Posted on Tue, May. 30, 2006

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Sanford threatens special session

JIM DAVENPORT

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford threatened to force the Legislature to return to their desks next week to deal with budget vetoes.

Tuesday's threat came as the House and Senate prepared to discuss the final compromise version of the state's $6.6 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Sanford delivered an ultimatum. Legislators could volunteer to return next week or he would order them to come back and consider vetoes before the June 13 primary, when 24 House incumbents face challengers.

The Senate isn't up for election until 2008.

"The real bottom line is to deal with the final numbers of what the budget is or is not prior to the primaries," Sanford said. It would be a "complete disservice" for voters to head to the polls not knowing how their House members voted on spending issues, the governor said.

But there's a bottom line for taxpayers, too. If Sanford calls the Legislature back, it will cost up to $80,000 a day, said House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.

Harrell said he has been asking leaders of the Republican-controlled House and Senate to agree to change Senate-passed plans to return on June 14-16 and come back a week earlier. The House is considering that now. It would cost about $45,000 a day, Harrell said.

"If they don't do so, we will call them back," Sanford said. "We think it is that important" not to wait until after the election, Sanford said. The governor won't say what he plans to veto, but he says a budget that increases state spending by 13 percent wouldn't sit well with voters.

If there are efforts to "pare that back," Sanford said, "I think people would want to know prior to election time ... whether their representative was or was not on the side of paring back that budget."

If the House adopts the proposal to return on June 14-16, the Legislature officially will still be in session and Sanford can't call it back, said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston.

McConnell said the dates were set to allow for vacations. Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, said there were concern among House members needing time back in their districts before the primary vote.

Sanford's threat is "gamesmanship between him and the House of Representatives and the Senate's in the middle of it," Peeler said.

Harrell and Peeler say the decision on a special session is up to Sanford.

"It's his prerogative," Peeler said.

Dealing with budget vetoes next week would require quick action, but plans to give the budget deal final approval Tuesday went nowhere.

House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, said the House won't take up the budget compromise until the Senate gives final approval to property tax break legislation. The budget is the only leverage the House has to force the Senate to go along with property tax breaks, Merrill said.

McConnell said that could play into Sanford's hands. If the Legislature hasn't approved a budget before Thursday's 5 p.m. adjournment deadline, Sanford will have to call the Legislature back, McConnell said.