Keegan won't seek re-election

COLUMBIA - Saying he wants to spend more time with his young daughter, state Rep. Tom Keegan, R-Surfside Beach, said Friday he will not seek re-election to a ninth two-year term.

Keegan's departure is a major loss for Horry County in the Capitol because it takes away an experienced hand and a coveted seat on the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, said Rep. Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach.

"[My daughter] Molly will be 5 next month, and I'll be 65 in April," Keegan said. "Although I'm in excellent health, you never know what the future holds."

He is making the announcement now to allow time for others to decide to run, he said. Filing for office opens in March.

Keegan said he was influenced by the recent death of Horry County Councilman Terry Cooper of Surfside Beach, who left two young children behind.

"That's something that makes you think," he said.

Keegan, who has four grown children ages 42, 41, 40 and 38 from his first marriage, became a new father again after remarrying several years ago.

This legislative session is only three weeks old, but Molly's attitude is different, Keegan said. She acts as if he's a stranger when he gets home Thursdays.

"It's a very clear message that she misses me and wishes I were here. She definitely has a reaction to my being gone. Between the legislature and Molly, Molly wins hands down."

When his older children were young, he was able to spend much more time with them because he was working as a young cop on third shift, and would come home and spend hours playing with the kids, he said.

"It was a great thing," he said. "It's time that you can't recapture."

Keegan said he disclosed his intentions to other members of the Horry County delegation on Thursday, as well as legislative leaders and the governor.

Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he didn't want to see Keegan go.

"Tom Keegan is one of the nicest, most honest, hardworking people I know, and we will miss him terribly when he leaves the House of Representatives," Harrell said. "We wish him the best, but we wish he would stay."

Keegan rose to a position on Ways and Means that allowed him to help Coastal Carolina University and Horry-Georgetown Technical College grow. He points to important new buildings on both campuses as among his accomplishments.

He is chairman of the Higher Education Subcommittee of Ways and Means, which is the panel that oversees all the state colleges and their funding. He also serves on the Joint Bond Review Committee, which must approve all state bonds including those for college building construction.

Edge, who also serves on Ways and Means, said Keegan was able to look after the county's interests for years when he was the only local member on the Ways and Means Committee.

Assuming he is re-elected, Edge will mostly likely now be the only local member on Ways and Means.

"Not having Tom there is going to make it tremendously hard," Edge said.

Keegan said he is "proud of a lot of accomplishments," including beach renourishment, helping to form the state Infrastructure Bank that partly funds Horry County's major road projects and working for "the largest tax break in the history of South Carolina," the cut in property taxes for schools.

Keegan moved to South Carolina after retiring as chief of police in Greenwich, Conn., where he'd spent 26 years in the department. During his tenure, he was the lead investigator in the Martha Moxley murder case.

"To rise from patrolman to chief, I thought I'd reached the pinnacle," Keegan said. But his life took another turn after retirement when he decided to run for an open House seat.

For each election since, he has beaten challengers by wide margins.

"I am blessed and privileged to have served," he said. "It's been a great 16 years."