Haley pounces on Sheheen over legal work

COLUMBIA — so, who can you trust?

Trust was the theme of Tuesday’s first gubernatorial debate between Republican nominee Nikki Haley and Democratic candidate Vincent Sheheen.

What she was talking about was the legal work that Sheheen and his Camden-based law firm Savage, Royall and Sheheen have performed in recent years. Their work, according to published reports, has included cases involving discrimination, a child’s fall and private property the S.C. Department of Transportation tried to claim to expand a highway.

“You personally pocket every day,” Haley accused Sheheen.

“That’s just not true,” he broke in.

“And then you turn around and you sue the taxpayers,” Haley continued.

Sheheen responded, “You can say it, but that doesn’t make it true.”

So who was telling the truth? They both were, sort of.

South Carolina ethics experts said Sheheen, a state senator from Camden who served in the Legislature since 2001, has not been charged with breaking any rules in his work as a lawyer-legislator.

If Sheheen has a conflict of interest, it is inherent to the system of having a part-time Legislature, according to the experts. More than a quarter of state legislators are lawyers, a makeup influenced by the state’s six-month-long session and low legislative pay.

Sheheen’s campaign manager, Trav Robertson, said late Tuesday that Sheheen has abstained from legislative votes when the matter at hand is related to his legal work. Robertson said the bulk of the firm’s cases deal with child abuse and neglect, indigent defense and the government taking of private property for road construction.

Also at issue is the firm’s cases involving workers’ compensation claims that are decided by a tribunal of commissioners appointed by the governor and installed by the Senate.

Sheheen’s firm has earned $756,000 in workers’ compensation fees since 2004, according to an analysis by The State newspaper. That’s money that Sheheen shares in as a partner. his income rose to $372,509 in 2009 from $93,668 in 2001.

Herb Hayden, director of the State Ethics Commission, said lawmakers must decide whether to change the rules. one way would be to require more income-disclosure standards, something Haley, a state representative from Lexington, has called for.

Haley wants Sheheen to release his firm’s client list, but he has declined. doing so, Sheheen’s campaign manager said, could get him disbarred.

Haley’s way of making a living hasn’t been without controversy. She has been criticized for not being transparent with the details surrounding a $40,000-plus consulting job with an engineering firm and her work as a fundraiser for the Lexington Medical Center with a $110,000 salary. The engineering firm and the hospital had dealings with the state.

Sen. Ronnie Cromer, a Prosperity Republican and a pharmacist, responded to concerns about lawyer-legislators by proposing a law to ban lawyers from suing the state while representing its agencies.

Brookings Institute visiting fellow Russell Wheeler called Cromer’s proposal draconian. a fair approach would be to change the state’s disclosure standards for income earned by elected officials, he said.

Reach Yvonne Wenger at 803-926-7855.

Haley pounces on Sheheen over legal work

discrimination, makeup