SC House proposes new prosecution powers for lawmakers

By Rick Brundrett | The Nerve

In what critics describe as an unconstitutional power grab, the South Carolina House on Wednesday quietly introduced legislation that would give lawmakers the authority to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate criminal violations of state ethics laws by the governor, attorney general and other executive-branch officials.

A proposed change to the South Carolina Constitution would eliminate the attorney general as the state’s chief prosecutor.

The bill (H. 5072) sponsored by Florence Republican Rep. Kris Crawford, who was found guilty in 2012 of misdemeanor charges in a state income-tax case prosecuted by Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office, comes as House Speaker Bobby Harrell is battling to have Wilson, a fellow Republican, removed from handling his ongoing ethics case before the state grand jury.

at The Nerve.