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Date Published: August 14, 2004
Leventis, Jones debate lawsuit, other issues
By LESLIE CANTU
Item Staff Writer
lesliec@theitem.com
State Sen. Phil Leventis and his opponent in the Nov. 2
general election, Republican Dickie Jones, each blasted the other's
point of view Friday on two issues that have been center stage this
month.
Leventis is the chairman of the Sumter County
Legislative Delegation, which decided it would not endorse switching
to electronic voting machines this year. He also threatened to sue
Department of Corrections Director Jim Ozmint to stop him from
negotiating with private medical providers before the Budget and
Control Board finished studying the pros and cons of privatization.
However, Leventis, a Democrat, said his letter to the
Department of Corrections only became an issue when the office of
Republican Gov. Mark Sanford released it to the media.
"It's
all an orchestrated effort to see if they can make people lose
confidence in me," Leventis said. Leventis said he believes that
waiting for the results of a study that costs $20,000 makes sense if
it could save the state millions in the end. The study should be
finished between Oct. 5 and Nov. 1, he said.
He didn't
publicize his letter to Ozmint and turn it into an issue, Leventis
said. According to Leventis, Upstate senators and the governor's
office are the ones who want this to be an issue in this election
year.
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JONES |
| Jones, who is making his first
bid to represent Senate District 35, countered that Leventis would
want to keep a threatened lawsuit against a state official a
secret.
"I suppose he does want to make it private," Jones
said. "The community is and should be offended by a state senator
who sticks his nose in a corner he has no business in."
Ozmint is right to be looking at all the options, Jones
said, to see if the state can provide medical services to inmates
more economically.
"The easy way to do it would be to do
what the guy ahead of him did," Jones said.
The problem with
medical care in the state's prisons is not the health care workers
but their management, Leventis countered. The best bet for deciding
the issue might end up being looking over the contract Ozmint
negotiates, he said.
In the ongoing debate regarding
electronic voting machines, Jones advocates an immediate change to
the new system. Arguing about the reliability of the new Election
Systems and Software machines is pointless because the state has
already signed a contract to buy them, he said. Sumter County's
decision not to use the machines this year just means a loss of
$185,000 to Sumter County.
"I don't see anything but a loss
all the way around for Sumter County," he said.
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LEVENTIS |
| In Leventis' point of view,
the money should not be the deciding factor. The price tag isn't so
great when spread over five to 10 years, the approximate life span
of the machines, he said, especially since the county spends more
than $36 million a year.
"One hundred eighty-five thousand
out of 10 years is less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the money
they spend," Leventis said.
Sumter would only get 283 of the
new machines, far fewer than the 586 punch card machines the county
currently uses. He also pointed to problems other states have had
with electronic voting machines.
"That argument has already
been dealt with and disposed of," Jones said. All voting machines
have some problems, he said.
"I am confident that as long as
there are voters, there will be problems with voting machines,"
Jones said. "Difficulties with voting machines are not peculiar to
the new machines."
Still, Leventis believes it wouldn't hurt
for Sumter to see how the election goes for the counties that have
decided to adopt the new machines. Although some of the machine's
proponents have said opposition to the machines is politically
based, Leventis said he doesn't think using the punch card system
benefits either party any more than the other.
"The people
who have made contributions to (Jones) keep trying to draw me out to
make decisions — and I'm happy to make those decisions," Leventis
said. "I'll always decide to have elections people can have
confidence in ... The guy who's running against me hasn't said one
word about public policy."
Contact Staff Writer Leslie Cantu
at lesliec@theitem.com or
803-774-1250.
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