Democrats aim to seize window of opportunity

They hope to capitalize on disenchantment with Sanford

By RODDIE BURRIS

rburris@thestate.com

The three Democrats running for governor know they are not favorites in a state that handily favored Republicans in recent statewide elections.

But the men who want to replace Gov. Mark Sanford say the natives are getting restless.

Among the populace — out in the places the candidates campaign day to day — the winds of change are stirring, according to Columbia trial attorney Dennis Aughtry, state Sen. Tommy Moore and Florence Mayor Frank Willis.

The three clash in the June 13 Democratic primary.

“All over the state, people who want and desire competent leadership to move forward — that’s my base,” said Moore, an Aiken County legislator since 1978.

Running against Sanford, who has more than $5.4 million in campaign cash, the Democratic challengers are having to talk up their campaigns before they get to the issues.

“It takes lots of work (just) to get you to six months before an election,” Willis said, sitting by his backyard pool recently joined by campaign aide Joe Werner and, at times, his wife, Marguerite. “You’ve got to build an organization, and it’s hard to get people to come on board ahead of time.”

Willis has been Florence mayor since 1997 but struggles for name recognition in his first statewide race. (Jeff Willis, an Easley homebuilder running for treasurer in the GOP primary, is no relation.)

GETTING ATTENTION

Aughtry, Moore and Willis are vying for the chance to face either Sanford or his upstart Republican challenger, Newberry physician Oscar Lovelace, in November.

Among the Democrats, Moore claims the mantle of highest name recognition, having served in the Legislature for 28 years.

However, Aughtry, a personal injury lawyer, is the campaign’s most colorful candidate. His platform is to legalize casino-style gambling for the Palmetto State.

If elected governor, Aughtry said he will push to shrink the size of the state Legislature from 46 senators and 124 representatives, by collapsing districts into fewer seats.

He said he would close down many of the “plush” offices occupied by legislators for six months each year and divert the savings to health care and education. Aughtry said he also plans to raise the starting pay for teachers and state troopers to at least $40,000 a year.

“The Silver Bullet is going to be the gambling issue,” Aughtry said. “Gambling is basically going to be the economic savior of this state. ...

“Gambling (eventually) is going to send every child in South Carolina to college. The longer we wait, the more money is simply going to go to (Cherokee) North Carolina and Mississippi.”

RAISING MONEY

The difficulty of the Democrats’ bid to upset a sitting governor not reflected in their lack of campaign money.

Moore has raised just more than $1 million. Willis, who owns a road construction business, gave his campaign two $500,000 shots in the arm but still has raised just more than $1 million. Aughtry, who entered the race just more than two months ago, posted $400 in personal money in his March 31 filing and says he has raised a total of about $5,000.

Moore said his campaign war chest comes from “people who believe in me. There’s been no self-financing.”

Instead, Moore said contributions that have rolled into his campaign from across the state represent voters who are investing in him and in South Carolina.

Willis downplays the importance of money.

“I don’t think money will win this election,” he said, noting the last three statewide Democratic candidates — former Gov. Jim Hodges who ran for re-election in 2002; former College of Charleston president Alex Sanders who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002, and state education superintendent Inez Tenenbaum who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004 — all lost.

“We, for all practical purposes, have quit raising money and are going county-to-county, looking for issues and support in the election process,” Willis said. “We elected to go a different route, but we have gained in support of the public and voters. We’re doing the right thing.”

Aughtry, who would base his governorship on distributing the financial proceeds of statewide gambling, says he is not beholden to cash for now.

“Money is not the only thing,” he insisted. “An idea is a very powerful tool.”

Tamping down suggestions he is in the governor’s race as a front for casino operators, Aughtry said he has not received “a penny,” from casino interests.

“If that were true, they sure haven’t paid me much,” he said.

EDUCATION FOCUS

Moore, who grew up in a textile mill village in The Valley area of Aiken County, said his campaign for governor is built on the interlocking issues of education, jobs, and health care.

“If you don’t have a healthy, educated work force, you’re not going to succeed” in economic development, Moore said.

Moore blasts Sanford for what he said is “a steady diet of negative comments about public education.” Instead, he touts the fact South Carolina had the fastest improvement rate in the nation in SAT scores, though ranking 49th overall; placed first in improving teacher quality in 2003 and 2004; and ranked among the top 10 in the nation for improving academic standards and accountability.

Moore says the statewide and national nursing shortage are “low-hanging fruit,” suggesting S.C. colleges and universities should ramp up training to help fill those shortages with well-paid, high-skilled workers.

He says a proposed expansion of the state’s ports in Jasper County should be pursued “without turf fighting,” and South Carolina also should look to develop an inland port. If elected, Moore said he would place greater emphasis on investment in rural South Carolina, including providing water and other infrastructure.

In health care, Moore said the state could help many more poor children through the state’s CHIPS program by increasing the maximum income families can have and still qualify for Medicaid. Moore recommends changing the cutoff level for Medicaid benefits to 200 percent from 150 percent of the poverty level.

Moore also wants to raise the state’s 7-cent-a-pack cigarette tax, the lowest in the nation, to help pay for health care and prevent more smoking and its adverse health effects.

HOME RULE

Willis, too, criticizes Sanford for his “daily assault on public education.”

“Public interest in jobs must have a public interest in education,” said Willis, who fought Sanford’s school voucher program, which supported using public money to pay children to go to private schools.

Willis, who supports home rule for cities and counties, also criticizes Moore and the Legislature for their assault on local governments. He cites recent billboard legislation that took away the power of city and county governments to more toughly regulate the signs. (Moore supported removing local limits and voted, with the legislative majority, to override Sanford’s veto of the change.)

“We were willing to pay for the cost of relocating, but the billboard companies wanted us to pay them for future earnings (losses),” Willis said. “Let’s let home rule, rule.”

In economic development, Willis said he traveled to Europe in each of the past 10 years to help recruit industry to Florence, including the multimillion Honda plant. He said the governor should have a similar hands-on approach to industry recruitment statewide.

Willis said the double-digit jobless rates in rural areas of the Pee Dee also have a negative impact on cities such as Florence, which are shopping hubs.

“If the rural economies around us can’t come in and shop, it hurts,” Willis said.