Horry Board of Education member explains switching districts, donations from First Floor officials

David Cox currently represents Loris, Green Sea Floyds and parts of North Myrtle Beach as the District 9 representative on the Horry County Board of Education.

He’s now campaigning to represent a district 30 miles away with nearly $17,000 in campaign funds raised with the help of the school board’s chairman.

Cox has received more than 20 campaign donations from local businesses and community members, totaling $16,978. About $1,000 of those funds are from Cox, but his campaign has had 11 other $1,000 donations since May, according to records with the S.C. Ethics Commission.

Joe DeFeo, board chairman and Cox’s best friend, has helped Cox raise money because he doesn’t have to run his own fund-raising campaign this go-around, DeFeo said. DeFeo is running unopposed for another term as board chairman, which means he doesn’t have to campaign before the June primary.

“Joe is just one of my best friends,” Cox said. “I would help him if he needed it, because that’s what best friends do.”

Cox’s campaign received two $1,000 donations from Robert and Maxine Ferris in April. Robert Ferris is CEO of First Floor Energy Positive, the architecture firm contracted to build five new Horry County Schools for $240.3 million – $72.9 million over the district’s initial budget.

Ferris said he usually donates money to candidates he knows – and agrees with – so when he heard Cox’s campaign could use some dough, he jumped in.

“I believe in him, and I got to know him during this process and I know he’s a pretty awesome guy,” Ferris said.

Ferris said no other candidate approached him about donations, but he would have helped if he has known the person asking for funds. He usually doesn’t donate more than $1,000 to school board campaigns, but said Cox’s good service to the school board earned him a little bit more.

“When an awesome guy is going to be beat, because they don’t have enough money, I step up,” Ferris said.

Eric Lindstrom also donated $1,000 to Cox’s campaign, according to the S.C. Ethics Commission. Lindstrom is the director of design at SfL+a Architects, a partner company of First Floor and also owned by Ferris.

Michael Richter, president of T.A. Loving Co., donated $1,000 in May. T.A. Loving is one of the general contractors working on the new schools.

Aaron Thomas, president and CEO of Metcon, donated $1,000 to Cox’s campaign in May. Metcon is one of the companies working as a general contractor on all five school projects.

Board governance allows members to receive “campaign contributions and contributions in kind which are reported.” Cox has reported his donations to the S.C. Ethics Commission, along with the dates of his donations.

“The difference between David and some other people is you’ll find out what David raised now because he did it the way he was supposed to do it,” DeFeo said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the other District 4 candidates Scott Thompson and Robert Palmer have not filed their contributions to the S.C. Ethics Commission website.

Thompson said the donations to Cox’s campaign aren’t surprising, given all the hubbub surrounding the construction of the new schools.

“Based on the circumstances, it doesn’t surprise me,” he said.

No other board candidate – incumbent or newcomer – has reported donations from people involved in the construction of the new schools as of Wednesday. While it’s legal to accept donations as long as they are reported, board governance specifies that those donations must not impact the board member’s decisions on any level.

“A board member must avoid conflict of interest with respect to his or her fiduciary responsibility. Accordingly, a board member will not … receive compensation to influence action,” governance reads.

Cox and DeFeo said donations from Metcon and First Floor officials will not affect their future decisions on the board. Because much of the preliminary work on the new schools is complete – all the contracts are awarded and work has started on all five of the sites – donating to Cox’s campaign is “after-the-fact” issue, DeFeo said.

Some of the smaller donations from people associated with the construction work may have been given as a ‘thank you’ for providing them with the opportunity to work locally, DeFeo said. Donors may have also given to other board members if they asked for those donations, he added.

“They want a seat on the table, they want to be able to call [board members] up and be able to talk to them,” DeFeo said.

Cox didn’t handle most of his donations and left DeFeo in charge of collecting them, he said. DeFeo admits he put out a call for donations, but said he did not go to anyone personally and ask for money. He said accepting money from those associated with the school construction projects isn’t unethical, because those donors aren’t going to get any special treatment.

“This is just common practice. If it was an ethical conflict of interest, then they would change the law,” DeFeo said.

Cox is running for the District 4 seat – which includes Carolina Forest, Myrtle Beach and Socastee attendance areas – after serving two terms on the board as the District 9 representative. He moved to The Market Common in April 2014, but still owns property in the Simpson Creek community of Loris. The high value of Myrtle Beach real estate brought him to the area, and he got a deal that was “too good to pass up.”

“Real estate is really not appreciating in Loris, and it just seemed like a logical thing to do,” Cox said.

The S.C. General Assembly passed a bill in 1989 revising how Horry County Board of Education members are elected. The bill matched up single-member districts with Horry County Council districts, and specified that the member “must be a resident of that election district and must be elected by the qualified electors of that district.” The S.C. Election Commission also specifies that candidates must be a resident of the county and district at the time of the election.

However, the local board’s governance policies do not specify that a candidate has to live in the district they represent.

Several months ago, Cox declared he wouldn’t seek a third term on the board because he ran his first campaigns on the promise of a two-term limit. The death of Kay Loftus – who was on the board for 14 years – changed his mind.

Cox said District 4 needs a candidate who understands the major issues the board is facing; mainly, the construction of five new schools, redrawing of attendance lines and the transgender student bathroom use policy, he said. There’s no time for a learning curve, especially because the new schools are slated to open by August 2017.

“They need to learn what they’re doing before they get on the board – they need someone with answers,” Cox said.

No matter what happens, Cox said this campaign is definitely his last – for school board and for anything else. At 68, Cox said he doesn’t want to be on any boards into his 70s.

“I want to see all the presidents up on that mountain, I want to do stuff,” he said.

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Horry Board of Education member explains switching districts, donations from First Floor officials."