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DECEMBER 29, 2004
BY JAMES
SHANNON
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Sen. Ernest "Fritz"
Hollings
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In case you missed it, 2004 was an election year. Although it can be
argued that voters sent mixed messages to state and local officials in
South Carolina, the trend suggests that at least some changes are on the
not-too-distant horizon.
In Columbia, this could be the year when Gov. Mark Sanford finally
passes the first major legislation of his administration after essentially
striking out in the two sessions of the General Assembly since he took
office.
Sanford went to bat for SC Senate candidates who would be more
supportive of his initiatives, with mixed results. In Spartanburg, Lee
Bright mounted a primary challenge to incumbent Sen. John Hawkins that
highlighted policy differences between Hawkins and Sanford. When Bright
lost by the narrowest of margins, Hawkins pronounced himself a changed
man, saying he believes voters were telling him to support the governor.
Former Sanford staffer Chip Campsen then unseated Sen. John Kuhn, a GOP
lawmaker from Sanford's backyard who had not been a big fan. But Democrat
Joel Lourie soundly defeated Sanford ally Ken Wingate for a vacant Senate
seat in Columbia, a race that could be seen as something of a referendum
on Sanford due to Wingate's prominent role as chair of the MAC commission
formed to support the governor's cost-cutting mandate.
Personal help from Gov. Sanford was not enough to unseat Sen. Glenn
Reese of Boiling Springs, who trounced Spartanburg County Council member
Steve Parker in a district that otherwise voted Republican. Sen. Phil
Leventis, seen as perhaps the foremost Sanford antagonist in the Senate,
won a narrow victory over Dickie Jones. That race was marred by charges
from the Jones camp that Leventis did not support the military, despite
the fact he is a National Guard fighter pilot decorated for combat heroics
in Operation Desert Storm. Leventis led the charge to thwart Jon Ozmint's
scheme to privatize prison health care, and aroused Sanford's ire by
pushing for increased funding for the University of South Carolina campus
at Sumter using a legislative maneuver known as bobtailing. Despite that
antipathy, Leventis will be back in his Senate seat when the General
Assembly convenes next month, much to the chagrin of the governor's men
who tried to defeat him.
Even though the GOP holds a 26 to 20 majority in the Senate, Sanford
was unable to push his agenda through in the last two sessions, and there
seems to be evidence that 2005 promises more of the same frustration. But
some observers beg to differ.
Andy Brack, whose South Carolina Statehouse Report is a
widely-read political intelligence newsletter, says the results of the
aforementioned contests are not necessarily indicative of Sanford
weakness. "Most of those Senate races were in districts relatively
friendly to Democrats," says Brack. "Reese has been around for a while,
and does a good job on constituent services, and Joel Lourie was already
well-known in Columbia. He was in the House, and his father had been in
the Senate,"
Brack also points to Lee Bandy's column last Sunday in The State
newspaper citing the lack of a viable Democrat to oppose Sanford, who has
already built a $3 million war chest for 2006. Legislators who believe
they will have to live with Sanford for another six years might be more
inclined to give him what he wants in the next session. This could be
especially true of members of the Senate who will not face the voters
again themselves until 2008.
"It's not that the issues are with him, because he's done a lot of bad
things," says Brack of Sanford. "But people like him." Indeed, Sanford's
poll numbers have remained quite high despite the lack of any tangible
record of achievement. That may be enough to push his controversial
voucher program over the top this year, although observers expect a
pitched battle over that plan to give tax credits to parents who
home-school their children or send them to private schools.
The Greenville County delegation to the General Assembly remains
largely intact, but changes on the county level promise a new day in 2005.
Incoming council members Jim Burns, Butch Kirven, and Tony Trout are all
Republicans who unseated GOP incumbents in 2004, although in Trout's case,
it took two bitter runoffs before he dispatched Steve Selby. Lame ducks
Selby, Dozier Brooks and Phyllis Henderson attempted some last-minute
maneuvers that have the new council playing catch-up to try to minimize
the damage. Expect the Mauldin baseball proposal to be revisited, and a
majority of the new council are on the record favoring a paid Martin
Luther King holiday in Greenville County. It would not be a total surprise
to see the council enact tougher ethics disclosure rules to bring a little
sunshine into private dealings between elected officials and companies
that do business with the county.
Finally, Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings will leave the US Senate after a
long career that brought tremendous credit to the people of South
Carolina. Even more than his long-time colleague Strom Thurmond, Hollings
was a shining example of what enlightened leadership can be in this modern
age. Although he grew old in office, he never lost the intellectual
curiosity that fueled the inner passion that informed his every action. He
will be missed by working families, environmentalists, common-sense
conservatives and those who believe government can be a force for good.
The race to replace Hollings proved how far Democrats have to go to
become a force in South Carolina politics. When flawed GOP candidate Jim
DeMint can run so strong in spite of his many gaffes, it may be time to
reconsider whether posing as Republican-lite is really the best way to go.
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