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Article published Jun 13, 2004
Voters back Sanford at the polls
ROBERT
W. DALTON
And ABIGAIL TAMM-SEITZ
Staff Writers
For a guy
who didn't campaign, who wasn't even on the ballot, Gov. Mark Sanford received a
lot of votes in Tuesday night's Republican primaries.Sanford's impact on the
election was felt from the Upstate to the coast:State Sen. John Hawkins of
Spartanburg had experience and more money on his side, but held off challenger
Lee Bright by just 31 votes.Two incumbents in the Senate, Bill Branton of
Summerville and John Kuhn of Charleston, ran second in their primaries and will
face the voters again in runoffs on June 22.And Rep. Rick Quinn of Columbia, a
16-year veteran and the House majority leader, got whacked by newcomer Nathan
Ballentine.Blease Graham, a University of South Carolina political science
professor, said that incumbency is usually an advantage. But, he said, tension
between the governor and legislators -- and some tough campaigning by
challengers -- made this election an exception.Sanford and the Legislature had a
tumultuous year. In March, the governor threatened to file suit after the
General Assembly overrode his veto of an economic development bill that he said
was loaded with pork projects. And last month, Sanford carried a pair of pigs to
the door of the House chamber one day after that body rejected 105 of his 106
budget vetoes in 99 minutes.The House did pass 14 of Sanford's 16 agenda items
-- including his top priority, a plan to reduce the state's top income tax rate
from 7 percent to 4.75 percent. The Senate, tied up in filibusters for a good
part of the session, left most of Sanford's key legislation on the desk.Robert
Jeffrey, a professor of government at Wofford College, said Sanford "got a lot
of folks on his side" after the squabbles."I think the Legislature, in the
public's mind, came out worse than the governor," Jeffrey said.Graham said the
pig incident, decried as a media stunt by legislators, played well with the
public."The governor's activity certainly appeals to the individual voter, the
small businessman, the tax cutter and to the anti-government point of view,"
Graham said.Kuhn said that he saw no connection between Sanford's rift with the
Legislature and his second-place finish in the primary.The Senate passed three
items on Sanford's checklist, and Kuhn said he was instrumental in pushing
through two of them."I've been the most effective legislator in the General
Assembly in terms of passing the governor's agenda," Kuhn said.Kuhn also played
a key role in killing Sanford's restructuring plan in the Senate Judiciary
Committee. He also had a heated exchange with First Lady Jenny Sanford over her
contribution to Chip Campsen, Kuhn's opponent. Campsen is a longtime friend of
the governor's.Quinn said there might have been some anti-incumbency sentiment
at work, but he chalked up his narrow defeat to new voters in the district that
Ballentine got to first.Quinn said he voted to sustain Sanford's veto of the
economic development bill, and supported him on 20 of the budget vetoes. He said
he even had a letter of support from Sanford, written in March.Hawkins disagreed
with his counterparts. He said Sanford's popularity and voters' dissatisfaction
with the Legislature showed up at the polls.Hawkins got the memo in time to
avert a disaster. When the legislative session opened, Hawkins was at odds with
the governor over his restructuring plan -- particularly on whether the adjutant
general should become an appointed office or remain elected. But he spent the
session's final three weeks trumpeting his support for Sanford and his
programs.Hawkins has even softened his "not now, not ever" stance on the
adjutant general's office."I'm not going to change my core principles, but I
will keep an open mind," said Hawkins, a major in the National Guard. "I want to
sit down with the governor and share my ideas with him on why it should remain
an elected office and hear his ideas on why it should be appointed."Sanford
spokesman Will Folks said Tuesday's vote shows that South Carolinians share
Sanford's view that it's time to change the way business is done in
Columbia."That's obviously a message that has significant support with the
public," Folks said. "Eventually that support is going to filter down to the
ballot box."Hawkins said the message from the voters was clear: Get on board the
Sanford train or get run over by it."What the people are saying, and what I'm
going to listen to, is that they want us to stand with the governor on his
agenda," Hawkins said. "He's got a very positive message for change. He's
leading, and I need to follow."Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7274 or
bob.dalton@shj.com.Abigail Tamm-Seitz can be reached at 562-7210 or
abigail.tamm-seitz@shj.com.