Support Michael Skinner's Fight for Transparency

A local grassroots group of concerned citizens has come together to support the newly elected Jasper County Treasurer, Michael Skinner. Mike Skinner took over as Treasurer of Jasper County in July of '23. Once in office, Mike was left with only one employee, no systems in place, no procedures, and no working/connected computers. Mike has been fighting the Jasper County Council since the beginning to rebuild the office of the Treasurer. Since Mike has been in office, he has generated millions in new interest revenue for the county. Mike turned a 14K investment in Casvest, a finance company, into a 2.1 million dollar return for the county! The previous treasurer had funds set up for a 600K return. He has eliminated unnecessary fees, streamlined bank transactions, and eliminated unnecessary paper checks. Mike has been pushing hard for more support and demanded access to all the county's bank accounts. The treasurer only has access to 23 of the 96 Jasper County accounts.

His requests for access fell on deaf ears, which left no other option but to sue his own County. On June 5, 2024, Michael Skinner filed a Writ of Mandamus to the South Carolina Supreme Court to ultimately get access to all the county's bank accounts. This suit is going to be expensive and Mike needs our help. The purpose of this GOFUNDME account is to build up a small legal reserve to continue the fight for the taxpayers of Jasper County. Mike will be running out of money soon, so time is of the essence. Funds will go directly to Mike's attorneys, Bland & Richter from Charleston, SC.

Why is this important? Well, for one thing, we the taxpayers believe our local government should be operating with full transparency. The hiding from our elected treasurer of 73 bank accounts is not acceptable! The county's own ordinance, 'All fees collected by Jasper County through its employees and subdivisions are to be deposited with the Jasper County Treasurer's office.' Instead of simply giving the elected treasurer access to these 70 accounts, the county has decided to fight the case, with taxpayer dollars. They have a war chest over $200K to fight this suit. We need people like Mike in our local government. Fighting for the Taxpayers of Jasper County!