to change plans for a proposed home for ageing veterans. The Department subsequently split the large development into two and located one of the new locations in Florence. Expansion of the Pamplico Highway attracted particular negative attention. A former mayor of Florence, Frank Willis, said that those who live in the Pee Dee had long complained that they had been abandoned by the State, but the game changed when Leatherman took power. Leatherman used Richard Quinn's political consulting firm. Quinn was indicted in 2017 on charges of criminal conspiracy and illegal lobbying. Leatherman was responsible for securing $300 million in state funding for deepening of Charleston Harbor in 2011. By the end of 2021, the harbor will be the deepest harbor on the East Coast. The Hugh K. Leatherman Port Terminal accompanied the harbor deepening and opened in 2021. It was one of the largest economic development projects in the history of South Carolina. Key votes As a member of the Budget and Control Board, a joint legislative-executive board that controlled South Carolina's budget, Leatherman voted against cutting $238.2 million from the state budget in 2009. Following the failure of the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion project, Leatherman established a committee to investigate what had occurred. He also forced the end of a two-year-long filibuster in 2017 from Senator Tom Davis who had been stalling a state tax increase on gasoline. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Leatherman was one of two senate republicans who voted on a failed bill that would have given public college students $250 scholarships if they received a COVID-19 vaccination. Further, Leatherman represented the Senate in a conference committee to reconcile the 2021–2022 state budget. The Senate-approved budget calls for a 2 percent raise for all state employees as well as an additional $1,000 more in cash for teachers. Feuds with governors Leatherman feuded with both Governor Mark Sanford and Governor Nikki Haley. During the Sanford administration, Leatherman alongside Senator Glenn F. McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell held most of the power in the state. The feud between Leatherman and Sanford was bitter. Sanford attempted to consolidate power within the executive branch but he was effectively rebuffed by the General Assembly who overrode most of his vetoes. In her last term in office, Governor Nikki Haley claimed that Leatherman was solely responsible for preventing ethics reform in the General Assembly. In 2016, she endorsed Leatherman's opponent in