5 S.C. Legislators, Lobbyist Charged in Bribery Scandal

Five more representatives and a lobbyist were charged today in South Carolina’s growing bribery scandal.

Republican Thomas Limehouse and Democrats Ennis Fant, Larry Blanding, B. J. Gordon and Donna A. Moss were named in a federal indictment growing from the FBI sting into the state Legislature.

Limehouse was charged in a three-count indictment of two violations of the Hobbs Act, the federal anti-bribery law, for allegedly accepting $2,000, conspiracy to accept cash and an additional obstruction of justice charge.

Fant, Blanding and Gordon were charged together in one count of conspiracy to violate the Hobbs Act. Fant was also charged with accepting two bribes of $1,300; Blanding was charged with accepting two bribes of $1,300; and Gordon was charged with accepting one bribe for $1,000.

Moss was charged with possession of cocaine during the 1989 Legislative session.

Also charged was lobbyist James Madison Brown V, on one count of possession of marijuana in September, 1989.

The indictments have come as the result of an FBI sting, nicknamed “Operation Lost Trust,” which probed vote-buying in the General Assembly. Of five other legislators charged last month, three have pleaded guilty and another is expected to plead guilty next week.

Several black legislators and activists have suggested the investigation is racially biased, if not racially motivated.

Three of the five legislators charged today--Fant, Blanding and Gordon--are black, as is one of the five charged last month, Luther Taylor. In all, there are 19 blacks in South Carolina’s House and Senate.

U.S. Atty. Bart Daniel and other prosecutors have repeatedly insisted the investigation had no racial bias or motivation, and virtually all the state’s white political leaders have said they do not see a racial bias.