BY CHARLES ROWE
Thursday, April 14, 2005 12:01
a.m. EDT
CHARLESTON, S.C.--Last year, Republican Gov. Mark Sanford carried two
squealing piglets into the Statehouse to make a point against pork. This
year, he brought a horse and buggy to the Statehouse entrance to argue
against South Carolina's outmoded system of governance. If his reform
efforts falter for the third straight year, he should include an elephant
in his next show-and-tell.
Since the former congressman took office in 2003, Republicans have
controlled the state's executive and legislative branches for the first
time since Reconstruction. Nevertheless, Mr. Sanford has had difficulty
gaining clear-cut victories for his agenda.
The common themes in Mr. Sanford's broad reform agenda include market
competition, fiscal conservatism and government accountability. His goals
remain much the same as when he was elected in 1994 to Congress, where he
supported Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, (and where he frugally
lived in his congressional office). Mr. Sanford left Congress after six
years, in accordance with his stance on term limits.
As governor, he has encountered strong opposition from legislative
Democrats who continue to fight his efforts to create private school
competition to public education and to sharply cut the rate of individual
income taxes. Senate Democrats, in particular, remain a force.
But the governor has been unable to generate sufficient enthusiasm for
his ideas among Republicans to overcome institutional opposition to
reform. South Carolina has historically been legislator- dominated, and
his proposals would generally strengthen the governor's office at the
expense of the Legislature. Currently, the governor has authority over
something less than 20% of government.
The GOP-dominated House, though testy, has been more receptive to his
message. It endorsed his tax-cut proposal and a diminished plan to
strengthen the cabinet. But his unremitting pressure for stronger reforms
has caused friction. And the animal antics haven't amused House leaders,
who view them as suggesting that state lawmakers aren't exactly a
gathering of eagles.
Changes in parliamentary rules early this year were
expected to improve the governor's chances in the Senate, where the GOP
margin is slimmer. Most of his initiatives were simply stopped in their
tracks in the Senate during the first two years of his term. Senate leader
Glenn McConnell, one of Mr. Sanford's closest legislative allies,
acknowledges continued resistance to the governor's proposals, though he
cites the recent passage of tort reform as evidence of improved prospects
for his larger program.
But the governor's proposal for tax credits to encourage school
choice is expected to founder, and his plan to cut the personal income tax
rate from 7% to 4.75% was sharply modified in the Senate to benefit only
small businesses.
Some lawmakers expressed incredulity that the governor would pitch a
tax break based, in part, on its potential benefit to wealthy taxpayers
from out of state. Mr. Sanford hoped to lure wealthy businessmen to South
Carolina who would presumably relocate their companies as well. It also
was designed to attract well-heeled retirees. He remains unmoved by
critics who say there's no evidence that lower taxes would accomplish
either goal.
Last year, the tax-cut plan died as a result of a Senate filibuster,
when two Republican senators declined to support cloture. Democratic
leaders contended that their GOP colleagues were privately relieved with
the result, since the cuts would have cost $1 billion that the Legislature
would prefer to spend. This year, prospects for a tax cut were eroded by
warnings from two bond-rating agencies that it could threaten the state's
AAA credit rating, because it offered no source of replacement revenue.
The governor countered that repaying state trust funds raided during
revenue shortfalls of previous budget years should sufficiently bolster
the state's financial stability to make a major tax cut feasible.
Mr. Sanford ultimately accepted the pared-down income tax plan, which
gave him only a fraction of the relief he sought. Typically, he announced
his intention to pursue the larger proposal next year as he accepted the
modified plan. "We're not going to stop here," he said Tuesday.
In delivering his horse-and-buggy object lesson earlier this year, the
governor insisted that many of the structural problems of South Carolina's
government are the result of being captive to the past. "We have a system
of government stuck in 1895," he said. The state Constitution was last
rewritten that year. In that context, his legislative detractors, many
nominally conservative, seem merely hidebound.
Inside the Statehouse, legislative leaders grumble about their hard
work on behalf of the governor's agenda and his reluctance to compromise,
and deride him for parading barnyard animals at the seat of government to
make a point. One legislative critic dubbed him "Governor Doolittle."
Elsewhere, the governor is being mentioned as a national political
candidate because of his consistent conservatism, engaging "aw shucks"
manner and winning campaign record. Recently, the Cato Institute rated him
fifth on its Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors. (The folks
at Cato will be pleased to know that he has informally indicated his
intention to run for a second term.)
Though idiosyncratic in his approach to the Legislature, Mr. Sanford
enjoys a level of popularity that even his detractors acknowledge. Last
year, a poll done on behalf of the governor's office showed popular
support for his legislative agenda--and displeasure with legislators who
oppose it. Legislators didn't contest the results, but complained that the
survey's tone was unnecessarily confrontational. The governor replied that
the offended legislators were "hypersensitive" and blandly asserted his
intention "to work with the General Assembly."
As he advances into the third year of his first term, it has become
evident that Mr. Sanford's easygoing manner doesn't preclude the
relentless pursuit of ambitious legislative objectives. Dogged, you might
say.
Mr. Rowe is assistant editor of Charleston's Post and Courier.
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