HAROLD MITCHELL TO STEP DOWN, CITES HEALTH REASONS …
S.C. Representative Harold Mitchell – a liberal Democrat from a heavily gerrymandered district in Spartanburg County – announced plans to resign his seat in the S.C. General Assembly late Friday afternoon.
Mitchell, 51, has represented S.C. House District 31 (map) since November of 2005.
According to reporter Linda Conley of The (Spartanburg, S.C.) Herald-Journal, Mitchell is stepping down due to health reasons – specifically chronic high blood pressure and arthritis.
“I have been pushing the envelop as far as I can push it, and I have decided to listen to the doctors and the warnings they have given me,” Mitchell told the paper.
Mitchell requested a leave of absence from the S.C. House in April after what he described as a “health scare,” and has spent much of the last four weeks recuperating.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Representative Mitchell and his family,” S.C. Democratic Party chairman Trav Robertson said in a statement. “He has been a tireless advocate for the people of Spartanburg, and it is good to hear that he plans to remain active in the community. We wish him the best of health and success in all his future endeavors.”
Mitchell has had a scandalous tenure in Columbia. In January of 2012 he was suspended from his seat after being indicted on tax charges. At the time of his suspension, he was the chairman of the S.C. Legislative Black Caucus – a group that is notorious for its wheeling and dealing under the State House Dome. In November of 2012, Mitchell pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to file state income taxes. He was sentenced to one year in prison for each count, but his jail time was suspended and he received three years of probation.
Mitchell was able to remain in office because the charges he pleaded guilty to were misdemeanors. Two felony tax evasion charges filed against him were dropped.
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In addition to his tax troubles, in 2014 Mitchell was fined $16,100 and ordered to repay roughly $7,400 in campaign contributions after the S.C. House ethics committee discovered he had converted campaign donations into cash and failed to produce receipts for his spending.
So yeah … he’s had some issues.
Mitchell has yet to submit his letter of resignation to the clerk of the S.C. House, and GOP leaders have told us he is planning on remaining in office until the end of the year. If he sticks to that plan, his district would be denied representation during the final year of the 2017-2018 as his seat would not be filled until next May.
Were Mitchell to resign today, his replacement would be elected in mid-September of this year – meaning that the district would have a representative when lawmakers reconvene in January of 2018.
Whenever this special election is held, Mitchell’s seat is a guaranteed Democratic “hold.” Of the 18,585 registered voters residing in the district, 12,051 are black. That’s a 64.8 percent BVAP – or “black voting age population” measurement.
In other words, no “Republicans” will seek this seat and if they do, they’ll be crushed.
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