S. Carolina’s Republican Lt. Gov. resigns-indicted all in one day

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina Lt. Gov. Ken Ard resigned Friday amid a criminal investigation into whether he spent campaign money on personal items.

Ard stepped down at 10 a.m. Friday in a letter given to Gov. Nikki Haley and state Senate leaders. He also issued a statement, saying he was sorry and it was his responsibility to make sure his 2010 campaign money was spent correctly.

“There are no excuses, nor is there need to share blame. It is my fault that the events of the past year have taken place,” Ard said in the statement.

By state law, the Senate President Pro Tem will become lieutenant governor. It was not clear if Charleston Republican Glenn McConnell still holds that post. Neither McConnell nor the Senate clerk returned phone calls Friday morning.

The state grand jury began investigating Ard in July. The 48-year-old Republican has already paid a $48,000 ethics fine for using money from his campaign to pay for personal items, like clothes, football tickets and a flat-screen TV.

Attorney General Alan Wilson, who oversees the grand jury, has called a news conference with State Law Enforcement Division chief Mark Keel for 1 p.m. Friday. Wilson’s office refused to say what Wilson would discuss.

Ard easily won election in 2010, and then freely spent campaign cash on tickets to the 2010 Southeastern Conference title game where South Carolina’s football team played, as well as iPads, clothes, a flat-screen television and video game system. One spending spree at a Best Buy emptied $3,056 from his account.

Ard paid the $48,000 fine in July after being hit with 107 civil counts of using campaign cash for personal expenses that also included a family vacation, clothes and meals. He also had to pay $12,500 to cover the costs of the state Ethics Commission investigation and had to reimburse his campaign $12,000.

Within two weeks, Wilson set up a task force to review the ethics findings and referred the investigation to the state grand jury to determine whether it merited criminal prosecution.

Ard promised full cooperation with the investigations and said he, too, had sought a full review on the day the grand jury news broke. However, the attorney general’s office said Ard had only sought a State Law Enforcement Division investigation – something that would have delayed the grand jury’s work.

The lieutenant governor is paid $46,545 for the part-time job. He presides over the Senate when it is in session and also is in charge of the state Office on Aging.

Story from Associated Press

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