Leaders feuding over cuts in budget
Sanford, legislators bicker over how to meet
State Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell are becoming regular penpals with Gov. Mark Sanford over South Carolina’s budget woes.
McConnell and Harrell, in an Aug. 29 letter, accused Sanford of “misleading the public” during a recent road show in which the governor called on lawmakers to return to Columbia to make targeted budget cuts in response to revenue shortfalls. Sanford’s tour across the state, and an Aug. 26 letter to McConnell, Harrell, Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Cooper, came on the heels of the Budget and Control Board’s 3-2 vote for an across-the-board 3 percent cut to make up for a shortfall of about $188 million.
Sanford and Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom voted against the cuts, saying they favored the targeted cuts. Treasurer Converse Chellis joined Leatherman and Cooper in voting for the 3 percent reduction.
McConnell and Harrell wrote that they also favor targeted cuts, but the sine die resolution approved by the General Assembly only allows lawmakers to return if revenue collections are down by 4 percent or more after the first quarter. The quarter ends Sept. 30.
“Misleading the public to believe that we can call the legislature back at this point because of the potential for a 1.5 percent budget reduction (the amount agencies would lose for half the fiscal year) for state agencies is simply irresponsible,” they wrote.
They also urged Sanford to “call off the propaganda campaign” and work with them to solve the problem.
Sanford, in a response sent to McConnell and Harrell the same day, wrote that he stood by his contention that the Legislature could reconvene and make targeted cuts this fall.
“The old notion of ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way,’ I think very much fits in the larger theme of targeted cuts, and I say this particularly given the way I’ve seen leadership orchestrate any number of policy and budgetary outcomes of the last six years that I’ve been a part of the political process in Columbia,” Sanford wrote.
Sanford also chided the lawmakers for saying they wanted to work with him, but then failing to return his phone calls.
McConnell said Wednesday that Sanford may be part of the process, but he doesn’t seem to understand it.
“Any first-year social studies student knows that we have to follow the law,” McConnell said. “I just don’t know if (Sanford) understands the constitution.”
Sanford suggested that the cuts could be dealt with in one day.
He proposed that the Legislature use a committee to pinpoint the cuts, then have the entire House and Senate vote on the list.
McConnell, however, said the process would take a minimum of five days. He said making the cuts would require passing a new bill, which would require three readings in each chamber on separate days.
Retiring House Speaker Pro Tem Doug Smith said it’s time for the sides to sit down to resolve the issue.
“Over the last four or five years, I’ve seen the relationship between the executive branch and the legislative branch deteriorate because of political posturing,” said Smith, R-Spartanburg. “My one parting comment is to cut it out and start doing what’s best for the people of this state.”
Smith has often sided with Sanford on his agenda, especially concerning spending issues. But he said McConnell’s letter struck him because the Charleston Republican usually stays out of these squabbles.
“It’s clear to me that Senator McConnell is appealing to the governor to sit down and try to resolve this instead of going to the press,” Smith said. “That doesn’t help people, and that’s not what they want. They want us to handle the difficult issues.”
By Robert W. Dalton
Spartanburg Herald Journal
September 4, 2008
