⚖️ North Myrtle Beach’s mayor is headed to a state ethics hearing. The SC State Ethics Commission found probable cause on two counts against Mayor James O. Baldwin III — that he didn’t report his own private income on his financial disclosure forms for 2023 through 2026, and didn’t report his spouse’s for 2023 through 2025. The public hearing is set for Feb. 18, 2027.
The complaint came from NMB resident Deborah Lombardino, who pulled city payment records showing Baldwin’s company, Baldwin Construction Integrated LLC, signed a $2.1 million contract in January 2020 — while Baldwin was on council — to build the city’s Support Services Building. The city paid the company just over $2.1 million in 2020 and 2021. Lombardino says his filings listed no income from city contractors.
Baldwin says he never received any unethical personal benefit and that the filing errors have been corrected. (Probable cause is an allegation, not a finding of guilt.)
In a related case, former Councilwoman Nikki Fontana was ordered to pay $61,500 in penalties for years of unfiled campaign reports. The Commission’s hearing notices are public — we’ll be watching this one.
Sources: WMBF News; Myrtle Beach News.
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