Journal of the House of Representatives
of the Second Session of the 110th General Assembly
of the State of South Carolina
being the Regular Session Beginning Tuesday, January 11, 1994

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| Printed Page 1790, Feb. 10 | Printed Page 1810, Feb. 10 |
Printed Page 1800 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994
6. She attended Winthrop University, August, 1970 - May, 1973, B.A.; the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, August, 1974 - August, 1975, M.A.; and the University of South Carolina School of Law, August, 1976 - May, 1979, J.D.

8. Legal/Judicial education during the past five years:
Her concentration has primarily been in areas that fall under the two Senate Committees she has staffed. However, she has done domestic, civil procedure and restructuring CLEs, etc.

9. Taught or Lectured: As President of the S. C. Black Lawyers, she initiated S. C. Black Lawyers' CLEs.

12. Legal experience since graduation from law school:

Domestic, SSI, Social Security, Consumer, Housing, Employment Security, etc. May, 1979 - January, 1981

Legislative, January, 1981 to present

13. Rating in Martindale-Hubbell:She is in Martindale-Hubbell. However, there is no rating, because she is a legislative attorney.

14. Frequency of appearances in court:
Federal -
State -
Other -

N/A

15. Percentage of litigation:
Civil -
Criminal -
Domestic -

N/A

16. Percentage of cases in trial courts:
Jury -
Non-jury -

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N/A

17. Five (5) of the most significant litigated matters in either trial or appellate court:
(a) Jacqueline Trotter v. Church. S. C. Supreme Court (successfully litigated)

All other files of legal services have been destroyed. Ms. Edna S. Primus can confirm this.

18. Five (5) civil appeals:

Files have been destroyed. See Question #17.

22. Public Office: 1983-1991, Winthrop University Board of Trustees (appointed)

25. Occupation, business or profession other than the practice of law:
Educator, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, August, 1973 - July, 1974 and August, 1975 - July, 1976

29. Arrested or Charged:
Applicant was charged (among others) with shoplifting; found not guilty; civil suit was instituted against store for pattern of racially harassing behavior (1974).

45. Bar Associations and Professional Organizations:
South Carolina Bar (1979 - ); American Bar Association (1985 - 1989); NBA (1985 - 1989); S. C. Black Lawyers (1984 President); Columbia Lawyers (Vice President 1983)

46. Civic, charitable, educational, social and fraternal organizations:
Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands, Member, Board of Directors; Palmetto Legal Services, Board Vice-Chairman; American Red Cross of Central South Carolina, Member, Board of Directors; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Columbia Chapter), President

47. Ten for the Future Recognition, The Columbia Record, Columbia, South Carolina, 1985

Printed Page 1802 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994
The Roddey-McMillan Record, Winthrop University, Rock Hill (named in part in honor of)

Featured graduate in the Carolina Lawyer, The University of South Carolina

National Council of Negro Women, Columbia Section Award for Outstanding Black Woman Community Leader, 1993

48. Five (5) letters of recommendation:
(a) Caroline S. Newton, Assistant Vice President
South Carolina National Bank
165 Columbiana Drive, Columbia, SC 29212
771-3590
(b) Richard F. Dozier, Sr., D. Min.
Northminster Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
6717 David Street, Columbia, SC 29203
754-1812
(c) E. Michael Carlton, Esquire
P. O. Box 441, Lexington, SC 29071
359-5173
(d) John P. Freeman, Professor of Law
University of South Carolina School of Law
Columbia, SC 29208
777-4155
(e) Edna Smith Primus, Managing Attorney
Palmetto Legal Services
P. O. Box 2267, Columbia, SC 29202
799-9668

The Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline reports that no formal complaints or charges of any kind have ever been filed against you. We checked with the appropriate law enforcement agencies, that being the Richland County Sheriff's Office, Columbia City Police Department, SLED and FBI and all of their records are negative. The Judgement Rolls of Richland County are negative. Federal Court records are negative. No complaints or statements were received. No witnesses are present to testify against you.

At this time I'll give you the opportunity if you wish to make a brief opening statement regarding your interest in this position and then I'll turn you over to Mr. Elliott, I believe for questioning.

Printed Page 1803 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994
MS. MCMILLAN: Well, I've been quite interested in being a judge for the last few years. I will be very candid with you, I didn't always have that interest and as I continued to read some of the opinions and actually in some of the state agencies when I went around to handle very similar cases to this, I became interested and I need to tell you that in some -- in many instances, I said to myself I really didn't agree with the way they, you know, had handled some things. A lot of things, I did agree with.

And I thought I could do this and I have expressed that interest for, you know, like I said, the last few years to some of my friends. But I really hadn't said anything or filed to be a judge because I was waiting on something that really attracted me. I wanted to find my niche. I'll will be quite honest with you, I had an interest in family court and then you came up with the Administrative Law court and I'm sure you've noted, I've been a legal services attorney. I was a managing attorney, so I have administrative skills. In fact, I was one of the few female attorneys in Lexington County a few years ago.

I really don't want you to think that I'm degrading my clients at all, but I need to say this, because of the type work that I did, most of my clients are or some of my clients, I will say, understood things at a very elementary level and for that reason as soon as they got a letter from a state agency and they understood that they were being denied benefits, they would come to Legal Services and, of course, you know, seek representation. And for that reason I was in and out of state agencies quite a bit and I'm very thankful, you know, for that experience.

And, in fact, I need to say to you that because I was a Legal Services attorney, I went to the Supreme Court right out of law school. My first year out of law school, argued it successfully and I was very proud of that and I am sure that if I had gone with a law firm, a major law firm that would have been handled by a senior partner. But it came in and it was my case and I was asked to give it up and I said I've done the work, so I went on and argued that.

But like I said, this area of administrative law seems like it's tailored for me.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Mr. Elliott.
MR. ELLIOTT: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Questions.
MS. MCMILLAN - EXAMINATION BY MR. ELLIOTT:
Q. One thing I did want to do, I didn't get a clear picture of it from your Personal Data Questionnaire, but your experience with Legal Services was from 1979, I think it was May until 1981 and you served as a managing attorney from what you just said.

Printed Page 1804 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994
A. In Lexington.
Q. What's a managing attorney? What does that mean? What does it entail?
A. At that time, and that's still the case I understand with Palmetto Legal Services which serves this area, the main office is here in Columbia and we have branch offices in Orangeburg or we did have in Orangeburg, Lexington and some other areas. That means that you are responsible -- you supervise that office and I was responsible for two counties, Lexington and Saluda counties, so I argued in both of those courts and I was responsible for running the, you know, the branch office. The only person that was over me would have been the Executive Director and then, of course, the Board.
Q. Let's talk about that for a minute, if we can. Because you manage -- you want to be the chief judge of the ALJ Division, so your managerial skills are going to be important. Specifically, what -- when you talk about managing that office, what -- how many people worked there, in what capacities, what kind of management did you perform as a managing attorney?
A. I had -- okay, I had a staff attorney under me, I had two paralegals and it may have been two or three secretaries -- administrative secretaries. Because we were just a branch, we had to report the number of cases monthly -- on a monthly basis to the main office, the type cases and to make -- you know, to ensure that everything was handled and flowed, you know, reasonably.
Q. Were you responsible for running the office and managing the case load?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. And since you left Legal Services, as I understand it, then that was in 1981, you have been working for the Senate; is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. For various committees and as a research director?
A. That is correct. I need to tell you that after I was here at the Senate the case did ultimately or it was ultimately held -- I mean heard at the Supreme Court and I told them that I would certainly want to do that and they allowed me to do that. I did not want any compensation, but I felt strongly about my client and I certainly wanted the experience.
Q. Is that the only case you've handled since 1981?
A. Yes.
Q. When you said in your opening statement that you go around to state agencies to handle some of these cases, what do you mean you go
Printed Page 1805 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994
around to state agencies to handle some of these cases? In what way are you handling cases?
A. Well, they would always receive letters -- of course, they wouldn't need representation --
Q. I'm sorry.
A. If they didn't have denial of benefits --
Q. Okay, I'm sorry. Let -- if I can, are you talking about that was before 1981?
A. Yes.
Q. So since 1981, there is just the one case?
A. Yes.
Q. How do you think the lack of trial experience or litigation in the last, well, 13 years will impact on you as an ALJ? Will it make any difference?
A. I will be honest with you, I really don't think so and I need to tell you this, in some areas when I read, you know, the new law about what an ALJ would be responsible for, I think that there were some areas that hadn't been addressed, but from what -- the type experience that I have had, I don't think it would negatively effect it in any way.
Q. What are the areas you think have not been addressed?
A. Well, we -- I was just looking at the personnel and actually asking three judges to do what in my understanding would have been a lot more personnel to do in that time and I am sure I did also see in a section that said that it would be addressed by the General Assembly.
Q. As a chief judge, and apparently you've been thinking about this, what are you going to do about -- what will you do about personnel and the budget? What are your thoughts on that?
A. I always work with whatever I have. It's not -- I just look upon it as a challenge. I wouldn't tell you that I could do the same thing that I could do if, you know, you actually had given me a budget and I had more personnel, but I certainly would do the best that I would do. And I need to specifically tell you that in two weeks, I would pull together those three people because I understand that on -- from February 16th to March 1st, then we would actually be sworn in, pull together everyone during that time period of two weeks and start because we need to come up with some court rules and just some procedures as to how we would handle things and it would be three of us working together. It wouldn't be -- because this -- it will be difficult, but it can be done and I need to tell you that I'm accustomed to operating with as little as possible.
Q. Well, I guess --
A. It's a challenge.
Printed Page 1806 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994
Q. Have you given any thought to the specifics of the budget in the sense that the funds that are available now for the remainder of the year are just pro rata amounts for the judges' salaries? Have you given any thought to what the rest of the budget would look like?
A. You mean for other personnel?
Q. That's right.
A. Yes, I have given some thought to that and I would ask the Legislature to certainly take some action on that and I think that they intend to do that.
Q. But no specifics that you have in mind right now?
A. No.
Q. You alluded to this a minute ago, but what would be your managerial style?
A. My managerial style, I would -- well, we'd have to have a system obviously, so that we would do things in a timely fashion and I understand because of -- well, in any case that you have, I should just exclude that. In any type case, it is always very important to clients and sometimes it really does affect them at levels that we normally wouldn't be affected, so I think that it would certainly have to be timely. And the first thing I would do would be to look at how we can handle things timely, but efficiently because that is, you know, an equal concern.
Q. You also mentioned that you didn't like the way the agencies were handling the cases and at -- that was one of the things you liked at Legal Services was representing, I guess, in a sense the underdog. Does that pose any problem for you in terms of fairness or bias of when you're sitting as an ALJ hearing these cases involving state agencies?
A. No. And I need to correct you on something because I think or it could be my mistake, I don't have a problem with, you know, the way the agencies handle them, but what I was indicating is that no client would ever come in if the agency wrote them and said, "You've been granted your benefits." And so what I was telling you is that the only time we ever saw them was when there was a denial of benefit.

I have been a plaintiff's attorney, but I have no problem. I'm a fair person and I can be impartial and I think my -- some people may know, I just call it as I see it and -- as the law is.
Q. On your Personal Data Questionnaire on question 17, it asks you to list the five most important or significant cases that you've personally handled and you indicated that -- you listed one, but you didn't list others because files had been destroyed?
A. Uh-huh.

Printed Page 1807 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994
Q. Could you explain that to me, what do you mean by files have been destroyed and --
A. Certainly.
Q. -- I guess to give you an opportunity to flesh that out a little bit if -- without case names if you'd like to do that and give that to Ms. Satterwhite?
A. Certainly. I contacted the Executive Director of Legal Services and they'll be happy to provide a letter or talk with any of you and tell you that they've -- they go back
-- they only keep cases so long and then they've been destroyed. And so given the time period, I just couldn't give you the names of cases.
Q. But could you do that without names? I mean supply that to Ms. Satterwhite?
MR. ELLIOTT: I mean would you permit her to do that, Mr. Chairman, if she wanted to do that just some description of what those cases --
A. Oh, okay. I did -- I did a lot of --
MR. ELLIOTT: -- For her without the case name.
THE CHAIRMAN: That'd be fine.
A. I'm sorry. I didn't hear you.
THE CHAIRMAN: That would be fine.
A. I did a lot of housing cases. Employment security was always a big concern with the type clients that I handled. Social Security disability, I did quite a bit of.

And I just thought of something I did handle Social Security case for disability successfully not many years ago. I guess about four years ago, and many of you may recall that, and I need to bring this up because I -- and I hope this is permissible because I think all of you know that I did have a serious car accident and to -- you know, to just make sure that I was getting back in touch with everything, I did my own social security and handled some work at home because I just needed to stay alert and be agile and I was successful in that for myself.

And I do have a letter here addressing my health that I would like to submit to the Committee. This is not the original, but I can provide that. Am I allowed to do that?
THE CHAIRMAN: You may. And let me say at this time, I don't think inquiries by the Committee into health are fair areas of discussion. If you care to do that on your own, that's fine, but don't feel as though you're compelled to do that because of some questions we may have. I don't think that's a fair area of consideration for us.

Printed Page 1808 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994
A. I wondered about that, but the Bar -- that came up at the Bar and I thought, well, let me just anticipate a little bit and bring this in here.
THE CHAIRMAN: We're a little more thorough than they are, so I -- but let me just -- and I say because I don't think that's a fair area of questioning for us, but I would be happy to incorporate it if you think it will be beneficial.
A. Well, I was led to believe, and I'm not trying to implicate the Bar, but I thought that it sounded like some people might bring that up down here or be concerned about that and I wanted them to know that I'll say it for the record.

I was covered by one particular insurance carrier. They had me for disability and they had me for some other policies. Since that time when you have a close call with death like that, you think about things and look at them, Senator McConnell, and say I'm not sure that I have enough and, you know, maybe I should do these things, so I went out and increased some things which meant that I had to go back through physicals and these insurance companies, I mean, thoroughly contacted all my doctors, then they sent their doctor out. They gave me blood work. Could not believe my blood pressure. I think it was better than it was prior to the accident.

And I understood that quite a few lawyers had brought that question up. They were concerned about my health and since there was so much concern about it, I thought, well, maybe the Legislature will be concerned about it, so I did obtain a letter that I wanted you to have to know that that should not be an issue.
THE CHAIRMAN: Let's do that. Let's incorporate it into the record since that is your stated desire. We'll do that.
A. Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Beatty.
REPRESENTATIVE BEATTY: I would just like to say, Sheila, you were fortunate, you did get to talk to some members of the Bar. We've been informed that they've issued reports on some candidates without having talked to them at all, so you are fortunate you got to talk to one.
Q. You're not asked to comment on that. What's The Roddey-McMillan Record?
A. I'm extremely proud of that. That is a newspaper at Winthrop College that is named for me and the first black graduate of Winthrop and I was the first black trustee and some black students came to us and asked if they could use our names for the paper. Did I mention that?
Q. You were asked. I don't see any reason why not.
THE CHAIRMAN: It's in your PDQ.
A. Okay.

Printed Page 1809 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994
Q. You've worked in the political arena for 12 years, a long time, so you know a lot of people. What's going -- if you're an Administrative Law judge, what are you going to be able to do and not do in that area that you may have done in the past?
A. I don't think I would handle that any differently than I would have whether I had worked here or not, but I'm extremely happy that you did ask me that question. If I can get to that later, but I want to tell you that if I am -- no, when I am elected judge, I wouldn't do anything any differently than I would have.

I consider being a judge, being a lawyer a very serious matter and there is nothing -- I just wouldn't handle it any differently.
Q. Well, when you wouldn't handle it any differently, how do you handle it now? I mean do you get involved in campaigns -- political campaigns?
A. If it's --
Q. Are you involved in advancing particular issues or candidates?
A. No, I'm not. In fact, when the senator that I worked for in the last election -- we certainly -- and, well, I've just never been involved anyway because he's had a committee and -- but I think everyone here at the Legislature was very particular about how it was handled after the new ethics law, but I will say that it wasn't handled any differently than it had been before.
Q. And when you say working, you meant working with the Senate and the Committee?
A. Right.
Q. Rather than the campaign?
A. Uh-huh. And I may address this because you alluded to something and it made me think about the fact that I do work for the Legislature and I've never forgotten that. I think, if anything, I would probably have penalized myself more so than some of the others candidates who are not staff members here because I have not contacted any one and I've just really gone overboard.

In fact, I see people that I normally, you know, would stop and chat with just, you know, exchange a few pleasantries and for that reason, I speak and keep moving because I certainly would not want them to think that I'm trying to influence them in any way.
Q. Thank you. Have you ever been held in contempt or sanctioned by a court for any reason?
A. No, I haven't.
Q. Have you ever been the subject of a disciplinary action in the course of your public employment?

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