S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson had little to say about the investigation into Lt. Gov. Ken Ard’s campaign spending during a visit to Ard’s native Florence County on Monday morning.
Wilson, a graduate of Francis Marion University, was the invited guest speaker for the Florence Rotary Club’s weekly meeting on Monday at Florence Civic Center.
Wilson said one of the main goals of his speech was to talk about what other things, aside from acting as chief prosecutor and working with law enforcement, his office does, such as acting as a watchdog for the state and supporting local communities through consumer protection.
After the meeting, he said the task force he established to review the case of Ard, of Pamplico, will make the appropriate decision at the appropriate time.
“We don’t normally comment on cases that we’re reviewing, especially this case,” Wilson said. “It’s not fair (to comment) to the individuals involved and it’s not fair to the community or the process.”
Wilson last week assembled the task force, which includes three veteran prosecutors and an experienced FBI investigator, to look into allegations the state ethics commission made and decide if a criminal investigation should be pursued against Ard.
The State Ethics Commission made a 20-page ruling that found Ard did not disclose some campaign expenses, which is required by law, and deliberately misled investigators when asked about it.
As a result of the ruling, Ard was fined more than $48,000, had to pay back the Ethics Commission almost $13,000 for the investigation and refund $12,000 to his own campaign.
On Friday, S.C. Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian said his party discovered that three alleged campaign contributors said they never gave Ard money. Harpootlian also went so far as to say that the state is wasting time and a grand jury investigation should be convened and saying of Ard, “He is not fit for public office.”
Although the Democratic Party isn’t willing to release the evidence of the campaign contributors Harpootlian said he expects their research to be done before Wilson completes his investigation.
Wilson said Monday that if there is pressure on him or his office to complete the investigation in a timely manner, he’s not aware of it.
“The No. 1 job for our office to do in this case is to seek justice, period, end of story. Our job is to get it right, to protect the process and everyone involved and that’s what we’re going to do,” Wilson said. “When I say protect that means to do our jobs and not allow politics to creep into this.”
Wilson said he doesn’t think the investigation might hurt the Republican Party, of which both he and Ard are members.
“I believe that people want good government and, as it pertains to the Attorney General’s office, that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
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