THIS IS AN OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR McCONNELL
 

July 13, 2006

Senator Glenn F. McConnell, Chairman
The Hunley Commission
Senate Office Building
Columbia, SC

Re: I can prove my Civil Rights were Violated,
Was there also Financial Mismanagement of the Hunley?

Senator McConnell:

           This letter is in response to the recent call for an audit of Hunley funds by nine lawmakers. They have a great idea and plenty of cause. However, more than just the management of funds needs to be examined. There have been lots of questionable acts related to the Hunley, in particular acts by the Hunley Commission and certain representatives of the Friends of the Hunley Inc. It is my personal belief that there have been both civil and criminal wrongs. Some of the perceived criminal acts include Conspiracy to Deprive Civil Rights, which is a felony, and use of sham government process. If the latter was used to intimidate a government official in the performance of his job, it too is a felony. There have also been what I perceive as serious ethics violations, coercion, blackmail, and of course theft and mismanagement of public funds. I am not accusing you or any other individual of crimes, but you have known of my beliefs and evidence for a very long time, yet it appears to me that you have done nothing.

           First I want to ask why the Hunley Commission is called a commission when in reality it is simply a committee of the General Assembly. Commissions report to the Secretary of State annually. Your's never has. Second I would like to know why you sponsored the bill creating it when that bill gave it virtually unlimited access to State funds by exempting it from the South Carolina State Procurement Act. Third, I would like to know why a committee of the General Assembly has assumed the duties of the State Archaeologist and the Institute of Archaeology & Anthropology in violation of Article 1, Sections 8 and 23 of the South Carolina Constitution. Fifth, I would like to know why you asked me to donate my rights to the Hunley to the State (which I did) and why you asked me to lead the State's verification team to the site (which I agreed to) and why after Cussler was quoted in the newspaper as threatening to write the hundred grand check to your political opponent instead of the Commission as he had previously promised,  you withdrew the invitation that I lead the expedition and instead threatened me with arrest if I even went to the site. And finally, I would like to know by what legal authority you swore me in, took testimony, from me, but refused to observe my rights to due process. And why, you issued a finding effectively stating that Clive Cussler had discovered the Hunley, even though no data about Cussler's alleged discovery was ever presented at the hearing, and even though the commission had no legal authorization in law to hold such a hearing and failed to cite any law giving it such authority, and why it quoted facts not presented at the hearing, and why it ignored facts and documents actually presented at the hearing, and why it drew conclusions that were not based on the facts, and why it used data that even the scientists had said was unreliable, and why the was finding issued unsigned, and why had it been prepared by John Hazzard, Esq. prior to the actual hearing. All of those things need to be answered as well as why the Commission continues to operate in violation of Article 1, Sections 8 and 23 of the South Carolina Constitution. And then, the State should get on with the audit.
            Please read the attached letter to the Honorable Nathan Ballentine and it will explain some of my concerns about the financial management of Hunley related funds.
            Sincerely,

E. Lee Spence

From the Desk of E. Lee Spence 206-B East Fifth North Street, Summerville, SC 29483 USA, 843 821-0001   THIS IS AN OPEN LETTER TO HOUSE MEMBER BALLENTINE   June 13, 2006 The Honorable Nathan Ballentine BallentineN@SCHouse.org   re: Proposed Audit the Friends of the Hunley Inc. and the Hunley Commission Your Honor:             This letter is in response to the recent call for an audit of Hunley funds. I say FANTASTIC. I hope it will also include an audit of all funds, regardless of source, that have been received and spent by the Friends of the Hunley, Inc.             One of my many concerns is what appears to me to be both the misappropriation of public funds and a significant violation of the H.L. Hunley Wreck Protection Agreement (“Programmatic Agreement”). That is the official agreement between the State and the federal government regarding the Hunley.             The full title of the agreement is “Programmatic Agreement Among The Department of the Navy, The General Services Administration, The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, The South Carolina Hunley Commission, And The South Carolina State Historic Preservation Officer Concerning Management of the Wreck of the H.L. Hunley.”             The full text of the Programmatic Agreement can be found at The Naval Historical Center’s web site. The direct URL for the agreement is http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-9a.htm. When you visit their site, please be aware that one of their staff members has been serving as the chief archaeologist on the Hunley Project. Each year for a number of years, Senator McConnell personally approved a 30% annual bonus for the man. Since he was already being paid around $95,000 per year, the bonuses amounted to a considerable amount of money. Furthermore, the bonuses were paid during a time that many other State employees were being asked to take days off without pay to help reduce the State's budget             Section XII of the Programmatic Agreement states: The State of South Carolina will receive all receipts, royalties, and all other revenue generated by the exhibition, display, curation, and all other activities related to the Hunley unless otherwise regulated or prohibited by the laws of the United States.             Section XII is important because the collection of most of the specified revenues has been by the Friends of the Hunley, Inc. (FOTH). Apparently, FOTH has collected millions of dollars, which meet the description set forth in Section XII, paragraph A of the Programmatic Agreement.  From paid admissions alone, the amount received by FOTH is easily in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If donations to aid the Hunley were included, it would, according to Hunley Commission Chairman Senator Glenn F. McConnell, amount to a minimum of $4,000,000. Some reports put it at two or three times that amount. In light of the Programmatic Agreement, it seems to me that even the amount claimed by McConnell is far too much money for FOTH to have retained and used with virtually no public accounting.             Even more disturbing to me is the fact that, until recently, FOTH was headed by Warren Lasch. Lasch was placed in that position by Senator McConnell not long after Lasch plea bargained and plead guilty to a federal charge related to the mishandling of pension funds.             In addition to the funds covered by the Programmatic Agreement, FOTH has received and spent millions of taxpayer dollars. The State should be allowed to audit FOTH's use of these funds. Even though it is allegedly a private "charity," FOTH was incorporated using state funds by a lawyer (John Hazzard, Esq.) who was employed by the South Carolina Senate and worked with the Hunley Commission. Furthermore both of the organizers were members of the Hunley Commission (i.e. Senator Glenn F. McConnell and Chris Sullivan). It's duties seem to mimic those granted to the Hunley Commission by the General Assembly. Therefore, one could reasonably look at FOTH as an alter ego of the Commission. If FOTH is simply an alter ego of the Hunley Commission, FOTH’s retention or use of receipts, royalties, and/or other revenue, such as donations, generated by the exhibition, display, curation, and/or other activities related to the Hunley might be justified. However, FOTH claims it is not an alter ego of the Hunley Commission and has previously claimed that it is not even subject to FOIA requests. By transferring its duties to FOTH, the Commission has shielded much of its spending from public scrutiny. If FOTH is correct, and it is not an alter ego of the Hunley Commission, why hasn’t FOTH fully accounted for and turned over to the State all of the money received from admissions and from other Hunley related activities as would follow from the Programmatic Agreement. According to a deposition by John Hazzard, Esq., the Hunley Commission, without putting anything into writing, authorized FOTH to keep all of the money FOTH received from admissions to see the Hunley and to use the money for their own purposes. That has amounted to a considerable amount of money (millions?), which was supposed to go to South Carolina under the Programmatic Agreement. Its retention and use by FOTH, with the knowledge and approval of Senator McConnell, appears to be a direct and knowing violation of the Hunley Commission’s agreement with the Department of the Navy, The General Services Administration, etc. However, such failure to follow the State's agreement with the federal government, is not necessarily surprising. Despite State laws which would seem to forbid it, one of Lasch's companies furnished Hazzard with a new Porche Boxter for a year while Hazzard was simultaneously working for FOTH and as an attorney for the Senate and the Hunley Commission. I seriously doubt that Senator McConnell was unaware of that questionable arrangement.  Both Senator McConnell, chairman of the Hunley Commission, and FOTH’s attorneys have previously taken the position that FOTH is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Sadly, based on McConnell’s responses to FOIA requests, not even the Hunley Commission has records from FOTH fully detailing how the millions of dollars the Commission has turned over to FOTH have been spent. This does not seem to bother Senator McConnell. Senator McConnell appears to be a “friend” of those running FOTH, for instance in the past the Senator repeatedly befriended Lasch and/or his companies. The “friendship” seemed to run both ways. Lasch first agreed to help raise millions for FOTH, which is in truth controlled by Senator McConnell, and McConnell afterwards helped Lasch’s company CIP obtain a $25,000,000 piece of government property on the former U.S. Navy base in Charleston. That property and contract was later taken away for CIP’s breach of the contract, such as “borrowing” millions of dollars in direct violation of their Agreement with the State Ports Authority. Despite their repeated violations and accounting “discrepancies” CIP was actually paid millions of dollars to void the Agreement. Again, as to the questionable choices made by the Senator, McConnell named Lasch to the State Infrastructure Bank Board, but the public backlash was such that Lasch bowed out but not before attempting to get a pardon which was rejected. McConnell then named Richard "Ric" Tapp, Esq. to that State Infrastructure Bank Board in Lasch's place. That came as no real surprise because Tapp had previously served as an attorney for the Hunley Commission, FOTH, and Lasch's above mentioned company, CIP, that had such serious accounting “discrepancies." Tapp now represents Clive Cussler in Cussler's suit to stop me from telling people that I discovered and published the Hunley's correct location prior to Cussler's discovery claim. Cussler, a multi-millionaire and best selling novelist, is the man that Senator McConnell has treated as the discoverer of the Hunley, even though McConnell knows that Cussler never dove on the wreck, was not on the boat when it was dug up, was not the sole donor of money or services, and was not the originator or director of the project. The 1994/95 Hunley Search Project was directed by Dr. Mark Newell of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology (SCIAA). Dr. Newell has gone on record that he agrees that I found the Hunley in 1970 and that he used my maps to direct the project. I believe Dr. Newell and his expedition should be credited with the official verification of my initial discovery. Incidentally, in September of 1995 Senator McConnell asked me to donate the wreck to the State and I did, and he asked me to lead a State and federal team out to the site, which I also agreed to, even offering use of my equipment and boats at no charge. Afterwards, Cussler threatened to take the $100,000 that he had promised to donate to the Commission and to write the check instead to the Senator's political rival. In my opinion it was a combination bribe and threat, but, regardless of whether it was either, as Cussler stated under oath, when I asked about it, "it worked." Cussler was even named to FOTH's Board of Directors, but has admitted under oath that he has attended only one meeting in all of the years he has been on the Board. Warren Lasch has helped sponsor dinners for and donated money to numerous politicians, who McConnell has wanted to help. Without a full accounting of FOTH’s spending it is impossible to determine whether any taxpayer money has been used directly or indirectly for this purpose. Various politicians have certainly used the Hunley to promote themselves, Senator McConnell being the foremost. Senator McConnell is an owner of CSA Galleries, Inc. CSA Galleries is said to be the biggest retailer and wholesaler of Civil War memorabilia in South Carolina. I for one would like to know whether FOTH has purchased anything from CSA Galleries, which FOTH could have obtained at less expense through another source. When I visited the Hunley conservation lab, which has been named for Lasch, I was not allowed to keep any sort of admission ticket or stub even though I requested one for my files. I later started thinking how odd that was. Most exhibitors require their ticket sellers to use serially numbered tickets marked at both ends with the same numbers. That is done to prevent under counting of admissions, and the theft of cash received for admissions. FOTH doesn’t follow this standard procedure even though they are using unpaid volunteers, and a significant amount of cash is received through admissions. In an article published in The State on October 27, 2002, John Monk wrote “McConnell hopes the Hunley museum will draw at least 300,000 visitors a year.” If correct, that would amount to millions of dollars annually in admissions. Those dollars rightfully belonged to the State and must be properly accounted for. (See full text at URL: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/4380657.htm.) One of the things I would like someone to do is to follow the money trail. Where has it all gone? Who, if any, have unethically or illegally benefited from it? I believe a careful forensic accounting of FOTH’s financial records along with those of the Hunley Commission would both answer and raise a lot of questions. And, I would like Senator McConnell to fully answer why he allowed, without any public accounting, FOTH to spend millions of dollars which, under the Programmatic Agreement, should have gone directly into the State's coffers, not into the bank accounts of a "private charity" long run by Warren Lasch who had pled guilty to a federal charge related to the mismanagement of pension funds and the same man who seemingly angered the judge by his request to be pardoned, but who always seemed ready to donate money to politicians and political causes the Senator supported.             Please check out my letters explaining why the Hunley Commission is actually operating in violation of Article 1, Sections 8 and 23 of the Constitution. Best Wishes,                 Lee Edward Lee Spence, MHD 411 West Richardson Avenue Summerville, South Carolina 29405 (843) 832-0962 home or 821-0001 office HunleyFinder@Yahoo.com   Please checkout www.shipwrecks.com and www.InternationalDivingInstitute.com   PS: As mentioned above, I was the original discoverer of the wreck of the Civil War submarine H.L. Hunley. I found it in 1970 and immediately notified the State Archaeologist and others. In 1974 the Army Corps of Engineers asked me for the location. I marked it on a chart and gave it to them and others (including SCIAA and the Navy). If marked on NOAA Chart 11521 (Charleston Harbor & Approaches), the exact center-point of the location I gave would be less than 23 thousandths of an inch from where the State, using the latest and most sophisticated satellite technology, now says it was. That technology was not even available in 1974. In 1995, after being questioned under sworn oath and my documents carefully reviewed by the Attorney General and the Hunley Commission, and at the specific request of Senator McConnell, I donated my rights to the wreck of  Hunley to the State of South Carolina, with Attorney General Charles M. Condon signing for the State.