Sanford-Legislature feud boils
Lawmakers don’t trust governor, McConnell says
Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell on Thursday called Gov. Mark Sanford’s latest suggestion to get the Legislature back in session a $50,000-plus gamble.
Using an example of how lawmakers could use creativity to return to the Statehouse and make discretionary budget cuts, the Governor’s Office raised the idea of taking up an outstanding veto Sanford issued in June.
“I am not going to waste the taxpayers’ money so he can have a political dog-and-pony show,” said McConnell, R-Charleston.
His comments were based on the daily allowance for meals, mileage, lodging and salary that lawmakers are entitled to collect during a special session. The governor would ask the legislators to forego those collections if they return.
This is the latest development in a feud that has been simmering since state agencies were ordered last month to make 3 percent budget cuts worth $188 million because of slumping state revenue collections.
Sanford and legislative leaders, including McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell, agree targeting those cuts, rather than cutting every agency equally, is preferable. McConnell and Harrell, though, said that can’t happen right now because they do not have the power to call the Legislature back.
The hang-up is over wording in a resolution that keeps the Legislature technically in session until Oct. 31, even though they adjourned in June. The lawmakers could return to the Statehouse if revenue shortfalls grow to 4 percent or to deal with budget vetoes.
But before the Legislature could even begin thinking about coming back, McConnell and Harrell said the governor should start reaching out to legislators and building consensus for a plan to cut the budget.
McConnell said there is little will left
among legislators to work with the governor because of the relationship between them.
“He’s got no one to blame but himself. The people (legislators) distrust him,” McConnell said. “He is probably one of the most political governors we’ve ever had. It’s all about politics and polls, and they think he is just going to ambush them.”
He continued, “My belief is, there is such a deep distrust of this governor and his political antics that they are not going to agree to come back unless there is an agreement beforehand.”
In a letter to legislative leaders late last month, Sanford wrote that his previously issued vetoes and executive budget could serve as a road map for $150 million in savings.
But McConnell and Harrell said Sanford’s executive budget was $62 million higher than the one passed by the Legislature, which was drafted and adjusted after revenue forecasts dropped. Sanford’s was released in January while the Legislature’s was passed in June.
Sanford’s spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor and his staff stand ready to sit down and have discussion about the cuts. Sawyer said Sanford has received no response to a letter he wrote to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, and House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Cooper, R-Piedmont.
Sawyer said McConnell’s criticism of Sanford is meant to distract from the issue at hand.
“That answer has the virtue of not discussing budget cuts,” Sawyer said. “Sen. McConnell has been perfectly clear that the last thing he wants to talk about is budget cuts.”
Neither Leatherman nor Cooper immediately responded to messages left requesting comment for this story.
By Yvonne Wenger
The Post and Courier
September 12, 2008