CHAFFIN, WIFE GAVE THE GUV $4,000 PRIOR TO HIS INVOLVEMENT
A scandal surrounding Gov. Mark Sanford’s alleged unethical actions in interfering with the South Carolina Ports Authority’s bidding process is growing legs in light of new information obtained by The Palmetto Scoop that shows a monetary link between the state’s top executive and a Lowcountry developer.
Last week, the Associated Press reported that the governor “enmeshed himself” in the state’s $26 million sale of Port Royal — South Carolina’s smallest state-owned port — when he admitted to speaking with Jim Chaffin of Chaffin/Light Associates as that company vied to buy the property. Sanford denied having a role in the bidding process but, according to the AP’s story, said he liked the developer’s ideas and that he was simply attempting to gather as much information as possible to help the residents of Port Royal better understand the project.
But it now appears that there may actually be more to Sanford’s dealings with Chaffin than the governor initially admitted.
The Palmetto Scoop has discovered that Chaffin and his wife gave $4,000 to Sanford over a one-year period prior to the finalization of the port deal. A search of the state Ethics Commission’s Website yielded a Nov. 18, 2005 contribution from Chaffin to Sanford in the amount of $2,500 as well as a $500 donation on Sept. 28, 2006. His wife Betsy gave an additional $1,000 on the same date as Chaffin’s first contribution.
Those donations cast serious doubts on Sanford’s claims that his involvement with Chaffin was simply an attempt to better understand the port deal and that he did not act in an unethical manner. At the very least, he had a clear conflict of interest. At the very worst, he took a bribe.
The new insight also reflects the Sanford Administration’s ill-advised gamble in taking a “bring it on” approach to dealing with the issue. When state legislators and others questioned the governor’s involvement, his spokesman Joel Sawyer brazenly encouraged further exploration to exonerate Sanford.
“We would welcome any objective look at the governor’s involvement in this issue,” Sawyer said. “What we know is that an investigation would unequivocally show that the governor was acting in the best interest of the taxpayers, and in the best interest of the people in Port Royal who want a vibrant town center and access to the water.”
Sanford’s association with Chaffin went beyond the first round of bidding, though.
The Chaffin/Light bid eventually fell through and the development rights inevitably went to David Staley of Hilton Head Island and an out-of-state company. At that time, it is alleged that Sanford — who oversees the group responsible for approving any proposals by the Ports Authority, the State Budget and Control Board — attempted to use his influence to undermine Staley.
It was reported that he made a round of phone calls to those responsible for drawing up the deal, during which he attacked Staley’s reputation and attempted to dissuade them from approving the project. That act was seen by critics as an attempt to help Chaffin put together another more successful bid.
When placed in context with the Chaffin donations, the puzzle finally begins to come together.
Sanford’s detractors will be quick to point out that this new evidence provides a perfect — and possibly illegal — rationale for the governor’s involvement in the port deal. Worse yet for Sanford is that this new revelation will add weight to the lawsuit brought by Carroll Campbell III, who claims he was wrongly removed as a member of the Ports Authority and that the governor is abusing his power.
This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Executive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Did anyone expect anything else from Sanford?
Marshall Marshall Marshall what have you gone and done now? You went from a vice President to a jailbird. The Scoop, you better watch yur back because his goons are gonna be gunnin for you,
How much money did the Chaffin family give to Sanford’s nonprofits???
Sanford controls millions in campaign funds and nonprofits…how much of that secret money came from the Chaffins’ or their surrogates?
Anyone paying attention to Sanford knows he is a fraud…
He is the Sprio Agnew of our times…except he has a better tan.
Yea, the true story is the nonrofits. Crack open those 6 babies and you have the whole story.
It is amazing to me that anyone would think that the Governor of the state can accept large contributions from people and NEVER tell the public. Damn, I want to know how is paying my governer and for what.
Adam Fogel, Adam Fogel, you better watch out. About now Chris Drummond is calling half the private dicks in town and they will be watching you, listening to you, and asking about you. The Sandfords are vicious people and they have a long history of dirty rotten politics.
I’m not so sure that this whole affair is not a set-up. Right now, there’s smoke, but I have yet to be convinced that there is fire.
As to vindictiveness, the Campbells take a back seat to no one. Carroll would be mortified.
Per vice-presidency, I think Lindsey has his eyes on that particular prize.
I have known Mark for 15 years. He was an excellent Congressman and a pretty good governor. As both a talkshow host and print journalist, Mark has been accessible and transparent in an incredibile professional manner in all my dealings with him.
Why is it that executives in this state are in real estate (Sandford, Joe Riley, Lynn Wood Wilson, etc) and the legislators are attorneys? Oil and water.
I think that there will be a media firestorm in which everyone shall be burned.
These elected officials think they can do anything the ywant.. I hope all of this affair comes out into the open.
SC has had such dirty politics for so long. Are we destined to have criminals like this in the State House forever?
I knew a private dick once, but that’s a story for another blog. All this really proves is that it is simply impossible to “undermine” a developer. They’re weeds; you pull one up, five other stronger ones take its place. Not even ALL of the private dicks, and the people who love ‘em, could dream of eradicating a greed-fueled, hell-bent developer… I mean, uh, weed.
hahahaha…great post
And while we’re at it… a real journalist with half a mind to do so, maybe even a blogger (but it would mean they’d have to, like, shower and work and stuff) could start sniffing around on what amounts, if any of course, have been donated by David Staley of Hilton Head Island and his pals here in the ATL at Global Asset Alternatives LLC to politicians of any stripe and their campaigns. Heck, some might even be associated with the Port Royal deal, for all we know. Bet even one of those private dicks could do even that rather lite research.
Rather than go to all that hard work and expense, soon we won’t have to! There’s a cool new aggregating tool in Beta right now that will display EVERY financial contribution made to politicians and sort them by earmarks, legislation, lobbyists, corporations and individuals, and the corporation (or LLC) that individual is associated with, etc.
Unfortunately, this cool new tool has been created to sort members of Congress only, for the time being. Even so, you have to have the magic word to log into this new public service, while it’s in development:
http://influenceexplorer.com
Spacey,
How the hell are ya? Haven’t heard from you since my Peach Pundit days. Welcome to The Palmetto Scoop… come back often.
- A.F.
Did it ever occur to you that Sanford may have been right about his concerns with the developer who won the bid? The only reason the state is selling the port is because Sanford pushed the Ports Authority to do so. As he was responsible for the sale - and made promises to the locals in Port Royal that it would be developed responsibly - is it likely that he was just doing the necessary due diligence to make sure the state lived up to its end of the bargain?
Sanford is the guy who has vetoed tens of millions of dollars for project in Charleston - and in doing so has ticked off donors that gave him way more money than these people. He raised over $7 million for his run for governor in 2006 - to imply that a relatively miniscule $400o contribution from one donor three years ago would impact his actions is ludicrous.
This silly hit piece talks about him having a conflict of interest, but fails to mention that the fact that when it came time to vote whether or not to accept the offer, Sanford recused himself from voting. I´m pretty sure that´s what you do if there is a conflict.
While it might be fun to talk about¨”secretive” donations to non-profits, the reality is that every entity Sanford is involved with has fully disclosed all of their donors - even though some of them weren´t legally required to do so. It´s all there on the state´s ethics page because this governor believes in disclosure.
Now start asking legislators to do the same thing and see what happens. How about the head of the Senate first - Glenn, why don´t you tell us what groups have given to the Hunley so we can see how that corresponds to legislation that you have pushed?
If you want a real “pay-to-play” story, check out most of the general assembly - especially on the senate side. Trying to tie a relatively small donation from three years ago to the governor who recused himself from a vote regarding the donor is just plain pathetic.
Actually I just found a huge donation to a group associated with Sanford - and the donation is from a group involved in the Port Royal development. The out of state developer that Sanford was allegedly attempting to undermine is Global Asset Alternatives. According to their website (http://portroyalharbour.com/development-team.html) they are partially backed by a Trammel Crow investment fund out of Texas.
When the group´s associated with Sanford voluntarily disclosed their donations, he was criticized for one in particular - a very large contribution to a non-profit from the Crow family out of Texas. This donation was was much, much larger than the $4000 from the Light family mentioned in the piece above.
So Sanford did have a very signifcant contributor that would benefit financially from winning this bid….the same contributor that Sanford is alleged to have worked against.
This gives Sanford yet another reason to have recused himself from the vote. Which he did.
All in all this shows once again what even most of Sanford´s critics agree is the truth - he acts on principal alone. Donations - even huge ones - don´t seem to influence his decisions one bit.
For every action there is a person willing to pay. Take any side of any issue, and there is money lined up to pay for action.
Sanford’s problem is he is surrounded by these people. His administration gets nothing done for the people, but it appears that he gets lots done for these special interest groups.
He is in bed with big money people, and is doing it behind closed doors. He makes himself look like a crook. He can fix the problem by disclosing how gave him money.
He can fix the problem.
Jeff (Joel Sawyer),
You are comparing apples with oranges…
You compared the DISCLOSED Chaffin contribution to a Sanford political campaign to the undisclosed contribution by Crowe’s family to a Sanford nonprofit. (The Crowe contribution became known ONLY because of the Sanford gift of $100,000 of State money to Sanford’s own group…which of course was illegal).
To be fair, you must compare the Crowe secret contributions to the secret contributions by the Chaffin family, to Sanford’s nonprofits. Only then are you talking apples to apples. But of course, we can’t…Sanford refuses to disclose who and why people give him money vast sums of money.
But good try. Nice spin…but there is too much info out there now to let Sanford get away with all this stuff. Too many rich people giving too much money to Sanford. End of story.
The comments above about Mark Sanford’s control of six “nonprofit” organizations has me really intrigued.
Please list these nonprofits and follow the money into and out of THOSE.
Great reporting.
From Harlan Crow’s web page…
“private businesses made directly and through third-party public equity, fixed income, hedge fund and private equity managers.”
“In addition to direct, active investments in individual businesses, Crow Holdings also invests passively through private equity funds.”
So…when someone can tell me which side of the street Mr. Crow and his billions are working, I will tell you why he gives Mark Sanford hundreds of thousands of dollars. Until then, let’s just agree that Sanford is playing “tote and fetch” it for the rich guys.
Hey Jeff,
I just spent time on the Ethics Commission site, and I can’t find the disclosure information you talked about.
How do I find it?
What names of Sanford’s nonprofits did you use?
Let me know…if what you posted is true, perhaps we can put these nonprofits behind us…
Anderson,
I´m having trouble getting into their site for some reason or would have put the link up with my post. Someone - maybe Cindi Scoppe - had an article several months ago that said that ReformSC people gave all of their donor info to the Ethics commission so I assume its there somewhere. If its not online give them a call - it would be something to catch Sanford´s people not disclosing after they said they would do so.
The Crow´s contribution was to another group - the one that gave back the Governor´s Association event funds - maybe Carolinians for Reform? I haven´t seen the list of donors but know that it was released too because Knotts or Leatherman (tough to tell them apart sometimes) were on the Senate floor attacking Sanford for taking that big contribution from the Crows - insinuating that they must be looking for something from Sanford in exchange for it.
Sure is ironic that they attack him for taking money from the Crows and then again a month later for working against the Crows interests.
Jeff,
Yes, all interesting and useful information has been pulled from the Ethics Commission site. It is contrary to all common sense. They have even pulled the prior election cycles…it is simply outrageous.
Sanford has 6 nonprofits that I know about and only one has PARTIAL disclosure.
I think honorable men and women that are in public life should disclose where their money comes from. Dems, Republicans, etc…everyone.
WHO IS BINDEN PLANTATION LLC? New
BINDEN PLANTATION LLC -03/30/2006 $22,500,000.00
http://rodweb.bcgov.net/nvtest/details_popup.asp?doc_id=6598660&pg_count=4&pg_num=1
11/30/2006
BINDEN PLANTATION LLC (TO)BINDON PLANTATION LLC - CHANGE OF NAME AGREEMENT
http://rodweb.bcgov.net/nvtest/details_popup.asp?doc_id=6717336&pg_count=2&pg_num=1
12/14/2006
BINDEN PLANTATION LLC (TO) BINDON PLANTATION LLC - AFFIDAVIT OF ENTITY NAME CHANGE
http://rodweb.bcgov.net/nvtest/new_sch.asp
WHO IS BINDON PLANTATION LLC?
It was reported that Governor Mark Sanford called Judge Lockemy regarding the annexation of Bindon Plantation to Yemassee, SC (Beaufort County).
Could it be that the developers (Chaffin/Light) that were bidding on the Port Royal site are the same investors/developers that are involved with Bindon Plantation, LLC. Both deals are in Beaufort County and both recieved phone calls from the GUV. The common denominator seems to be our friendly Governor Mark Sanford.
I suspect the information will return to the Ethics Commision web page the day after McCain picks a running mate…unless of course he picks Sanford. Then it will stay away for a long , long time.
Itemized Contributions for Marshall Sanford
Position Sought: SC Governor
09/06/2006
T & J Development of NMB LLC (Contributions This Period $3,500.00)
408 Sea Mountain Highway,
North Myrtle Beach,SC,29582
https://ssl.sc.gov/Ethics/ItemizedContribution.aspx?row_ID=163&candName=%20Marshall%20Sanford&position=SC+Governor&address=P.O.+Box+1413++Columbia%2c+SC%2c+29202&phone=803-779-2972
T&J Development, emptied escrow scandal spreads, Myrtle Beach, SC
FBI investigating Strand developers after deposits lost
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH –Close to $1 million is missing from two more escrow accounts associated with T&J Development, and the FBI confirmed last week that it has started an investigation into possible criminal conduct by developers Jeff Shoup and Tommy Hix.
Shoup and Hix, who are partners in T&J Development, were in charge of real estate escrow accounts that now are missing at least $7.3 million…
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/352969.html
Port commission begins to take shape
A new group intended to guide development of a Savannah River port is starting to take shape as appointments now are being made to the 12-member commission.
The Savannah River Maritime Commission was created to represent South Carolina in matters of navigability, depth, dredging, wastewater, sludge disposal and other issues related to the use of the Savannah River. The commission, to be made up of legislators and specialists, will have input on the development of a $450 million shipping port to be built on the Jasper Countyside of the Savannah River.
The port ultimately will be run by both South Carolina and Georgia.
Appointed to the commission so far are:
Dean Moss, general manager of the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority, who will be chairman
Tom Davis, Gov. Mark Sanford’s chief of staff
Bill Bethea, former S.C. State Ports Authority chairman
State Sen. Catherine Ceips
State Sen. Bob Waldrep
Mike McShane, chairman of the board of the Department of Natural Resources
David Posek, chairman of the S.C. State Ports Authority
State Rep. Bill Herbkersman
State Sen. Larry Grooms.
Davis said the commission will be a good resource as the Jasper County port develops because of the diversity of its membership.
“It’s always important to have legislative involvement (and) representatives of legislators, to keep that line of communication open to the governor’s office,” he said.
Moss said the group has been given a fairly broad mandate.
He said he plans to begin meetings in March and start working to define the decisions the group will make.
The Savannah River Maritime Commission will work with several other groups involved in the port’s process.
“The good thing is, whenever you’re entering into something as large as this, you need to be open about the process and give as much buy-in to the players as possible,” Davis said.
Other state and local appointments are expected to occur over the next month.
http://dwb.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/story/6810872p-6077811c.html
***************************************************************************
Itemized Contributions for Marshall Sanford
Position Sought: SC Governor
10/02/2006
Michael G. McShane
1501 Ravens Point Road, Occupation:……………CONTRIBUTIONS:
Johns Island,SC,29455 (Conservation Management) $3,500.00 $3,500.00
10/02/2006
GiGi McShane
1501 Ravens Point Road, Occupation:…………..CONTRIBUTIONS:
Johns Island,SC,29455 (Homemaker) ………….$3,500.00 $3,500.00
https://ssl.sc.gov/Ethics/ItemizedContribution.aspx?row_ID=163&candName=%20Marshall%20Sanford&position=SC+Governor&address=P.O.+Box+1413++Columbia%2c+SC%2c+29202&phone=803-779-2972
****************************************************************************
Mike McShane, chairman of the board of the Department of Natural Resources
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is a South Carolina State Agency. It is directed by seven-member Board; a board member is appointed…
ALL BOARD MEMBERS ARE APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR including the Chairman.
Michael McShane, Chairman
State Ethics Campaign Finance Reporting
Position sought: Governor
Marshall Sanford
11/18/2005
Contributed To: Marshall Sanford (from) Jim Chaffin
42 Mobley Oaks Lane,
Okatie,SC,29909
Occupation: Real Estate
Contributions This Period: $2,500.00
Contributions To Date $3,500.00
11/18/2005
Contributed To: Marshall Sanford(from)Betsy Chaffin
42 Mobley Oaks Lane,
Spring Island,SC ,29910
Occupation: Homemaker
Contributions This Period: $1,000.00
Contributions To Date: $1,000.00
09/28/2006
Contributed To: Marshall Sanford (from) Jim Chaffin
42 Mobley Oaks Lane,
Okatie,SC,29909
Occupation: Real Estate
Contributions This Period:$500.00
Contributions To Date:$500.00
https://ssl.sc.gov/Ethics/SearchByContributor.aspx
Campaign Finance/anonymous,
I appreciate all the info, but I’m begging you to please use the same Name and E-mail so I don’t have to keep approving every single one of your comments.
…”Jim Chaffin and his wife, Betsy, donated a total of $8,850 to Sanford’s 2002 and 2006 campaigns for governor”…
…”Senator Hutto said material he already gathered shows Sanford called members of the Ports Authority and its lawyers, asking them not to sign the contract”….
“There are e-mails, and memos that show Sanford had “a bigger hand in what was going on than was reported,” the Orangeburg senator said”.
Senator calls for investigation of governor in Port Royal deal
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/575/story/364754.html
Sanford’s Corruption Caused Delay
The corruption of the locally raised governor was never more on display then when he personally stalled out the sale of the Port. His reason - he was doing all he could to steer the sale to a very close friend and business associate…………………….While no one in Port Royal government that is close to the sale will speak publicly about the governors actions - all will admit in private that he single-handedly caused the delay. And in doing so - caused Port Royal to miss the hottest real estate market the area has ever seen…………………………Mark Sanford will go down in history as a corrupt, out-for-himself man who never took constituents needs to heart and always sought to take care of himself and his family above all else…………………………Sanford and his entire family have used and abused the Beaufort area for decades. Anyone who questions this need only look to the area of pooverty that surrounds their beloved plantation north of Beaufort. In all the years Sanford has been in office - including Congress - he has yet to steer one iota of economic development to his poorest neighbors in that area. True to form, he doesn’t want anything to disturb his private enclave. And poverty is not his fight - he could care less about those people just like he could care less about Port Royal………………………………It will be a blessed day when he leaves office - hopefully for good.
by savethelowcountry