As S.C. Attorney General Campaigns In Myrtle Beach – Quinn Gets Clever

William Herlong, who is challenging Attorney General Alan Wilson for the A.G. seat,  told The Associated Press in December that Wilson’s office “has created a culture of corruption” amid the years-long investigation. Herlong said Wilson sought advice from his political consultant Richard Quinn on how to address the case publicly, knowing a state police report tied Quinn to the overall investigation.  Herlong has asked Wilson to resign from office so as to restore credibility to South Carolina’s state institutions.

Wilson attempted to defray, minimize and duck questions concerning the probe Monday night while campaigning in Myrtle Beach.  When we asked him if he thought the state had integrity issues,  A.G. Wilson responded, “First off, I’d like to talk about the [S.C.] General Assembly, it is my personal opinion that most elected officials, even ones you disagree with politically, I believe, and I’m an optimist, most elected officials want to do the right thing.”   This comment drew laughter from those in attendance. 

While S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson campaigned for re-election at Horry Georgetown Technical College last night, his former political consultant’s son got clever with Special Prosecutor David Pascoe and the State of South Carolina.

Special Prosecutor David Pascoe was handed a state-wide corruption probe of the S.C. General Assembly in 2014 by A.G. Alan Wilson.   Wilson claimed last night that he handed the case over to Pascoe because he “knew” the people involved.

Former S.C. Speaker of the House, Bobby Harrell was indicted on October 22, 2014 by Pascoe.

It turned out,  that two of the key people involved were an infamous political consultant named Richard Quinn, and his son, State Representative (and former House Majority Leader) Rick Quinn.  The elder Quinn was actually A.G. Wilson’s political consultant at the time.  “The Quinns had a close relationship with the S.C. attorney general [Alan Wilson] while the corruption probe was ongoing,” Pascoe told the judge at Representative Rick Quinn’s plea agreement on December 13, 2017.

The son, Rick Quinn resigned from office in December 2017 and pleaded guilty to only one count of misconduct in a deal with the state.    A conspiracy count and a more severe misconduct in office charge were then dropped by Pascoe against Rick Quinn. Those could have sent Rick Quinn to prison for more than a decade.

Rick Quinn has still not been sentenced as of today, however, because of the clever way Quinn later pleaded.  What Quinn pleaded to “amounts to a single mistaken failure to file that constitutes neither habitual negligence nor official misconduct, which requires willful or intentional misconduct,” Pascoe wrote Judge Mullen.  Pascoe is now asking Rick Quinn’s plea agreement be thrown out,  which would require Quinn and his powerful father to go to trial.

AFTER PROBE INVESTIGATION SHIFTS TOWARDS QUINNS, WILSON GOES TO THE SUPREME COURT TO HAVE PASCOE REMOVED

After giving the case over to the Special Prosecutor, A.G. Wilson then tried to have him removed from the case in March 2016, when the case took a turn Wilson did not like.  “How can our office impede a public corruption investigation when we haven’t seen anything?” Wilson said. “We have no clue whatsoever what is going on. If we wanted to impede it, we would not know what to impede. And if I wanted to block an investigation, why would I send it to the solicitor in the first place?”, said Wilson at the time.  Wilson then took the matter to the S.C. Supreme Court to have Pascoe removed.

The S.C. Supreme Court backed Pascoe’s right to continue pursuing the case.

It turned out that Mr. Wilson was collaborating with the elder Richard Quinn, while the investigation was underway,  in producing a letter written to the special prosecutor.   Alan Wilson later admitted he crossed a line by consulting Richard Quinn about the letter Wilson had written to Solicitor David Pascoe concerning the investigation.

Wilson attempted to defray, minimize and duck questions concerning the probe Monday night while campaigning in Myrtle Beach.  When we asked him if he thought the state had integrity issues,  A.G. Wilson responded, “First off, I’d like to talk about the [S.C.] General Assembly, it is my personal opinion that most elected officials, even ones you disagree with politically, I believe, and I’m an optimist, most elected officials want to do the right thing.”   This comment drew laughter from those in attendance. 

With over 4 state-wide high ranking elected officials indicted, as well as, the leader of the state’s most powerful political consultant organization now charged, clearly something is wrong with our state-wide political systems.

William Herlong, who is challenging Wilson for the A.G. seat,  told The Associated Press in December that Wilson’s office “has created a culture of corruption” amid the years-long investigation. Herlong said Wilson sought advice from Quinn on how to address the case publicly, knowing a state police report tied Quinn to the overall investigation.  Herlong has asked Alan Wilson to resign from office so as to restore credibility to South Carolina’s state institutions.