SC-Gov: South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster's primary foes are hoping that his decades-long ties to powerful GOP political consultant Richard Quinn will give them an opening in next year's primary, and they just may be in luck. Quinn, his son, and three other politicians were indicted on Wednesday as part of a long-running state corruption investigation.
Quinn was charged with criminal conspiracy and illegal lobbying, with the indictment declaring that Quinn "did attempt to influence the action or vote of members of the S.C. General Assembly by direct communication on behalf of entities which employed, retained or appointed defendant’s businesses and defendant did not register as a lobbyist…" Quinn has been one of the most powerful people in South Carolina politics for decades. As The State's John Monk writes, "Quinn’s reputation as a power broker with access to and sway with anyone in South Carolina who counted was legendary. His political domain was even given a nickname worthy of an empire: 'The Quinndom.'"
And the Quinndom's bannermen include some very notable Republicans including McMaster, who was promoted from lieutenant governor to governor after Gov. Nikki Haley resigned in January to join the Trump administration; Sen. Lindsey Graham; Rep. Joe "You Lie!" Wilson; and Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is also the congressman's son. Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, a Democrat, has also hired Quinn. One Republican who did not work with Quinn was Haley, who tweeted in March that she "experienced the wrath" of Quinn's firm Richard Quinn & Associates.
There's no sign that McMaster himself has anything to do with Quinn's alleged actions, but McMaster may have a very tough time distancing himself from this story anyway. McMaster had been a Quinn client from his unsuccessful 1986 Senate campaign until this year. And we've mentioned before, Quinn helped save McMaster's re-election campaign for state party chair back in 2000. The party was in bad financial shape, but just before the vote, RQ&A and another firm contributed a total of $85,000 to the GOP's coffers. The party then released letters showing it had plenty of money in the bank, and McMaster won another term. But just days before the vote, the money was all wired back in secret—information that didn't come out until long after the election.
McMaster's ties to Quinn continued through the next decade. In March of this year, just after he became governor, McMaster declared that he'd keep working with RQ&A despite the legal cloud surrounding them, saying they've "worked together for a lot of years on political things, and I intend to continue working with them." McMaster eventually thought better and signed on a new consultant in May.
Next year, McMaster faces a primary from a few Republican opponents. McMaster's most formidable foe is Catherine Templeton, a former member of Haley's cabinet. Templeton has been arguing that McMaster is part of a corrupt establishment, and after Quinn was indicted, she immediately seized on this theme and declared that "South Carolina needs a new generation of conservative leadership that will deliver for our taxpayers instead of the corrupt good ol’ boy system." If McMaster survives his primary, Democrats will likely try and attack him along the same lines.