SC Gov. Nikki Haley’s gift haul hits a record

In a year when she garnered the most national attention of her political career, S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley received her largest haul of gifts, vacations and speaking-engagement reimbursements since taking office.

Haley received a gift and a trip in honor of her response to the Charleston church shooting and her successful call to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds. A presidential candidate, a college coach and a national news anchor also gave the governor gifts last year. And she received a college ring.

The governor reported that she accepted a total of $52,060 in football tickets, jewelry, flowers, books and art in 2015, according to her annual Statement of Economic Interests report filed with the S.C. Ethics Commission. She received another $77,764 for speaking engagements, which included vacations.

In all, the value of what Haley received in gifts and trips rose by more than 50 percent from a year ago. It’s ethical for politicians in South Carolina to receive gifts as long as they declare them.

As they have done since Haley took office, 10 supporters, including former S.C. House Speaker David Wilkins and Clemson board chairman Smyth McKissick, paid for the governor’s $32,000 football suite at Clemson University.

Other gifts included a $1,200 painting honoring the Charleston shooting victims from S.C. artist Calvin Legette and $567 in eyeglasses from Columbia Eye Clinic.

She also received a replacement class ring from her alma mater Clemson University, valued at $556.40, from an anonymous donor. (She had lost hers.)

Companies that announced development plans in South Carolina, including Volvo and Movement Mortgage, gave the governor a watch, a candle, a gift basket and artwork.

Other notable gifts included:

▪  A book and countdown clock, valued at $37, from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was running for the Republican presidential nomination.

▪  Food, T-shirts and a signed basketball, valued at $359, from University of South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley.

▪  A $153 concert ticket from Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated and a $145 Carolina Panthers football game ticket from team owner Jerry Richardson.

▪  A $100 flower arrangement from CNN anchor Don Lemon and a $27 book from former world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

The governor received $11,527 in accommodations from Kiawah Resort last year for what her office said were family trips.

Haley accepted hotel stays around the Lowcountry, including: $1,165 from The Inn at Palmetto Bluff; $264 from The Cuthbert House in Beaufort; and $858 from the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Campaign donors paid for flights, including a $842 ride for a family vacation to Marathon, Fla., from Sumtraz LLC of Sumter. Mikee Johnson and his Orangeburg company, Cox Industries, paid for $1,041 in flights, and McCrory Construction of Columbia covered another $513 in airfare.

Haley visited Harvard University, where she was honored for her call to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds, and she attended the Philanthropy Roundtable’s Culture of Freedom Summit in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The governor was a popular speaker for politicians – making trips for the gubernatorial campaigns of Pat McCrory in North Carolina, Matt Bevin in Kentucky and Catherine Hanaway in Missouri. She headlined an Indiana GOP party fundraiser, too.

Haley also traveled to California in August for a Koch brothers-backed seminar that attracted several Republican presidential hopefuls and top GOP politicians.

Her flight, paid by Koch Companies Public Sector LLC, stopped in Miami before heading to Santa Ana, Calif., according to state records. Haley’s office did not answer a question about why the plane traveled to Florida first.

The bulk of her travel came from attending meetings of the Republican Governors Association and Republican National Committee in Nevada, Florida, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio and Washington.

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 5:28 PM with the headline "SC Gov. Nikki Haley’s gift haul hits a record."