It's the smallest legislative boot camp that House Speaker David Wilkins has run in the past three years, but the lessons don't change much.

He usually welcomes the newcomers by lowering some expectations and raising others.

"If any of you feel overwhelmed, you should. If any of you don't, you probably just haven't caught on yet," said Wilkins, R-Greenville.

"Nobody entered the South Carolina House with less knowledge, with less information, with less clue of what was going on than me," the 24-year legislative veteran tells the group, which will be sworn in at the Statehouse at the start of the House's organizational session on Nov. 30.

"Apply yourselves, don't get impatient. Don't think in your first week you've got to pass the largest bill in the history of the state. ... Just take your time. It will come to you," Wilkins said.

The newcomers sit at desks with binders crammed three inches thick with information that will be part of their political lives for the next two years.

This year's group includes a woman and two men who beat Republican incumbents in June primaries and a Democrat who defeated a party switcher who had turned to the GOP as filing closed in March.

It also includes Democrat Laurie Slade Funderburk of Camden. She was elected in June to finish the term of Vincent Sheheen, a representative who was elected early this year to replace the late Sen. Don Holland.

Funderburk then had to immediately run for the full, two-year term in the Nov. 2 election.

Wilkins told the freshmen they should bring at least two things to their jobs in the January-through-June part-time Legislature. "The two most important things you have is your integrity and your vote. ... That's really the only thing you have coming in," he said.

"When you tell somebody something, make sure you do it," Wilkins said. "Your word is everything up here."

Some of the learning came outside the classroom.

For instance, groups all over the state routinely buy meals for legislators.

Tuesday was no different, with Wilkins picking up the tab for lunch at the University of South Carolina's posh McCutchen House and dinner at the swank Palmetto Club.

HOUSE FRESHMEN HEAD TO CLASS

House freshmen spend time Tuesday and today learning the basics of lawmaking. The class roster has a dozen newcomers:

-- Paul Agnew, D-Due West. An attorney, Agnew replaces retiring Rep. Harry Stille, R-Due West, in District 11.

-- Carl Anderson, D-Georgetown. The minister and insurance agent defeated Rep. Bubber Snow, R-Hemingway, in District 103.

-- Nathan Ballentine, R-Irmo. The vice president at Wachovia Mortgage Corp. defeated House Majority Leader Rick Quinn in the June GOP primary for District 71.

-- Joan Brady, R-Columbia. The former Arcadia Lakes mayor and Richland County councilwoman replaces Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia, in District 78. Lourie was elected to the state Senate.

-- Richard Chalk, R-Hilton Head Island. Chalk is a commercial real estate agent and replaces former Rep. JoAnne Gilham, who retired, in District 123.

-- Laurie Slade Funderburk, D-Camden. Funderburk, a lawyer, won the District 52 seat in a special election in June to replace Vincent Sheheen, D-Camden, who won a state Senate seat last spring. She went on to win the general election this month to serve her first full term.

-- Nikki Haley, R-Lexington. Haley is a business owner and accountant who defeated Rep. Larry Koon, R-Lexington, in the GOP primary in June for the District 87 seat.

-- Nelson Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach. The business owner won the District 106 seat vacated by retiring Rep. Tom Keegan, R-Surfside Beach.

-- David R. Hiott, R-Pickens. The owner of a printing company, Hiott defeated Rep. Teddy Trotter, R-Pickens, in the June primary for the District 4 seat.

-- Joseph H. Jefferson Jr., D-Pineville. The Berkeley County magistrate replaced retiring Rep. Amos Gourdine, D-Pineville, in District 102.

-- Ralph W. Norman, R-Rock Hill. The real estate developer replaces retired Rep. Becky Richardson, R-Fort Mill, in District 48.

-- Ted Vick, D-Chesterfield. The businessman replaces retiring Rep. Mary Beth Freeman, D-Cheraw, in District 53.

Associated Press

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