In a state with no shortage of public disgrace, the latest is the State Treasurer, Thomas Ravenel, who has been indicted for possession and distribution of cocaine. Yesterday, governor Mark Sanford suspended Ravenel (Too bad the Governor won’t suspend Lt. Gov. Andre “Zippy” bauer too) and appointed an interim treasurer.

In today’s news, The Greenville News (a.k.a. Pravda on the Reedy) has reported that Ravenel’s supplier has now been jailed on distribution charges.

This isn’t just another Good Ol’ Boy gone bad: Ravenel was being investigated for narcotics involvement prior to the 2006 election.

Some excerpts from news reports follow.

Ravenel, a wealthy developer, embraced tough political style

Published: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - 9:21 pm
Updated: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - 9:29 pm

By David Dykes
BUSINESS WRITER
ddykes@greenvillenews.com

State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, a millionaire real estate developer and son of a powerful South Carolina politician, has been known as a conservative Republican who unabashedly feuded with other party members and chastised state lawmakers for a lack of fiscal discipline.

Ravenel, 44, now faces perhaps the most difficult period in his political and personal life as he prepares to defend himself against a federal grand jury indictment that charges he conspired to possess and distribute cocaine.

He faces 20 years in prison and a fine of $1 million if he’s convicted. Gov. Mark Sanford suspended Ravenel, a constitutional officer, after his indictment was announced Tuesday.

For Ravenel, the indictment puts him squarely in the middle of another, albeit far different, kind of debate.

In April, he endorsed the Republican presidential candidacy of Rudolph Giuliani and signed on as his state campaign chairman. Ravenel praised the former New York mayor’s leadership record, but said Giuliani’s conservative government philosophy was what the two men shared most.

At the time, Ravenel’s endorsement amounted to a small beachhead within a state Republican establishment heavily co-opted early on by Arizona Sen. John McCain.

In Charleston, Ravenel’s father, former U.S. House member Arthur Ravenel, was named Giuliani’s Lowcountry chairman. The elder Ravenel is a former state senator who retired in 2004, but won a local school board seat last year.

The younger Ravenel graduated from The Citadel, where he was a member of the wrestling team, and received his master’s of business administration from the University of South Carolina.

He had never been elected to public office until last year, when he defeated incumbent Treasurer Grady Patterson, a Democrat who occupied the office for nearly four decades.

By law, the state treasurer is responsible for the investment, cash management and safekeeping of the state’s general and restricted funds and a portion of the assets of the South Carolina Retirement Systems.

While he was campaigning against Patterson, Ravenel finally put to rest speculation — under political pressure — that he would run against U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a fellow Republican, in 2008.

Last year, the Federal Election Commission hit Ravenel with a $19,500 civil fine for what it said were reporting violations from his 2004 Republican U.S. Senate campaign. Ravenel, who lost in the GOP primary, said it was a post-election “oversight.”

In recent months, Ravenel publicly feuded with another state Republican, John Rainey, chairman of the Board of Economic Advisers. Rainey said he couldn’t support him as treasurer and questioned the $27 billion figure that Ravenel said represented the state pension fund’s unfunded liability.

At one point, Rainey called Ravenel “a dilettante” whose election would create financial havoc for the state.

Other fissures developed within the state Republican Party. Ravenel leveled criticism at Sanford and state GOP Chairman Katon Dawson for not backing him in the feud with Rainey.

“I’m out there shouting the Sanford agenda from the rooftops,” Ravenel told reporters and editors of The Greenville News last October.

Sanford’s campaign manager said at the time Sanford “strongly” supported Ravenel.

In the meantime, Ravenel stressed to voters that he was all about change.

Ravenel, who earns $92,007 as a full-time constitutional officer, said last month in a guest column in The News that with a $1.3 billion projected surplus for the coming year that Republicans in state government unilaterally rejected former President Ronald Reagan’s conservative economic principles.

Instead, they embraced profligate spending, populist tax swaps and “pitifully inadequate tax cuts,” Ravenel said.

—–

Ravenel cocaine investigation started last fall
U.S. attorney: Drug bought for ‘personal use’ by Ravenel, others

Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - 2:00 am
Updated: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - 2:30 pm

By Tim Smith
CAPITAL BUREAU
tcsmith@greenvillenews.com

COLUMBIA — A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel on a charge of engaging in a conspiracy in which he allegedly bought cocaine for himself and provided it to others for their personal use, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Ravenel, a Lowcountry developer and former GOP U.S. Senate candidate who won public office for the first time in the November treasurer’s race, is accused of involvement in a conspiracy that began in late 2005, according to the indictment.

Gov. Mark Sanford, who was given a copy of the indictment, suspended the 44-year-old Ravenel and appointed an interim treasurer today to oversee the state’s finances.

The brief indictment, the result of a joint investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division and the FBI, does not spell out the evidence on which the charge is based.

SLED Chief Robert Stewart said the probe began as a Charleston Police investigation before the November election and was handed over to federal authorities in April after Ravenel’s alleged involvement became clear.

“Since the state treasurer administers the use of vast public funds and is a member of the Budget and Control Board, I did not want any possible political or ethical concerns to be issues in this case,” Stewart said.

Ravenel is the son of Arthur Ravenel, a former U.S. Representative from Charleston and state Senator for whom the bridge over the Cooper River is named.

Scott Malyerck, Ravenel’s spokesman, referred reporters to Ravenel’s attorney, John Collins of Charleston. Collins could not be reached for comment.

Indicted with Ravenel is Michael L. Miller, 25, of Mount Pleasant. There was no information in the indictment about Miller and his background was not available late Tuesday.

The two “did combine, conspire and agree together and have tacit understanding with each other and others, both known and unknown to the grand jury, to knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully possesses with intent to distribute and to distribute a quantity of cocaine,” states the indictment, which is only a single paragraph.

If convicted, the two men each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. An attachment to the indictment dealing with the penalty indicates that less than 500 grams of cocaine, a little over a pound, was involved.

A summons has been issued for Ravenel, who is not in custody, to appear July 9 before a federal judge in Columbia, where he can enter a plea and bond will be set, officials said. Miller is in custody, according to the U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, Reginald I. Lloyd. Lloyd said neither is considered a flight risk.

“I want to be clear that while the investigation is ongoing, we are not alleging at this point and have no evidence to suggest that Mr. Ravenel was selling cocaine,” Lloyd said. “Rather we allege that Mr. Ravenel purchased cocaine for himself and provided the drug for others for their personal use.”

Lloyd said he did not want to comment on the number or identify other individuals who allegedly received cocaine.

Asked whether Miller is accused of providing the drugs to Ravenel, Lloyd said: “That’s what we are alleging.” Asked whether other charges are coming, Lloyd said, “Not at this time, but you don’t know where the investigation could go.”

Lloyd would not answer questions seeking details of the government’s allegations.

The investigation began with a probe by the Charleston Police Department, officials said.The State Law Enforcement Division’s Stewart said the investigation reached a point in April where the U.S. Attorney’s office was contacted because of the involvement of a statewide official.

While saying investigation began before the November elections, Stewart said “there was not anything we could take any action on prior to the election.”

“Some will surely say, ‘what if this and what if that,’ but we can’t deal with hypotheticals. All I can say is we have to play the hand we are dealt,” Stewart said. “We don’t make the facts, but it is certainly our duty to report them.”

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