Republican Gov. Mark Sanford was unable to get his legislative agenda through the S.C. General Assembly. For example, one of Gov. Sanford’s top priorities was to restructure state government. His restructuring legislation passed the S.C. House; when it reached the Senate floor, the votes simply were not there. In South Carolina, restructuring legislation requires a constitutional amendment, which requires a two-thirds vote of the Senate, or 31 votes. Only 24 senators were willing to vote for the constitutional amendment in support of restructuring.

Another Sanford priority was to pass tort reform legislation, which required only a simple majority for passage. Sen. Maggie Glover filed a minority report on the tort reform bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee. This means that the bill is placed on the calendar with this objection. Before the tort reform bill could be considered in the Senate, it would have to stay on the calendar six legislative days. The bill would then be considered a special order, which requires a two-thirds vote for consideration. This bill was unlikely to pass, since there were only 22 senators supporting this legislation. The remaining senators were either undecided or not in favor of the legislation. As you can see, the rules that Gov. Sanford and a number of senators want to change are not responsible for Gov. Sanford’s legislation not passing.

In recent years, governors of South Carolina, starting with Republican Jim Edwards, were able to get their legislative agendas through the General Assembly. Prior to Edwards, all of the governors since Reconstruction were Democrats. During his administration, Gov. Edwards had to confront a state House and Senate that were 95 percent Democratic. By working with the General Assembly, he was able to get his legislative agenda passed.

Gov. Dick Riley had no problem with the General Assembly. Gov. Carroll Campbell, the second Republican governor since Reconstruction, also was governor when the Democrats were in control of the S.C. House and Senate; he also had no problem getting his legislative agenda passed. He was followed by Gov. David Beasley, a Republican, who had no problem getting his legislative agenda through a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-controlled Senate.

Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges was the most successful in terms of getting his legislative agenda passed. During his tenure, his legislative agenda passed with a Republican-controlled House and Senate. Mark Sanford is the only governor who was not successful in getting his legislative agenda passed, with both bodies being dominated by Republicans.

Gov. Mark Sanford is not a team player. During the 2004 session of the General Assembly, Gov. Sanford vetoed 106 bills passed by the House and Senate. The Republican-controlled House overrode 105 of those bills vetoed by the governor, and the Republican-controlled Senate did likewise. After the 2004 session, he launched a statewide campaign casting blame on the S.C. Senate for his problems. The Republican Party and friends of the governor should be true to him and tell him he caused this himself.

The General Assembly passed the Life Sciences Facility Act, which included projects for every county in the state. Gov. Mark Sanford started a personal campaign to defeat certain Republicans and Democrats who supported this legislation. Greenville TEC wanted to build a dormitory for its school. The S.C. Budget and Control Board voted 3-2 to grant the building of the dormitory. After losing the vote, Gov. Sanford complained that the Budget and Control Board was not in support of his legislative agenda. The same thing happened regarding the four-year campus at USC Sumter and similar projects under the Life Sciences Act.

There is no rule in the S.C. Senate that allows one senator to stop a bill from passage. For Gov. Sanford and certain editors of newspapers across the state to misrepresent Senate rules is clearly a disservice, or they simply do not understand the rules of the Senate. If a piece of legislation comes to the Senate floor with less than 10 days left in session, it simply means that with the “minority report” the bill would most likely not pass — not because of the rules, merely the clock ran out. When you look at the U.S. Senate and the state senates in all 50 states, they basically have the same rules.

If the S.C. Senate changes its rules because the governor is unable to get his agenda passed, it would be a huge injustice for the state. The S.C. Constitution calls for three branches of government — legislative, executive and judicial. There is a segment of the community who has come to the conclusion that Gov. Sanford would like a dictatorship.

Sen. Ford represents Charleston County in the S.C. Senate.