Sanford vetoes entire state budget

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Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed the entire state budget Tuesday night, his spokesman Joel Sawyer said.

House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Cooper said he had never seen a governor veto an entire budget.

In South Carolina, governors are allowed to veto individual spending items in the budget, but instead, Sanford chose to veto the whole $6.6 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Sanford said part of the reason he did not go line by line was because he has no power as governor to reallocate the money he cuts from the budget.

"It was impossible for me to responsibly implement via line-item vetoes the $400 million in spending reductions that would be necessary to bring state government spending to a sustainable level," Sanford said in his veto message to the General Assembly.

Sanford did highlight some programs he though should be cut, including $9.3 million for competitive grants that he said had turned into festival funding and $7 million for a performing arts center at Francis Marion University. In that case, Sanford said the center is planned for downtown Florence - miles away from the Francis Marion campus.

The rest of the items he would like to cut were tied up with other spending he approved of, Sanford said.

"The way they write the budget, there was no way for us to do line-item vetoes," Sawyer said.

Cooper said he thinks the governor's choice of vetoing the entire budget was a political one.

"It's political season and he's worried about November," said Cooper, R-Piedmont. "He didn't want to be tied to vetoing any one expenditure.

"People get angry when you veto their alma mater's projects," Cooper said.

Cooper says the House will take up the budget veto when it returns Wednesday, along with several others vetoes the governor made in a capital reserve spending bill before the midnight Tuesday deadline.

The governor vetoed seven individual projects in that separate spending bill.

Sanford said the money used for things such as $1.5 million to repair an infirmary roof at The Citadel and $2.5 million to make renovations and repairs at South Carolina State University would be better spent on maintenance at the Corrections Department and new dorms at the Department of Juvenile Justice.

"While certain agencies have alternative funding streams available to them, such as alumni support if a college or university ... others such as the Department of Corrections and Juvenile Justice have few options beyond state support," Sanford wrote in his veto message.

Cooper said he didn't know why Sanford singled out the seven, small projects in the Capital Reserve Fund bill. They account for about 6 percent of the bill's $102 million total.

The House will likely override all the governor's budget vetoes quickly, Cooper said,

"There wasn't a lot of explanation there, I guess he was going after a total that he wanted cut," Cooper said.

It won't take long for the Senate to follow, said Phil Bailey, political director for the Senate Democratic Caucus.

"He will definitely save the people of South Carolina some money," Bailey said. "The General Assembly will be out in 24 hours."

Bailey said the governor's decision to veto the whole budget was "an act of desperation."

"He has had four years in office and he has accomplished nothing," Bailey said.