Members of the South Carolina Senate voted on April 21 to remove the state’s embattled treasurer for “willful neglect” of his duties, sending the matter to the state House for consideration.
The 33–8 vote followed an hours-long hearing of the full Senate, during which state Sens. Larry Grooms and Stephen Goldfinch, both Republicans, pushed for state Treasurer Curtis Loftis’s removal over a $1.8 billion accounting error.
“The big secret of Treasurer Loftis, the one that he’s kept hidden away, is that there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in errors in the Treasury books today, and he doesn’t know how to fix them,” Grooms said in opening the hearing.
Loftis, now in his fourth term, was first elected treasurer in 2010 and has held the office since.
While two other public officials have resigned in connection with the state’s accounting issues, Loftis, Grooms said, “remains defiant and refuses to take responsibility for his failures.”
Loftis, defending his record, likened himself to President Donald Trump, who vociferously denounced various investigations related to his affairs.
“I’m inspired by President Trump, and I, too, will not back down,” Loftis said.
During prior Senate testimony, the treasurer indicated that the inexplicable funds not only existed but had been invested and were generating returns. After the audit, however, he claimed the report “validated what we’ve known all along,” a statement that Goldfinch derided as “a lie.”
The senator accused Loftis of attempting to cover up a serious error that he knew would damage his reputation.
Loftis’s attorneys downplayed the discrepancy as “an on-paper accounting error” and “an honest mistake.”
“AlixPartners reviewed more than 1 million documents and did not find a single piece of evidence suggesting wrongdoing by the treasurer,” noted Shawn Eubanks, an attorney in the treasurer’s office, referencing the firm that conducted the forensic audit.
Eubanks further held that the audit report provided “good news for the state” in that it found no missing or stolen funds.
“The treasurer’s books reconcile to the bank,” he said.
Loftis’s lawyers also criticized the Legislature’s efforts to oust him as a violation of both his due process rights and the will of the voters who elected him.
“Treasurer Loftis is the most popular statewide official in the history of South Carolina. This is a man who received 80 percent of the vote in the last election, a man who received overwhelming bipartisan support,” attorney Debbie Barbier said.
Decrying the proceedings as “drastic” and unprecedented, Barbier said lawmakers had stripped Loftis of his right to call and confront witnesses by using the state’s removal on address procedure rather than impeachment.
“They’re asking you to make this decision not based on a trial, not with witnesses, not with exhibits and documents and expert testimony and authentication of documents, not with rules of evidence, but based upon a one-and-a-half-hour presentation with video clips,” she said. “There is not one shred of proof and absolutely no evidence to support the removal of Treasurer Loftis.”
The more common impeachment process gives lawmakers the power to impeach and convict a statewide officer for “serious crimes or serious misconduct in office.” The South Carolina Constitution also provides an avenue to removal for “willful neglect of duty” or another “reasonable cause” deemed insufficient for impeachment. That process requires the governor to remove an officer “on the address of two-thirds of each house of the General Assembly” after a hearing.
If Loftis is removed, he would become the first state official in South Carolina’s 235-year history to be ousted under the provision.
It will now be up to the state House, also under GOP control, to decide whether to hold a hearing on the matter.
