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Date Published: March 17, 2004
Life Sciences Act in best interests of South Carolina
As anticipated, Gov. Mark Sanford received his marching orders on Tuesday from Columbia's largest newspaper instructing him to veto the Life Sciences Act that contains an amendment granting four-year status to the University of South Carolina Sumter.
As this is written, the governor is finalizing his decision on the bill, which was passed overwhelmingly by both the state Senate and House. He had until midnight Tuesday to sign, not sign or veto.
Included in the instructions from Sanford's newspaper echo chamber is the opinion that the bill appropriates funds and thus is – hint, hint – subject to a line-item veto, in spite of a clause in the legislation stating, "No provision of this act shall be construed to appropriate funds." The editorialist claims the bill "is an appropriations bill or it isn't, no matter what crafty clauses are inserted."
In another section of the newspaper, a columnist reinforces the line-item veto gambit with the revelation that Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, believes the bill is an appropriations measure, which pleased a spokesman for the governor, describing Harrell's comment as "a perspective we are going to take very seriously."
Of course they will, as a line-item veto would be an excellent opportunity to employ more gamesmanship in an attempt by the governor to work his will on a Legislature that has so far seen merit in the USC Sumter amendment and passed it by a margin sufficient to override any veto, if the votes hold.
It's unfortunate that it has come to this, with elitist power brokers dictating to legislators how they must carry out the people's business. Members of both legislative bodies are more attuned to public sentiment and their constituencies than the ivory tower operatives in the seat of government, who are far more concerned with process and power than the substance of legislation and the lives it impacts.
It's sad that in the political maneuvering swirling around this bill, the economic development portions, which are the heart and soul of the legislation, are obtained with the inclusion of the USC Sumter amendment. The Sumter and surrounding region's economy would benefit immensely from a four-year campus, and that has been one of the major arguments, fully documented, in the case for USC Sumter.
If the governor vetoes, the General Assembly has the opportunity, which it should exercise forthwith, to preserve this bill intact. It meets the test of being in the best interests of all South Carolinians, including this community.
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April 13, 2004
