South Carolina Senate votes to remove state treasurer over $1.8B accounting error

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South Carolina Senate votes to remove state treasurer over $1.8B accounting error

2025-04-22 10:36 Last Updated At：10:51

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's Republican-dominated Senate voted 33-8 on Monday to kick the Republican treasurer out of office over a $1.8 billion accounting error.

It will now be up to the House, also dominated by the GOP, to decide whether to hold its own hearing. If at least two-thirds of its members vote against Treasurer Curtis Loftis, he will be removed from office.

Monday's extraordinary hearing was the culmination of over two years of investigation by the Senate that began when state accountants unintentionally exaggerated money given to colleges and universities by $3.5 billion.

That led to the discovery of an account error that started a decade ago when the state was changing from one accounting system to another. If accountants couldn't balance the entries in the two sets of books as they moved thousands of accounts with different definitions, they kept adding it to a special account year after year until it grew to $1.8 billion.

It took forensic accountants, who were paid millions of dollars in fees, to finally unravel that nearly all of the money was not real cash but just an accumulation of errors.

Two Republican senators led the call for Loftis to be kicked out of office, saying he can no longer be trusted to handle South Carolina's bank accounts. They charged that he is incompetent and never reported the mistakes to lawmakers as required by law while refusing to take accountability.

“He's a liar that was so concerned with his public appearance that he would do and say anything to cover up his mistake,” Sen. Stephen Goldfinch said.

Senators followed the presentation with their own questions. Most of the eight senators asked Loftis directly why he didn't take responsibility for the error and why he let others inform the Senate. Loftis said that was the responsibility of other officials.

“It's everybody but me. And maybe that's so, but it is so hard to defend ... in a ‘can he do the job' (sense)," Republican Sen. Luke Rankin told Loftis. “Help me, help us. Accept the responsibility."

“Would you tell me what you want me to take responsibility for, because it is complicated,” Loftis replied.

Loftis has called the Senate investigation a witch hunt. He repeatedly said no money went missing and the errors were not made in his office, although others have testified differently. The treasurer said continuing to focus on the mistakes threatens the state's strong credit rating.

Loftis' lawyers opened the treasurer's case with a photo of Loftis and Republican President Donald Trump. They compared the hearing to coups in Zimbabwe and Myanmar that threw out elected officials and said Loftis' real judges should be the voters in the Republican primary in 14 months. Loftis said he is now running for reelection after testifying to senators this would be his last term.

Fellow lawyer Johnny Gasser reminded the 34 Republicans in the 46-member Senate that nearly every vote cast for them also was a vote for Loftis.

“Do you really want to go down this path?” Gasser asked.

Eight Republicans voted against removing Loftis, with the rest of the Senate finding Loftis committed “willful neglect of duty." They sent the matter to the House, which must also hold its own two-thirds vote to remove the treasurer.

No office holder has been removed in this way since South Carolina became a state 235 years ago.

Republican leaders in the House have not indicated whether they will take up the matter.

The state's books still haven't been fully straightened out, and accountants continue to struggle with Loftis' office and how they handle bank accounts, Sen. Larry Grooms said.

The treasurer is trying anything to protect his 14 years in office and reputation as a competent conservative steward who is always looking out for taxpayers, Grooms said.

“Because of his failures, the self-proclaimed best friend of the taxpayer is costing the taxpayers tens of millions in legal, auditing and oversight fees,” Grooms said. “With friends like this, who needs tax-and-spend liberals.”

Lofits, without going into details, said he knew his actions fell short of expectations at times. He promised to do a better job in the future as he spoke for about 10 minutes on Monday from a temporary lectern in the back of their chamber

He said the times he misspoke or slammed papers or accused senators of a witch hunt were just his passion for fighting an injustice.

“I hope all of us in this room agree that we should rise above the moment and return our focus to what matters — serving the people of South Carolina with honor, respect and purpose,” Loftis said.

James Harden scores 28 points and Clippers force Game 7 with a gritty 111-105 win over Nuggets

2025-05-02 14:04 Last Updated At：14:12

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — With the Los Angeles Clippers' season on the brink, Tyronn Lue took the unusual step of checking in with several players by phone on their off day. The coach said he “took a lot of temperatures,” making sure they were mentally ready to fight for their playoff lives.

In Game 6, the Clippers answered his call.

James Harden had 28 points and eight assists in an outstanding bounce-back performance, Kawhi Leonard added 27 points and the Clippers forced a seventh game in their first-round NBA playoff series with a 111-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.

Norman Powell scored 24 points for the Clippers, who rebounded from back-to-back losses with an impressive effort at new Intuit Dome. Los Angeles took control in the second half while playing tenacious defense on Nikola Jokic, who scored 20 of his 25 points in the first half.

“I give our guys credit for just staying with it,” Lue said. “(They) don’t get deflated, and we did a good job. ... I told the guys after the game, it’s about being a team and whatever it takes to win. Those guys totally understood it.”

Game 7 is Saturday in Denver.

Jamal Murray scored 21 points for the Nuggets, who lost a potential series-clinching playoff game for the fourth time in five tries over the past two seasons since their 2023 championship run. Denver also blew a 3-2 series lead over Minnesota in the second round last season.

The Nuggets haven’t won a Game 7 since 2020, when they ousted the Clippers from the conference semifinals in the Florida bubble.

“They were quicker to the punch,” Murray said. “They played with a lot more desperation because their backs were against the wall, and you’ve got to give them credit. The whole game, they brought it.”

The Clippers were pushed to this comeback win by the 35-year-old Harden, who played aggressively and craftily after receiving criticism for a passive effort in Game 5. Leonard also stepped up, with the two-time NBA champion adding 10 rebounds and five assists in an assertive outing.

“It was win or go home, so there were opportunities to be aggressive, and I took them,” Harden said. “One more game. ... We didn't want to go home. We've got one more game left.”

Ivica Zubac and Nicolas Batum teamed up for a surprisingly effective defensive effort on the typically unguardable Jokic. The three-time MVP was held scoreless for 11 minutes in the third quarter and went only 2 for 9 in the second half.

Los Angeles led by 15 with less than six minutes to play, but Denver made an 11-2 run to trim the Clippers’ lead to 107-101 before Powell buried a 3-pointer with 1:47 left.

Powell’s clutch bucket was Los Angeles’ only field goal in the final 5:57, but the Clips hung on with defense. Russell Westbrook missed a layup under pressure and had another layup blocked on consecutive possessions in the final minutes, and Zubac blocked a layup attempt by Jokic with 24 seconds left.

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