Republican Gov. Mark Sanford was unable to get his
legislative agenda through the General Assembly. For example, one of Gov.
Sanford's top priorities was to restructure state government.
His restructuring legislation passed the S.C. House. When it reached the
Senate floor, the votes were simply not there. In South Carolina, restructuring
legislation requires a constitutional amendment, which requires a two-thirds
vote of the Senate, or 31 votes. Only 24 senators were willing to vote for the
constitutional amendment in support of restructuring.
Another Gov. Sanford priority was to pass tort reform legislation, which only
required a simple majority for passage. Sen. Maggie Glover filed a minority
report on the tort reform bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
This means that the bill is placed on the calendar with this objection.
Before the tort reform bill could be considered in the Senate, it would have to
stay on the calendar six legislative days. The bill would then be placed in the
status of special order, which requires a two-thirds vote for consideration.
This bill would have never passed since only 22 senators supported it.
The remaining senators were either undecided or not in favor of the
legislation. As you can see, the rules that Gov. Sanford and a number of
senators want to change are not responsible for Gov. Sanford's legislation not
passing.
In recent years, governors of South Carolina, starting with Jim Edwards,
(Republican), were able to get their legislative agendas through the General
Assembly. Prior to Gov. Edwards, all of the previous governors since
Reconstruction were Democrats. During his administration Gov. Edwards had to
confront a South Carolina House and Senate that were 95 percent Democrat. By
working with the General Assembly he was able to get his legislative agenda
passed.
Gov. Dick Riley had no problem with the General Assembly. Gov. Carroll
Campbell, the second Republican governor since Reconstruction, was also governor
when the Democrats were in control of the House and Senate. He also had no
problem getting his legislative agenda passed.
He was followed by Gov. David Beasley, a Republican, who had no problem
getting his legislative agenda through a Republican-controlled House and a
Democratic-controlled Senate.
Gov. Jim Hodges, a Democrat, was the most successful in terms of getting his
legislative agenda passed. During his tenure, his legislative agenda passed with
a Republican-controlled House and Senate. Mark Sanford is the only governor who
was not successful in getting his legislative agenda passed with both bodies
being dominated by Republicans.
Gov. Mark Sanford is not a team player. During the 2004 Legislative Session
of the General Assembly, Gov. Sanford vetoed 106 bills passed by the House and
Senate. The Republican-controlled House overrode 105 of those bills vetoed by
the governor and the Republican-controlled Senate did likewise.
After Gov. Sanford did not have his way, he launched a statewide campaign
casting blame on the Senate for his problems. The Republican Party and friends
of the governor should be true to him and tell him he caused this himself. The
General Assembly passed the Life Sciences Facility Act, which included projects
for every county in the state.
Gov. Sanford started a personal campaign to defeat certain Republicans and
Democrats who supported this legislation.
Greenville Tech wanted to build a dormitory for their school. The S.C. Budget
and Control Board voted 3-2 to grant the building of the dormitory. After losing
the vote, Gov. Sanford complained that the Budget and Control Board was not in
support of his legislative agenda. The same thing happened regarding the
four-year campus at USC-Sumter and similar projects under the Life Sciences Act.
There is no rule in the Senate that allows one senator from stopping a bill
from passage. For Gov. Sanford and certain editors of newspapers across the
state to misrepresent Senate rules is clearly a disservice, or they simply do
not understand the rules.
If a piece of legislation comes to the floor of the Senate with less than 10
days left in the session, it simply means that with the "minority report," the
bill would most likely not pass -- not because of the rules, but merely because
the clock ran out.
When you look at the U.S. Senate and the state senates in all 50 states, they
basically have the same rules. If the Senate changes its rules because the
governor is unable to get his agenda passed, it would be a huge injustice for
the state.
The S.C. Constitution calls for three branches of government, the
legislative, executive and judicial. There is a segment of the community that
has come to the conclusion that Gov. Sanford would like a dictatorship.
Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston represents Senate District 42.
