CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Gov. Mark Sanford said
Tuesday that his administration will continue the fight
against pork barrel legislation and said the threat of a
lawsuit has value.
"I'm not naive enough to think we'll ever eliminate pork,
you won't," Sanford said following a speech to a civic club.
"But can you have a more narrow range of pork so that at least
when some of the legislators take a vote it's on at least a
so-called topic."
Sanford threatened to sue the Legislature after they
overrode his veto on a massive economic development bill. He
said the bill ran up against a constitutional requirement that
bills deal only with one topic.
That threat led to the governor calling a closed meeting
with the House Republican caucus last week, which resulted in
some heated exchanges, lawmakers said.
"My role is to constantly challenge the status quo. People
have grown complacent about Christmas tree bills," Sanford
said Tuesday. "I've had conversations with the House and the
Senate leadership. Needless to say, they are going to be more
circumspect in bills going forward.
"There's a value to knowing the threat of a lawsuit is
still out there or knowing that we'll raise it again in a
tighter time to get at the objective we're after, which is
more narrowly defined legislative bills."
Sanford said that for now, the administration told
legislative leaders "we will walk with you guys to a
legislative remedy and see if we can't get something there."
The governor didn't think the controversy has affected his
relationship with lawmakers.
"A guy who you see 180 degrees apart one day may be the guy
whose vote you need the next day," he said.
"The funnel through which you bring about any of this
legislative change is the Legislature. And the Catch-22 is
there is a real need to shake up the political system and
challenge it, to nudge it," he said.
One legislator agreed to tape last week's caucus session
for The (Columbia) State. The newspaper agreed not to name the
legislator. The taping was legal under state law and parts of
a transcript were published.
The taping was "unethical," Sanford said. "There ought to
be a code of conduct in the war of ideas, or the battle of
ideas."
