Legislative Audit Council Responds, Leventis Still Silent

The S.C. Legislative Audit Council will not publicly release the vast majority of documents related to its controversial investigation of the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by FITS last month, LAC director Tom Bardin produced copies of various media reports and official letters between the agency and other government officials, but declined to release most of the data we are seeking.

“The majority of our documents must be kept confidential by state law,” Bardin wrote.

Bardin cited a South Carolina statute saying that “all records and audit working papers of the Legislative Audit Council … are confidential and not subject to public disclosure.”

Obviously, we can understand the logic behind this statute.  After all, you don’t want to create a “chilling effect” that would discourage whistle-blowers from reporting on waste, fraud and corruption within government.

Of course, we’re not talking about a whistle-blower in this case, we’re talking about a State Senator who is accused of manipulating a supposedly non-political audit process in order to settle a political score.

As reported previously on FITS, S.C. Senator Phil Leventis (D-Sumter) is being investigated by the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) for allegedly tampering with the investigation and prematurely releasing its findings to the news media.

Leventis has been on the warpath against the historically-underfunded Corrections Department since 2006, when his neighbor and longtime campaign staffer – a Department of Corrections nurse – was fired along with another employee for using racial slurs and refusing to provide medical care to black Corrections officers.

Supported by Republican Senators Mike Fair (RINO-Greenville) and Hugh Leatherman (RINO-Florence), Leventis used the testimony of these two disgruntled employees as a basis for launching his vendetta against the Department and its director, Jon Ozmint.

Specifically, Leventis is alleged to have had a hand in the drafting of some of the tools used by the audit, as well as guiding the direction of the report behind the scenes.  Leventis also appears to have been provided with a copy of the final report in advance of its release to the public.

In fact, in a September 14, 2009 interview with WIS TV 10 in Columbia, Leventis basically discloses the content of the report, even prefacing his remarks by saying that “in the (audit) report it’s going to note …”

Each of the alleged instances of Leventis’ meddling – as well as the improper release of audit information – are expressly prohibited by state law, and while our attorneys have concluded that Bardin’s agency is within its rights not to release certain confidential documents, our guess is that SLED will be able to obtain access to any LAC documents it wants.

On a personal note, we appreciate the fact that Bardin took the time to respond to our FOIA – even though technically he is required to do so by law.

That’s certainly more than can be said for Senator Leventis, who nearly a month later has yet to acknowledge the receipt of our FOIA.

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