With their political futures on the line in the June 13 primary, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and challenger Mike Campbell wooed Greenville Republican activists Monday.

Bauer, 36, pitched his experience and efforts to improve the services of the Office on Aging, which is under his office. Campbell, 36, pushed the need to win more and better jobs for South Carolina.

John Williams, a retired South Carolina State University official, said he hasn't settled on a candidate, that "we're in the hazy part. I like both of them; they sound very interesting."

Stephen Brown, a former Greenville GOP chairman, said Bauer's incumbency would be an almost insurmountable hurdle for a challenger without Campbell's political background.

Advertisement

Bauer, who previously served in the House and Senate, reminded the Poinsett Club audience of his experience and incumbency.

"Nobody's going to have to train me, to educate me. I understand fully what the job does and understand it well," he said.

Campbell, a Greenville native and son of the late Gov. Carroll Campbell, has never held public office, but said he envisions the lieutenant governor's office as a more vibrant force, "more of an extension of the executive branch."

Bauer said he searches out ways to make the aging program "work more responsibly," citing home services for seniors that cost $500 a year, saving the potential cost of $30,000 a year for nursing home expenses.

He also said that after learning that South Carolina had only 30 geriatric specialists, he successfully pushed legislation to increase the number through a loan forgiveness program for new doctors.

Campbell said, "We've got to get job creation back to where it was. When you look at where we've been and where we are today, it's kind of a bleak picture." But he said it's one where a restructured lieutenant governor's office with a policy-making role can "be that ambassador for South Carolina."

As an outsider who's been around government much of his life, Campbell said he could bring new perspectives to the office.

During the question-and-answer session, both cautioned against hastily enacting a sales tax hike in exchange for ending most property taxes. Bauer said government at all levels should curb spending, and Campbell said a "holistic" study of the state's tax structure should come first.

Both said the media had overplayed the conflict between Republican Gov. Mark Sanford and the GOP-controlled Legislature.

While some problems exist, Campbell said the solution is a matter of "sitting down and working things out."