Can family be paid with campaign funds? Recent remarks spark criticism, questions

Rep. Adam Morgan, a Greenville Republican who is seeking the SC 4th Congressional District seat against incumbent William Timmons, took to the House floor Tuesday to speak against campaign contributions being used for childcare. He said campaign contribution money should not have any connection to personal affairs.

Morgan’s campaign expenditure history, however, have made some question whether his actions contradict these recent statements.

Morgan, chair of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, was called out via X, formerly Twitter, for paying his family, business and families business from his campaign accounts in the past. He says these expenditures were campaign related.

Morgan’s twitter feud is not new, as the South Carolina Freedom Caucus and House Republican caucus find themselves attacking each other on social media almost weekly. The Freedom Caucus will often post pictures of the chamber’s voting board, while House Republicans counter claims that the Freedom Caucus makes about the Republican party.

What Morgan said about campaign contributions being used for childcare

“When people donate to a campaign, that money should be used in your campaign for office,” Morgan said on the House floor Tuesday. “It should be very limited, very tailored so that we don’t have the situation where you have outside influences donating to a campaign to help you out in your specific circumstances at home.”

The House was discussing a bill that would allow SC candidates to use campaign funds for dependent care, or specifically childcare. The bill passed later that day.

“I think that’s a problem, I think it’s an excessive entanglement, I don’t think South Carolina should be doing that, don’t you agree that that opens up that potentiality by doing this specifically related to campaign contributions being used for private expenditures in our private lives directly related to childcare and care of other dependent adults?” asked Morgan to Rep. Jay Jordan, House Ethics chair.

Opponents say Morgan’s words don’t match up with his actions, focusing on specific words in his speech, telling people they can’t and should not use campaign contributions for childcare or dependent care, but then having paid his family from campaign contributions.

What do Morgan’s campaign expenditures show?

Morgan was called out on Twitter, where photos of expenditures from 2018-2020 were posted of him paying his brother, his business and family business nearly $10,000 from his campaign account.

There were three payments to his brother, Alan Morgan, who is currently a representative in the House, one for $87 listed as “Website plug-ins,” another for $500 as campaign consulting, and one for $1,000 as campaign consulting. He paid $6,766 on June 28, 2018 to his family business, Majesty Music, a gospel children’s music company, for “mailers and postage” and $2,044 on September 24, 2020 for “campaign mailer.” He paid $925 to his dad’s marketing/consulting group, Palmetto Fortis, in 2018 for renting a tent for a campaign event. Expenditure reports at the SC Ethics website confirm these vendors and amounts.

Christopher Slick, SC political strategist, who has worked for House leadership including current speaker Murrell Smith, tweeted Morgan’s past expenditures the day the House passed the dependent care bill and he spoke against it.

“Let’s take a look at what outgoing @SCFreedomCaucus Chairman @RepAdamMorgansays (seen below)……and another look at what he does: you know, things like pay his own family and business $8,100 from his campaign account over the course of three years. Did you do it, Adam? Tell us, Freedom Boy! I’ve got the papers that say you did,” Slick tweeted.

What does Morgan say about the expenditures?

Morgan said the form states clearly that the expenditures were legitimate campaign expenses, including mailers, websites and a tent for a kick off event, in a text message to The State.

“I refuse to hire a Columbia consultant like the person who was paid by House leadership to send this kind of tweet,” Morgan said, referencing Slick. “Instead, I ran a grassroots campaign on a shoestring budget. We need more of that in politics.”

Morgan affirmed he was against the bill that passed in the House Tuesday allowing campaign contributions to be used for “personal expenses,” he texted.

When asked about responding to critics calling the situation hypocritical, he said “This is really simple -- restrict campaign funds to legitimate campaign expenses not personal expenses,” Morgan texted.

What is allowed under SC law?

Under the SC state ethics laws, campaign services performed by a candidates family member, business or a families business is allowed. Candidates can not defray personal expenses unrelated to the campaign or office, but can use family business or members in South Carolina.

“There is little guidance, either in the Ethics Act itself or in the Commission Advisory Opinions, on whether expending campaign funds for services rendered by a candidate’s business, a family business or a family member would per se be a “personal” campaign expenditure, and therefore violative of section 8-13-1348,” the 2016 opinion reads.