Special Election Considered for Harrell Seat

The abrupt resignation of former South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell has left Republicans pushing for a special election. For their part, Democrats hope next week’s ballot goes forward, virtually assuring them of a Charleston-area House seat they have not held in almost 40 years.

The South Carolina Election Commission meets today to consider whether to order a special election for the seat vacated when Harrell submitted his resignation last week after pleading guilty to using campaign money for his own benefit.

The commission late Tuesday received his affidavit asking that his name be removed from the District 114 ballot, saying he resigned on what he called the “legitimate nonpolitical grounds” of “family crises and substantial business conflict.”

As part of a plea deal with prosecutors Harrell agreed not to seek office for at least three years.

Harrell’s name is still on the ballot and if the Tuesday election in the district goes ahead, votes for Harrell would not count and the likely winner would be Democrat Mary Tinkler. Green Party candidate Sue Edwards also is on the ballot.

The last time a Democrat was elected to the seat was in 1974.

But under state law, if a candidate resigns his candidacy for nonpolitical reasons, the seat must be filled in a special election and that would give the GOP the chance to nominate another candidate to replace Harrell.

Among nonpolitical reasons for withdrawing listed in state law are “family crises, which include circumstances which would substantially alter the duties and responsibilities of the candidate to the family or to a family business.”

The law also lists “substantial business conflict,” which includes an employment change impairing a candidate’s ability to serve.

In the affidavit Harrell wrote that the plea agreement “has been incredibly hard on my family” and the agreement “has resulted in my ineligibility and has impaired my ability to properly carry out the functions of the office being sought.”

But in a memorandum filed with the Election Commission on Wednesday, Tinkler’s attorney, William Wilkins, calls it “absurd” to think that Harrell’s withdrawal from the race was not political.

Wilkins wrote that the plea deal had to do with the misuse of campaign funds and that the timing of the deal seemed to be politically motivated because he said Harrell was trailing in the race. Wilkins also wrote that the fact that Harrell used campaign funds to pay his attorneys reflects the political nature of the plea deal.

State Democratic Party Jaime Harrison said Wednesday it’s “unconscionable” that the Republicans would attempt to disenfranchise voters who have cast absentee ballots in the Tuesday’s election by seeking a special election.

“Any such effort would be a misguided attempt to replace a disgraced party leader in defiance of South Carolina law,” Harrison said in a statement.

But Charleston County GOP chairman John Steinberger said no one is disenfranchised because voters will still be able to vote later in the special election.