Senate hearings lead Pitts to withdraw from potential directorship
Mike Pitts
Laurens County, S.C. – Deep into a controversial confirmation process in Columbia, retired District 14 Rep. Mike Pitts has decided to withdraw his name from consideration as director of the South Carolina Conservation Bank.
“It is painfully clear that my health is being negatively affected, and the stress of the confirmation process will not subside,” Pitts said.
In a previous story, Pitts explained that his voting record showed one vote he had not realized he had cast after he had recused himself from any Conservation Bank bills and decisions.
Pitts has said in previous interviews that he had assumed the possibility of taking a position as the director of the South Carolina Land Conservation Bank would ease the pressure after a heart attack forced him to step down from the State House of Representatives. More than two weeks into the confirmation hearings, however, Pitts said he realized this new pressure was negatively impacting his health and might do the same to the agency he believes is very important to the state.
Pitts came under criticism from Democratic and some Republican Senators who questioned the timing of the job offer coupled with his resignation from the state legislature. The stress from the difficult hearings were causing more heart pain, Pitts said, but he also voiced concern that the growing confrontational aspect in the confirmation hearings could cause potential damage to the merits of the state’s conservation bank.
