WASHINGTON: The S.C. Ports Authority voted Wednesday to cut its ties, at least for now, with a Columbia political consulting firm ensnared in a state public corruption investigation. The Ports Authority board voted 5-3 to suspend doing business with Richard Quinn & Associates until further board action, citing concerns the Columbia-based political consulting firm is being looked at by state investigators. The vote will stop monthly payments to the firm for consulting, $8,100 a month since July. Ports Authority chairman Pat McKinney made the motion, citing “enough legal uncertainty” to justify suspending the agreement with the firm, headed by veteran GOP consultant Richard Quinn. McKinney noted Quinn has not been charged with any wrongdoing, “acknowledging that no formal charges have been filed and may not ever be filed.” But, he added, “Our own records have been subpoenaed as have other entities. Perception is almost as important as reality” for a business enterprise like the port, he said. Quinn could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Opposing the motion was former Ports Authority chairman Bill Stern, who said board members who supported suspending ties with the Quinn firm could not identify anything it had done wrong. After the meeting, Stern – a long-time friend of Quinn, who likely would have been Stern’s political consultant if he had decided to run for governor – said the move was too “premature an action to be considering. In America, thank God, we’re innocent until proven guilty.” Stern accused McKinney and another board member, Michael Sisk, of retaliating against Gov. Henry McMaster for the governor’s decision not to reappoint McKinney and Sisk to the board. McMaster also is a long-time Quinn client. Stern also asked Ports Authority president and chief executive officer Jim Newsome if he was satisfied with the Quinn firm’s work. Newsome said he was satisfied. Quinn and a partnership he formed with Bob McAlister, another Columbia political consultant, were paid roughly $2.9 million over an eight-year period, according to records released by the Ports Authority. The payments included about $1 million in monthly consulting fees to Quinn’s firm and about $1.9 million for surveys, media buys and ad campaigns promoting the port. McAlister’s firm separately has been paid for monthly consulting fees totaling $800,000 since 2000.
