Government critic Skip Hoagland appeals convictions for disrupting Bluffton meetings
Following a string of criminal convictions related to “decorum violations” at various local government meetings, Hilton Head businessman and government critic Skip Hoagland has filed to appeal three of the court’s guilty verdicts.
Hoagland is disputing three of his misdemeanor convictions for disrupting Bluffton Town Council during public comment on June 13, July 11 and Aug. 8. At all three meetings, Hoagland spoke for longer than the allotted three minutes, claiming a power of attorney document added three more minutes to his time because he was speaking on behalf of islander Lynn Greeley. Each of the three incidents ended with Hoagland being forcibly removed by Bluffton police.
Wednesday’s court filing claims town officials unlawfully kept Hoagland from speaking by flouting his power of attorney and that “the ruckus caused by town officers removing Hoagland” expended more time than if Greeley had spoken herself.
The appeal also claims Bluffton Municipal Court Judge Clifford Bush III, who handed down Hoagland’s convictions, wrongfully applied an opinion of S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson to claim that state law cannot allow a speaker to expand their public comment by speaking on behalf of someone else. The published opinion from Wilson’s office, however, says the town’s ban on double-dipping during public comment likely would not violate the First Amendment’s protections of free speech.
In total, Hoagland was charged 16 times for public meeting decorum violations between March and October 2023. Nine of those charges have ended in guilty verdicts so far, totaling $3,887.50 in court fines, according to Beaufort County judicial records.
South Carolina’s Court of Appeals has 30 days to respond to Hoagland’s filing, according to state law.
Hoagland told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette in May that the flurry of charges and citations wouldn’t stop him from speaking out against public corruption.
“Standing your ground is not a violation,” he said. “If I don’t win, and I don’t stand my ground, nobody’s going to replace me.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2023 at 3:04 PM.
