Conflict-of-interest story is the latest from a South Carolina project to uncover corruption in rural news deserts

A local council member in rural South Carolina made money from the local government through his medical practice for more than a decade but never disclosed it to the State Ethics Commission, reporters from The Post and Courier in Charleston found. The story is a product of Uncovered, a project the paper launched in February in partnership with rural papers. The goal is to shine a spotlight on corruption, especially in smaller towns where weak ethics laws and news deserts have allowed corruption to flourish.

Dr. Phil Wallace, now acting mayor, is a longtime member of Dillon's council. His medical practice, Dillon Internal Medicine, has been providing physicals and other services to city employees for years. "The relationship was hardly a secret. Wallace’s medical practice had a list of clients on its website. 'Historic City of Dillon, S.C.' was at the top of the list," Stephen Hobbs and Thad Moore report. "Yet until days ago, Wallace, who has served on Dillon’s council for more than two decades, did not include the money his practice made from the city in any of his past 14 annual financial disclosures. He amended his filings after he was questioned by The Post and Courier."

Wallace's practice has made more than $83,000 from its work for the city since 2009, and the contract only came to light after another council member began asking questions. When questioned by a reporter, Wallace said he wasn't aware he had to update his disclosure information annually. "The repeated omissions show how a deluge of paperwork and South Carolina's loose enforcement of ethics laws can let apparent violations hide in plain sight," Hobbs and Moore report. "The state’s ethics agency has just one auditor to check the truthfulness of filings it receives, which last year topped 20,000." Read more here.