Beaufort County auditor to be moved to new location amid lawsuits. What else can be done?
This story has been updated with new information that the county will no longer be moving Deputy Auditor David Cadd from the administration building.
Beaufort County Auditor Jim Beckert, who is facing two lawsuits alleging harassment and verbal abuse of female officials, will be moved out of his office, County Administrator Ashley Jacobs confirmed Tuesday.
Beckert, whose office is typically located at the county’s administration building at 100 Ribaut Road in Beaufort, will now work at one of the county’s satellite offices in the Beaufort Industrial Village, Jacobs said.
This past month, County Treasurer Maria Walls and former County Chief Financial Officer Alicia Holland filed two separate suits against Beckert, claiming he harassed, bullied, verbally abused and lied about them for years.
Walls’ suit also accused Beckert of stalking, secretly recording her and making inappropriate comments about her pregnancy.
Beckert did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday.
Beaufort County Council members voted Monday evening after a closed door session to direct Jacobs to “take actions to preserve the rights of all individuals involved in current lawsuits as they make their way through the courts,” according to Sarah Brock, clerk to council.
That vote was not publicly displayed during the virtual meeting, and multiple council members told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that it was due to a technical error in the video.
After the newspapers published a story on Walls’ lawsuit, Council member Mike Covert wrote to Jacobs, suggesting that Beckert be moved away from Walls’ office in the administration building.
“What ‘Can’ be done by the County is to relocate the Auditor’s office and employees to another building location off campus,” he wrote. “This would serve the County well; it would serve Mr Beckert well and it would certainly serve Mrs. Walls and the Treasurer’s Office well.”
Jacobs initially said Tuesday that both Beckert and County Deputy Auditor David Cadd would be moved to the industrial village off John Galt Road in Beaufort.
However, on Wednesday, she said that Cadd’s office would not be moved.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the move was “still in process,” Jacobs said.
Called Tuesday about the county’s decision to move Beckert, Walls said, “any effort the county is going to take to provide a better workplace for all of its employees is a good thing.”
The move comes as some in the community and at least one council member, Vice Chair Paul Sommerville, publicly advocated for Beckert’s removal from office.
But that very rarely happens in South Carolina, and the council has not publicly discussed calling on Gov. Henry McMaster to remove Beckert from office.
County Council Chair Joe Passiment said Wednesday that the governor would have to have “other substantiations” from other parties confirming the allegations in the two lawsuits against Beckert in order to consider removal.
Passiment said the allegations in Walls’ and Holland’s lawsuits are going to be “turned over” to the S.C. Department of Revenue and the S.C. Law Enforcement Division for independent investigations.
Tommy Crosby, SLED spokesperson, said Wednesday the agency has not opened an investigation into Beckert “at this time.”
So, what else can be done?
South Carolina is one of 31 states that does not allow for recall elections to remove elected officials.
However, county council members can call on the governor to remove an elected leader from office.
Asked if he would personally write to McMaster to remove Beckert, Sommerville said “no” because Beckert has not been charged with a crime.
“I don’t think there’s anything anybody can do except that when he comes up for election, vote for somebody else,” he said.
Beckert, who was re-elected to office in 2018, won’t be up for re-election until 2022.
Multiple calls to the S.C. Association of Counties for comment were not returned Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to state law, the governor can remove a state or county officer for incapacity, misconduct, or neglect of duty if there is no foreseeable mode of trial or impeachment.
The issue of removing an elected official from office has come up in recent years in at least two S.C. counties.
In 2017, McMaster called for Greenville County Sheriff Will Lewis to “step aside” and said he would remove the sheriff from office if he could.
The statement came after Lewis publicly admitted to cheating on his wife with an employee and shortly after a host of local and state officials expressed their desire for Lewis to resign.
McMaster later removed Lewis from office and, in 2019, the sheriff was indicted on multiple charges alleging misconduct in office, obstruction of justice, perjury and misconduct of a public officer.
In 2019, the NAACP asked McMaster to remove Austin Beard from Georgetown County Council after he did not resign his seat following a ruling by the Georgetown County Board of Voter Registration and Elections that he did not live in the district he represented on council — a violation of state and local regulations.
Thomas A. Limehouse Jr., McMaster’s chief legal counsel, responded that “the circumstances and allegations outlined in your letter do not appear to authorize, give rise to, or require any formal action by the Governor.”
Beard later resigned in August 2019.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 12:49 PM.
