BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.—The school district’s communications director, Amy Kovach, has been slapped with more bad news.
If the state Attorney General’s Office gets its way, Kovach may be forced to pay back more than $100,000 the district has paid lawyers so far in defending her against ethics and fraud allegations.
On October 14th, Chief Deputy Attorney General John McIntosh sent a letter to Kathy Mahoney of Childs and Halligan law firm in Columbia. Mahoney is the attorney representing the school district.
“It is our understanding that on March 12, 2013 and May 13, 2014, the Berkeley County School Board authorized the use of public funds to pay the attorney fees for one or more Board officials who are the subject of a criminal investigation,” wrote Mahoney in the letter. “This criminal investigation remains ongoing. One of these officials has been indicted on two separate occasions. Furthermore, we understand that public funds may be used to pay the attorney’s fees for a non-employee witness in the pending criminal investigation.”
McIntosh included in the letter several court opinions which concluded that a school district may not expend public funds to pay a school board member’s or an employee’s expenses of representation in criminal proceedings.
Doing so, McIntosh stated, is a violation of the South Carolina Constitution.
“We would suggest that you carefully review these opinions and the legal authorities referenced therein. This Office is reviewing the possibility of legal action to recover the public funds expended for this purpose,” wrote McIntosh to Mahoney. “It is difficult to understand how the Board concluded that these officials acted in good faith when the criminal investigation remains ongoing.”
In September, a grand jury indicted Kovach on a second charge of forgery. She was first indicted for an ethics violation in February—just eight months earlier.
According to the latest indictment, Kovach created a false, backdated invoice, purporting to be from the Berkeley Co. School District to the “Yes 4 Schools” campaign, in an attempt to establish that she had intended to have public funds repaid to the county which had been spent on materials in support of a bond referendum election campaign. The invoice was for less than $10,000.
Superintendent Rodney Thompson and Deputy Superintendent Archie Franchini have been previous targets of an in depth investigation regarding the “Yes 4 Schools” campaign as well.
According to the state Attorney General’s Spokesperson Mark Powell, the investigation remains ongoing.
About two weeks after a grand jury indicted Kovach on an additional charge, Thompson asked to be released from his contract early.
According to Thompson’s email sent to district board members, “I feel the timing is right for me to request from the Board of Education to be released from my contract during the summer of 2015. Making this announcement now allows our Board ample time to select a replacement and I will assist with the transition as much as the Board desires.”
Around this same time, school board members Sheldon Etheridge and Doug Cooper also announced their resignations.
To read McIntosh’s entire letter to the school district’s attorney, click here.
Prior Stories:
BCSD Rodney Thompson requests to resign as superintendent
School board member resigns from office
A second Berkeley County School Board member calls it quits
Grand jury indicts BCSD communications director Amy Kovach on forgery charges
BCSD unanimously votes to continue paying legal fees for indicted communications director
BCSD communications director given $10,000 PR bond
BCSD communications director indicted
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