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

Page Finder Index

| Printed Page 1820, Feb. 10 | Printed Page 1840, Feb. 10 |

Printed Page 1830 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

18. Five (5) civil appeals:

He has not personally handled any appeals.

22. Public Office: Administrator, County of Charleston, 1979-1983, appointed

25. Occupation, business or profession other than the practice of law:

County Administrator; Charleston County, South Carolina; November, 1979 to August, 1983

Special Assistant to the Secretary; U. S. Department of Commerce; May, 1979 to November, 1979

Director of Congressional Relations; U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; April, 1977 to May, 1979

Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Urban Studies; College of Charleston; Charleston, South Carolina, 1972 to 1977

Special Assistant to the Mayor; City of Charleston, January-June, 1976

Research Specialist, Atlanta Model Cities Program, 1969-1970

Urban Intern, U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1969

Page, U. S. House of Representatives, 1961-1963; Overseer of Pages, 1963

28. Financial Arrangements or Business Relationships (Conflict of Interest):
He is aware of no such arrangement or relationships. If there were to be such a conflict, he would immediately disclose the conflict and disqualify himself from any further involvement on the matter.

32. Sued: He was sued for legal malpractice. Case was dismissed for Plaintiff's failure to prosecute.


Printed Page 1831 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

45. Bar Associations and Professional Organizations:
House of Delegates, South Carolina Bar; Chairman-Elect, Charleston Ballet Company; Board of Directors, Calhoun Corridor Project; Delegate, Government and Administrative Law Section, South Carolina Bar

46. Civic, charitable, educational, social and fraternal organizations:
Former: President, Charleston Trident Chamber of Commerce, 1991; President, Synagogue Emanu-El, 1991 and 1992; Board of Directors, Amazing Stage; Chairman, Citizens Task Force on Governmental Reform, 1988; Leadership South Carolina, 1987; Trustee, Charleston Memorial Hospital; Commissioner, Charleston Parks, Recreation and Tourism Commission; Board of Directors, National Association of County Administrators; Board of Directors, Jewish Community Center; Land Use Policy Steering Committee, National Association of Counties; South Carolina Association of Counties; International City Managers Association; American Society for Public Administration; American Political Science Association; Southern Political Science Association; Pi Sigma Alpha; Board of Directors, Charleston Museum; Co-Chairman, Citizens Advisory Committee on Land Use; Board of Directors, United Way Planning Board; Board of Directors, Charleston Opera Company
Awards: Charleston Trident Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Person of the Quarter, 1988; National Association of Counties Achievement Awards - 1980, 1981 and 1982; South Carolina Association of Counties Achievement Award, 1980; Fellowship and Graduate Assistantships, Emory University, University of South Carolina; National Science Foundation Award, Emory University

48. Five (5) letters of recommendation:
(a) John M. Jordan, Jr., Executive Vice President
National Bank of South Carolina
P. O. Box 1299, Charleston, SC 29402-1299
724-7023
(b) James D. Bradley, Chief Executive Officer
Charleston Trident Chamber of Commerce
P. O. Box 975, Charleston, SC 29402-0975
577-2510


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(c) W. H. Nicholson, III, Esquire
Nicholson & Anderson
P. O. Box 457, Greenwood, SC 29648
229-7241
(d) Barry L. Gleim, Ed.D., President
Johnson & Wales University
PCC Box 1409, Charleston, SC 29403
727-3008
(e) Thomas S. Tisdale, Jr., Esquire
Young, Clement, Rivers & Tisdale
P. O. Box 993, Charleston, SC 29402
577-4000

We've checked with the applicable law enforcement agencies: Charleston County Sheriff's Office records are negative. Charleston City Police Department records, negative; SLED and FBI records as well are negative. The Judgement Rolls of Charleston County are negative. Federal Courts are negative as well. We have received no complaints. We do have a witness who is here to testify in your case. I think there may be several people who are here to testify in your review.

Prior to turning you over to Ms. McNamee for questioning, I would give you the opportunity that we have given the other candidates, and that is to make a brief opening statement.
MR. STEINERT: I would only -- thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I appreciate the opportunity. Human nature being what it is from time to time in this process, I've asked myself why I've subjected myself to it and it really occurred to me when I was in Spartanburg the other night at a meeting that Mr. Beatty and Mr. Russell were both at where the issue of -- belabored issue of day-care regs came up that had been put out by DSS. And I listened long and hard to what people were saying and it just struck me that if there had been an administrative law section in place and a judge said to DSS, you know, these regs are important that I don't understand them. They don't make sense. If I don't understand them in the context of this hearing, you're not going to be able to implement them around the state without a great deal of controversy and a great deal of confusion. Go back, write them in English and then let's have our hearing.

It struck me that there really is a wonderful opportunity to move forward in this state and to avoid so many of the problems that we now have as a result of not having an Administrative Law section and it also


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struck me that my background, both academic, administrative and legal, suited me for this position and I offered myself to you on that basis.

I would tell you that I have studied, taught and written about government. I have served in government at the state, federal, county and city levels. I have litigated against government in my years of private practice and I think I bring a fairly balanced view to the court.

I certainly am not antigovernment, but I'm not a captive of the agencies and while I certainly give deference to agency work, I understand the frustration of individuals trying to access the system and the need for individuals to access the system. You have asked questions about regionalism, for example. I think down the road this court should be regionalized. I think it should be made available to the people of this state. And for that reason I offer myself to you.

I would also simply comment on my services as County Administrator and both Executive Assistant to the Mayor of the City of Charleston. I ran a payroll of well over a thousand people, over forty million dollars, ran hospitals, police departments, libraries. At the College of Charleston, I started the Urban Studies program. I believe that the Administrative Law, the chief judge's position is going to be largely administrative. It's going to take somebody who understands how to run it and manage and get things done and I believe I can do that. I hope you give me the opportunity.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Steinert. Ms. McNamee.
MR. STEINERT - EXAMINATION BY MS. MCNAMEE:
Q. Thank you. Going into that, Mr. Steinert, what is your management style? What do you foresee being the way you will get this agency going?
A. Well, a court by it's very nature is collegial and I think that we would have to all function in terms of running the court, managing the court. I do think, though, that the major responsibility will be on the chief judge, both the case assignment, case rotation, lobbying, if that's the appropriate term, to get resources from the Legislature and I would take responsibility for those things.
Q. How would being the chief judge then effect your case load personally?
A. That, of course, remains to be seen, but I would expect that a substantial part of my time really would be administration and management at least early on. I don't think anybody really knows the answer to that question.
Q. Mr. Steinert, since you've graduated from law school, I believe it was 1987?


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A. That's correct.
Q. You have worked for two different law firms and you are now a sole practitioner?
A. That's correct.
Q. This position that you seek here is a five-year position and commitment and I'm kind of weighing the two of them, I would like you to respond to the question, are you willing to make a five-year commitment --
A. Absolutely. What you've seen in the last seven years is the evolution of any individual who recently graduates from law school. I think it takes a while to find your niche and to figure out where you're comfortable. It has nothing to do with moving around for the sake of moving around.
Q. Can you tell us how like your solo practice?
A. I love my solo practice. The partnership meetings are wonderful. Very little disagreement.
Q. What is that practice? Can you describe that, please?
A. It is a totally civil practice. It's largely business and corporate, some small amount of plaintiff's work, but essentially, it's a business practice. And I do a lot of work with city and county agencies, administrative at the local level.
Q. You stated in your PDQ that you appear three times a year in state court and maybe eight times a year before city and county commissions. That was in your PDQ?
A. Yes.
Q. I guess that's correct. And is this the extent of your trial and courtroom experience and is this an adequate base of experience from which to become the chief ALJ?
A. I think it is and, you know, I've been in practice now six or seven years, six years plus. You tend to settle more cases than you litigate. At least I think if you're a good attorney, you do.

The cases that I have litigated that I've listed are substantial cases and the cases that I listed for you, I listed because I believed they indicate the administrative nature of the litigation practice. They are all cases that involve the government on one side or the other.

I represented the City Council of the Isle of Palms and it was a very peculiar case. It was the Isle of Palms versus the Isle of Palms in which the City Council was suing the mayor because the mayor refused to recognize the outcome of an election which changed the form of government.


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I represented a number of state agencies in a case against County Council -- Charleston County Council on the constitutionality of the user fee. So those cases are -- I believe are substantial cases, they're interesting cases and they indicate the breadth of my knowledge of government.
Q. In your PDQ, you say you are seeking a Martindale-Hubbell rating. Have you made any progress or could you tell us --
A. They haven't written me back. I had understood that you could not seek one until at least five years. I forgot to do it until I saw the questionnaire and I said, yeah, I really need to do that and so I have written Martindale and asked for a rating, but have not heard from them.
Q. Judicial temperament, and I've asked this question of several people, has been described as having the qualities of patience and open-mindedness and courtesy, tact, firmness, understanding, compassion, humility. Which of these -- if you could rank them, which are the most important for an ALJ judge and why?
A. Well, I think it's difficult to rank those. I think they're all extremely important and I think judicial temperament is something you have or don't have. I don't believe it's an acquired skill.

I think you perhaps evolve over time based on what your own personal history is. I think you have to be open. You have to have a certain degree of caring. A lot of what we're going to do is going to be fairly boring, so you have to be very patient, but to rank things that comprise judicial temperament to me makes no sense. I don't mean to disparage the question.
Q. That's fine. Is any one of those qualities your strongest suit?
A. I've got to work on --
Q. Which of them are?
A. I've got to work on patience, but I am certainly open-minded and fair.
Q. Your experience as a county administrator, your teaching on the college level and your experience in Washington, how do they bring you skills for this job?
A. Well, the -- if you know anything at all about being a county administrator, particularly in a county like Charleston, you learn a tremendous amount. If you lived to tell the story, I think that in itself is an accomplishment. Seriously, it does give you the breadth of management, budgeting, personnel skills and, you know, the thing that I like so much about being county manager which is what I like about practicing the law is the intellectual requirement of learning new things all the time.


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I mean you run a police department. You run EMS service. You run a library system. You have to manage the example of elected officials, how you deal with an elected sheriff, an elected Clerk of the Court. It gives you the skills that I think are going to be necessary for managing a collegial court. I mean you can't order when you're the county administrator the treasurer to do something. At least you can't order at the treasurer to do anything, but you learn how to work with them.

Same way with entrenched bureaucracies that you inherit even though people work with them, how you manage people, how you budget, how you budget with scarce resources, so I think that's important.

I was in Washington, I had two positions. One, I was special assistant to the Secretary of Commerce and the other, I was Director of Congressional Relations, Department of Housing and Urban Development.

At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, I managed a staff of about 50 political appointees, all of whom had their own agenda, all of whom felt that they were better than I and should have been director of the office or even Secretary of the department and again I think you learn those people skills that are going to be extremely important in this job.

One of the things that I believe this court should correct is the feeling amongst the general public that they don't have a chance when they come up against a state agency. It's a perception that may not be correct, but the perception is real and I think that having the skills of dealing with people who come to this court and being open and responsive to their needs within a structure is to be extremely important.
Q. Having been in the political arena this long, and I think we're talking about 20 years, at least or so, and with all the numerous friendships and the contacts that you have with all kinds of elected officials whether they are local, state or even federal, how will you handle the transition from this kind of environment to the ivory tower of a judgeship?
A. Well, I would certainly welcome it, but each man in his time plays many parts and I think it's the mark of success to be able to move and to adopt to the environment that you're in. I was a very different person as county administrator than I am now as a lawyer suing Charleston County. I don't see that as a problem and I think people who know me really respect me for that. I believe I'm evenhanded and fair in whatever context I operate in.
Q. You've lived most of your life in Charleston and you are a very active member of that community --
A. That's correct.


Printed Page 1837 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

Q. -- by being the president of the Trident Chamber of Commerce and president of your synagogue at one point, hospital boards and PRT Commission for Charleston, now being the chairman of the Charleston Ballet. How many of these things will you continue -- will you be able to continue with? How will you structure your social contacts?
A. Since my term as president of the Chamber of Commerce is ended, I've really cut back on a tremendous amount of my civic activity. I think I'm on two or three boards now, including the ballet, and frankly I would welcome the opportunity to get off that board. I think all the those activities would be curtailed.

I mean I could not be in Columbia doing this job and be of service in Charleston.
Q. Does having the ALJ Division's principal office here in Columbia and you being a resident living in Charleston, does that pose any problem for you?
A. No, ma'am. Not really.
Q. How do you deal with that?
A. My children are both in school. One is 20 and one is 18. They're both away at school, so I don't have parental obligations. My wife and I, because of the nature of what she does and the nature of what I've done, we've been married 27 years and have lived in different cities separate and apart at various stages in our marriage and that's just not an issue.
Q. Can I ask you what is the Calhoun Corridor project?
A. We're trying to figure that out. It is -- in Washington, if you're familiar with the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, Calhoun Street is the major east west street in Charleston. A new bridge is just come in at one end, the aquarium is going at the other and the city is very concerned about how it develops and the city has put a board together to try and structure development along that corridor. It has really not made a great deal of progress and I plan to resign from that regardless of what happens.
Q. On your Statement of Economic Interest, you list a contingent liability in a Carolina Conference?
A. That's correct.
Q. Would you tell us about that?
A. It's -- it was a bad investment that I made. We, a group of us, required the principal to take out keyman insurance. He subsequently committed suicide. The insurance proceeds have been paid into the court in an intermediate (phonetic) action and we're waiting to see whether


Printed Page 1838 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

we're going to get them to cover our personal guaranties or whether the IRS is going to get them.
Q. As an administrative law judge, could you tell us a little bit about how you will go about making your decisions and writing them, the analytical process that you will go through.
A. Well, you know, I think we certainly need findings of fact and conclusions of law. If the issue, as I know you've asked others, whether they will do their own writing or whether to have lawyers prepare, I think a lot of that depends on the resources available to us.

If we can staff the court appropriately so that we have the resources, I would certainly prefer to do my own. I enjoy writing. I enjoy that exercise. I think it's going to be probably in the early days of the court much more important to move cases along and move them quickly and we're probably going to have to make some compromises.

I would certainly not give carte blanche to attorneys to prepare orders. I would require that they distribute them amongst themselves before giving it to me and reserve the right to add an amendment or change my mind.
Q. And how would you go about learning the substantive law of all these different areas that you need to know about?
A. You know, I think that the thing that I enjoy about practicing law the most is that every time a new client comes in the door, you need to learn something that you didn't know before. I spent my entire academic life avoiding science courses. Anything that -- in fact, I didn't want to major in political science because it sounded like science.

One of the first big cases I had came out of the medical university and it related to the synthesis of protein and the bonding of the molecules. I can tell you that I don't believe there will be any issue that I will ever no less about that will come before the ALJ than that and what do you do? You read. You talk to the parties. You get the facts and you go forward. And to me, I don't see any difference.

Here, you know, someone asked a question about whether we -- asked one of the candidates whether I thought that -- or whether they thought that there should be specialization amongst ALJ judges, I do not believe that. I think that it would be frankly a very, very, very boring job if one only heard cases arising out of a certain agency. I think you need to have good people who are flexible enough and bright enough to move across the range.
Q. Mr. Steinert, have you ever been held in contempt or sanctioned by a court for any reason?
A. I have not.


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Q. Have you ever been the subject of a disciplinary action arising out of public employment?
A. I have not.
Q. Have you sought directly or indirectly the pledge of a legislator?
A. I have not.
Q. That's it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Questions? Senator McConnell.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR MCCONNELL:
Q. Thank you, sir. Have you sought the endorsement of any group of members of the General Assembly or any caucus of the General Assembly?
A. I have not.
Q. Have you participated in a formalized interview process other than the process here today or the process of the South Carolina Bar Association?
A. I have not.
Q. Have you directly or indirectly had any meetings or conversations pertaining to your candidacy with members of the South Carolina Bar Screening committee, South Carolina Bar employees, South Carolina Bar lobbyists representing the South Carolina Bar either before you were screened or after you were screened, but prior to the Bar's screening report being made public?
A. I did call Bob Wells on Tuesday afternoon about 2:00 o'clock. I had understood that the report was being made public at 12 o'clock and asked if I could have -- if he could fax to me everybody's rating. It was, you know, perverse curiosity on my part and he agreed to do that and he did fax me those ratings.
Q. Mr. Chairman, that concludes my remarks, but I know my colleague --
THE CHAIRMAN: Senator Moore, I believe may have a question or two.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR MOORE:
Q. Mr. Steinert?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What was the date you were first contacted by the Bar or Bar representative regarding your interview?
A. Senator McConnell, it was -- I was in my car -- no, no, just to get -- it was after your meeting in Georgetown, I was on my way back to Charleston that was Monday or Tuesday of last week.
Q. That being the 3rd or 4th?


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