The State Ethics Commission is losing an influential attorney who was recently silenced by the commission’s director.

Attorney Cathy Hazelwood said she will leave the commission after 15 years of service to work at the Department of Education under Republican Superintendent-elect Molly Spearman.Hazelwood was a go-to source for interpretation of ethics laws and media frequently sought her expertise when ethics complaints were filed against public officials.

However, the commission recently created a policy to channel all media inquiries to the director, Herb Hayden.

The policy came close to a year after Hazelwood publically disagreed with Hayden over how to handle an ethics case involving Governor Nikki Haley.

The commission is advertising for a new attorney to fill the position.

Republican Rep. Kris Crawford has vacated his seat in House District 63, a month after being elected unopposed to a fifth term.

Crawford said the commute to the state capital and his professional duties as a physician were wearing him out.

The primary will be February 24, 2015, followed by a special election on April 14.

A state House study panel considering ethics reforms has endorsed legislation to remove lawmakers’ ability to police themselves on legal issues. A similar bill failed in the Senate during the last legislative session.

The draft proposal unanimously approved by the panel would create a new independent commission to investigate allegations against public officers. Opponents to last year’s proposal believed the measure to be unconstitutional since the state constitution explicitly requires the House and Senate to discipline their own members.

Additional ethics bills have been prefiled to increase lobbying fees, change reporting dates, and remedy the unconstitutional definition of “committee” for campaign finance purposes. The decision to push several separate bills rather than an overall ethics reform measure is a significant difference from last session.

The state’s Supreme Court has issued a stay allowing voters to choose a House District 114 candidate on November 4, as originally planned. The ruling suspends the recent decision by the State Election Commission to postpone the election for former House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s seat until December.

Although the vote will take place, there is still a possibility the results will not count. The court may rule on the underlying case by deciding to allow the results of Tuesday’s election or to throw out those results and side with the commission’s special election plan.

Independent candidate Tom Ervin suspended his campaign for governor this week and endorsed Democratic Sen. Vincent Sheheen. Ervin, a self-funded attorney and former judge, had the support of just 3.9 percent of likely voters, according to an October 1 Winthrop poll.

The poll also indicated Gov. Nikki Haley led Sheheen by a 43.6 percent to 33.6 percent margin. Haley, the state’s first female and Indian-American governor, beat Sheheen in 2010 with 51.4 percent of votes.

Days after election officials announced no special election would be needed to replace former House Speaker Bobby Harrell in House District 114, the State Election Commission unanimously voted to hold the special election.

The commission reversed the earlier ruling after Harrell submitted a signed affidavit contending he resigned on the nonpolitical grounds of family crisis, including the loss of his job after pleading guilty to ethics violations.

State law allows a political party additional time to field a new candidate if the party’s candidate steps down for nonpolitical reasons. If Democrats do not prevail on appeal, the Republican primary would take place on November 25, followed by a special election on December 9. If a runoff is necessary after the primary, the runoff would be December 9, with the special election pushed back to a date to be determined by the commission.

No special election will be held to replace former House Speaker Bobby Harrell in House District 114. Harrell, who recently pleaded guilty to ethics violations, will remain on the November 4 ballot, but will not be eligible to win the election.

The plea agreement requires Harrell to resign, not seek office for three years, and cooperate in other investigations. The race for House District 114 will be decided between Democrat Mary Tinkler and Green Party nominee Sue Edward.

A constitutional amendment on the November ballot to allow the adjutant general to be appointed has the support of both the Republican and Democratic parties. The adjutant general oversees the state’s National Guard and is currently an elected position held by Bob Livingston, an Army major general.

The parties have jointly launched “Troops Leading Troops,” a social media project encouraging voters to support the amendment.

The adjutant general position will be appointed by the governor beginning in January 2019, if the amendment passes. Party leaders believe the measure would take politics out of choosing the adjutant general and ensure officeholders are adequately qualified.

State Rep. Ronnie Sabb won the Democratic special primary runoff for Senate District 32 by receiving 58.7 percent of the vote against Williamsburg County Councilman Sam Floyd. With no Republican challengers, Sabb’s name will be the only one to appear on the November ballot.

A special election will then be held in early 2015 to fill Sabb’s House seat, which Floyd may pursue. The Senate District 32 special election became necessary when Lt. Gov. Yancey McGill vacated the seat to take his current position from Glenn McConnell, who resigned as lieutenant governor to become president of the College of Charleston.

Photo of Rep. Ronnie Sabb courtesy of the South Carolina Legislature website.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell has been suspended following an indictment on criminal charges of misconduct in office, using campaign funds for personal use, and falsifying candidate campaign disclosures. The nine-count indictment claims Harrell used hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal expenses and falsified his private plane’s logbook to seek payment for travel that did not occur.

The complaint was filed by the director of the nonpartisan South Carolina Policy Council and follows a fight between Harrell and Attorney General Alan Wilson, who ordered an investigation of the speaker’s conduct last year.

House members will hold a special, one-day session to consider two bills vetoed by Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday, August 27, 2014. The bills would allow public libraries keep out disrupters and permit a local tax hike for firefighting in coastal Murrell’s Inlet and Garden City.

The Senate voted overwhelmingly to override the vetoes, but those votes occurred after the House had adjourned in June. An override requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers.

Republicans have chosen former Attorney General Henry McMaster as the party’s nominee for lieutenant governor. McMaster easily won the runoff against businessman Mike Campbell, the son of late Republican Gov. Carroll Campbell, despite campaign support from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

The win is also a positive for former Sen. Rick Santorum, who campaigned for McMaster in the closing days before the runoff.

McMaster will face Democrat state Rep. Bakari Sellers in the November general election.

Lawmakers adjourned sine die without passing the ethics reform bill on Thursday, June 19, 2014.

House Bill 3945 was blocked from a vote by Sen. Lee Bright and Sen. Tom Davis. On Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell formally resigned to become president of the College of Charleston.

Senators then selected Sen. Yancey McGill to be the new lieutenant governor and Sen. Hugh Leatherman to be the new President Pro Tem.

Photo of the South Carolina State House by Florencebballer on Wikimedia Commons.

Lawmakers adjourned the regular session on Thursday, June 5, 2014, but will return for a veto session on June 17. House Bill 3945, the ethics reform bill, passed the House, but was filibustered by Sen. Lee Bright. The Senate will have a final opportunity to vote on the measure during the veto session.

Gov. Nikki Haley confirmed on Twitter she would sign the bill if passed.

The Senate is also expected to select a new President Pro Tem, who will automatically be promoted to lieutenant governor and replace retiring Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell. Former President Pro Tem John Courson resigned to avoid becoming lieutenant governor.