AP Interview: Sanford says biggest legacy will be changing debate

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford has been known as a political maverick, someone who likes to throw out a number of ideas and just see what sticks.

Although lawmakers struggled to relate to Sanford's style in his first year of office, their acceptance seems to be growing. Sanford said he'd like his biggest legacy to be changing how politics are debated in the state's capitol.

"I love ideas," Sanford said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. "Rather than just say, 'I'll only propose two things because I know I can win on one and three-quarters,' my proposal is let's propose 20 things. ... Some percentage are definitely not going to go anywhere, but we think it's at least worthy of discussion."

Last year, for example, Sanford proposed that the commission that oversees the state's universities should have the power to eliminate programs duplicated at several schools and suggested that any four-year school that didn't want to be a part of the plan could go private.

University officials rejected the idea. Sanford said the privatization offer was a tactical move designed to foster discussion of how best to target higher education resources.

"Ultimately, my biggest legacy would be changing the debate in Columbia," Sanford said. "Even if we didn't get one piece of legislation passed - which is not going to be the case - but we're able to do that, I think that we would have done some very meaningful things for the taxpayer."

Sanford enjoys the philosophical process, said Fred Carter, his former chief of staff and president of Francis Marion University.

"A lot of his approach and dialogue is not form with Sanford, it's substance," Carter said.

His approach set him off to a rocky start with many lawmakers, but the governor said it's natural to have a "healthy tension" between the executive and legislative branches.

Although Sanford doesn't care for politics as usual, "without compromising his beliefs, I believe he is trying to be more pragmatic," said Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon.

In the first year, Sanford would simply plop ideas down on the table, saying it's the right thing to do, Huffmon said. But now he's learned to have better dialogues up front with lawmakers.

Sanford's restructuring legislation, which is a major piece of his agenda, has required him to work closely with the Legislature. He's found a key ally in Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, a powerful Charleston Republican who is sponsoring bills to eliminate most of the current elected statewide offices and shift or merge some agency responsibilities.

The relationship between Sanford and the General Assembly improved once Sanford learned the inner workings of the Legislature and lawmakers began to understand his style, said House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville.

"It's all a learning curve," Wilkins said.

Huffmon said Sanford has learned to play the Legislature's game better going into his second year in office.

"What he's tried to do is use politics to implement his philosophical vision," Huffmon said.

Despite the evolution of the relationship between the governor and lawmakers, there likely will remain a wall between them, Carter said.

"The wall has been constructed over three centuries in this state to keep the executive and legislative branches separate," Carter said. "It's very institutional in this state."