Did REP Murphy Seek an Earmark for a Special Fitness Instructor?

If handouts to family and friends were an Olympic sport, the Statehouse would likely take all 3 steps on the podium. Every four years.

While admirable that Representative Chris Murphy publicly owned that he had struggled with addiction, his questionable spending of South Carolinians’ money to fund a non-profit organization that purportedly helps recovering addicts has raised eyebrows as first reported by Lynz Piper-Loomis: https://rumble.com/v4ubxz8-sc-rep.-chris-murphy-is-this-misuse-of-our-taxpayer-funds-lynz-piper-loomis.html

Margaret Talucci was represented by Murphy in her Dorchester County divorce #2017DR1801090 initiated by her former husband after she had attempted to end her life. While driving, Talucci had overdosed on three intoxicants, totaling her vehicle. Talucci would later state that she could not understand how the responding officer failed to realize that she was significantly impaired; the single-car accident, however, was dismissed as being caused a ‘diabetic coma’ or similar.

Maggie Talucci and Representative Chris Murphy

Following extensive inpatient treatment for her addiction and according to the Secretary of State website, Talucci began the nonprofit named Iron Wolf Recovery in December 2019.

In her application for state funding dated July 2023, CEO Talucci claims that her “wellness community” provides the following services:

• Connect individuals with substance use disorder through physical activity and social support.

• Promote the achievement of health and wellness goals.

• Offer peer-led mutual aid groups that are supportive of multiple pathways to recovery.

Upon closer review, this wellness community does NOT have:

• A business address, gym, or other facility: The home of Talucci’s mother, Kathy Wheatley, is the address on record.

• Routine programming: there are NO classes or events listed after May 2024 (as of the time of this publication).

• Details for the various roles in the ‘team,’ such as the program manager and the volunteer coordinator. A “support coordinator” position for Iron Wolf Recovery with an annual salary of $25-30k listing Maggie Talucci, CPSS, as the hiring manager was noted to be listed on LinkedIn, but this does not correlate with any of the salaries for which the nonprofit was funded.

Iron Wolf Recovery received an appropriation of $248,400 at REP Murphy’s request.

The documentation for the Ways and Means Committee was largely blank in several key areas, i.e., whether or not the non-profit is currently in good standing, if supplemental materials would/should be attached, and - of all things - the justification for the award.

Though this should be concerning for those in charge of making the state’s budget, the committee fully funded Iron Wolf Recovery at the request of the influential representative freshly back from his own recovery.

Among other red flags, the dates in this transaction seem curious. While it could be that the representative had a verbal request from his constituent/client early in 2023, it seems odd that he would appropriate 99.2% of the requested funding nearly half a year prior to the detailed written request.

More scrutiny in obligating the taxpayers’ money is always needed.

According to the IRS, transparency is a critical component - and an expectation - of a nonprofit, so why would a CEO of a well-intentioned organization seek to threaten someone with a ‘cease and desist’ if there is nothing to hide? But yet, that is just what happened.

When some of Murphy’s constituents began looking for details into Talucci’s nonprofit after being asked for ‘donations’ from her, they received a sternly worded letter from the Wigger Law Firm as shown below to let them know that their questions were unwelcome.

Optics matter - especially during election season - and the optics of (potentially) hiding a bikini photoshoot as an expense of a nonprofit (run by a client) seem to reflect a lackadaisical, if not self-serving, mismanagement of the taxpayers’ money.

There is certainly not much that can be hidden in Talucci’s choice of swimwear.