SOUTH CAROLINA

ANALYSIS

SANFORD'S THREATS MAY STRAIN AGENDA

COLUMBIA - Legislators fretting whether they'll have an opponent in November already may have found one: Gov. Mark Sanford.

The Republican governor ran on a platform of shaking things up in the General Assembly and being the outsider needed to bring change in Columbia.

While Sanford has rattled lawmakers since taking office 14 months ago, he reached a new level this week. He said he's considering suing the GOP-controlled legislature after it overrode a veto of a bill he says "trampled on the interests of taxpayers."

The bill started out encouraging pharmaceutical companies to build plants in South Carolina. Dozens of amendments were added, including a variety of new college programs and a trade center in Myrtle Beach.

"Suing the General Assembly is nuclear warfare" and a sign of Sanford's frustration, said Neal Thigpen, a Francis Marion University political scientist.

After a year in office, some legislators have grown wary of Sanford and his intentions with voters. For instance, a survey conducted for Sanford pit his popularity against legislators, and the governor promised to campaign for his ideas in the districts of legislators who didn't support his cigarette tax proposal.

"He could be a great governor if he gets off of this being at odds with the legislature," said Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter. Leventis' pet project - creating a four-year college program at the University of South Carolina-Sumter - was one of Sanford's veto targets.

Political scientists say Sanford's outsider nature is fully on display.

Sanford came to the governor's office fresh from three terms in the U.S. House where he built a reputation as a maverick who frequently parted company with party leadership to uphold deeply held fiscal principles.

"Recent governors have all been a product of the legislature and know the dance of legislation," said Blease Graham, a University of South Carolina political scientist. Sanford doesn't know the dance and has "been stepping on toes."

Sanford has continued to buck the legislature's political leadership since taking office. It's playing well with the public but bringing more frustration for Sanford as his legislative agenda suffers, Thigpen said.

Sanford's bull's-eye for his 2006 re-election bid can be seen already, Thigpen said. His "main target will be the legislature," Thigpen said.

That could work for Sanford, "as long as people feel overtaxed and overregulated and as long as he is in a position to cast the legislature as being irresponsible in taxation and profligate in spending," Graham said.

The governor's lawsuit threat and other actions have left legislators wondering what's next.

A glimpse of that might have emerged in a radio show Thursday before Sanford announced his plans to try to get legislators to curb the practice of peppering bills with amendments.

Sanford told Greenville radio talk show host Russ Cassell he "got rolled" when the legislature overrode his veto. When Cassell asked whether voters should remember the veto override when casting their ballot, Sanford said, "Absolutely."

Sanford's spokesman Will Folks says the governor isn't taking the override personally. As for remembering it when they vote, Sanford meant only that the issue could be "a straw that broke the camel's back for certain voters" and "that's certainly their call to make at the ballot box," Folks said.