On Tuesday, Sanford will roll out his "Contract for Change," next session's legislative agenda, which seems to resemble last session's agenda, "Checklist for Change."

No surprise there. But the timing of Sanford's move is raising a rumpus. Since June, the governor has worked with House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, to craft the agenda. The idea, Wilkins said, was for them to unveil the plan together after next month's elections.

Sanford spokesman Will Folks denied such an agreement, saying the governor worked all summer on the agenda and let Wilkins know last week when he planned to unveil it. "The governor said at the end of the session that he would be laying out his agenda in the fall and that's exactly what he is doing," Folks said.

Reached by phone out of state Friday, Wilkins contradicted that.

"I'm not saying I'm mad with the governor or that we will not work with him to pass an agenda, but I am saying that we absolutely had an agreement. That's what I spent the past three months working on. The governor and I met at least three times to discuss it, and I met twice with the (House Republican) caucus to discuss details of that agreement."

Given the tenor of relations between the General Assembly and the governor's office last session, a joint governor-House effort would have given at least the impression of togetherness.

Sanford's decision to go it alone has stirred the embers of disagreement.

"I think there was some sentiment that we wanted to unveil it together," said John Graham Altman III, R-Charleston. "Some members were not happy that the governor decided to go ahead and do it early. We don't want to get left at the altar on this. But maybe the governor just left for the church a little early."

Wilkins said the governor has a right to unveil his own agenda.

"We (the caucus) wanted to do it together," he said. "Now we will have to wait and see what he comes out with. It'll probably be similar to what we talked about, but we'll have to wait and see."

The plan House members worked on focused on several items: government restructuring, tort reform, a job creations bill and income tax reform.

If they sound familiar, it's because most were around in one form or another last session, many authored by Sanford. Folks agreed that Sanford has been working on these items for some time.

The governor listed 16 legislative items as priorities last session. The House passed 14 of them. The Senate passed three.

His major items -- income tax reduction, government restructuring, increasing the number of charter schools and offering tax credits for private schools -- died slow deaths.

Reducing the state's income tax was Sanford's top priority. The proposal, which originally called for reducing the state's highest income tax bracket by .225 percentage points annually for the next 10 years, was greatly altered during its time in the Senate Finance Committee and eventually died on the Senate floor.

The governor's universal tax credit plan died in the House Ways and Means Committee, a failure that left hard feelings between Sanford and House Ways and Means Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.

Sanford's charter school legislation died in the Senate, as did government restructuring. An admittedly uphill battle from the beginning, restructuring was killed in the Senate Judiciary Committee, despite support from committee chairman and Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston.

One of the reasons given for Sanford's poor track record was the Senate's rules. A few senators can block legislation.

This session, changing those rules has become a priority for the governor and members of the House. "If the Senate rules don't change, we will have another exercise in futility for two years," Harrell said.

McConnell has taken the lead on the rules issue and promises some things will change this session.

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