In an unprecedented move, at last Tuesday’s Horry County Council meeting, Councilman Dennis DiSabato called a special order to end council session before a discussion could take place on how much the county spent in legal fees over the past few years.
Shortly afterward, all of the major news outlets began to FOIA those documents, as well as, emails between councilmen over the matter.
Information previously withheld from a sitting, elected County Councilman by Carotti was then required to be turned over to the media by law.
Horry County Councilman Al Allen, who received the attorney spending report May 6th, maintains that some council members shielded him from public information that should have been made available sooner.
Caught in the crossfire because of his own actions DiSibato, after remaining silent for days, told the media, “There’s nothing salacious here.”
The salacious component, however, was the $605,406.48 paid to Burr & Forman in the now settled hospitality fee lawsuit filed by the city of Myrtle Beach. In that case, the city sued to stop the county from collecting a 1.5% levy on hotel rooms, restaurant meals and admission tickets sold in the city limits. The lawsuit settlement was a huge win for the City of Myrtle Beach (as we spelled out in detail) in a previous article: How A Legal Settlement Helped The Debt Woes Of Myrtle Beach For Now
The County Attorney told MyHorryNews, “I can justify every hire“. His comment made headlines. Carotti had sole discretion in all legal hires.
The problem with that comment, however, was his choice to pay Henrietta Golding of the Burr & Forman Law Firm $605,000.00.
Golding has for years and is now currently being pursued for unethical and illegal behavior. A complaint remains before the court.
The complaint reads: This campaign of destruction was by design. Rather than meet the stated goal of Jack Rabon, the client, by attempting to preserve the assets and reconcile the family, the Defendant lawyers unilaterally waged a war of inflammation and destruction against the assets of both family companies (Rabon & Rabon, Inc. and MB Boardwalk Entertainment, LLC) and the children of Peggy Jo Rabon.
According to the suit: The intentional actions of the Lawyers were for a singular purpose: to fleece the remaining assets of the Rabon Legacy for the financial benefit of the lawyers.
This matter is still before the court.
KEY QUESTIONS FOR CAROTTI
How thoroughly did he vette this attorney? Did Carotti know that Golding previously represented the City Of Myrtle Beach as their outside attorney on several matters?
Vaught And DiSaboto
DiSabato, who is also an attorney, said he can’t see anything inappropriate in the attorney spending report.
As for Vaught, the GrandStrandDaily reported yesterday: According to statements in local media, County Attorney Arrigo Carotti first brought Allen’s request for the information on legal fees to council member Johnny Vaught.
The excuse Vaught gave to the media was Carotti did that because the legal department budget falls within the oversight of the county Administration Committee of which Vaught is chairman.
Vaught told media he had concern that county legal strategies could be discussed and he didn’t want that sensitive information to become public. I would submit that type of information is already public.
If someone wants to assess legal strategy in any lawsuit, they can go online to the judicial records to read the complaint, response, motions and responses, depositions and view the exhibits associated with the case. All of that information becomes open to the public the minute it is filed with the court.
Legal media analyst Jay Bender has an entirely different take than Vaught also. Bender states that the information is and should be public.
The information should have been made available to Horry County Councilman Al Allen immediately upon his initial request.
Horry County Attorney Arrigo Carroti’s actions amount to insubordination. While the County Attorney is hired by the County Administrator, he works for the people and therefore their elected representatives on County Council.
ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OPINION
