For S.C. House Republicans, this Tuesday's caucus meeting couldn't come too soon.

Ever since members voted to kill GOP Gov. Mark Sanford's top education issue in 2005, strains have emerged within the state's governing party.

There are threats of retaliation at the polls, name-calling and general harassment.

"Oh, my gosh, you wouldn't believe it," said state Rep. Gene Pinson, R-Greenwood. "This thing has been so divisive it has splintered the caucus."

At issue is the May 4 defeat of the Sanford-backed "Put Parents in Charge" tuition tax credit proposal.

The governor put his political prestige on the line for the bill and lost, thanks -- in part -- to 18 caucus members who voted to kill the plan and three others who took a hike.

The defeat wounded the governor and caused a rift in the caucus.

"Yes, there is a strain," said state Rep. Joan Brady, R-Richland. "Right now, it's very uncomfortable."

"It's the most divisive thing I've seen since I've been here. And I don't like it," said state Rep. Skipper Perry, R-Aiken, who was absent the day of the vote. "Both sides need to get over it."

The battle was hard fought on both sides. A lot of blood was shed and left on the floor.

Members told of phone calls and e-mail messages from voters, some laudatory, some not so polite.

"People did not like losing," said state Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Anderson. "Education is a highly emotional issue. And people were sharply divided. There was some name-calling mostly aimed at those of us who didn't vote for the bill."

House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, R-Charleston, worked around the clock to line up support for the measure, causing some members to squirm. They fretted about getting caught in the cross-hairs of the majority leader and his team of lobbyists.

State Rep. Bill Sandifer, R-Oconee, said most of the emotion was stirred by outside groups, causing bitter feelings.

"They tried to make it that way," he said.

J. Adam Taylor, R-Laurens, who missed the vote, said supporters of the tuition tax credit bill hurt themselves by constantly revising the proposal.

"They changed it so many times and had so many versions that it confused a lot of people," he said. "Most couldn't tell you what was in the bill."

Pinson is most concerned about how the dispute might affect the caucus. "This has been a very divisive issue, a polarizing issue. It has caused a lot of ill feelings inside the caucus," he said. "If the issue doesn't hurry up and heal itself, I fear for the future of the caucus."

State Rep. David Umphlett Jr., R-Berkeley, thinks the whole controversy has been blown out of proportion.

"Some people pushed hard, but nothing cracked. Things get that way in a close vote. The way I look at it, the vote has been taken. That vote is over with."

Merrill acknowledged tensions still exist, but he said they are cooling.

The bitterness the issue caused was to be expected, he said.

"There's nothing more emotional than education. You could talk about changing the color of ... school buses and people would be up in arms."

Republicans remain divided. Relations with the governor are not great. And there are growing strains within the state's governing party.

House Speaker David Wilkins' personal popularity may be the key element holding the GOP together.

But he's bound for Canada as U.S. ambassador once Congress confirms his nomination.

Lee

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