No election laws broken and SC-07 candidate was not bribed to exit race, AG says
The South Carolina Attorney General’s office on Monday wrote in a letter to the State Law Enforcement Division that it has “insufficient evidence” to continue an investigation into local blogger David Hucks and Ken Richardson — the Horry County Board of Education Chairman and a candidate for Congress.
In a March 5 video on Facebook, former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride, also a candidate in the crowded Republican primary for South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District, alleged that he’d spoken with Hucks in late February and that Hucks attempted to bribe him to drop out of the race.
According to McBride, Hucks urged him to drop out of the race and support another candidate in the race, and that if he did so, he might earn a staff position with that person if they beat incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Rice. McBride claimed Hucks was working for Richardson, and that the staff job would be with him if he beat Rice.
McBride recorded the phone call with Hucks and asked SLED in March to investigate whether or not Hucks’ comments amounted to bribing him to drop out of the race.
Now, though, the AG’s office has said it has reviewed SLED’s investigation and has “insufficient evidence” to continue an investigation into Hucks, Richardson or anyone else.
“It is my opinion that there is insufficient evidence in the telephone call to support a finding of a violation...by Mr. Hucks,” Deputy Attorney General Donald Zelenka wrote in a June 13 letter to SLED Chief Mark Keel. “I further find that there is no credible evidence at this time that any other candidate made an illegal or actual offer of employment to Mr. McBride or gave David Hucks actual or apparent authority to do so on their behalf.”
“It must be clear what this matter is not. It is not a case where one candidate...specifically offers or accepts future employment directly in return for the candidate dropping out of a political (race) and endorsing the other candidate,” Zelenka continued in his letter. “This was not the case in the February 28, 2022 telephone call based upon the information presented and reviewed.”
The AG’s office issued the letter on Monday because 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson had recused himself from the case. Richardson said on Monday that he did that because McBride had approached him about his phone call with Hucks, meaning he was aware of the evidence in the case prior to SLED’s investigation.
Jimmy Richardson is also a distant cousin of Ken Richardson.
On Monday, Hucks and Richardson said they were happy the probe was over but called the timing of Zelenka’s letter “political.” McBride said he “disagreed” with the AG’s findings.
