Health & Fitness
Ethics Commission Alters Makeup
A day after The Nerve revealed that two appointees of Gov. Nikki Haley to the State Ethics Commission were serving in violation of state law, the agency's website lists the seats as vacant.
But commission officials were still silent Tuesday as to why attorneys James Warren of Greenville and Twana Burris-Alcide of Rock Hill were allowed to serve on the commission this year, even though the S.C. House had not confirmed their appointments as required by state law.
Officials also continue to be mum about whether Warren and Burris-Alcide participated in a July 15 “consent” order in which Haley agreed to pay a $3,500 fine for a reduced list of campaign-reporting violations after more than a year of secret negotiations between her campaign and the commission.
Based on the commission’s latest update to its website, all of the nine commission seats are either vacant or held by members whose terms have expired.
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Contacted Tuesday by The Nerve about the now-vacant seats previously listed as being held by Warren and Burris-Alcide, House Ethics Committee Chairman Kenny Bingham, R-Lexington, said in a written response he was informed that the Governor’s Office is “going to send us their requests for appointments to the State Ethics Commission so that we can take up the confirmation when we return in January.”
Bingham told The Nerve for a story published Monday that the Governor’s Office “inadvertently sent these last two appointments only to the Senate for confirmation,” and that the House planned to notify the Governor’s Office of "their oversight in this regard.”
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Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey did not respond Tuesday to written questions from The Nerve about how the governor plans to handle the situation, or whether Warren and Burris-Alcide participated in the July 15 consent order.
Neither Ethics Commission Chairman Phillip Florence Jr. of Charleston, who is a lawyer, nor Burris-Alcide responded to written and phone messages Tuesday from The Nerve. In an email response Tuesday, Warren said, “Please direct all inquiries regarding this matter to either Herb Hayden, Executive Director of the State Ethics Commission, or someone at the Governor’s Office.”
The Nerve on Tuesday sent written follow-up questions to Hayden and Cathy Hazelwood, the commission’s deputy director and chief lawyer, but received no response.