By JIM FAILE

DARLINGTON - Darlington County Councilwoman Wilhelmina Johnson�s effort to get $35,000 in public funding from Darlington County Council to help bail the Darlington County Cultural Realism Complex (CRC) Inc., of which she is executive director, out of foreclosure proceedings constitutes a conflict of interest as defined by the State Ethics Reform Act, County Attorney Jim Cox said.

Cox said it was improper for Johnson to even bring up the subject to council or to participate in any discussions about it because of her connection to CRC.

Cox�s comments came during Tuesday�s council meeting in response to a request from Johnson for clarification on conflict of interest laws after her funding request drew charges of a conflict of interest.

Johnson first made the request for the funding to council during a meeting on June 7 but got no response from any other members. When she tried to bring the issue up again during council�s June 21 meeting to have it placed on the agenda for the next meeting, Chairman Billy Baldwin ruled her request and comments out of order.

The Ethics Reform Act prohibits public officials from using their office to obtain an economic interest for themselves, immediate family members or any business or organization with which they are associated. It also prohibits public officials from using their office to influence decisions affecting themselves, immediate family members, or any business or organization with which they are associated.

The law requires that in cases where a public official may find himself or herself in a position requiring action on a decision in such a case to prepare a written statement explaining the potential conflict of interest and submit it to the presiding officer of the public body (except for members of the General Assembly who submit their statements to their respective Ethics Committee), in this case Darlington County Council. The presiding officer is then required to make the statement a part of the official minutes of the meeting and to excuse the member from participating in any votes, deliberations or other actions related to the matter.

Cox said under the statute, Johnson�s interest in CRC does not have to be only financial. Being closely tied to an organization can constitute an interest that rises to the level of conflict of interest, he said.

�Mrs. Johnson is the primary moving force behind it (CRC). She is the founder. In essence, Mrs. Johnson is CRC,� he said.

�You would not even be allowed to discuss CRC before council because it�s a conflict of interest,� Cox told Johnson �For you to even get it before council, someone else would have to do it.�

�We really don�t need a law to tell us when something is a conflict of interest,� Cox said. �If we get ready to discuss something and we wonder if we have a conflict of interest, we do.�

Chairman Baldwin referred Johnson to council�s own rules of procedure, which incorporate the requirements of the Ethics Reform Act. The rules prohibit any member of council from participating directly or indirectly a procurement in which the member has knowledge or notice that he or any business with which he is associated has a financial interest in the decision. The rules require the same written notice to the chairman as called for under the state statute.

Cox said that under council�s rules of procedure, Baldwin had the authority and the responsibility to rule Johnson�s request out of order and said that ruling can only be overruled by a majority vote of council.

Council�s rules allow time for council members to speak on issues, but Cox added, �The chairman has complete control over whether you get to speak, when you get to speak and how long you get to speak.�

�We don�t even know what the rules are,� Councilman Alex �Buz� Shaw of Hartsville said. �We�ve been told it�s a conflict of interest, and we don�t even pay any attention to it.�

Johnson was having none of it. She read a prepared statement in which she denied any conflict of interest and said anyone accusing her of a conflict of interest had better be prepared to prove it. �When you confront me again, have your stuff ready,� she said.

�Wilhelmina P. Johnson is well educated and performs her job with mule sense,� Johnson said.

Johnson said that in 22 years on county council she has complied with state ethics requirements to submit information about her financial interests. She was first elected to council in 1988.

Cox said that council in the past has been lax in some instances in enforcing ethics rules and its own rules of procedure. Johnson in past years has voted on funding allocations for CRC when the organization has sought state accommodations tax funding from the county.

The state ethics law allows anyone who suspects that a violation of the law has been committed by a public official, public member, or public employee to file a complaint with the State Ethics Commission.

�When you think of Wilhelmina Johnson and CRC, there�s a legacy of 37 years,� Johnson said.

Johnson founded CRC in 1973 as a nonprofit organization aimed at bridging the gap for young people between school and home with various services. She said that at the time of its formation, African Americans had little to celebrate. CRC, she said, changed that.

And Johnson again chastised council for not providing more funding for the organization in the past. She said CRC is meeting a need that the county does not meet. �Shame on Darlington County, South Carolina and the country as a whole,� Johnson said. �Hypocrisy in a democracy cannot be tolerated.�

Johnson said the $35,000 she wants from the county is �nothing compared to the need,� and said she is seeking as much as $1 million from a variety of sources, including the county, state and federal governments as well as other sources.

Johnson also tried unsuccessfully to resurrect the issue of council�s long-standing policy of not funding requests from organizations or agencies that are not a part of county government.

She said nonprofits like CRC are bearing the burden of providing services to the community and the county should be helping by providing funding.

Councilwoman Anne Warr of Lamar defended council�s policy. �We were elected to spend county money on public business, and number one is safety,� she said.

She said when council funds an agency of county government it has control over how the funding is spent. That control does not exist when funding is allocated to a nongovernmental organization, she said. �We have no control over how they spend taxpayer dollars,� Warr said.

�Who are we to sit up here and say one organization is better than another organization?� Warr said. �They all do good work, but they are not county government.�

Carolina Bank and Trust Co. began foreclosure proceedings against Johnson and CRC in November of 2009 related to several CRC properties in Darlington, including the CRC Vision Center, Family Life Center and another building.

According to court documents, the bank is seeking to recover $199,882. In its complaint, the bank says the original note in June of 2007 was for $185,335. The bank is also asking for interest.