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Law enforcement needs
$500,000 in tight times
Call it grandstanding if
you will, but Gov. Mark Sanford is consistent when
it comes to fiscal conservatism.
Known for sleeping in his
office while a congressman in Washington and
opposing pork-barrel spending even when the money
was coming to his Lowcountry district, Sanford has
made similar points as the state's governor.
Remember his abandoning the inaugural ball in
favor of a barbecue?
Some say such actions
simply brand Sanford as a conservative maverick.
Others say he's using minor points to score
political points while the bigger picture is
blurred.
Such was the reaction
Thursday after Sanford late Wednesday night vetoed
legislation that would spend $500,000 in state
money to build a memorial for law enforcement
officers on Statehouse grounds.
The governor said the money
is need by law enforcement amid a state budget
crisis.
Sanford said a $29 million
shortfall at the Corrections Department and a $2
million shortfall at the State Law Enforcement
Division are higher spending priorities. "Our
point was not that I was against the law
enforcement memorial. But in these budget times
... that $500,000 could go to Public Safety, it
could go to SLED to deal with that
shortfall."
As good a point as Sanford
makes, the fact is he doesn't have the power to
shift the money for that use. That is in the hands
of the same Legislature that approved state funds
for the memorial.
Realizing that opposing the
memorial could be akin to standing against
motherhood and apple pie, Sanford is making a
point at the risk of making a lot of people
angry.
"I think it's grandstanding
by the governor," Rep. James Merrill, R-Daniel
Island, told The Associated Press. "Some things
kind of transcend fiscal policy,'' he said in
predicting a legislative override of the
veto.
So be it. But with
lawmakers from the majority Republican Party
struggling with funding a budget without major tax
increases, making a point about delaying certain
types of spending is not a bad thing.
Sanford says he favors the
memorial being located on the Statehouse grounds.
So do we. It will be there to remember some
officers near and dear to those in Orangeburg and
around The T&D Region.
But waiting to build it or
conducting a fund-raising drive to build the
memorial with private funds makes sense just now.
The governor promises he would lend full support
to any such effort.
We suggest in the meantime
that the Legislature forget overriding and make
the veto more than symbolic. Direct the $500,000
to law enforcement personnel and needs. It's just
a fiscal drop-in-the-bucket, but every dollar is
counting these days.
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