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Article published Feb 10, 2005
Fight for new magistrates continues
Robert W. Dalton
Staff
Writer
COLUMBIA -- A simmering feud among Spartanburg County's
state senators has reached the boiling point over the pending appointments of
three new magistrates.Gov. Mark Sanford has already appointed Brian Taylor, a
county constable, to fill the vacancy created when the state Supreme Court
suspended Larry Hutchins.Sanford also will appoint former Spartanburg Mayor
James Talley and Tommy Wall, a prosecutor in the 7th Circuit Solicitor's Office,
to replace two magistrates who will not be reappointed.Taylor, 25, is a
lieutenant in the National Guard and spent a year in Iraq. He was a supporter of
Hawkins during the senator's recent campaign for re-election.Although he
declined to identify anyone other than Taylor, Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg,
said all three could be confirmed as early as today.Talley said nothing had been
finalized, but that he hoped to hear something today. Wall declined to
comment.The governor appoints magistrates based on the recommendations of a
county's senators, but Sen. Glenn Reese, D-Boiling Springs, said the three
Republicans -- Hawkins, Jim Ritchie and Harvey Peeler -- have left him out of
the process."Here they are sending this through and not even coming to me,"
Reese said. "This is the first I ever heard of that."Ritchie said he had talked
with Reese several times about all of the county's magistrates.Hawkins said
Reese took himself out of the process."I tried and Sen. Ritchie tried," Hawkins
said. "Sen. Reese never crossed the aisle to talk to us."Reese said he didn't
know which current magistrates would lose their jobs. But he said that Hawkins
approached him in the Senate chamber during the last week of January and said he
wanted to remove Sarah Simmons, Nancy Adkins and John Poole."Adkins and Poole
haven't been mentioned to me again, but I haven't been in any discussions with
(the Republican senators)," Reese said.Reese also said he wanted torecommend
Talley as the replacement for Hutchins, but now it appears Talley will be
swapped for Simmons.Hawkins declined to say which magistrates would be let go.
He said it was "irresponsible" for Reese to speculate on who was out when he
hasn't been a part of the process."I'm not going to comment on Sen. Reese's
speculation, other than to say he's mostly confused," Hawkins said."Sen.
Ritchie, Sen. Peeler and myself will be making changes to improve magistrate
court. By the end of the week I think it's fair to say that the first round of
changes will be made and announced."Ritchie also declined to comment, saying he
needed to tell the affected magistrates before releasing their names. He said
that could happen today if the Governor's Office completes its work and Sanford
makes the appointments.Simmons and Poole said no one has contacted them. Adkins
works only weekends and could not be reached for comment.In the past, all of a
county's senators had to agree on a recommendation to send it to the governor.
But the senate changed its rules in January to allow a super majority to make
the recommendation.The change came – in part – because 19 of Spartanburg
County's 20 magistrates have been on holdover status since April 2003 because of
a squabble among the senators.Hawkins and Ritchie fought for more than a year to
replace Hutchins. Reese backed Hutchins.Last January, three female employees
were fired and rehired amid accusations about Hutchins' conduct. A compromise
that would have allowed Hutchins to remain on holdover status while the other 18
magistrates were reappointed fell through in June 2003 because Reese wouldn't
recommend the others without Hutchins.The state Supreme Court suspended Hutchins
in August and he agreed to retire by Dec. 31, 2004. He later said he had changed
his mind, but retired after the high court said it would hold him in contempt if
he didn't.Hawkins said he couldn't emphasize enough how important it was to
change the rule."If we thought we could get an agreement with Sen. Reese we
would try," Hawkins said. "But we're having to leave him behind."Reese said it
wasn't fair to his constituents to leave him out."Thirty-six percent of the
population of Spartanburg County is in my district," Reese said. "When 15 of the
20 magistrates go to work, they go to work in my district. Hopefully they'll
give me a little more input into the process where can have more equity and
justice."Staff writer Alexander Morrison contributed to this report.Robert W.
Dalton can be reached at 562-7274 or bob.dalton@shj.com.