BIG SPENDER

South Carolina House Speaker Indicted

Bobby Harrell charged with misuse of funds.

The speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives has been indicted on nine charges related to misconduct and misuse of campaign funds. Bobby Harrell is accused of taking $70,000 to compensate an administrative assistant at his insurance company and using a campaign account “to pay credit-card debt and to pay for goods or services for his home, family, and friends that were not for any purposes related to his campaign for or position in the South Carolina House of Representatives,” according to the indictment by a Richland County grand jury. The indictment also claims Harrell spent $1 million from his campaign fund from 2009 to 2012, $300,000 of which he spent directly on himself. “At this point in the process, the indictments are mere accusations," said Solicitor David Pascoe of Orangeburg. “Mr. Harrell is presumed innocent until proven guilty."