Two county councilmen used nearly $6k in tax dollars for 65 restaurant outings

Two Horry County councilmen spent nearly $6,000 in tax dollars on restaurant outings over a combined 65 times between January and September of 2017 and another used his card to buy alcohol, according to credit card receipts.

Councilmen Johnny Vaught spent more than $3,000 on 32 restaurant and bar outings and councilmen Cam Crawford spent more than $2,700 on 33 outings, according to documents obtained through a Sun News Freedom of Information Act request.

Councilmen are supposed to use the card for “legitimate business purposes only,” according county guidelines, but those purposes are not defined.

Records show that on June 13, Crawford spent more than $170 at California Dreaming in Surfside. On June 27, he spent more than $379 at Socastee Station.

Crawford would not take questions over the phone and said in an email that both expenditures were for a “constituent(s) service meeting.” He did not answer follow-up phone calls and said in an email he could not go into detail about the meeting for privacy reasons.

Receipts show that Vaught frequents Longbeards in Carolina Forest and Soho in Conway. Vaught spent more than $171 in one trip to Soho on June 2. He spent more than $150 at that restaurant on July 23.

Those outings were all for county business, said Vaught, who, unlike Crawford, wrote down who he was meeting with on the receipts. They show he often met with County Treasurer Angie Jones, school board member Holly Heniford, and other county staffers and constituents.

“I’m retired, county council is my whole job,” Vaught said. “I have lunch times free pretty much every day and most of my constituents and most of the staff people have lunch times when they can actually get together and do something, so that’s when we meet. When we do that, I’ll buy their lunch because it’s their time.”

The receipts don’t show which specific items were bought, but Vaught said he never used his county card to buy alcohol.

“I know better than that,” he said. “Any time there’s been alcohol bought I would either put it on my own card or pay for it in cash.”

But receipts show that at least one councilman used his card for alcohol.

Dennis DiSabato put a $12 premium margarita and two $10 strawberry daiquiris on his county card at The Buoy Bar in the Hilton Head Omni Hotel on June 30.

“I must have inadvertently used the wrong credit card when paying that bill,” said DiSabato. “I would happily refund the county. If I made that kind of mistake, I’m only human. It wouldn’t have been anything that I did intentionally.”

No other alcohol showed up on his receipts.

Records show that unlike most councilmen, DiSabato only used his county credit card for expenses incurred during the South Carolina Association of Counties conference in Hilton Head and for professional association dues. His total expenses for January through September totalled $3,739.

Several councilmen had fewer than $2,000 in charges, including Gary Loftus, Tyler Servant, Al Allen and Bill Howard. Harold Worley had no charges.

All other councilmen spent more than $2,000.

This story was originally published October 27, 2017 at 3:27 PM with the headline "Two county councilmen used nearly $6k in tax dollars for 65 restaurant outings."