More Anderson County Craziness

A rural, redneck, Republican South Carolina county run by a couple of rabid neo-Confederates has awarded an African-American Democrat with a $1.3 million contract under suspicious circumstances.

At least that’s the scoop according to another solid piece of investigative reporting by the suddenly all-over-our-radar Williamston Journal.

Anderson County, S.C. – which last week found itself in the middle of a controversy over its neo-Confederate officials hooking each other up with questionable government contracts – is now dealing with the fallout from another fiscally-dubious deal.

Here’s an excerpt from Journal reporter Stan Welch’s latest bombshell …

Another extraordinary contract signed by former Anderson County Administrator Joey Preston and a consultant for Anderson County has surfaced. This one involves State Senator John Scott, whose company C&S Consulting has been employed by the County concerning mass transit issues since 2003.

The contract was signed on Friday, November, 28, the last day before Preston’s employment with the county ended. The latest C&S contract would pay Scott, Democrat from District 19 (Richland), $1.3 million in severance should the entire three year package be terminated. That amount exceeds even former county administrator Joey Preston’s $1.14 million buyout.

The latest contract shares a number of similarities with a lucrative consulting contract signed with the County by County Councilman Ron Wilson’s daughter, Allison Schaum, owner of Palmetto Agriculture Consultants. Like the PAC contract, in the case of the latest C&S contract, a year by year arrangement was suddenly vested with a severance package worth several times what the actual contract would be worth.

In addition to his $1.3 million deal, Scott’s travel expenses have been estimated by the paper to be between $65,000 – $75,000 annually.

The Journal is still seeking specific details pertaining to Scott’s work product, of which it has uncovered precious little documentation beyond a short questionnaire on the public’s use of County-provided transportation.

According to the story, there was also a “confrontation” of some sort between the reporter and the Senator when Scott was confronted with questions about his sweetheart deal, which prompted him to accuse the Journal of “targeting him because he is black.”

We’ve got plenty of questions here, but the first one goes something like this …

Why would an outgoing county administrator – one who received his own $1.14 million buyout allegedly in exchange for a top financial post in a neo-Confederate group – award such a fiscally-irresponsible contract to an African-American politician from halfway across the state on his next to last day in office?

Let’s face it … the Civil War is still being fought in many corners of Anderson County, and the guy who gave Scott this contract is one of the people ostensibly still fighting it.

Think that’s hyperbole?

Well, in case you didn’t see the print edition of the paper when you clicked on the link earlier, the story that beat out Welch’s expose in yesterday’s Journal was all about a local Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp naming a new cannon “Miss Annie Lee,” after the daughter of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Here it is again in case you missed it …

Obviously, we’re not saying that all (or any) redneck municipalities in South Carolina are inherently racist, or that Scott isn’t providing Anderson County with value for his services, although that remains to be documented.

What we’re saying is that the timing, terms and related scandals surrounding the people who approved this contract all raise serious questions.

And those questions are likely follow Scott to the State House.

For example, will he now be forced to recuse himself when the legislature takes up issues involving Anderson County?

We know that Senators recusing themselves over blatant conflicts of interest would be a rarity in the S.C. Senate, but in this case Scott would be inviting all sorts of criticism if he were to support padding the pocket of the government that’s padding his.

Stay tuned … we have absolutely no idea where this story is going to lead, but our guess is it will be hugely entertaining.

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