Legislature leery of entering King holiday fray

e-mail this story Related Related stories: • NAACP reschedules march through downtown Greenville • Council chairwoman says no pressure to switch MLK vote • Business community look to move forward Previous coverage • Leaders call for new vote on King holiday

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said he supports the King holiday, and would vote for a bill requiring that Council adopt the holiday.

"I have said that if I had been on county council, I would have voted for the bill," Wilkins said.

But he said he would not work to push other lawmakers to vote for the bill because he believes there are legitimate questions about the General Assembly sending mandates to local government.

Rep. Fletcher Smith, D-Greenville, has introduced legislation that would require every county to honor King's birthday with a paid holiday. As a practical matter, it would only impact three counties, including Greenville. Forty-three counties already observe the holiday.

Smith said the bill probably will emerge from the Judiciary Committee next week, and he is optimistic it might pass the House.

"I'm concerned about business development and jobs. But I'm also concerned about the fact our children observe this holiday in the schools, but adults do not. It looks like adults are fighting the race issue while the children are not," Smith said.

But the King holiday bill faces a frigid reception in the Senate.

State Sen. Verne Smith, R-Greer, would not comment on the pending legislation, to force the county to observe the King holiday, except to say, "I'm not interested in the Fletcher Smith bill. I'm trying to work on the appropriations bill. I just don't have my mind on (the King holiday) one bit; I'm working other things."

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison, R-Columbia, said he supports the bill. "It could affect our business climate, and the state's image is important. I would hope Greenville would revisit it," he said.

"We held the bill a while to see what developed, and several counties in the last month have looked at the situation and decided it would be appropriate to honor Dr. King with a holiday," Harrison said.

"Maybe if the counties see that the House will act, they might decide to revisit the issue themselves. I'd rather they do it themselves than for the state to force it upon them, but it's an appropriate holiday," Harrison said.

The House's top leader said, however, he's not sure the holiday bill will find majority support on the House floor.

"We're all concerned" about the business climate, Wilkins said. "Obviously, we want Greenville to continue to be a place where businesses expand and create more high-paying jobs for our citizens," Wilkins said.

Wilkins said failure to honor the King holiday "is certainly a risk."

"As long as this issue lingers, it allows other people to define who we are rather than letting us define that. We saw that with the Confederate flag, when people in other states tried to paint South Carolina as a racist state, which we all know is not true," Wilkins said.

Gov. Mark Sanford stopped short of saying he would veto Rep. Smith's bill, but said, "in general, if you look at my history on home rule, it's been very, very clear, and that is we need to get out of the business of state government mandating to the counties what they will or won't do."

The General Assembly has a mixed record on legislating mandates to local government. In one specific area, public schools and education, lawmakers frequently override local school boards' decisions. But home rule also frequently becomes a foil for lawmakers to avoid taking up tough issues they can leave to local governments.

Sanford cited vetoed bills that would have eliminated the make-up of snow days by some school districts, and the make-up of a county election commission, then added the mandatory MLK holiday bill to the category.

"There are too many mandates and (as a congressman) at the federal level I voted consistently against this. I don't think you'll see a dissimilar pattern here in Columbia," Sanford said. "The whole point of home rule is trying to get Columbia out of the business of trying to manage a local county council, period."

The MLK issue is a local one, Sanford said.

Sen. David Thomas, R-Fountain Inn, said he had encouraged the county council to follow the state's example of observing a King holiday. But he said he was not inclined to force that option upon the county government.

Thomas said he had opposed Rep. Smith's proposal to legislate the location of a new school in Greenville, "and the same principle applies here."