BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–On Monday morning, former Berkeley County School District Communications Director Amy Kovach was back inside a Moncks Corner courtroom–this time asking for the court’s forgiveness.
Last year, she plead guilty to misuse of public funds and misconduct in office for her involvement in the ‘YES 4 Schools’ campaign. She was fined $25,000 and given two years probation.
On Monday, a judge was supposed to consider holding Kovach in contempt for filing a lawsuit after admitting her guilt.
In October 2015, Kovach filed a lawsuit against her former employer as well as the Berkeley County Republican Party.
In it she alleged that she was merely following orders from her bosses during the campaign to pass the referendum. The lawsuit went on to state that the school district failed to protect her by refusing to testify on her behalf in court when a grand jury indicted her on multiple ethics charges involving the 2012 ‘Yes 4 Schools’ campaign.
The lawsuit also took aim at the Berkeley County Republican Party; former BCGOP Chairmen Josh Whitley and Terry Hardesty; former school board member Scott Marino, who is Whitley’s brother-in-law; and BCSD Associate Superintendent Karen Whitley, who is Whitley’s mother.
It accused Whitley and several others of playing “an active and inappropriate role in the State Law Enforcement Division’s investigation” of the ethics charges and “suggested stories and provided false information to the press.”
In court, she stood with her new attorney, Andy Savage, to reiterate her guilt to the charges as well as to apology.
As part of her apology, Kovach agreed to drop her civil lawsuit.
