South Carolina Republican TreasurerCurtis loftisseems likely to remain in office for at least the rest of the year.
The house dominated by the Republicans decided not to takeA resolutionAdopted by the Senate to launch Loftis out of power because of its role in a ghost account of $ 1.8 billion which presented itself in state books, but which barely contained real money and not to report it to the legislators for years.
The Senate sent the resolution to withdraw loftis from the House on April 21. The president of the Murrell Smith Chamber said that it was simply not enough time to take it before the end of the session on May 8.
“We are going to focus on the adoption of the legislation now and we will make a decision after the end of the session on the track with the treasurer,” said SmithSouthern Caroline Public Radio.
The decision leaves Loftis open to appear for a fifth term of four years in 2026. One of his arguments to stay in office was that it was not fair to overthrow the results of an election.
“I am grateful for the decision of the management of the Chamber today to choose the affairs of the people in relation to the political theater. I am sure that South Carolinians are grateful that they are the first priority, and political games are not. I am ready to focus on the work of the people, ”Loftis wrote in a statement.
The Senate voted 33-8 to remove Loftis after an extraordinary audience with 23 republicans voting yes. It is the culmination of more than two years of investigation by senators who started when state accountants involuntarily exaggerated the money given to colleges and universities of $ 3.5 billion.
This led to the discovery of an account error that started ten years ago when the state went from one accounting system to another. If the accountants could not balance the entries in the two sets of books because they moved thousands of accounts with different definitions, they continued to add it to a special account year after year until it growsat $ 1.8 billion.
It took medical-legal accountants, who were paid millions of dollars in fees, to finally disentangle that almost all the money wasnot real moneyBut just an accumulation of errors.
Loftis qualified the investigation in the Senate aswitch hunt. He said several timesNo money has disappearedAnd the errors were not made in his office, although others have testified differently. The treasurer said that the continuation of focusing on errors threatens the state of state credit.
It is not because eight republican senators voted against the resolution they support Loftis. The head of the majority of the Senate, Shane Massey, said that he simply thought that his colleagues senators had not made a case strong enough to withdraw him from his functions.
“I would vote for a monkey on Loftis Curtis. I think he has nothing to do with treasurer and that my hope is that the Republicans will put a good candidate to appear against him,” said Massey.
This is the first year of a two -year session, therefore the resolution to empty Loftis, which is currently part of a chamber committee, will remain alive when the legislators return to Columbia in 2026.
The office of office begins next March with the republican primary for the treasurer, the governor and other offices across the State in June.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
