as a fight between Rep. Brian White â€“ Cooperâ€™s top big government lieutenant â€“ and Rep. Kenny Bingham, who is viewed by some as a more conservative option.

Bingham is currently the frontrunner to succeed potential gubernatorial candidate Jimmy Merrill as GOP Majority Leader, a position he would likely relinquish if elected Chairman of Ways & Means.

Cooperâ€™s future partner, Mark Kelley, is a former legislator who served ten years in the General Assembly.

His firm’s clients include Alltel Communications, AT&T, Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, Glaxo Smith Kline, the Grand Strand Business Association, Horry County Schools, Progress Energy and Waste Management of S.C.

Kelleyâ€™s firm also lobbies for Coastal Carolina University and Florence-Darlington Technical College.

Needless to say, weâ€™ll be keeping a close eye on Cooper to see whether he shows favoritism to these clients given his potentially lucrative pay day from Kelley upon retiring from the House.

Technically, Cooper is required to wait a year after stepping down before he could formally register as a lobbyist, but along with the rest of South Carolinaâ€™s lobbying law this â€œcooling offâ€ period is routinely evaded through creative job titles and other loopholes.

On top of that, South Carolinaâ€™s State Ethics Commission has consistently refused to enforce existing lobbying laws, leading many to question the point of having them on the books in the first place.

Comments

By Proud Citizen on September 20th, 2008 at 10:16 pm

So Cooper in effect will be working for Waste Management? There’s some irony for you.

By real conservative on September 21st, 2008 at 8:51 am

Tracy Edge should be on your list. Lets break this down. Brian White has no personality and would have an impossible time because he is from Anderson County. That County is not going to get it again. Kenny has not been on the committee long enough and doen’t chair a sub committee yet, so no experience hurts.Edge is popular among the members and solves a lot of problem issues for people in the budget. He has earned a lot of favors from both parties. Plus he chairs the largest sub committee. Othera who will run will be Limehouse, who runs everytime, and Jay Lucas. Merrills got the same problem as Kenny and will support Edge. Annette, who knows.

By You forgot the best one... on September 22nd, 2008 at 7:42 am

It’s a shame that Gary Simrill’s name hasn’t come up in this conjecture. Along with Merrill he is probably the most consistently conservative, and he’s got to be up there in terms of seniority.

Plus — and don’t underestimate this — his colleagues admire and listen to him.

By Dan Cooper on September 22nd, 2008 at 9:23 am

Dear FITS,
I never read your stuff, however whne my name comes up, some people like to inform me that you have written about me. Usually I ignore what you write becuase it is usually baseless, like this latest post. I have not decided to forgo running for re election in 2010, nor have I reached an agreement with ANY lobbying firm. Any rumors you have attributed as fact are WRONG. Try to get the facts straight if you are going to post something as fact.

By Big Oil Bob on September 22nd, 2008 at 9:32 am

Bring back “Dolly”!

By House Staff on September 22nd, 2008 at 10:27 am

Dear FITS: When they say, like Cooper that they never read and must make a lame excuse for why they have, that means they read all the time.
A couple things: Cooper has been pushing White CONSTANTLY knowing this was coming. You can see it in the way staff was moved around last year by Cooper to help White.
Next, Simrill and Merrill are nice guys, but they are not the only conservatives on the committee and have not been on the committee long at all. In other words they dont know the budget well enough or well at all.
Harrell blocked other peoples path to be Chairman so that he could have Cooper. If he does that again then some very good people will be blocked, again. Harrell needs to get a good chairman and not try the lapdog approach again.

By fitsnews on September 22nd, 2008 at 11:29 am

Chairman Cooper,

While our sources stand by the information they provided, we do appreciate you taking the time to “finally” visit our site.

Just out of curiosity, do you have any comment on the allegations of impropriety in Anderson County School District 4?

We know you’re pretty busy funding balloon festivals and what not up there, but we’d love to hear your thoughts on that story …

-FITSNews

By Tired on September 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm

Dan Cooper (Egg Tooth) is almost as big of a joke as Bobby Harrell……but not quite. Though I am proud to say that thanks to Will Folks, we do not have to look at that god awful Anderson County backwoods bucktooth anymore…….the cosmetic surgery looks good Mr. Chariman!!!

And we are thrilled that you are finally leaving the general ass-embly. You are part of the problem so having you out is going to help out tremendously.

Good luck lobbying the “new legislature.” The real conservatives will not give you the time of day…..so continue to get all that you can for your clients as a sitting lawmaker…..just dont let us find out about it.