Extortion claims prompt state police investigation into new Horry council chairman

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating incoming Horry County Council Chair Johnny Gardner and his associate Luke Barefoot regarding allegations of possible extortion, but both deny any wrongdoing.

SLED spokesman Thom Berry confirmed to The Sun News that Horry County contacted the law enforcement agency, and the investigation was assigned to SLED’s Pee Dee office.

The announcement comes after a state politics blog leaked a document Thursday morning written by Horry County attorney Arrigo Carotti and sent to county council members that detailed a dinner between Gardner, Barefoot and two representatives from the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation, president Sandy Davis and director of investor relations Sherri Steele.

The Sun News hasn’t independently obtained the memo, headed “ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED,” but a county official, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the document originally published by FITSNews is valid.

According to information in the document, Davis told Carotti that Barefoot suggested she give $30,000 or $40,000 to political consultant Donald Smith to help squash negative columns from Paul Gable, who writes for the Grand Strand Daily, a commentary site focused on local issues.

The memo says that Steele recorded the conversation, which lasted more than an hour, but county staff has only heard about four minutes of the recording. Davis confirmed that SLED now has the recording.

Gardner, who officially was sworn into office Thursday afternoon, responded to the claims in a news release, saying they are false.

“Allegations that I was even indirectly involved in an attempt to manipulate the operations of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation (MBREDC) are patently false,” he said in a statement.

Barefoot told The Sun News that the claims of wrongdoing are “a concocted bunch of something about nothing.” He said that he did advise the EDC to hire Smith, but it was just a suggestion he stands by. Smith was paid to do advertising work for the Gardner campaign. According to pre-election filings, Smith’s company Lucky Dog Television Productions was paid $15,000 for the services.

Barefoot said he welcomed SLED’s investigation.

“The truth will prevail, and I am not scared of the truth,” he said to The Sun News.

Davis told The Sun News she felt a lot of the stuff written in the FITSNews post wasn’t true and was fabricated, though she didn’t offer specifics. She said she wanted to wait to speak to the EDC executive committee before discussing what happened in more detail, but she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get a quorum of committee members to meet Thursday.

Gable published a column Thursday in response, stating that while he has been critical of the EDC, he was not a part of any such plot nor did he know about it happening. He added that he has never and would never accept money to run or not run a story.

Scott Bellamy, an attorney for Donald Smith, said his client was not aware of any meeting. Bellamy met with Carotti before the announcement to address concerns about his client being included in any report of potential wrongdoing. Bellamy said that he has not heard the recording, but would like to hear it.

Requests to speak with Carotti and Horry County Administrator Chris Eldridge on the matter were denied.

This story was originally published December 20, 2018 at 5:14 PM.