|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by DAVID PASCOE
***
Last year, something happened on the floor of the South Carolina Senate that should have stopped everything.
A freshman firebrand state senator said a hidden truth out loud. I was not surprised that the senator from Berkeley County had the courage to speak the truth and call out at the very least questionable unethical behavior. After all, he is a lawyer legislator who has stood up to the establishment to fight for judicial reform putting his money where his mouth is by not voting in judicial elections. We need more in the General Assembly with his integrity.
So I was unsurprised when he stood up during session and said, plainly and on camera, that he had been offered between $50,000 and $100,000 by a lobbyist group for his campaign account if he would vote against tort reform. He didn’t say it in private. He didn’t say it anonymously. He said it out loud, in the Senate chamber, where laws are supposed to be made in the open.
***
When a Freshman Senator had the Guts to Call Out an Alleged Bribe in Public Only to be Muted and Have Everyone Look Away
— David Pascoe (@davidpascoesc) February 16, 2026
Last year, something happened on the floor of the South Carolina Senate that should have stopped everything.
A freshman firebrand state senator said a hidden… pic.twitter.com/TtCBgRyMDY
***
Anyone who believes in the rule of law should have had the same reaction I did: how is that not immediately investigated?
What followed was just as telling as the allegation itself. The President of the Senate visibly lost control of the moment. He struggled to respond. When he finally did, he didn’t ask questions or refer the matter to law enforcement. He adjourned the Senate.
They disappeared for two hours. When they returned, they went on with business as if nothing had happened.
That silence wasn’t accidental. It was instinctive. It was the system protecting itself.
If an ordinary citizen accused a powerful interest of offering a bribe, the wheels of government would turn quickly. Subpoenas. Statements. Investigators. But when the accusation lands inside the club, the first impulse is not truth. It’s containment.
That is not how a healthy legislature behaves. That is how an institution behaves when it has something to lose.
When I say that, as Attorney General, there will be no statute of limitations on misconduct in office, I mean exactly that. On day one, SLED will interview every senator who was present that day. Not to embarrass anyone. Not to posture. To answer the most basic question a free society must answer: what happened?
***
RELATED | DAVID PASCOE VOWS TO INVESTIGATE TRIAL LAWYER CORRUPTION
***
Was money offered? Who made the offer? When did it happen? How was it communicated? Was it reported? Was it ignored? Those aren’t political questions. They’re law-enforcement questions. And the fact that no one asked them tells you everything you need to know about why corruption survives in Columbia.
This is why there has been such an intense effort by the good o’le boys to keep me off the ballot. I will bring an end to the era of toleration.
The good ole boys in both parties understand what comes next if I am Attorney General. They understand I don’t protect institutions at the expense of the public. I don’t confuse seniority with legitimacy. And I don’t pretend corruption doesn’t exist just because acknowledging it makes powerful people uncomfortable.
For years, my opponents have tried to brand me as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. That’s never been true. I’m a wolf in wolf’s clothing. I don’t hide my intentions. I don’t pretend to be something I’m not. And I don’t apologize for enforcing the law evenly.
If you think that moment on the Senate floor was an anomaly, you haven’t been paying attention. If you think it didn’t deserve investigation, you’re accepting a double standard that only benefits insiders. And if you think the system will fix itself without pressure, history says otherwise.
Corruption doesn’t disappear because people are polite. It disappears when someone is willing to confront it directly, document it carefully, and prosecute it without fear.
I’ve done that work before. I know what it costs. And I know why the establishment would rather stop me now than deal with what comes later. The culture of corruption in Columbia didn’t grow overnight. It won’t end overnight either. But it will end, not with speeches or slogans, but with enforcement.
That’s what scares them.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
David Pascoe is solicitor for South Carolina’s first judicial circuit, which includes Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties. He is a Republican candidate for attorney general of the Palmetto State.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
1 comment
You have my vote, Sir! I hope you are not another Donald John Trump who tells us what we want to hear, then does nothing or does the opposite of what he said he would.
I don’t think you will be. I hope you get the chance to prove yourself.