McKie and $51,750 Judgment

On July 10, 2019 the South Carolina Ethics Commission filed a $51,750 judgment against (Richland 2 trustee-elect) Amelia McKie in Richland County Common Pleas Court.

This is July 23, 2020. What has happened in court in the past year?

According to online public records, absolutely nothing!

If you think that the Ethics Commission shouldn't "file it and forget it", contact the S.C. Ethics Commission at 803-253-4192. Or you can write. And call your State Senator and Representative and ask him to help the State collect that money. And call the S.C. Department of Revenue (DOR), which is supposed to be collecting it on behalf of the Ethics Commission.

What could the DOR grab? 1. Her pay from the Richland 2 School District. A garnishment would certainly look great on her C.V., wouldn't it?

2. How about her other income? Oh, you say, what other income?
3. Is there equity in her home that could be attached?
4. Does she have a car that could be sold?

That $51,750 didn't just pop out of the ground one spring day like an early flower.

McKie didn't file required documents in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. She had fair warning of fines and fees and still didn't make any payment(s).

If McKie began making monthly payments on that debt, with a plan to pay it off by the time her elected term ends in November 2022, she would have to pay $1.917 monthly! If she sought bankruptcy protection, would she be forced to resign from the school board? Could she even "resign", since she is not a legitimate member of the board?

But is the Ethics Commission really just a toothless public body, when it comes to collecting monies owned to it? The public Debtors List as of April 3, 2020 is 26 pages and totals $2,717,416.32.

The big question is why isn't the Ethics Commission either muscling the DOR to collect that money or hiring an outside collection agency to go after the debtors.

A request has been sent to S.C. Sen. Mia McLeod and S.C. Rep. Ivory Thigpen to find out from the DOR what steps it is taking to collect this debt and to let me know by August 7. It's not so much that I want to know, but I believe that you should know.