COLUMBIA--Gov. Mark Sanford urged lawmakers to resist the urge to splurge Wednesday, warning that although the economy is improving, "we're not out of the woods yet."

In his annual State of the State address, the governor laid out what he characterized as a "hopeful" future for South Carolina: a state that attracts better jobs and more people with a competitive income tax rate, public schools improved by school choice and lower legal liability limits.

Lawmakers said much of his agenda is likely to become law, though not without a fight in some areas. Democrats said the governor's priorities -- and those of the Republicans -- focus on cutting the wrong tax.

Sometimes sounding like an economics professor, Sanford listed the pressures on the state's economy, including a growing global workforce, the war, the national deficit and rising consumer debt.

"All of these things point to the need to put our financial house in order rather than fall to the political temptation to spend every new dollar that comes into Columbia," Sanford told lawmakers. "If we don't choose to hold this line on spending, our government in South Carolina will be growing faster than the people who pay for government."Columbia," Sanford told lawmakers. "If we don't choose to hold this line on spending, our government in South Carolina will be growing faster than the people who pay for government."

Sanford covered a wide range of familiar issues in his 50-minute speech, which was carried live on ETV, and he threw few curveballs. He used his platform to lobby the General Assembly on his major legislative initiatives, such as government restructuring, a state income-tax reduction and changes in the education system.

For instance, Sanford said:

-- His plan to cut the top rate of the state's income tax from 7 percent to about 5 percent is only the first installment "on larger tax changes still necessary to make us more competitive."

-- Schools should be subject to market forces like any other business. The governor spent a good deal of his speech lauding the outcome of "school choice" programs in Milwaukee and other cities.

-- The Legislature should not water down government restructuring. "Quite literally, the chance to better the services of government and lower the cost of government is in your hands."

-- South Carolina must change tort laws to limit liability for companies and professionals, including doctors, or "get ready for a lot of U-Haul trailers headed down I-95 or I-85 with jobs and investments bound for some other state."

Lawmakers were polite and complimentary in their reactions to the governor's speech, for the most part. Many said the governor's agenda was no different than what they have been trying to do for years, and they suspected a good many of Sanford's educational and restructuring proposals will become law. A charter schools bill passed the House just a couple of hours before the speech.

"I thought it was a re-emphasis of his agenda, which in large part has been the House agenda," said Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville. "So obviously there's a lot of agreement with what's in his speech. A lot of those things we're already moving quickly on."

Still, many of Sanford's themes -- including the main one -- struck a chord with key lawmakers.

"We've been trying to hold the line on spending for several years," said Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "It's important that we don't come out of that and into a spending spree, so he's right on target."

Sen. Glenn McConnell, the Senate's president pro tem, was praised several times by Sanford for pushing reform and for his work in changing Senate rules.

McConnell said it's still up in the air as to whether some of the major planks in Sanford's platform are passed. "If we ever get the income tax to a vote, it'll pass, but getting it to a vote is the trick," McConnell, R-Charleston, said.

Not everything is completely rosy at the Statehouse. Democrats said Sanford is leading Republicans down the wrong road -- they should concern themselves with property tax breaks and not dismantle the state's public education system.

"The state has shifted more and more of the burden for our schools onto the backs of our middle-class homeowners," state Rep. Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, said. "The Republican majority has ducked the obligation to fully fund Education Finance Act."

Democrats said Sanford's "school choice" legislative package would rob public schools of state dollars, in some instances giving them to private schools. Sen. John Land, D-Manning, said the governor is continuing a sad trend in state government.

"For the last three years, we have grossly under-funded education," Land said. "When we don't fund education at the state level, it falls to local school districts to pay for their needs. Look at your property tax bill."

Sanford said education spending has increased by $230 million, and he wants to add another $100 million. The governor said his plans would make public education stronger.

Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin wasn't impressed with Sanford's Milwaukee example to justify school choice. "The Milwaukee voucher experiment has been a colossal failure plagued by mismanagement scandals, and I cannot understand why the governor would hold this up as a model of success for our schools to emulate," Erwin said after the speech.

Erwin also criticized Sanford's income tax-reduction plan, saying, "It's wrong to shift the state's tax burden from the richest families to the poorest families. The governor's income tax reduction, as proposed, would do exactly that and it hurts the families that need the most help."

At one point, Sanford made veiled reference to his protests last year of too much pork in the state budget by bringing two pigs to the House chamber. He joked that he didn't want to make the speaker mad, a reference to the sometimes contentious relationship the governor and Legislature have had over the past two years.

That, Sanford said, is just proof that South Carolina is changing for the better.

"The fact that we've been fussing is something we should be proud of," the governor said. "That's a measure of change. If nobody was mad, we wouldn't be changing anything."

THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH BY THE NUMBERS

Number of words: 6,032

How many pages: 24

How many revisions: At least 3

Length of speech: 50 minutes

How many applause-getters: More than 12

How many times he parted from the script: At least 10

How many hours rehearsing: 1

How many people asked to stand and be recognized: 7

Number of main points: 5 (income tax relief, school choice, government restructuring, tort reform and quality of life)

How many State of the State addresses: 3 (Interesting fact: Sanford has only given four prepared speeches since he was elected, his inaugural address, and three State of the State addresses. He typically writes talking points on a note card.)

Source: Governor's Office

-- Compiled by staff writer Andre Bowser

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