Journal of the House of Representatives
of the Second Session of the 110th General Assembly
of the State of South Carolina
being the Regular Session Beginning Tuesday, January 11, 1994
Page Finder Index
| 
Printed Page 5860, May 11
| Printed Page 5880, May 11
|
Printed Page 5870 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
Q. And basically in the Grand Strand area?
A. Yes. Uh-huh.
Q. And you came from Ohio there?
A. I came from Vermont.
Q. Vermont?
A. Stowe, Vermont.
Q. Yes, I could see you've been in Vermont. You left some kids up there.
A. Yes, we still have some in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and
Connecticut and Atlanta and Colorado.
Q. I wish I could spread mine up. They all stay home. Do you know who your
House member is here in Columbia?
A. Harold Worley.
Q. Mr. Worley. How about your senator?
A. Dick Elliott.
Q. I must say for 72, I hope I look like you when I'm 72. You look great,
sir.
A. Thank you. Thank you. I'm very -- I do remain very active. I still play
some tennis and try to play some golf and spend a lot of our time -- both my
wife and I spend a lot of our time with younger friends.
Q. I notice you were active in the Jaycees, I guess. The Junior Chamber of
Commerce, is that the Jaycees?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. Throughout many years?
A. Years and years and years. 36 years ago, I had to leave it.
Q. They threw you out, too?
A. Uh-huh.
REPRESENTATIVE WHIPPER: Other committee members? Yes.
EXAMINATION BY REPRESENTATIVE MCLEOD:
Q. What type of insurance do you sell?
A. Just life and group insurance, a little bit of health insurance and some
pension business. But now, I'm doing that just one day a week.
Q. You make enough money --
A. And I'm considering making a change in that. I'm primarily taking care of
some old accounts and the agency I'm with treats me very well and it's very
difficult to leave. They -- they treated me that well. They take good care of
me.
REPRESENTATIVE WHIPPER: Yes, Senator.
Printed Page 5871 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR REESE:
Q. In 1942 to '46, I noticed you were involved probably in the war. What
role did you play?
A. I was in the Army Air Corps doing Air-Sea rescue work. I was in the Aviation
Cadet program for a while and washed out when I ground up an airplane. I
served principally in this country, a little bit of time in Hawaii and was on my
way to Okinawa when the bombs were dropped and the war was over when I got to
Okinawa.
Q. Turn around and come right back?
A. Well, no, I stayed there for about six months operating an Air-Sea rescue
operation.
Q. And then you went back to school?
A. Then I went back to DePaul University in Indiana, that's correct.
Q. So you were married during the war?
A. Yes. We were married in 1943 out in California.
Q. What did you do when you went back to school? Did your wife have to work to
support you or how did you all --
A. No. I had two jobs when I went back to school. We also had a child at
midterms.
Q. So you --
A. Interestingly enough, I was taking a course on marriage and family and he
gave me an A and I didn't have to take the exam because we had a child.
Q. So you had it pretty tough right after the war then?
A. Yeah, we did. We were -- you know, we were making $90 a month, but we also
had university housing and the -- and the housing was inexpensive. We didn't
mind that. It was two of the greatest years we've had.
Q. That's all the questions.
EXAMINATION BY REPRESENTATIVE WHIPPER:
Q. One of the questions that was asked I wonder if you can give us further
information, and I believe it's the question pertaining to have you ever been
disciplined or cited for a breach of ethics or unprofessional conduct by any
court, agency, or association or professional group. And I'm not sure about
your response to that. Please explain --
A. I received a letter from the insurance commissioner, and this is probably,
I'm guessing, 10 years ago when the company called Florida General was licensed
to do business in the state of South Carolina. They ran into some serious
difficulty earlier than a lot of other companies did and we were questioned as
to our representation of that company at that
Printed Page 5872 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
time, but there was nothing on toward -- no license requested sent back or
anything of that sort. Nothing more than an inquiry.
REPRESENTATIVE BAILEY: No suspension?
A. I'm sorry?
REPRESENTATIVE BAILEY: No suspension of the licensing?
A. No. No, none. Never. And I've been licensed in New York, Connecticut,
Vermont, South Carolina, New Jersey.
Q. I notice that in your background, you have a successful business background
mostly and on this commission, do you feel that you can be very fair in hearing
and representing the consumer interest as well?
A. Very much so. I think probably with my experience, I -- maybe even more so,
and that's one of the principal reasons I would like to serve on such a
commission. I think I can do it very fairly.
REPRESENTATIVE WHIPPER: Do we have other --
A. I left -- I might add, that I left a large New England Protestant company in
order to leave and go to Vermont and that was after I'd been told that I
shouldn't hire anymore Catholics and I had adopted a biracial child that
-- that was not received terribly openly by a large New England domicile with a
white Protestant company. So I don't think I'd have any problem being fair,
no.
REPRESENTATIVE WHIPPER: Well, we certainly thank you for appearing and I would
like to inform you that we remain open for any additional information. And
after the interviews, we will be in Executive Session to make a decision on
those persons who have been approved after the screening and if you care to wait
for that --
A. All right.
REPRESENTATIVE WHIPPER: -- you may do so.
A. Thank you very much.
REPRESENTATIVE WHIPPER: Thank you.
A. Thank you all very much.
THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Randolph, we're glad to have you with us today.
MR. RANDOLPH: Thank you very much. Glad to be here.
THE CHAIRMAN: We'll try to make this as easy as we can. We need to ask you a
few questions and what we're going to do is put you under oath and our staff
attorney, Mr. Johnson, here will question you on some basic matters. And then
following that, some members of the committee may have some questions for
you.
MR. RANDOLPH: Okay.
Printed Page 5873 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
THE CHAIRMAN: We'll give you the opportunity to explain why you enjoy serving
on the Consumer Affairs Commission and what you feel -- why you feel like you
want to continue to do that. Once we're through, we will have an Executive
Session after we've finished interviewing everybody and we would ask you to wait
around because there maybe some question that would come up that we need to call
you back in to clarify something at that time.
MR. RANDOLPH: Okay.
THE CHAIRMAN: Okay. Mr. Johnson.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
LONNIE RANDOLPH, JR., having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
MR. RANDOLPH - EXAMINATION BY MR. JOHNSON:
Q. Doctor Randolph, the information that you sent to our office, Ms.
Carleen McQueeney compiled that into a summary. That was sent to you for your
review and then you sent it back to us. Do you affirm that the information in
that summary is correct and would you agree to entering that summary into the
record here today?
A. Yes. Yes, I do.
PERSONAL DATA QUESTIONNAIRE SUMMARY
1. Lonnie Randolph, Jr.
Home Address: Business Address:
P.O. Box 50351 2213 Hampton Street
Columbia, SC 29250 Columbia, SC 29204
2. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina, on June 3, 1950. He is
presently 43 years old.
Social Security Number: ***-**-****
5. He was married to Patricia Reuben Randolph on June 16, 1973.
7. He received a (B.S. Biology) from Benedict College in 1972. He
attended Southern College of Optometry, (Doctor of Optometry), 1977.
8. He has served as a commissioner on the SC Department of Consumer
Affairs Commission since May 1979.
Printed Page 5874 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
9. Dr. Randolph has been active in the United Black Fund of the Midlands,
serving as Chairman and has served on the Board of advisors of the Sickle
Cell Anemia Foundation. He serves as President of the Midlands Optometric
Society, Chairman of the South Carolina Optometric Association's Public
Relations Committee, and is a recipient of the South Carolina Optometric
Association's Outstanding Service Award. After serving on the
Association's Executive Committee he rose to President of the Association,
the first African American to so serve.
11. He serves as the Optometrist for the South Carolina Department of
Corrections.
21. Five (5) letters of recommendation: William C. B. Payne, Jr., Rev.
Arnold Williams, Gladys B. Goforth, Willie S. Minor, Jr., Sr., Joseph
McCulloch.
Q. Doctor Randolph, your SLED records check is negative. Your driving records
check is negative. Your Personal Data Questionnaire indicates negative for
responses Items 11 through 20. Your State Ethics Commission Statement of
Economic Interest indicates negative on Items 13 through 20, with the exception
that you have listed that you're an optometrist for the South Carolina
Department of Corrections. And I just have a few questions to ask you that are
basically a review of the questions that you answered in those two
questionnaires.
Doctor Randolph, do you or any member of your family own or operate any
business which contracts with the state or federal government?
A. I'm an optometrist for the Department of Corrections and that's the only --
I'm a contract person. No one else in my family does.
Q. Do you receive any funding from the Consumer Affairs Commission?
A. No, I don't.
Q. Have you ever been arrested, charged or held by federal, state or other law
enforcement authorities for the violation of state, federal or local law?
A. No, I haven't.
Q. Have you, to your knowledge, ever been under federal, state or local
investigation for possible violation of a criminal statute?
A. No, I haven't.
Printed Page 5875 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
Q. Have you been disciplined or cited for a breach of ethics or unprofessional
conduct by any court, agency, association or professional group?
A. No, I haven't.
Q. Are you now or have you ever been employed as a lobbyist or acted in a
capacity as a lobbyist principal?
A. No, I haven't.
Q. Are there any reasons why you may have difficulty performing the duties of
this elected position?
A. I can't think of any.
Q. If you would like to, you may now briefly explain to the committee why you
would like to continue to serve on the Consumer Affairs Commission.
A. Well, first of all, I've served since 1979, and I have taken this position
very seriously and not the once per month position, I should say. I have used
it to -- community-wise to educate persons who are not aware of the Department
of Consumer Affairs and what the agency does and stands for.
And I have stayed there long enough to where I have developed some
seniority. I presently serve as vice chairman of the commission. As I said,
I've been there since '79, this May is -- makes 15 years, and I feel that I add
some maturity and stability to the agency and to the commission.
We do have a large number of what I consider to be relatively young -- new
people serving on the commission. Lehman Moseley from Greenville is the chairman
and I think he has one or two years more in seniority than I do. But if I had
to put any one thing on it, is that the persons that I've been able to reach
since serving who have not used that agency and were not aware of what the
Department of Consumer Affairs does, and as I've said, I've taken my service
very seriously.
In the 15 years that I have served, I have missed one and a half meetings 15
years, just to show what I consider to be some interest or great interest that I
have in the agency.
MR. JOHNSON: That's all I have, Mr. Chairman.
THE CHAIRMAN: Members of the committee? Representative Bailey.
EXAMINATION BY REPRESENTATIVE BAILEY:
Q. The -- and this is in no way a derogatory remark, but the man who just
left out of here had eight kids. I see you don't have any kids.
A. I have no children.
Printed Page 5876 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
Q. You lucky thing.
A. I have -- I love children. I do have 17 godchildren I feel very close to,
but I have none of my own.
REPRESENTATIVE BAILEY: I told you there were other people our age who didn't
have no kids.
REPRESENTATIVE MCLEOD: He's my age, not our age.
REPRESENTATIVE BAILEY: Mr. Chairman, I really -- I don't have any questions.
I'm very familiar with Mr. Randolph.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any other members of the committee have any questions?
EXAMINATION BY THE CHAIRMAN:
Q. Mr. Randolph, let me just ask you, since you have been serving on the
commission for so long, how do you feel the commission is working now, how
effective do you think that it is?
A. The commission is doing a great job now. We did have a problem some years
ago with attendance. We altered the time. We held meetings when I first came on
it back in 1979 at 10:30 in the morning and a large number of the commission
members said that that destroyed their day, so we changed the meetings to 3:00
o'clock in the afternoon. And we still don't have perfect attendance at every
meeting, but we do have a much better attendance rate now than what we've had in
the past and I think they're doing a super job in overseeing the agency and it
helps to have someone -- to have had someone like Steve Hamm running the agency
because he did a splendid job during his stay.
Q. So you're saying the agency itself is working well also? You think it's doing
its job?
A. The agency -- the commission accentuates the agency. They help each other and
I think having a strong commission makes the agency strong also.
Q. Any concerns that you have, any problems that you see with the agency or the
commission in any way as it relates that the legislature can improve the way
that it operates, the way that it handles the public problems?
A. Well, the only concern I've always had, I think most state employees,
contrary to what you may hear or see in the paper, are great and good employees.
The only concern I have particularly with the commission as this is, that
does not pay, is to put people there who are really interested in doing what
they are supposed to be doing and not there just to what I call balloon their
resumes or make their resumes look good.
Printed Page 5877 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
If you're there to serve the public, then you should have public servants
there. And I think whatever it takes -- I don't know the answer, but whatever
it takes to get people who are really interested in doing what they're asked to
do on those commissions, I think would go a long way.
THE CHAIRMAN: Representative Whipper.
EXAMINATION BY REPRESENTATIVE WHIPPER:
Q. Do you have regularly scheduled meetings?
A. Yes, ma'am. We meet every --
Q. How often do you meet?
A. Every second Tuesday. And that's why I stressed -- I don't want to sound
like I'm bragging, but that's why I stress -- I don't know whether you were
here, that in the 15 years that I've served, I've missed one and a half
meetings.
Q. That's excellent.
A. The half meeting that I missed I had the flu and we had a very serious issue
and I left my bed to go vote and went back home and got in my bed, so I credited
myself with half a meeting, but we meet every second Tuesday at 3:00 o'clock at
the McCrory Sumwalt Building over on Devine Street.
Q. Well, I'm sure we're most appreciative of your service --
A. Well, I appreciate the opportunity to serve. I have enjoyed it. And it has
been an experience for me both from a service standpoint of view as well as a
learning standpoint point of view. I've learned a lot.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any other questions from the committee? If not, Mr. Randolph, we
appreciate you coming. If you would wait around in case we do have some other
questions.
Q. Okay. Thank you very much.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, sir. Mr. Timms, how are you doing?
MR. TIMMS: Fine, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Have a seat and make yourself comfortable.
MR. TIMMS: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Timms, we appreciate you being here. This will be fairly
brief. We do need to ask you some questions, so that we can have some basis to
make our decision and what we're going to do is put you under oath to begin with
and our staff attorney, Mr. Johnson, here, will ask you some basic questions.
Once he is finished, members of the committee may have some questions for you
also and we'd certainly give you the opportunity to say anything that you want
to say about why you want to serve and what you believe in your experience and
background is that qualifies you. So at this time, I'll recognize Mr. Johnson.
Printed Page 5878 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
JOSEPH E. TIMMS, JR., having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
MR. TIMMS - EXAMINATION BY MR. JOHNSON:
Q. Mr. Timms, the -- in compiling the information from the questionnaires
that you filled out for this position, Ms. Carleen McQueeney sent you a summary
of all that information for you to review and then make any changes and sent
back --
A. Uh-huh.
Q. -- to this office.
A. Yes.
Q. Do you affirm that the information in that summary is correct and would you
agree to entering that summary into the record here today?
A. Yes.
PERSONAL DATA QUESTIONNAIRE SUMMARY
1. Joe E. Timms, Jr.
Home Address: Business Address:
116 Windmeadow Dr. 3027 Highway 701 N,
Conway, SC 29526 Conway, SC 29526
2. He was born in Conway, SC on November 1, 1954. He is presently 39
years old. Social Security Number: ***-**-****.
5. He was married on July 2, 1977 to Mary Deborah Hayes. They have one
child, Joseph Timms, III who is 9 years old.
7. He went to Conway High School and received a B.S. degree from the
University of South Carolina in 1976.
9. He has been or is a member of: Waccamaw Sentoma Club; Former
President Monument Builders of Carolinas; Choir Director - Jamestown
Baptist Church.
10. His professional experience includes:
1977 - Greenville Schools
1977-1979 - Kingport City Schools
1979-1984 - Tri City Bank and Trust Co. - Loan Officer 1984-Present Coastal
Monument Company.
Printed Page 5879 . . . . . Wednesday, May 11,
1994
21. Five (5) letters of recommendation:
Jerry Jeneratte, David Nye, Douglas Newton, Jennings Duncan, Lois Eargle.
Q. Thank you, sir. Your SLED records check is negative. Your driving records
check is negative. Your Personal Data Questionnaire indicates negative
responses on Items 11 through 20, except that you've listed under Number 13, I
believe, you have -- you're a co-owner Coastal Monument Company?
A. That's correct.
Q. And then under Item 17 regarding court actions, you listed a court -- a
Magistrate's court case concerning Coastal Monument Company and I believe you
listed also that the Magistrate found in favor of the company; is that
correct?
A. That's correct.
Q. Your State Ethics Commission statement of Economic Interest indicates
negative on Items 13 through 20. And now I'll just have a few questions to ask
you that are basically similar to the questions that you've already answered in
the two questionnaires that you filled out.
Mr. Timms, do you or any member of your family own or operate business which
contracts with the state or federal government?
A. No.
Q. Do you or any member of your family own or operate any business which
receives funds from the Consumer Affairs commission?
A. No.
Q. Have you ever been arrested, charged or held by the federal, state or other
law enforcement authorities for the violation of state, federal or local
law?
A. No.
Q. Have you, to your knowledge, ever been under federal, state or local
investigation for possible violation of a criminal statute?
A. No.
Q. Have you ever been disciplined or cited for breach of ethics or
unprofessional conduct by any court, agency, association or professional
group?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Are you now or have you ever been employed as a lobbyist or acted in the
capacity as a lobbyist principal?
A. No. May I ask a question first?
Q. Yes, sir.
A. Define lobbyist principal.
| Printed Page 5860, May 11
| Printed Page 5880, May 11
|
Page Finder Index