Ravenel responds to accusations of unethical business practices

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Photo: JOHN BYRUM
Thomas Ravenel was on hand at the Marriott to speak to the First Monday Club. Here, Ravenel talks with Bill O'Dell.
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The war of words in the state treasurer's race continued Monday as Republican nominee Thomas Ravenel stumped for votes in Spartanburg.

Ravenel was responding to accusations by incumbent Grady Patterson that Ravenel has been unethical in how he runs his Charleston development company, citing more than 20 liens on properties developed by the firm.

Ravenel challenged a lunchtime audience at the Spartanburg Marriott at Renaissance Park to find any blemishes on his credit rating. He said that in each case where a lien had been filed, it was the contractor or subcontractor who had not paid certain bills. Further, Ravenel said he has since paid the bills in question.

"In essence I paid these bills twice. It's really insulting to try and distort my business record," Ravenel said of Patterson's accusations.

Patterson campaign manager Trav Robertson said Ravenel has opened the door for scrutiny by touting his own business experience as his qualification to be state treasurer.

"It sounds to me like the guilty dog barks the loudest," Robertson said Monday.

The audience at Monday's event, mostly members of the First Monday Club of Spartanburg County, didn't seem too concerned with either real or imagined business discrepancies when it came to their full support of the charismatic Ravenel.

"He just gets supporters wherever he goes," said County Auditor Sharon West.

O'Neal Mintz, who is unopposed for a County Council seat next month, said that he expected Ravenel to win the race that pits him against an incumbent who has held the same office for 36 of the last 40 years.

"It's a bad year in South Carolina to be a Democrat," Mintz said. "Ravenel is super-intelligent and has the right business background."

Ravenel talked mostly about broad changes that need to take place in South Carolina.

"I don't know that the person who's been there the last four decades is offering any bold leadership," Ravenel said.

Among the steps he said he would take once in office, Ravenel plans to use his position as a "bully pulpit" to call for abolishing the state Budget Control Board, which controls much of the state's finances and administration.

It would be "folded into" a newly-created department of administration, which would restore balance between government branches and serve as the beginning of restructuring South Carolina's government.

"We need to reduce the size and scope of Columbia in order to be competitive with the other 49 states," Ravenel said.

Monica Mercer can be reached at 562-7215 or monica.mercer@shj.com