EMBATTLED HALLEY RESIGNING IN DECEMBER

The head of South Carolina’s beleaguered Employment Security Commission will resign at the end of the year, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Ted Halley told workers via e-mail that he was stepping down in December. Halley has come under fire for allowing record-setting unemployment to bankrupt the state’s jobless fund, forcing South Carolina to borrow money from the federal government.

“I have had a great career with this agency as it is a good agency,” Halley wrote. “I encourage each and every one of you to continue to work hard to serve the people of South Carolina and protect the integrity of the agency.”

Gov. Mark Sanford, himself in the midst of controversy, has been one of Halley’s fiercest critics.

Sanford has said the agency has not adequately matched unemployed workers with vacant positions. The governor also pushed to have the ESC placed under his jurisdiction and threatened to fire its commissioners.