South Carolina’s Freedom Caucus Stares Down Ethics Investigation

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by WILL FOLKS

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South Carolina’s conservative Freedom Caucus is the focus of an ongoing inquiry initiated by S.C. House ethics committee – an investigation which could derail the group’s momentum at the very moment it is making serious headway within the Palmetto State’s all-powerful legislative branch of government.

Which, come to think of it… may be the point of the probe.

Despite millions of dollars in secretive, special interest cash being arrayed against it last year, the caucus managed to retain all of its seats – and actually ousted several establishment “Republican” leaders from the left-leaning House of Representatives.

That momentum is now being challenged on multiple fronts, however…

According to our sources, the House ethics inquiry is being led by Mark Moore, a former federal prosecutor who is currently employed by the prominent Maynard Nexsen law firm. The committee which hired Moore to conduct the investigation is led by state representative Jay Jordan.

Jordan’s ten-member panel is comprised of five Democrats – including S.C. minority leader Todd Rutherford, one of the most notorious members of the South Carolina uniparty. Such disproportionate Democrat representation is curious considering the GOP enjoys a supermajority in the House – but that’s something Freedom Caucus members have challenged in recent years.

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Other members of the House ethics panel are some of the chamber’s most left-leaning “Republicans,” including Neal Collins of Easley, S.C., Paula Rawl Calhoun of Lexington, S.C., Val Guest of Horry County, S.C. and Robby Robbins of Dorchester County, S.C.

Will the Freedom Caucus get a fair shake from these left-of-center lawmakers? Doubtful…

Not surprisingly, the uniparty leaders advancing the inquiry are leveraging the investigation against the caucus – and doing so publicly.

Last week, outgoing S.C. majority leader Davey Hiott referenced the inquiry in a public statement issued following the resignation of former Freedom Caucus leader Robert John ‘RJ’ May III. May, our audience will recall, remains imprisoned after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on ten counts of distributing child sex abuse material (CSAM, a.k.a. child pornography) over a messaging app.

While May’s downfall – first reported by FITSNews – has drawn most of the headlines, the ethics inquiry into the caucus could be more closely linked to a still-simmering complaint filed last fall against its former chairman, Adam Morgan.

As previously noted, that complaint – also first reported by FITSNews – singled out Ivory Tusk Consulting, May’s former consulting firm. And as our Andy Fancher exclusively reported earlier this month, jailhouse recordings and messages obtained by this media outlet indicated May was attempting to collect on monies owed to him by Freedom Caucus members in the hopes of subsidizing his defense against the federal indictment.

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RELATED | RJ MAY CLAIMS CAUCUS ALLIES OWE HIM THOUSANDS

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In its statement following the resignation of May, the Freedom Caucus offered prayers for “swift justice” in his criminal case “as this ugly chapter in the South Carolina House of Representatives comes to a close.”

Hiott’s statement blasted the caucus, accusing its leaders of having “changed their tune” on May.

“For months they’ve defended him, paid him tens of thousands of dollars, and even called him an ‘upstanding member,'” Hiott said. “I hope the House ethics committee, having already initiated its inquiry, will follow its process through to conclusion regardless of (May’s) resignation. And I hope members of the Freedom Caucus don’t think this will end the investigation.”

Hiott also referenced Fancher’s reporting about May’s “jailhouse confessions” allegedly having “uncovered numerous questions over campaign finance irregularities” – further accusing Freedom Caucus leaders of engaging in “efforts to quell (the House) investigation.”

Supporters of the caucus believe the House inquiry is a “witch hunt,” and have accused fiscally liberal S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith of using tax dollars to continue his jihad against the conservative wing of his own party.

“Speaker Smith and House leadership used taxpayer dollars to hire friends and donors to investigate their political opponents instead of immediately expelling a child predator from the House,” stated Tom Jones of the American Accountability Foundation (AAF). “Put simply, the Columbia swamp empowered lobbyists and lawyers to go after conservative House members when they should have been bringing a criminal to justice. This is the very definition of a witch hunt, all at the expense of taxpayers.”

Keep it tuned to FITSNews as we continue to track the status of this inquiry… as well as the criminal case against May.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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