The Nerve

By RICK BRUNDRETT When it comes to debt, the state of South Carolina is swimming in billions of it. Yet an important report on the state’s finances, issued by Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom – the state’s chief accountant – and considered a key document by credit rating agencies in evaluating state debt, according to an […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT S.C. Reps. Bruce Bannister and Dwight Loftis want $5 million in state funding to help build a convention center in downtown Greenville that Bannister says would house a large art collection that had been displayed at the private Bob Jones University. Rep. Leon Stavrinakis, who has donated to the nonprofit South Carolina […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT If you ask the S.C. Department of Transportation how many potholes it fills statewide, all the agency can do is give estimates. DOT says it patched an estimated 57,300 potholes statewide from Jan. 10 to Feb. 19 at a total cost of $3.6 million, the agency told The Nerve on Thursday in […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT Ex-S.C. Rep. Mike Pitts’ decision this week to drop his quest to become the next director of the state land preservation agency is a rarity compared to the steady stream of former lawmakers who glided into high-paying government jobs. The Laurens County Republican, who last year was the House Ethics Committee chairman […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT Over the years, lawmakers have legally made it easy for themselves to continue making money after leaving office through their connections in the Legislature and elsewhere in state and local government. Under state law, for example, legislators can become lobbyists just a year after leaving office. In recent years, at least four […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT State Department of Transportation work crews patched about 43,000 potholes statewide from Jan. 10 to Feb. 3 during the agency’s heavily promoted “Pothole Blitz,” DOT head Christy Hall proudly reported last week. “So a significant amount of work was done by our team,” Hall told DOT commissioners during Thursday’s commission meeting, adding, […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT In 2016, Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman introduced a bill that would have allowed the South Carolina Research Authority – a state-created, multimillion-dollar nonprofit whose governing board included Leatherman – to double its main funding source. The legislation never made it out of the Florence County Republican’s committee. A year later, […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT The S.C. Department of Commerce has paid more than $2.9 million since fiscal 2015 to a state-created nonprofit that listed $69 million in net assets as of June 30 and now wants lawmakers to double its main funding source. Asked for specifics on the $2.93 million paid to the Columbia-based South Carolina […]

  By RICK BRUNDRETT Since the 2017 collapse of the V.C. Summer nuclear project – which the Legislature made possible through a quietly passed law 10 years earlier – lawmakers and state utility regulators collectively have spent at least $729,000 on consultants hired to give them advice or issue reports. The total includes $379,203 this […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT For years, S.C. lawmakers have repeatedly tried through legislation and other means to intimidate citizens who run for legislative seats, raise ethical questions about legislators’ official or campaign activities, or criticize their positions on issues. And lawmakers show no signs of letting up – at least not in this legislative session. The […]