On the morning of April 23, 2026, the Richland County Courthouse docket on the second floor read like roll call of reckoning. The courtroom was packed with lawyers and defendants alike, crammed shoulder to shoulder in front of the judge’s stand. State prosecutors were perched like birds of prey in the jury box, eagerly awaiting their next victim. Fluorescent lighting beamed down, washing all of the color out of the room and bathing everyone in a sickly white light.
Former elections director Howard “Howie” Knapp sat in the middle of it all.
He came dressed for the occasion this time. His last courthouse appearance was on October 24, 2025, when he stood before a bond judge at Alvin S. Glenn in joggers and New Balance sneakers, looking every bit like a man who had not expected his morning to go the way it did. SLED had arrested him that day on eleven charges: eight counts of using his official position for personal financial gain, one count of embezzlement of public funds, one count of misconduct in office, and one count of accessory after the fact. His bond was set at $75,000. His attorney, Joe McCulloch, emerged from that hearing with a single statement: “This is all about politics. We look forward to a very public trial.”
April 23rd went quicker and more quietly than the last hearing. When Knapp’s name was called, he rose and approached the bench alongside his attorney, Kathy “Kat” Schillaci. Knapp’s second appearance in court was procedural. Schillaci and the state prosecutor discussed discovery and set Knapp’s next court date for July 30, 2026.
Former deputy elections director Paige Salonich was also in the courthouse that morning, but she was not seated with the defendants. The former Deputy Director sat in the gallery alongside media and onlookers, watching the proceedings from the other side of the bar.
Salonich has been charged with one count of wiretapping. As previously reported, the charge stems from the afternoon of September 17, 2025, the same day the Election Commission voted 3-2 to fire Knapp following a nearly five-hour closed executive session. According to the termination letter, the commission provided to Salonich, agency security cameras captured her placing an unauthorized recording device in the SEC’s training room, the same room where commissioners had just voted to end Knapp’s tenure. The next morning, SLED arrived at the State Election Commission to open a wiretapping investigation. Salonich was placed on unpaid suspension that same day. She attempted to resign on September 22nd. The commission refused to accept it. She was terminated the following morning.
As previously reported by FITSNews, internal sources had long described the State Election Commission under Knapp and Salonich as a toxic environment and investigators allegedly later uncovered what appeared to be evidence of an ongoing affair between the two.
Knapp had given Salonich numerous pay raises and promotions during her short tenure at the State Election Commission, including attempting a 12% raise within 24 hours before his own termination. A FOIA obtained by Palmetto State Watch Foundation shows email correspondence of Knapp’s request that was denied because it was above Salonich’s pay grade. At the time, Salonich was earning a base salary of nearly $142,000 a year.
If the 12% had been approved, it would have bumped Salonich to nearly $159,000, which would have put her making more than Knapp, who was salaried at $150,000.
When Knapp’s case was addressed, Salonich’s attorney Jim Griffin stepped forward as well. Griffin confirmed to Palmetto State Watch Foundation that he is representing Salonich on her criminal charge from the state and as plaintiff in her civil lawsuit against the State Election Commission. Griffin said the state has so far failed to produce the audio recording at the center of the wiretapping allegation, resulting in a continuance. Salonich’s hearing is set for July 2, 2026.
Despite these charges, Knapp’s questionable purchase of over $30 million of unneeded election equipment has still gone unaddressed by authorities. The master lease deal that committed South Carolina taxpayers to more than $30 million in election equipment (equipment the legislature had explicitly refused to fund just months before) has never been the subject of criminal scrutiny, even as the number grew without explanation from $24.5 million at the time the commission voted to authorize it, to $28.8 million, to $32 million, to a final amended figure of $33 million.
Knapp faces eleven charges, but none of them speak to how the single largest expenditure of his tenure was authorized, misrepresented, and quietly amended upward by millions of dollars on the backs of South Carolina taxpayers. They deserve to know where that money went, who signed off on it at every step, and why the figure kept growing long after anyone claims to have been paying attention.
Article posted with permission from Paletto State Watch Foundation
