COLUMBIA--Legislators from every corner of South Carolina celebrated the end of the Charleston County election board controversy last week.

After more than a month of infighting, procedural maneuvering and general bad blood, the Charleston House delegation voted Tuesday to override Gov. Mark Sanford's veto of a bill to combine the Charleston County Election Commission and Board of Voter Registration.

In the end, the resolution was quick, painless and absent of rhetoric, which was much appreciated by House lawmakers who had to watch the battle play out in open session.

"On behalf of the entire House, I commend you for working out your differences," said Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville. "Now we won't have to listen to you anymore."

The bill has had a roller coaster ride through the General Assembly. Originally proposed by Sen. Arthur Ravenel, R-Mount Pleasant, the measure passed both chambers -- over the objections of some Democrats -- and made it all the way to Sanford's desk, where he vetoed it, arguing that it was unconstitutional special legislation.

The Senate overrode the governor's veto the next week, but in the House, math stalled efforts to do the same. Charleston County's 14-member delegation is made up of nine Republicans and five Democrats, just shy of giving the GOP the two-thirds majority needed to override vetoes.

Some Republicans had threatened to boot Democrats from the boards of the Election Commission and Board of Voter Registration if they did not go along with the merger.

Democrats said they had personnel issues with the merger.

Democrats said Tuesday that they felt their concerns would be addressed with the new board, which will be made up of nine members appointed by the delegation. They said they had assurances that the gentlemen's agreement -- which divides membership of the board almost equally between parties, with the one in power retaining majority control -- would remain in place.

As a result, the veto override passed unanimously, which turned some heads.

"Obviously, some of you are confused," Wilkins said when he saw the vote tally on the House scoreboard. "Would you all like to stand up and hold hands?"

Charleston lawmakers acknowledged that this rare display of near-harmony was enough to startle their colleagues in the Legislature.

"Take a picture of it," state Rep. David Mack, D-North Charleston, said, "I don't know when it's going to happen again."

ALTMAN SAYS NO DEAL

While Rep. John Graham Altman III, R-West Ashley, was pleased with the outcome of the veto override, he disputed the suggestion from Democrats that they had gotten assurances of equal treatment from delegation leadership.

Altman, chairman of Charleston County's House delegation, said he made no promise of Democratic representation on the new board. Altman, who carried the election reform bill through the House, was clearly not interested in compromise.

"Our view was that we were going to win ultimately," Altman said last week. "I think this election commission has got to be free of politics. It shouldn't be bipartisan, it should be nonpartisan."

Evidently, House Democrats knew Altman's position and didn't even bother to negotiate a compromise with him. Apparently, they negotiated an end to the controversy with members of the Senate.

SOUTH CAROLINA HISTORY

State Sen. John Kuhn's bill to require that South Carolina history be taught in the eighth grade and added to PACT tests got an impressive endorsement last week.

Noted state historian Walter B. Edgar, author of the epic "South Carolina: A History," on Wednesday declared the bill "long overdue."

Although state history is taught in South Carolina schools, it is mixed with U.S. history.

Edgar, who teaches at the University of South Carolina, says he finds few students well-versed in the Palmetto State's colorful history.

"If you understand how we got to where we are, you are better educated," Edgar said. "We turn out better citizens."

The problem, Edgar said, is that teachers used to be required to take a course in state history to get certified.

When that prerequisite was dropped, meaningful state history lessons began to dwindle.

Kuhn's move, sparked by two college student babysitters who didn't know who fought in the American Revolution, is being applauded by historical groups around the state and would most likely be condemned by teenagers.

That is, if they keep up with state affairs.

GAS BOARD FIRESTORM

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell sent the Legislative Audit Council a request to investigate the state's Liquefied Petroleum Gas Board after a state regulation threatened to shut down a family propane business on Johns Island that's been operating for 40 years.

In a letter signed by a half-dozen senators, McConnell, R-Charleston, says the board "appears to be acting to establish monopoly service areas" and asked the LAC -- the General Assembly's investigative arm -- to find out what public interest is served by having the board, how it may act to impede competition and "the extent to which private financial interests have affected or could affect" the board's deliberation.

The investigation of the LPG board has stirred up a small firestorm in the industry. Watch for the fallout.

TALKING NOT DOING

Charleston officials get no respect. On Thursday afternoon, Sen. David Thomas spoke to a Youth in Government school group seated in the Senate chamber balcony. As Thomas, R-Greenville, explained the inner workings of the Senate to the civic-minded kids, Sens. McConnell and Ravenel sat nearby in quiet conversation.

After explaining how bills move through the system, Thomas pointed to the confab and said, "This is the Senate President Pro Tem, and he's from Charleston.

He's talking to another senator from Charleston. And when they get to talking, nothing else gets done."

BUDGET, SEATBELTS, REFORM

Strap yourself in: This week, the House will debate seatbelt laws while the Senate tinkers with the House version of Public Service Commission reform. Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee will continue to pore over the House version of the state budget and try to raise more money for the state, possibly by knocking over parking meters on Assembly Street.