Bobby Harrell offers lame excuse for missing receipts

There’s a big difference between House Speaker Bobby Harrell and former S.C. Lt. Gov. Ken Ard: One is good at bookkeeping and the other not so much.

As you know, before leaving the Lowcountry for a tony job with Bloomberg former Post and Courier reporter Renee Dudley dropped a bombshell of a story detailing how Harrell had used some $300,000 in campaign cash to reimburse himself for expenses, expenses that included numerous flights on the speaker’s private plane.

Even more troubling, Dudley discovered that Harrell provided very few details about his expenses and was refusing to turn over his receipts, leaving the impression that the Charleston representative was hiding something.

Today, the P&C’s Schuyler Kropf is reporting that Harrell lost $23,000 in receipts in “an office move and can’t be found.”

Lost in an office move? Awesome. Call me crazy, but I don’t think this is the last time a South Carolina politician will use this excuse or some variation thereof. When it comes to questionable campaign spending, Harrell has set a new precedent. I guess that’s why he’s the leader of the House and Ken Ard is at home playing Xbox.

Correction: House Speaker Bobby Harrell did not reimburse himself for flights to Key West, Miami, and the Masters