Lawyer for fired SC director says agency ‘acted ethically’ when it hired her husband
An attorney representing fired State Accident Fund director Amy Cofield told Gov. Henry McMaster in a letter Monday that the South Carolina agency that signed a lucrative contract with the former director’s husband to do work “acted ethically” when it disclosed the conflict.
And, in the same two-page letter, Columbia attorney James Griffin argued that the Governor’s Office did not follow state law when it fired Cofield last week in an executive order by removing her as director before a “thorough and professional” investigation was done.
“We are confident that such an investigation will completely exonerate Ms. Cofield of any misconduct,” Griffin wrote.
First, McMaster’s attorney Thomas Limehouse said to Griffin in his own two-page letter Monday the governor has “no plans or intentions” to rescind his order that fired Cofield. Second, Limehouse said, Griffin is incorrectly reading state law and ignoring state Supreme Court precedent allowing the governor to “remove any appointed state officer at his or her own discretion,” Limehouse said.
To remove officers, the governor is “not required to allege or establish ‘cause,’ much less give such officials prior notice or a formal opportunity to be heard,” Limehouse said.
The Governor’s Office declined to respond to her allegations over the procurement process, citing the ongoing investigation.
In his same firing order last week, McMaster asked state Inspector General Brian Lamkin to investigate whether Cofield violated any state laws. In the governor’s letter, he told Lamkin his office was told more than once about issues at the State Accident Fund that included allegations about a contract “in which the director’s spouse was engaged, directly or indirectly, as a project manager or third-party consultant.”
“These procurement actions raise significant ethical and legal questions about the conduct of employees at the State Accident Fund,” the governor said in his order asking Lamkin whether criminal violations occurred. “This is key toward maintaining the public’s confidence in state government.”
The governor fired Cofield last week, weeks after the State Accident Fund awarded a contract to Globalpundit, a Lexington-based information company hired to perform programming work, and by way of that contract Cofield’s husband, Jimmy Terrapin.
The State Accident Fund is responsible for workers’ compensation insurance, and Terrapin had been hired as a project manager last month to oversee a new records program. Terrapin’s work was scheduled to start the first of January and end on Dec. 31, 2022.
That work came with a contract fee of $150 per hour for no more than 4,000 hours, the job order showed.
It is unclear whether that order — signed by Globalpundits Vice President Joseph Doyle and the agency’s program manager Matthew Hansford — was terminated after Cofield’s firing. Cofield told The State last week the Governor’s Office said it would be handled.
Cofield and her attorney contend Cofield removed herself completely from the hiring process.
Cofield told The State that she was “mortified” by the firing and would never do anything to jeopardize her $135,280 a year job.
“Mrs. Cofield has every reason to believe that the agency deputy directors and staff followed proper procurement protocol as directed by your agency, SFAA,” Griffin wrote, referring to the State Fiscal Accountability Authority that oversees procurement services.
Griffin said that Hansford requested guidance from Kristen Hutto, listed as a program manager at SFAA, after the first contract bid failed to come up with any candidates interested in the position of project manager to oversee a new case management system.
“Mrs. Cofield was informed that Mr. Hansford conveyed the possibility of the Director’s husband would be submitted as a candidate for the position,” Griffin wrote. “Mr. Hansford was directed to remove Mrs. Cofield from the process and prevent Mrs. Cofield from having any supervisory role over the position. Mr. Hansford followed proper procedures as directed by Ms. Hutto and excluded Mrs. Cofield from the entire process.”
Instead, Griffin wrote to the governor that four other deputy directors at the State Accident Fund and the agency’s chief attorney “took charge of the procurement process, without any influence or involvement by Mrs. Cofield.”
He continued that the agency “acted ethically by disclosing the possibility of a conflict situation and the agency followed procedure as directed by SFAA.”
A representative from SFAA’s procurement services and the agency were not immediately available. Monday was a state holiday.
On Tuesday, a SFAA spokesperson said the agency does not comment on matters under investigation, potential disputes or advise agencies on ethical concerns.
“All vendors are advised to familiarize themselves with the Ethics Act, and every contract requires vendors to certify compliance with those laws,” the spokesperson said.
Cofield said she told Thomas Limehouse, McMaster’s attorney, over two weeks ago what happened, but never had a chance to speak directly to the governor. Then last Monday, Cofield was notified by Limehouse that she was being fired.
McMaster appointed Cofield to lead the agency in 2019.
Griffin argues by firing Cofield without having completed a state investigation, the Governor’s Office bypassed state law.
South Carolina law on removing officers states that a person appointed by the governor, “either with or without the advice and consent of the Senate; who is guilty of malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetency, absenteeism, conflicts of interest, misconduct, persistent neglect of duty in office, or incapacity must be subject to removal by the Governor upon any of the foregoing causes being made to appear to the satisfaction of the Governor.”
The statute also says that before removing an officer, the governor must inform that person “in writing of the specific charges brought against him and give him an opportunity on reasonable notice to be heard.”
Griffin said Cofield received no such opportunity to respond.
In his letter to McMaster, Griffin also wrote that among changes to the procurement process a nepotism policy should be added that would bar any state agency from hiring relatives of those agency directors. Griffin said currently there is no such policy.
Cofield told The State she plans to file a lawsuit if she is not reinstated.
“Mrs. Cofield is devastated over her removal and denial of her right to be heard,” Griffin wrote to McMaster. “At this point, we are requesting that Mrs. Cofield’s position be reinstated at least until she has been granted her statutory and constitutional right to be heard and defend these baseless allegations against her.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2021 at 2:37 PM with the headline "Lawyer for fired SC director says agency ‘acted ethically’ when it hired her husband."
