Our view: Moss must open ethics hearing to public

Beaufort County School District Superintendent Jeff Moss faces state charges of ethics violations, and his hearing should be open to the public.

The S.C. Ethics Commission set the hearing after investigating the hiring of Moss’ wife last year to a newly restructured administrative position. Its investigators found probable cause on three counts of ethics violations.

Two residents had filed complaints against Moss following the nepotism scandal, which resulted in the resignations of Darlene Moss after one week on the job and of the school board chairman Bill Evans weeks later.

The hearing is set for August. A panel of three commission members may either clear Moss or find he violated state ethics law by knowingly using his position as superintendent to obtain an economic interest for an immediate family member, or by participating in a governmental decision in which that family member had an economic interest.

If the panel of commissioners finds Moss in violation, it could then issue a public reprimand or levy an administrative fine of up to $2,000, commission executive director Herb Hayden said. The panel could also refer any criminal activity to the attorney general, who could prosecute the misdemeanor carrying penalties of up to a $5,000 fine, one year in prison or both.

Moss recently said he does not know whether he will ask that the hearing be open to the public. It’s his call, and he should insist that the public have total access.

Moss has claimed from the beginning he did nothing wrong. We disagree. He revealed an egregious lack of personal ethics and judgment. The school board thought that was fine. It wasn’t even a bump in the road on its way to now asking the public to entrust it with a new sales tax generating hundreds of millions of dollars for alleged school needs.

At least Moss now has a chance to prove his viewpoint to someone other than a lame school board. Unfortunately, it will come before a lame ethics commission that acts mostly in secret, ultimately finding very little wrongdoing by public servants.

When the public was told of the superintendent’s nepotism, the board reacted by hiding behind closed doors. For hours, they met in secret with the public being treated as the enemy. Board members belittled citizens who dared to point out the obvious: The superintendent has lost the public’s trust. Board members suddenly started policing the public-comment portion of its meetings.

Given all the hubbub, if Moss wants to insist he’s done nothing wrong, now is the time to make the claim in public.

Let the people view the process so everyone can finally know how it can be OK for nepotism rules to be changed without board oversight so that the spouse of the superintendent can be hired to a $90,000 central office job.

“The board has previously discussed these issues,” school board chairwoman Mary Corday has said. “This is the process, and we will support this process. We intend to fully cooperate with the South Carolina Ethics Commission.”

Full cooperation should mean full disclosure.

This story was originally published May 4, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Our view: Moss must open ethics hearing to public."