We Need To Get The Bonuses Back, Not Send White Collar Criminals To Prison.”

You may have heard a lot of the same talk we have. You–may even thought it.

The sentiment is that the crooks who run SCANA and its SC Electric & Gas subsidairy should go to prison.

We disagree. Prison should be for people who pose a dangerous threat to the rest of us.

Sure, the SCANA executives stole from their investors and 727,000 ratepayers.

None of them pose a threat of bodily harm to anyone. What we need are some canny, fearless prosecutors and tough-minded judges who will wrest their ill-gotten millions from them and return it to those of us they stole it from.

Former CEOs William Timer-man and Kevin Marsh are a good place to start.

Neither SCANA nor ‘Timmerman will say what he did for $1.8 million. But it was hidden in SCANA requests to the Public Service Commission, disguised as part of the skyrocketing costs of its $9 billion nuclear project.

SCANA officials say they don’t know what he did as they have no record of it. He filed no progress reports, according to documents The State newspaper obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The Office of Regulatory Staff aims to stop SCANA from charging its ratepayers for Timmerman’s fees.

In one email to Timmerman, Marsh jokes that the fees should pay for a first class bass boat if his wife will let it get away with it.

Timmerman replies in the same vin that he is looking for a place to hide such a boat.

The exchange would be humorous if it wasn’t to charge SCE&G ratepayers for it.

What the penalties are for financial crimes might be is yet to be decided but state regulators and investors have been misled, more than 5,000 people lost jobs, SCANA’s reputation ruined, its assets ready to be sold, more job losses ahead and an unknown millions dollars may never be recovered.

Federal prosecutors and the courts may claw back some of that money. Will they be successful? We may not know that for many more years.

- JerryBellune@yahoo.com

We need to get the bonuses back, not send white collar criminals to prison.