A rash of money-related ethics violations triggering political demise!
Is it possible Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin violated ethics laws?
A legal representative from the state Ethics Commission, on Wednesday, said Benjamin will be contacted for failing to disclose a trip to Florida, but a formal ethics investigation has not been launched.
Benjamin was treated to limo rides, accommodations at a swanky hotel and was in the company of $1,000-a-night female exotic dancers, according to courtroom testimony.
Benjamin was required to report the trip to Orlando that rich developer Richard Zahn paid for in 2010, according to the State Ethics Commission.
Jonathan Pinson, a (presumably former) friend and business partner of Benjamin’s, testified in a public corruption trial, that Zahn sought a contract - worth millions - related to a government-housing project in Columbia. Pinson was found Guilty Thursday.
To this point, Benjamin, has not been charged with a crime, nor has Benjamin offered any explanation for the claims made against him. The ethics commission seemed casual over the lack of disclosure.
But in recent, and similar cases, Republican Lt. Gov. Ken Ard was prosecuted and forced to resign after he was accused of using his own money, contributed to his campaign fund, to purchase items for himself, and his family. Ard's downfall began with a newspaper reporter's accusations.
Former Lexington County Sheriff James Metts, also a Republican, was indicted June 17, for allegedly taking money to give special privileges to illegal immigrants.
Once news of a scandal broke in 2012, in which Mett's name was mentioned, he returned money to gambling-related campaign contributors and denied wrongdoing. Metts' recovery effort did not stave off an investigation.
The state ethics commission legal representative said, according to testimony about Benjamin, the trip should have been disclosed on 2011 forms. Benjamin was freshly elected mayor at the time of the junket, that is being dubbed The Stripper Trip, by some. The trip, valued at close to $10,000 has yet to be reported on an ethics document, according to one media account.
As allegations swirl around Benjamin, he has not addressed them. Aside from the claims of partying, money-deals and influence-peddling have been alleged in the Pinson trial. Since Benjamin has been tied to the Pinson case, he has traveled to Texas, Washington DC twice, and even held a “Famously Hot” Global Warming seminar.
Benjamin said he would explain later.
Zahn has pleaded guilty and Pinson is being tried in an alleged plot by Pinson to help Zahn sell a resort-type property to S.C. State University, and then use funding from it to on the government-subsidized redevelopment of the housing complex in Columbia.
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