COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Andre Bauer walked
to work Wednesday, a day after reports came out that the lieutenant
governor was stopped for speeding at least twice in the past four months
without receiving a ticket.
Besides the 1-mile morning hike, Bauer also walked to state
Republican Party headquarters in Lexington to file for re-election, a
10-mile trek from the Statehouse. He took off on foot after the Senate
adjourned, wearing tennis shoes and khaki pants, and walked briskly to
make it before the office closed at 7 p.m.
He made it in time, filing about 6:30 p.m.
"It's a symbolic gesture that I'm off on a new foot," Bauer said
while walking on the sidewalk with his sister Drea Bauer along Highway
378. Along the way, officers in police cars repeatedly pulled over and
asked Bauer if he needed a ride. He declined.
Bauer, who has run marathons, said he plans to walk a lot more in the
months leading up to the June primary as he seeks to make amends to the
public. The 37-year-old bachelor said he's going to slow down and
obligate himself to fewer functions. He plans to walk across the state
over the next few months, in a repeat of his 2002 campaign.
A self-described workaholic, he said his problem is that he
overextends himself.
"I am certainly one of Bauer's biggest supporters and fans but I'm
furious with him for speeding," said Rod Shealy, his political
consultant who drove Bauer home after he filed. "But I'm going to vote
for him. ... At the end of the day, people of South Carolina will judge
Bauer based on his accomplishments."
Bauer was clocked going 101 mph in a 70 mph zone along Interstate 77
in Chester County on Feb. 25 but was neither ticketed nor issued a
warning. On Dec. 26, Bauer was stopped on Interstate 385 in Laurens
County going between 77 and 78 mph. The speed limit in that area is 65
mph. He received a warning.
News of the incidents left the incumbent vulnerable in the upcoming
primary and November election, said Blease Graham, a political science
professor at the University of South Carolina.
"It's a throwback to the old times in South Carolina politics, when
people in high places win special favors," Graham said. Voters are
reminded of the "old boy politics that a state like ours is trying to
break out of."
Bauer said he was driving in a pack of cars and did not realize how
fast he was going. He said he is embarrassed by the speed, but he said
he did not ask for special treatment from troopers.
He said past speeding tickets are evidence he doesn't expect or get
special treatment.
Still, Bauer faces a questioning public in a primary that suddenly
became more crowded Wednesday, when former Education Board member Dr.
Henry Jordan filed for the lieutenant governor's race.
He already faced Republican Mike Campbell, son of the late Gov.
Carroll Campbell. Mike Campbell said Wednesday he was loaning his
campaign $500,000 to reaffirm his commitment to the campaign. If Bauer
wins the primary, he faces former lobbyist and state lawmaker Robert
Barber in the general election.
The whole episode gives Bauer's opponents an opportunity to question
his responsibility and maturity, said Scott Huffmon, a Winthrop
University political science professor.
"Mike Campbell has really been handed a gift, the more and more
people who get in the race, the harder and harder it is for him to take
advantage of it," Huffmon said.
"There is a forgetting curve," Huffmon said. With two months before
the primary, that could work to Bauer's advantage.
"This far out, the best he can hope for is it will fade into people's
memories," Huffmon said.
Jordan said he decided to seek election because he wants "anybody but
Bauer" in the job.
"I've been toying with the idea for months," he said. Jordan, who ran
unsuccessfully for the office in 1994, said the new speeding incidents
"demonstrate (Bauer's) repeated immature behavior and disregard for the
safety of others."
"I can spot somebody one episode like that," Jordan said, referring
to tickets in 2003. "This is repeated behavior." He said he didn't want
someone "morally and ethically challenged" representing him.
Jordan knows a little about controversy himself. He was criticized in
1997 for comments he made against Buddhists and Muslims during a Board
of Education meeting. The comment was in response to concerns about
groups that might object to putting the Ten Commandments in schools.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's a closed issue," Jordan said Wednesday
about the comments. He said reactions may be different nine years later
"now that more people realize all the terrorism worldwide is committed
by Muslim extremists."
Bauer said he does not have a security detail like the governor does
to drive him places or protect him. He has asked for one. He said his
life has been threatened and he must drive at all hours, sometimes
alone, to keep his appointments.
Lieutenant governors in South Carolina had security details from 1978
until Bob Peeler declined it when he was elected to the No. 2 post in
1994.
Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor still believes that
doing without a security detail for the lieutenant governor "is the
right decision for taxpayers." He said Sanford's detail is "half the
size of previous first families."
"Nobody should have to have a security detail to keep them from
driving 100 miles an hour," Sawyer said.
