Posted on Fri, Jun. 02, 2006

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Audit urged of Hunley spending

Nine S.C. lawmakers seek review in wake of newspaper reports

By JOHN MONK

jmonk@thestate.com

Nine State House representatives have signed a letter asking for a Legislative Audit Council audit of public funds handled by the Hunley Commission and the commission’s foundation.

“Anytime we spend a lot of money, we need to be sure it’s being handled in a way that’s best for the people of South Carolina,” said Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Lexington, who circulated the letter asking for the audit.

Ballentine wanted to make it clear that, “This is not about attacking the Hunley,” a historic artifact he respects.

However, he said, an outside audit is appropriate, given recent widely varying accounts of Hunley spending by newspapers and various public officials.

Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, chairs the Hunley Commission and has overseen an estimated $12 million in spending of state and federal money and resources on the Hunley submarine since the late 1990s. He strongly objected to a Legislative Audit Council Audit.

Such an audit would be a waste of taxpayer money, McConnell said Thursday in response to a reporter’s question.

In the past, representatives of the Hunley project have emphasized that the Friends of the Hunley foundation — which with McConnell’s oversight handles most Hunley spending — already has an annual audit that is publicly available. However, that audit lacks the detail that would potentially be covered by a Legislative Audit Council audit.

At least five lawmakers have to request such an audit. The House speaker and the Senate president pro tem can also, independently, call for audits.

The Legislative Audit Council is the closest thing to a watchdog agency in S.C. government. Its audits not only crunch numbers, but they also evaluate the way money and personnel are handled by a public agency.

Ballentine said he asked lawmakers who represented South Carolina — male, female, Democrat, Republican, black and white — to sign his letter. Five of the nine signers are Republicans.

“If everything is all clear and aboveboard, there shouldn’t be any objection to an audit,” said Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence, D-York, who signed the letter.

Other prominent House members who didn’t sign the letter supported the call for an audit.

“If I’m Glenn McConnell, as long as I feel confident with things, I would say, ‘Yep — get the audit done’,” said House Speaker Pro Tem Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg.

Some members of the nine-member Hunley Commission, the Hunley oversight legislative panel McConnell chairs, had no objection to an audit.

Commission members Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Anderson; Rep. Kenny Bingham, R-Lexington; and Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, said a Legislative Audit Council Audit would help in laying to rest concerns over spending.

In the Senate, veteran Sen. John Land, D-Clarendon, agreed with McConnell that such an audit would “be a waste of taxpayer money.”

McConnell has been a good steward of Hunley money, Land said.

The audit request comes about three weeks after The State newspaper estimated current and proposed spending on Hunley projects at about $97 million — and about one week after The (Charleston) Post and Courier put Hunley costs at $29.3 million.

The Post and Courier counted public money “spent” and “committed.” The State counted federal, state, local and private money that has been “spent” and “proposed.”

But the Post and Courier figure on public spending is still about $15 million to $17 million higher than the $12 million to $14 million in public money that Hunley foundation officials count as Hunley expenditures. (Hunley officials also say they raised and spent $8 million to $10 million in additional private money.)

The Post and Courier did not count the entire projected $42 million cost of a Hunley museum. Neither did The Post and Courier count all of the $35 million in public money and resources for Clemson University’s proposed satellite campus, planned around the Hunley submarine laboratory.

The Post and Courier Foundation, according to Friends of the Hunley records, is listed as having contributed $80,000 to the foundation.

Post and Courier executive editor Bill Hawkins, when asked if the foundation contribution influenced his newspaper’s coverage, said, “Absolutely not.

“The foundation operates totally independent from the newspaper,” Hawkins said in an e-mail. “I couldn’t even tell you who is on the foundation board. But I can tell you that no one from the foundation, or anywhere else in our company, has ever attempted to influence our coverage on this or any other subject since I have been executive editor.”

Since the Hunley foundation’s creation in 1997, McConnell personally authorized transfers of millions of dollars from State Budget and Control Board accounts to the Friends of the Hunley foundation. McConnell helped create the foundation and appoints members of its board “in consultation with” other members of the Hunley Commission.

The State’s report did not allege any improprieties. But it did point out the unusual role McConnell has played in relation to Hunley money.

The State reported that supporting documents McConnell used to request transfers of money sometimes lacked details, according to records of the transactions The State examined. And it reported that no other senator or representative personally authorizes transfers of large sums of money to a pet project, as McConnell has done for years with the Hunley.

One lawmaker who at first signed the letter requesting the Legislative Audit Council audit later withdrew his name. He declined to say why.

“I’ve got some reasons I don’t want to talk about,” said Lester Branham, D-Florence. Branham did say he liked The State’s recent stories on Hunley funding.

Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens, who signed the letter, said he didn’t think an audit would uncover irregularities but thought it would lay to rest concerns over Hunley funding.

“I’m not taking my name off the letter,” he said.

Staff writer Tim Flach contributed. Reach Monk at (803) 771-8344.