Former Chester County School Board candidate Steve Jackson has taken his concerns about the residency of current school board member Maggie James to the state Inspector General’s office.
The Inspector General’s office handles reports of “fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement or misconduct involving a South Carolina state agency or employee.”
The N&R was copied on an email from Jackson to Chester County School District Board Chair Doug Shannon and Vice Chair Sandy Lovern. The school board will elect new officers at the Jan. 23 school board meeting.
‘If you look at the compliant, you will see I did not do this anonymously. Feel free to share with whomever you like. I was hoping the Board of Elections would have done something by now, but I don’t have any evidence that they have. I am still hopeful the School Board will deal with this issue on their own. U.S. Congressman Ralph Norman advised us that it is within your power to do so yourself. I have work responsibilities that will keep me from attending the January board meeting. I wish you both well in maintaining your current positions as chair and vice-chair.’
In the email, Jackson provided a screenshot of the online complaint form he filled out. The form asks three questions before providing a space for the specifics of the complaint:
What recourse have you taken with the agency?
I filed a formal complaint concerning her residency for the last term she was elected
What action was taken?
They reviewed the matter and determined she was grandfathered in for the last term and she would address the issue.
What is the status of the matter?
She ran and won in the last election for the same district she does not live in.
Jackson provided the following specifics for the complaint: ‘Maggie J. James is registered to vote at 168 Center Street, but she lives at 190 Center Street. SLED investigated Maggie James in 2020-2021 and determined that she lives at 190 Center Street which is in District 4. She was elected to represent
District 6. SLED File 32-20-0023. She did not update her Drivers license or Voter registration to reflect these findings.’
To support his complaint, Jackson provided the following documents:
- SLED file 32-20-0023;
- Minutes of the School Board meeting dated Aug 23, 2021;
- Voter detail sheet dated 4/22/22;
- Official Driver Record dated 5/5/22.
In the place on the online form asking for the narrative of the alleged wrongdoing or omission, Jackson provided these comments: ‘Maggie J James was elected to the Chester County Board of Trustees to represent District 6 in the last election and she is supposed to be sworn in on Jan 23, 2023. She claims she lives at 168 Center Street, but the reality is, she lives at 190 Center Street. 168 is in District 6 and 190 is in District 4. CCSB policy dictates that you have to live in the District you represent or you have to resign immediately. State election law states you have to be living in the district by the day of the election.’
Asked to comment on why he has pursued this and why at this time, Jackson responded in an email, ‘Maggie James never changed her address after SLED determined that she actually lived at 190 Center street. I pursued, without any satisfaction, a law enforcement solution for any ramifications for using a false address.
‘The school board had already decided Mrs. James was grandfathered for the current term and that she understood the situation…I read an article in December that indicated the Governor was encouraging the Inspector General to focus on School Board complaints and get rid of some of the reported corruption issues going on in the state.
‘The reason I waited this long is that someone else had put forth a complaint with the Chester County Board of Registration and Elections and I can’t get an official update about a court date. (Editor’s Note: The complaint against James by school board candidate Larry Miller was referred to Circuit Court by the Chester County Voter Registration and Elections Board).
‘The new school board gets sworn in at the January meeting. I also wanted to give the board a fighting chance to make a good decision about who their leaders are going to be.
‘If they elect Maggie as the chair or vice-chair and the Inspector General investigates and removes her, they will lose all credibility and we will have to wait another two years to try to approve any kind of bond referendum,” Jackson stated.
