The Nerve

By RICK BRUNDRETT As the new University of South Carolina president, Robert Caslen likely will be paid far more than the $650,000 salary that was reported after the school’s board of trustees in a split vote Friday hired him to run the state’s biggest university. Caslen, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former West […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT S.C. Senate president pro tempore Hugh Leatherman appeared relaxed and confident before last week’s votes, at one point smiling and giving a thumbs up. Leatherman, R-Florence, didn’t make any long speeches in asking his Senate colleagues to override Gov. Henry McMaster’ vetoes of parts of a state budget proviso directing a total […]

By RICK BRUNDRETT S.C. Senate president pro tempore Hugh Leatherman – arguably the state’s most powerful lawmaker – has a science building on Francis Marion University’s campus named after him. The Florence County Republican is an emeritus member of the university’s board of trustees. His daughter has been an at-large board member since 2016 after […]