Sanford calls for cigarette, income tax swap

Gov. Mark Sanford delivers his first State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature Wednesday. e-mail this story to a friend Related Related stories: • Lawmakers voice confusion about tax plan Web extra • Text of the governor's speech

Sanford, who took office a week ago, provided no specifics, except to say that increases should be balanced by decreases.

He also called on the Legislature to yield much of its power to a drastic consolidation of executive authority by overhauling the upper echelons of state government, eliminating seven of the nine constitutional offices and making them gubernatorial appointees. Some members voiced skepticism at the scope of Sanford's plan.

Sanford's overall focus, laden with dozens of ideas, was on changing the way state government functions and relates to the public, what he called "the beginning of the process of change."

Echoing his overall theme of change, Sanford said leadership and risk are intertwined.

"Over the coming months, I will ask you to lead. I will ask you to take risks, because leadership is impossible without it. Most of all, I will ask you to set aside the manual of how it was done before, because frankly, there is no manual for the path before us," he said.

Rep. Karl Allen, D-Greenville, said Sanford "offered a lot of enlightening ideas that, if they can be put into motion, will lead to solutions to some of the problems facing the state. I look at it very optimistically and see no reason why he shouldn't have the opportunity to implement some great ideas."

No rehearsal

Sanford's 50-minute address was interrupted 26 times by applause. Aides said there was no rehearsal. Sanford repeatedly digressed from the text and occasionally experienced a verbal stumble. At one point he talked through scattered applause, realized the situation and joked, "I know I'm interrupting you."

Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville, said Sanford showed compassion and "he has a folksy appeal that gives a lot of people, including myself, a lot of hope that good things can happen. He showed a lot of vision."

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said it was a matter-of-fact speech devoid of sugar-coating, "realistic and truthful. He certainly didn't try to throw money at anything."

Support has been growing among legislators and the public for an increase in state taxes on tobacco products. Receipts would be earmarked for federal matching money to bolster the exponentially increasing Medicaid program, a problem exacerbated by the state's revenue crisis.

Polls showing public support for new tobacco taxes "do not change my mind, nor do they release me from my pledge" against tax increases, Sanford said.

"Any specific tax increase should be accompanied by a plan for a corresponding decrease of our tax burden in other areas," he said.

As a candidate, Sanford campaigned for a 17-year phase-out of the state's income tax and immediate extension of the 5 percent sales tax to gasoline. Sanford made no mention of those proposals.

Backing off?

Jennings said the proposed tax swap "might be an ingenious way to justify the reality of our situation with his pledge so he can look himself in the mirror. It's going to take tremendous support across the board to pull that off."

Wilkins said Sanford wasn't backing away from his income tax cut-gas take hike plan, "but he's realistic enough to know that with the budget crisis we're facing, you don't try to tackle everything."

Sanford recycled other planks from his campaign platform, from zero-based budgeting to making the Department of Motor Vehicles customer-friendly to promoting smaller, neighborhood schools.

He also asked legislators to approve bills to increase driver relicensing to 10 years from five years and lowering to .08 from .10 the blood alcohol level for presumption of impaired driving along with confiscation of offenders' vehicles.

Sanford described his speech as atypical for such occasions, not "a laundry list of new programs regardless of the budget capacity to support them."

New programs and more money are unrealistic when "our budget is a mess, a disconnection between the promises of government and our ability to pay for them," Sanford said.

He cited South Carolina's antiquated and unbalanced government as the "root causes (for) the situation we find ourselves in."

Sanford said, "We have to make structural change. Think of me as a carpenter."

Budget 'dragon'

Declaring the state's nearly $1 billion budget shortfall "the dragon in this building tonight," the 42-year-old former Republican congressman said that "little can be done about so many of the issues that we care about until we address the budget."

He said he was "not here tonight asking for new programs, but new tools."

"I wish I could tell you the state of our economy was strong, but Dickie Moorehead, working construction in the Upstate, knows better, as does a plant worker in Anderson or Spartanburg," Sanford said.

Sanford specifically asked the Legislature to approve constitutional amendments — subject to voter referendum — to require the governor and lieutenant governor to run as a ticket and for all statewide constitutional offices except attorney general to be abolished or moved to the governor's Cabinet.

Questioning whether South Carolinians have a voice in their state government, Sanford said the current structure, a partial Cabinet and some boards controlled through the Legislature, stymie accountability.

Sanford briefed reporters early in the afternoon, but unlike those of recent his predecessors, provided no details about the proposals to be made hours later. Sanford, who has hired a speechwriter, continued to work on the speech into midafternoon.

The briefing was held in a Governor's Office still lacking the newcomer's mark. Bubble-wrapped artwork and plaques were scattered around the floor; a toy Bi-Lo tractor-trailer truck sat in isolation atop one of three empty bookcases.

Dan Hoover covers politics and can be reached at 298-4883.