City Council release of ethics charge was within law

The Beaufort City Council did not violate state law when it announced in December that Mayor Bill Rauch was being investigated by the State Ethics Commission, an Ethics Commission attorney said Tuesday, because the council members only had third-party knowledge of the investigation.

An ethics complaint against Rauch was dismissed April 15 because the commission found that the allegation, if true, would not have constituted a violation. Former mayoral candidate Billy Keyserling had accused Rauch of offering to accept a bribe from Keyserling, if Keyserling agreed.

In December, while Rauch was recovering in Beaufort Memorial Hospital from a near-fatal car wreck six days earlier, the other four council members voted unanimously to issue a press release, alerting the public that the Ethics Commission was investigating Rauch. Ethics investigations are confidential unless the commission finds a violation or confidentiality is waived.

Rauch did not waive confidentiality, and the release of confidential information is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in prison, according to state law.

City attorney Bill Harvey said Tuesday that he told the council about the investigation. He would not reveal how he learned of the investigation.

Harvey said he also told the council in December that it would not be illegal for the group to alert the public. That opinion was based on a conversation between Harvey and Ethics Commission attorney Cathy Hazelwood, he said.

"As an attorney, he represents the council, so there's always been the ability for an attorney to report back to his board regarding one of its members," Hazelwood said. "With the council, they are not a party to the action. None of those members had been interviewed or anything (for the investigation), and you can't find a third party guilty."

Hazelwood said Rauch, Keyserling and the Ethics Commission are bound by confidentiality, but the council members are not.

"Having represented this office in a confidentiality matter (in the past), the litigation (in a third-party case) would go on forever and we would lose again," Hazelwood said.

Rauch said last week that he thought the council's action was illegal but he did not plan to file a complaint. After learning Hazelwood's reasoning, Rauch declined to comment.

City Councilman Mike Sutton said the council issued its press release because city residents had a right to be kept informed.

"The question was ... 'What was right for the people?'" he said. "Something had to be said."

The ethics investigation was sparked by information from Keyserling, who said Rauch offered in May to vote for the annexation of the 1,005-acre McLeod Farm, which was being sold through Keyserling's real estate firm and included 38 acres that Keyserling owned with three partners. In exchange for his vote, Rauch wanted Keyserling to praise Rauch's work in letters to The Beaufort Gazette and serve as treasurer of Rauch's re-election campaign instead of running for mayor himself, Keyserling said.

In response to the allegation, Rauch said April 17, "I don't want Billy Keyserling to be my campaign treasurer. It's as simple as that."