By Jerry Bellune

JerryBellune@yahoo.com

A judge has found SC economic developers guilty of violating Freedom of Information laws.

State Circuit Court Judge Robert Hood ruled the Department of Commerce broke the law by hiding details of financial incentives offered businesses.

Among those deals was a multi-million dollar tax break for the Carolina Panthers NFL team to move its headquarters to Rock Hill.

The ruling could force Commerce to disclose confidential dealings with companies seeking millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants and tax breaks.

Judge Hood wrote that Commerce unlawfully kept routine data secret, including the identities of prospective companies’ executives and lawyers involved in negotiations.

The judge agreed with state Sen. Dick Harpootlian who represents the Irmo area in Lexington County.

The senator sued the Commerce Department a year ago.

 He charged the state agency has a “cult of secrecy” to hide its dealings with prospective companies - even years after the deals are made.

Harpootlian accused the agency of violating the FoIA law by withholding documents and heavily redacting others about incentives for Singapore-based Giti Tire.

Harpootlian became interested in Commerce's deals after learning about a $115 million tax credit offer to the Carolina Panthers to move its headquarters and practice facilities to SC.

Commerce concealed “far too much otherwise public information (than) is otherwise necessary for the public to understand what its government is doing,” Judge Hood wrote.

“While the Court does not dispute Commerce’s contention that companies ‘are very private’ and, under normal circumstances, ‘do not have to reveal this information to the public,’ the question here is whether the public is entitled to disclosure of certain public information once these companies voluntarily seek and obtain public assistance.

"The economic incentive deals at issue here concern ... public expenditures to the tune of tens of millions of public dollars,” the judge wrote.

Commerce spokesperson Alex Clark told The State newspaper, “We respectfully disagree with the court’s interpretation and application of the FoIA exemptions and are reviewing our legal options.”

Last October, at a hearing on the lawsuit before Judge Hood, Harpootlian put Commerce chief Bobby Hitt on the witness stand.

He grilled him for almost an hour about the department’s secrecy practices.

Harpootlian said that included status reports on the Giti project, breakdowns of the project’s costs and the data used to work up a cost-benefit study.

That kind of information is crucial for the public to determine whether Commerce-sponsored projects have paid off, Harpootlian said.

Hitt defended his department, saying companies wouldn’t come to South Carolina if the state made public information that could benefit their competitors.

Hitt stressed that Commerce has lowered unemployment and created needed jobs.

Harpootlian told The State he does not want information about trade secrets.

He just wants basic financial details that will allow the public to judge Commerce’s deals.

“Right now, there are no audits, nothing,” he said.

“To evaluate a deal, you have to know its components.

“Judge Hood has told them they are breaking the law,” Harpootlian said.

“It is ludicrous that I - a sitting state senator - had to sue them to find out basic information.

"I am putting them on notice right now I will be filibustering their proposed budget next year if there’s not more transparency.”

If Commerce appeals, the Giti and Panthers incentives won’t be released until the department stops appealing or all of its appeals are rejected by higher courts.

That could take years.