By Mike Fitts
mfitts@scbiznews.com
Published April 16, 2009

Two prominent local attorneys, working on behalf of a Chapin High School senior, are trying to free up all the federal stimulus money for South Carolina.

A lawsuit filed Thursday asserts that Congress wanted state legislatures to be able to request the federal money apportioned to their states in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act even if their governor does not.

Dwight Drake of Nelson Mullins Riley Scarborough and Dick Harpootlian have asked the S.C. Supreme Court to directly take up the case, which they have filed on behalf of Casey Edwards, an 18-year-old from Chapin.

Edwards has standing to file because she will lose educational services if the money is not released, Drake said.

At a news conference Thursday, Edwards said the documentary film Corridor of Shame opened her eyes to the plight of impoverished schools in the state.

“I think everyone deserves the education I’ve had,” she said.

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford has so far blocked about $700 million earmarked for public education or police and other first responders. He wants the Legislature to agree to use other dollars to pay down state debt obligations before he will request the federal money, but many top lawmakers have so far rejected that plan.

Several teachers in Edwards’ school and others will lose their jobs, damaging the education system, if the money does not come to South Carolina, she said.

“We have this special bond with all of our teachers, and there are certain teachers who have been there that we do not want to see go,” Edwards said.

Drake contends that the clear intent of Congress was that either the Legislature or the governor could request stimulus funds. The filing points to public statements made by House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn at the time of the passage of the stimulus bill. Clyburn added an amendment to the bill that he has characterized as an effort to get around Sanford and other governors who were resistant to the stimulus package.

“It’s an important question, but it’s a simple question,” Drake said.

In a nonbinding opinion released March 31, S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster asserted that only the governor had the power to request the funds.

Drake emphasized that the governor is not a target of the suit, which names the state of South Carolina as defendant. He said he hopes McMaster will join in the call for the S.C. Supreme Court to hear the case.

The court filing cites the public interest and the General Assembly’s need for prompt guidance as reasons the high court should take the unusual step of accepting the case without lower court hearings first.

If the high court accepts and expedites the case, it could be resolved in 20 to 30 days, Drake said. He and Harpootlian have taken the case entirely pro bono, he said.

If the court does not accept the case now, the issue likely will wind its way through the courts anyway, Drake said.

Told that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman had expressed the hope that the court would accept the case, Drake said: “That gives me a great deal of encouragement.”

Edwards has not selected a college to attend, but she said she will go out of state and plans to study political science or global health issues.