The lead sponsor of a criminal domestic violence bill that died last week in the S.C. House removed her name from a revised bill Tuesday, contending it had become too politicized.

“There’s no problem with the bill; my issue is with the process,” Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg said. “I cannot be a party to a Republican circling of the wagons.”

Cobb-Hunter said she was planning to again be the lead sponsor of the bill until she learned Tuesday morning that the co-sponsors were a “slew of Republicans.”

They include Rep. John Graham Altman of Charleston, who garnered national attention last week after he uttered what critics called insensitive remarks about domestic violence victims during a House Judiciary Committee hearing and to a WIS television reporter.

“I took my name off the bill because it became very clear to me that this had devolved into nothing more than partisan damage control,” Cobb-Hunter said on the House floor.

She did say she still intends to vote for the bill, which will bypass the normal Judiciary Committee and subcommittee meetings and go straight to the full House under a procedural move Tuesday.

Judiciary chairman Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Richland, said Tuesday he was disappointed by Cobb-Hunter’s decision.

“Gilda deserves the credit,” he said. “She evidently felt for whatever reason that she was slighted.”

Harrison said he was told Cobb-Hunter was upset that Altman and Greenville Republican Gloria Haskins were listed as co-sponsors. Cobb-Hunter said Haskins several weeks ago accused her and Rep. Bob Leach, R-Greenville, of “stealing” a similar domestic violence bill by Haskins.

“I have the utmost respect for Miss Cobb-Hunter,” Haskins said Tuesday, “but I don’t know what she is talking about.”

On the revised bill, Leach is listed as lead sponsor, followed by Haskins and 45 co-sponsors, the vast majority Republican.

Harrison said he tried to enlist more Democratic co-sponsors but was told Cobb-Hunter had asked them not to sign on.

Cobb-Hunter said she told the House Democratic Caucus in a meeting Tuesday morning Democrats should support the bill.

Laura Hudson, spokeswoman for the S.C. Victim Assistance Network, said she was puzzled by Cobb-Hunter’s decision to withdraw her sponsorship.

“I think she has been rightfully insulted by the whole process,” Hudson said, “but I think it’s time to play ball.”

The House could pass the bill this week to meet a May 1 deadline to get it to the Senate, Harrison said.

If it passes the House after the deadline, the full Senate could consider it only after a two-thirds vote, though House leaders didn’t think that would pose a serious problem if it happened.

“I think it’s a stronger bill than what we had,” said Leach, who co-authored the original bill with Cobb-Hunter.

Staff writer Aaron Gould Sheinin contributed to this story. Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484 or rbrundrett@thestate.com.