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reprint or license thisA CALL FOR CHANGE
S.C. must ‘update’ its government, Sanford says
Governor’s fifth State of State speech renews his efforts at restructuring agencies’ power
By AARON GOULD SHEININ
asheinin@thestate.com
Gov. Mark Sanford challenged lawmakers Wednesday night in his fifth State of the State address to use their immense power to join him in restructuring state government.
The governor acknowledged that his first term was pockmarked by bickering with lawmakers and said he hoped that his second term, which began last week, will be different.
Calling restructuring “the No. 1 thing we could do this year to better our state government and in turn people’s lives,” Sanford told legislators too much power is dangerous.
“The danger of power lies in the fact that those who have(been) vested with it too often make its preservation their first concern and therefore too often naturally oppose any changes in the forces that have given them this power,” Sanford told the General Assembly.
The governor, since he was first elected in 2002, has advocated major changes in how state government operates. He wants to make most of the constitutional officers appointed rather than elected positions. He wants to rearrange the bureaucracy and put more state agencies under his control.
Each year those proposals have died in the Legislature.
“This means most of you will have to take the road less traveled in politics for our government structure to change,” Sanford said.
Lawmakers showed little interest in following that less-traveled path during Sanford’s first term, and it’s unclear whether anything will change. Among lawmakers, there still appear to be deep misgivings about the idea of giving the governor more power.
The meat of the speech was interrupted by applause just twice: When Sanford said each county should only have one school district and when he called for a tightening of the state’s drunken-driving laws.
In terms of new initiatives, Sanford outlined themes he supported but offered few details. He said he wanted tougher DUI laws but did not articulate how they should change.
There may be broad support for this idea in the House and Senate, but any change could face roadblocks from trial lawyers in both chambers.
Sanford also:
• Said he continues to support school choice but did not call for tuition tax credits for parents to send their children to private schools as in years past
• Said he wanted to make it more affordable and efficient for small businesses to offer employees health insurance, but did not say how
• Called for changes to the state’s workers’ compensation insurance system, but did not say how it should be changed
• Said he would convene a climate-change conference that would consider ways to make new construction more energy-efficient and wind-resistant in the event of hurricanes
Sanford repeated his call for previously proposed initiatives. That includes plans to make the Department of Transportation a Cabinet agency, raising the state cigarette tax 30 cents a pack and lowering the state income-tax rate.
The governor likely will find a bipartisan coalition supporting the cigarette tax — to an extent. Democrats want the tax hike but want the proceeds to pay for health insurance. Some Republicans will be attracted by the income-tax cut, but there are powerful legislators who will reject increasing any tax.
At the end of the night, it was the governor’s conciliatory tone that grabbed lawmakers’ attention.
“I’ve come to learn over the last four years, in amazingly concrete terms, that in South Carolina the governor can propose but that it is up to the legislative branch to dispose,” Sanford said. “Change is truly in your hands.”
Later the governor said, “Our differences over the last four years have been well chronicled and documented. It is undeniable that I have had major differences with some of the outcomes of the General Assembly.”
He even went so far as to say, “I have come to see many of you as real heroes.”
House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said he was pleased to hear the governor reach out to legislators and ask for cooperation. “That’s something I really want us to be able to do,” Harrell said.
One of Sanford’s most out-spoken critics, Sen. Jake Knotts, was hopeful but cautious.
“If he sticks to that, he won’t have any problem,” said Knotts, R-Lexington. “We’ve heard this before. We wore that T-shirt. It’s a very good jumping-off point, and I think we can all swim.”
In the history of the governor’s relationship with lawmakers, this is a familiar time. Each year, it seems, the governor extends an olive branch to legislators in the State of the State and each year the lawmakers say they accept it. Before long, something happens to snap that branch into kindling.
In a response to the governor’s speech, the Democratic minority in the Legislature said it could support modernization of government but not at the expense of other needs.
Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, delivered the response and said the Democrats will put forward a “Middle Class Protection Agenda” that would call for affordable health care, quality public schools and “greater financial prosperity for our citizens.”
Reach Gould Sheinin at (803) 771-8658.
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