Report: SLED Investigating House Speaker Bobby Harrell

Corey Hutchins of the Columbia Free Times is reporting today that House Speaker Bobby Harrell is under investigation by SLED for possible ethics violations.

Ashley Landess, President of the South Carolina Policy Council and a vocal critic of Harrell, met with the Attorney General's office on Thursday. Landess alleged that Harrell used his office to benefit his own finances, a charge that Harrell has refuted.

According to the Free Times, Attorney General Alan Wilson assigned a SLED officer to begin an investigation into Harrell's conduct after considering Landess' complaint.

Harrell has been under fire since last September when the Post and Courier in Charleston reported that .

Normally, ethics charges by House members are investigated by the House Ethics Committee. But given Harrell's influence--the PAC associated --Landess expressed doubt that an investigation would ever take place, according to the Free Times.

A bi-partisan ethics panel formed by Gov. Nikki Haley completed a detailed study of ethics issues in South Carolina last month. Two of the panels recommendations were to ban leadership PACs like the one affiliated with Harrell and to create an independent body to investigate ethics charges against elected officials.

Harrell's spokesperson Greg Foster has maintained consistently that the speaker has been accordance with all ethics regulations.

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