FILBERT -- Armed with nothing but ideas,
Gov. Mark Sanford came to small-town western York County on Wednesday to
pitch his economic plan and recruit political infantrymen.
Sanford spoke at a combined lunch of the Greater York and Clover
chambers of commerce at Filbert Presbyterian Church, with hopes to get
the business community behind his proposals to reduce income taxes and
restructure state government.
He told an audience of about 170 people he failed on both political
fronts last year. "I'm asking for your help," Sanford said.
Sanford claims that the only way for South Carolina -- where most of
the state works for small businesses with fewer than 50 workers -- to
compete in the world market is through tax reform and a reduction of
government's role in the marketplace.
Sanford wants to lower income taxes from 7 percent to 5 percent over
six years, but his plan failed to pass through the Legislature last
year.
The response from both chamber leaders was not an endorsement but an
acknowledgment business should consider tax reform if the end result is
a better economy.
Gerald Bolin, president of the Greater Clover Chamber of Commerce and
executive vice president of Clover Community Bank, said Sanford's ideas
are worth scrutiny. The Clover bank employs 32 people in two branches
and faces constant battles to pay costs such as taxes and insurance,
Bolin said.
"In a place like Clover, the community wants local business, but
business can only survive if the business can be competitive," Bolin
said.
York's Ronnie Bailes, owner of The Men's Shop in downtown York and
president of York's chamber, said Sanford brought up ideas that merit
debate.
"Small business is the backbone of a place like York," Bailes said.
Republican Sanford had an across-the-aisle Democrat work the crowd
Wednesday, as Rep. Herb Kirsh, D-Clover, told the crowd stories of
Sanford's thriftiness. The next election in South Carolina is almost two
years off, but the speeches Kirsh and Sanford gave sounded like stump
speeches, even though they belong to different parties.
"A tireless advocate for the taxpayer," is how Democrat Kirsh
described Sanford.
Kirsh is the lone legislator in the state to back all 106 budget
vetoes last year, Sanford said. Further, Kirsh has built a reputation
over more than two decades of running mostly unopposed as a fiscal
conservative.
But even Sanford conceded Wednesday in a western York County area
that is staunchly conservative and votes overwhelmingly Republican that
the GOP no longer has a lock on carrying the banner of fiscal
discipline.
"Republicans have to be very careful about standing up for the idea
of limited government," Sanford said.
Andrew Dys •329-4065
adys@heraldonline.com
