Lt. Gov. candidates debate over who supports governor more

SEANNA ADCOX

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and his two Republican primary opponents spent much of Friday night's debate clamoring over who supported Gov. Mark Sanford the most.

Dr. Henry Jordan got a backlash when he explained he entered the race late because he and his supporters wanted a candidate that would back the governor's agenda. Jordan, an Anderson surgeon, announced his candidacy shortly before the filing deadline in March, well after Bauer and Mike Campbell entered the race.

"We felt like the current lieutenant governor was not very supportive of that agenda and we didn't hear Mr. Campbell talking about" it, he said on the debate televised live statewide on South Carolina Educational Television. "We wanted someone who would take each one of his major items - education reform, limits in the size of government, cutting taxes, improvement in health care - and would work for those issues. We weren't hearing them addressed in this campaign."

Bauer immediately chimed in to say, "Mr. Jordan, you just found your candidate if you're looking for somebody for limited government."

Campbell, son of the late Gov. Carroll Campbell, added that he's supported the governor "from day one."

"I felt like we were out there leading," Mike Campbell said. "We've certainly signed on to many of the governor's initiatives."

Jordan said that, unlike his opponents, he strongly supports the governor's idea of giving parents money or tax credits for private education. The idea, which has been dubbed "Put Parents in Charge" and has Sanford's support, has died in the House the past two sessions. Jordan called bringing competition to the public school system the "silver bullet" to increasing performance.

Bauer responded he's supported the idea all along.

"We've got to be innovative in how we attack our education system," he said. "First and foremost, I want people to know the biggest problem in the education system is the lack of discipline. My granddaddy always said, 'We've got to too much psychology in school and not enough psych-hickory.' We've got to put discipline and parental involvement back in schools."

Campbell, however, said he supports testing the idea through a pilot program.

"If it works, great. If it doesn't, we know we at least tried," Campbell said, as Bauer motioned that doesn't really support Sanford. "At the same time, we all know ... what the true fix to education is, and that's parental involvement. You can have the highest curriculum, and you can have the most state-of-the-art schools, and you can have the highest certified teachers. But if that child's learning process ends at the end of the day when they walk out of that school and they return home to an atmosphere where there's no incentive for that child to do better, then we have to do something about that."