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Article published Apr 1, 2004
Sanford backs off on threat of lawsuit
JENNIFER HOLLAND
Associated Press
COLUMBIA -- Gov. Mark
Sanford said he decided to back off threats, for now, to sue the Legislature
over a massive economic development bill after a secret meeting with Republican
leaders on Wednesday."We're certainly not giving up the option of taking this
thing to court," Sanford said. "Based on feedback from folks in the General
Assembly this afternoon, though, I'm taking them at their word that there is a
willingness to fix this thing legislatively."Sanford called the House GOP Caucus
into the closed-door meeting, where reporters were physically barred from the
door by his spokesman. Only a handful of Republican senators met with the
governor next. Democrats were not invited."I wanted to get their unbridled
thoughts on this matter," said Sanford, who has threatened to challenge the
constitutionality of puttingunrelated items into the bill.Sanford was upset the
bill, which extended broader economic development incentives to pharmaceutical
companies, included provisions to expand the University of South Carolina-Sumter
to a four-year school and to create a four-year cooking program at Trident
Technical College.The General Assembly easily overrode his veto two weeks
ago."We believe that there are no merits to the lawsuit," House Speaker David
Wilkins said. "He will not prevail."Sanford's earlier threats have chilled
relations with lawmakers."We should have met pre-veto," said Sen. Dave Thomas,
R-Fountain Inn, who did not attend the meeting because it was held in secret. "A
lot of us are very much mystified."Only Sens. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, and Greg
Ryberg, R-Aiken, briefly met with the governor after about 40 House Republicans
spoke with Sanford for nearly an hour."I think a meeting like this is important
on a regular basis," said Rep. Rex Rice, R-Easley.Sanford said he warned the
General Assembly several times through his State-of-the-State address in January
and reports in the media that he would veto the bill, called the Life Sciences
Act, if it was loaded with unrelated amendments.House Minority Leader James
Smith, D-Columbia, said he was disappointed the governor did not reach out
across party lines to discuss the lawsuit."I'm very interested in meeting with
the governor, but nobody has asked me," Smith said.The threat of a lawsuit still
left Sanford's fellow Republicans guessing how he would act until the end."It is
a real shame," said House Ways and Means Chairman Bobby Harrell, who thinks
energy could be better spent on passing legislation to move the state
forward.Sanford said his goal was to fix this process to protect taxpayers."If
there's a willingness to achieve that objective on the legislative side of the
equation then I'm certainly willing to give that process a little bit more time
before moving forward with a legal option," the governor said.