New McKie Ethics Complaint Heads for Hearing

An ethics complaint against Richland School District Two's trustee-elect Amelia McKie is headed to a hearing before the South Carolina Ethics Commission.

When McKie filed her 2021 Statement of Economic Interests Report (Disclosures for 2020) with the Ethics Commission on January 12, 2021, she did not report her income from Richland School District Two. 

A really good question is why she would fail to disclose that $9,600 received from Richland Two. Did she just forget it? Or neglect to enter it in the very simple form on the Commission's website? She had reported it in previous years. Why not in the 2021 Report?

The Commission will hold a hearing on June 16, 2022 at 9:30AM at its offices at 201 Executive Center Drive. The hearing is open to the public.

McKie did file an Amended SEI Report on December 23, 2021 and disclosed the income from Richland 2 at that time. 

McKie has other woes related to Ethics Commission filings. On July 10, 2019 the Ethics Commission filed a judgment in Richland Count Common Pleas Court for $51,750.

Since the filing of that judgment, she has had additional problems with the Ethics Commission, and her total debt, as of February 22, 2022, is $57,100. Three Default Years are shown: 2016, 2020, 2021. Why is her debt going up, instead of down? Why isn't she paying off her debt? If she paid just $100/month, it would take her 47½ YEARS to pay it off.

This is the person that your Richland 2 Board of Trustees trusts to be Secretary of the Board.

Her $57,100 amount makes McKie one of the top debtors of the S.C. Ethics Commission. McKie is in the Top Ten of Debtors; in fact, she is Number 10. 

To read its report of Debtors, go to ethics.sc.gov  At the top right corner of the homepage, click on Debtors. At the bottom left of the page, click on Debtors List (PDF). Unfortunately, the List appears to be a Word document, not Excel. It's not sortable. There are 25 pages of names, and the total owed to the Ethics Commission is $2,638,375.04 as of 12/20/2021.

The top ten debtors owe $1,209,978!!! That's 46% of the total debts owed to the Ethics Commission.

Gov. McMaster ought to be shaking a big stick at the S.C. Dept. of Revenue, which is the collection agent for money owed to the State. 

Open Letter to Molly Spearman

The following letter has been sent to Molly Spearman, Superintendent of the South Carolina Department of Education.

Dear Supt. Spearman,

 

I am writing to request your help in dealing with Richland 2 School District.

You are probably already familiar with the January 25, 2022 incident at a Richland 2 board meeting, when Mrs. Pamela Davis, wife of Supt. Baron Davis, created a disruption that resulted in two white men being kicked out of the meeting and being put on Trespass Notice by Richland 2. The District failed to investigate the matter and did not discipline either Pamela or Baron Davis. I filed a complaint with your office against Pamela Davis and awaiting a determination.

I am writing to request your help with Richland 2's violation of its Administrative Rule KI-R, which allows a designated security officer to "issue a verbal or written 'no trespass' notice for the school facility". The District has issued a No Trespass Notice to me that bans me  from "...any and ALL [emphasis in the original] Richland School District Two properties, facilities, campuses and buildings..."

The District is apparently having difficulty in understanding that "facility" is singular; it means "the (one) facility" where an incident occurred. 

I have filed complaints against Richland 2's employee who has exceeded his authority by issuing the No Trespass Notice beyond its limited scope and also against the Administrative Rule itself. The Rule provides no guidelines for duration and no provision for Due Process. The employee has denied me access to a property other than R2i2 and also to the Richland County Public Library, which leases its Sandhills Library from the District.

The District refuses to process my complaints against the employee and the Rule.

Will the South Carolina Department of Education assist me to 1) requiring Richland 2 to process complaints duly-filed and 2) to require Richland 2 to comply with its written Administrative Rule and to cease improperly and unlawfully expanding it?

Sincerely,

Gus Philpott

Resident, Richland School District Two

847.971.7083

cc:  Gov. Henry McMaster

       Attorney General Alan Wilson

       Scott Price, Executive Director, SCSBA

       Jamie Devine, President, SCSBA