Half Of SCGOP Lite Gov Candidates Haven’t Disclosed

For a party that likes to talk about “transparency,” South Carolina Republicans could certainly be doing a better job of walking the walk.

In fact, of the party’s four announced candidates for Lt. Governor, only two have filed campaign disclosure documents as required by law.

Lexington Rep. Ted Pitts and Orangeburg Attorney/ Afghanistan vet Bill Connor have both filed their paperwork, with Connor (who announced his candidacy in March) already reporting contributions and expenditures on his first quarterly report.

Pitts, who announced his candidacy two weeks ago, has also filed his initial campaign disclosure.

Two other candidates, Pee Dee businessman Ken Ard and former Rep. Ralph Norman, have both announced their candidacies but have failed to file paperwork with the State Ethics Commission.

Ard announced that he was seeking the Lt. Governor’s office on May 15, while Norman announced his bid on April 7.

State law requires candidates – announced or otherwise – to file their initial paperwork within ten days of raising or spending their first $500. They are fined $100 per day for failure to file, unless of course they happen to have special connections over at the State Ethics Commission.

Anyway, it would certainly appear that both Norman and Ard have met the requirement for filing.

Norman, for example, traveled to five separate County party conventions in the same day on April 18 – eleven days after his announcement. Who paid for Norman’s air travel? And how much did it cost?

Ard, for his part, literally blanketed the S.C. Republican Party convention with signs and stickers earlier this month, and has a fancy website placeholder with a slick video introduction featuring him and his family. How much did all of that cost? And again, who paid for it?

These obviously aren’t earth-shattering questions – and we suspect we’ll get the answers we’re looking for soon – but rules are rules, and sadly our State Ethics Commission is notorious for failing to enforce them.

Sadder still? A case can be made that the Commission’s selective enforcement is along ideological lines.

Needless to say, South Carolina’s Lt. Governor’s office is a largely ceremonial perch, with little actual power beyond presiding over the S.C. Senate.

In other words, our interest in who wins the GOP nomination for the post is minimal.

Our interest in having an ethics commission that actually enforces the law?

That’s another story …

Update - Ken Ard filed his papers with the Ethics Commission today following the publication of this report.

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