Date Published: May 31, 2006   

Sanford prepares to call Legislature back

By JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press Writer

The House and Senate have agreed to come back on June 14 to take up vetoes. That has Gov. Mark Sanford drafting a letter telling them to come back next week instead.

The governor is delivering on the threat he made Tuesday to call legislators back to deal with budget vetoes before the June 13 primary, his spokesman Joel Sawyer said.

It's unclear whether the Legislature will comply with Sanford's demand.

Sanford argues voters need to see whether legislators support his vetoes as they decide who to vote for in the 24 contested House primary races on June 13. All 124 House seats are up for election in November. The Senate's 46 senators don't face voters until 2008.

"Our view is they are legally compelled to," Sawyer said.

Since the General Assembly technically would still be in session, Sanford can't call them back, said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston.

McConnell said complying with Sanford's demand could set a bad precedent and blur lines between the executive and legislative branches.

Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, said agreeing to come back could prompt a governor to call legislators back to work on weekends during the regular legislative session. "We could recess for lunch and he could call us back from lunch," Peeler said.

Sen. David Thomas, R-Fountain Inn, said that would be unreasonable and irrational. What Sanford is "talking about here is not unreasonable and irrational. And that's the difference. If he calls us back to take up vetoes prior to the primary, we're going to be here," Thomas said.

Legal counsel for House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, found a 1984 attorney general's opinion citing Wisconsin law that says governors can call the Legislature back between their adjournment date and an add-on session.

But attorney general opinions aren't law and don't have the weight of a court decision. And McConnell isn't putting much stock in Wisconsin law.

That could force Sanford to go to court to force the Legislature to return to their desks. Sawyer said that decision hasn't been made. "We'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it," he said.

On Wednesday, House leaders tried to amend Senate plans and come back on June 7 instead of June 14.

The 67-38 vote killing that effort prompted House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, to warn colleagues they were playing a high-stakes political game with a Republican governor and his nearly $5 million campaign war chest. Legislators have long complained that Sanford's re-election strategy hinges on blaming the Legislature for everything.

"We're handing him a gigantic hammer right now," Merrill said. "I'm not sure the political consequences are worth going through that."

Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, told the House to stand up to Sanford.

"He's been running against some of you the four years that he's been in office. He wants you to have to come back when you've got primary opposition the week before the primary and defend yourself from his vetoes. That is ridiculous," Rutherford said.

"Stand up and stand your ground and tell him and tell the press and everybody else that ... he is playing political games to gain ground and that's all this is," Rutherford said to cheers from the House floor.

If Sanford calls legislators back, it will cost $80,000 a day for as long as they decide to stay in Columbia because South Carolina governors can order the Legislature back to their desks, but they can't tell them what to do or when to leave. The resolution the House and Senate passed limits their work to mostly handling vetoes for a maximum of three days at a cost of around $50,000 a day

"If he has an emergency session to call you back on the seventh, who has made the decision to spend taxpayer money? Not you, him," said Rep. Ted Pitts, R-Lexington.

"This doesn't have to cost taxpayers an extra dime," Sawyer said. "They could cut a check back to the general fund."

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said Sanford already has the House where he wants it.

"Some of you are slow learners and you don't seem to understand you cannot win with this guy when it comes to making us the fall guys with the public," Cobb-Hunter said. "You ain't going to outsmart him, I'm telling you. The boy got it going on with the public and he's going to win the game and not us."