| Sanford gets tax-plan reaction AIKEN - After a three-day loop around South Carolina last week to promote his latest tax and economic stimulus package, Gov. Mark Sanford returned to the governor's mansion with some less-than-stellar road souvenirs from state legislators, including top leaders from his own party. Mr. Sanford picked up a bent postcard from House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, who gave a lukewarm reception to his call for a 68-cent-a-pack cigarette tax and a 5 percent sales tax on lottery tickets, offset by a proposed 15 percent cut in South Carolina's income tax. Both lawmaking heavyweights said any discussion about tax increases to help deal with an expected $350 million to $400 million deficit next year will take a back seat to Medicaid reform, echoing the line Republicans used to shoot down tax increases during the last legislative session. They also wondered about the wisdom of attempting an income tax reduction, a key gubernatorial revenue reform, in the middle of a deep fiscal crisis. "The question is how do you do it and when do you do it," Mr. Wilkins said of Mr. Sanford's proposal to slash the income tax from 7 percent to 5.9 percent. From Democrats, he got the political equivalent of a head slap. They rhetorically whacked Mr. Sanford for a tax proposal they deem inadequate. And they swiped at him for what they consider a partisan plan to reorganize state government by eliminating the posts of two Democrats who won statewide election, Treasurer Grady Patterson and State Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum, the leading Democratic candidate for retiring U.S. Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings seat. Although Mr. Harrell and other Republicans are enthusiastic about putting a referendum on the ballot next year that would turn Mrs. Tenenbaum's post into a Cabinet position appointed by the governor, Democrats say what's good for her is good for the other six offices, including those held by Republicans. Including the governor and lieutenant governor, South Carolina has nine elected constitutional offices. "If I were to vote on that, it would need to be all of them - every damn one of them," said state Sen. Kay Patterson, D-Columbia, a veteran member of the Senate Finance, Corrections, Education and Banking and Insurance committees. "You ain't going to find me picking them off one at a time. I want all of them to go when the wagon comes." Mr. Patterson also blasted the notion of giving the governor more responsibilities. "To be frank with you, the governor's not setting the world on fire managing those under his command right now," he said. The proposal to change elective offices into appointive ones "is not a political question, it's an accountability question," countered gubernatorial spokesman Will Folks, noting that Mr. Sanford campaigned last year for changing all constitutional offices except the attorney general, governor and lieutenant governor into appointed posts. WHAT'S NEXT: Gov. Mark Sanford will bring his Jobs and Growth Tour to North Augusta today during a visit to SMS SportsWorld, a family-owned small business. Reach Jim Nesbitt at (803) 648-1395 or jim.nesbitt@augustachronicle.com.
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