Sanford regroups for major change

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The governor chalked it up to foundation-building.

In his inaugural address in January, he challenged legislators to "draft a contract that looks to the future."

For Sanford, much of that future now looks like next year, or beyond.

The Republican governor and lawmakers from both parties attributed it to a learning curve, although some legislators said Sanford was tardy in prioritizing, communicating and sending his package of bills to them.

The former three-term congressman is the first governor in half a century who came to the office never having served in the General Assembly or state government.

Blease Graham, who teaches Southern politics at the University of South Carolina, said Sanford displayed "a lot of good ideas but not a lot of positive achievement."

As for the rest of his term, "It doesn't get any easier," Graham said.

Sanford said in an interview with The Greenville News, "The nature of life is that you're never completely satisfied. You always want a bit more."

"We had a good first season that set a solid foundation from where we go from here," he said.

"I'm the first governor in 50 years not a product of the institution. What you find when you come here is that it's a very personality-driven system, with people you need to get to know, to spend time with, to learn where they're coming from. We've begun that process."

Wins, losses

Some legislators saw it in a balance-sheet context.

"He didn't get a whole lot done this year," said Rep. Lewis Vaughn, R-Taylors. "Because of his lack of experience in state government and how it works, I don't think he understood the importance of getting off to a fast start in his first term. He has improved his communications with both bodies recently, and I think he's laid the groundwork to get things done next session."

Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Columbia, said, "It depends how you define success. If success is what he vetoed, then he can claim success. If success is identified as what you were able to get done, I don't see very much.

"All the things he said were important didn't get here. He agonized over what was minor and spent too little time on the major things."

Republican Gov. David Beasley won a huge property tax rollback on which he built his 1994 campaign. Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges pushed through his top issues in 1999 — a state lottery, a school construction bond issue and Smart Start, an early childhood education program.

Sanford's signature issues never made it.

The Senate killed his plan to phase out the state income tax after it became linked to an increase in the cigarette tax.

His plan for completing state government restructuring, a massive shift of power to the Governor's Office, proved too big an undertaking for a legislative session dominated by cutting a revenue-starved budget.

Yet Sanford logged successes on some secondary issues.

Among them:

Bringing the Division of Motor Vehicles directly under the Governor's Office. Sanford also used his executive authority to order high-volume offices to open on Saturday, add online services, and retrain employees to put customers first.

Lowering the driving-under-the-influence blood alcohol threshold to .08.

Winning campaign finance reform that shed more public light on how political races are funded and who pays the bill.

Cracking down on predatory lending.

Flexing power

Sanford made use of executive powers that didn't require legislative approval. He told his Cabinet agencies to cooperate with lawmakers, banned Cabinet agencies from lobbying, and created an advisory body to fight military base closings.

When federal funds became available in the session's waning hours, his pitch to use the money to raise base pupil costs was adopted by the Legislature.

Sanford sees his administration as aiming high by focusing on restructuring and major tax reform, issues not seriously addressed by the Legislature in more than a decade.

He said, too, he's "painfully aware" of traditional legislative resistance to "big ideas."

He described his biggest success, after a pause, as foundation building.

The biggest disappointment drew an immediate reply. It was the failure of his income tax elimination plan.

Both may be well-positioned for 2004, although a governor's second year is when all 170 legislators are on the ballot and tend to stick to politically safe issues.

On its last day in session, the Senate went on record favoring a cigarette tax increase, which is likely to have to be paired with Sanford's tax elimination initiative to escape a veto.

His restructuring plan, much of which requires amendments to the state constitution, has the support of the Legislature's top Republicans, House Speaker David Wilkins of Greenville and Senate Majority Leader Glenn McConnell of Charleston.

Sanford was adaptable on the tax issue, abandoning a link to a gas tax hike "when all of a sudden it looked like the cigarette tax had momentum and (there was) clearly no appetite for a gas tax increase." He calls its looking for "targets of opportunity."

He said, "We proposed a win-win solution that in the long run would have meant substantial tax savings to every smoker and nonsmoker and availed us of $400 million in (federal Medicaid) matching funds. It was a middle ground. You can't have tax reform without raising one and lowering another."

Sen. Verne Smith, R-Greer, doesn't question Sanford's intentions, just his inexperience.

"He's a good, sincere man who doesn't know a thing about state government," Smith said. "If he got anything major done, I don't know it."

Smith still chafed because "having to tack on the governor's tax plan killed" the cigarette tax hike he ardently pushed as a means of providing a stable source of Medicaid matching funds, the budget's most rapidly rising expense.

Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, sees the groundwork being laid for a landmark 2004.

"Mark has brought a lot of issues front and center for discussion and has done a very good job of building relationships with folks he didn't even know when he started," Harrell said.

He sharply disagreed with colleagues who contend that first-year accomplishments were negligible because Sanford earned "the confidence and respect of a lot of the leadership, and in the next session, you'll see a lot of his issues front and center."

The fiery Senate minority leader, John Land, isn't so fiery when it comes to Sanford.

"I see a lot of good in him. I'm not going to criticize him. He's got enough criticism from Republicans."

"No disrespect," said Rep. Harry Cato, R-Travelers Rest, "but other governors just came in more quickly and sent us their agenda and packages. Because of the delay and us not getting much input until March, he didn't get much of his signature issues passed, but they're still on the table.

"One thing I've learned about this governor, he has a way of landing on his feet and always has a long-term plan," he added.

Sanford "has taken a unique approach to dealing with the legislative branch, what I would refer to as a hands-off approach founded upon his belief that the Legislature should set policy and make law and his role is to review them and determine whether he should veto them," said Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville.

Jennings said the result has been a governor "largely absent from the legislative process."

Sanford said an incoming governor has an early disadvantage.

"You start here Jan. 15 and the Legislature is already three months into their budget-setting process. They're well ahead of the curve while you're trying to put your Cabinet and staff in place. The luxury of being able to be deliberative, going through your priorities, comparing them with theirs," is elusive.

Sanford said that before adjournment, he had emerged from a winnowing process, having "smoked out" opponents and allies, "so we're able to put away the shotgun and grab out the rifle. It allows you to look at a much more limited universe of districts you've got to spend time in this summer and fall making your case."

Wilkins said of Sanford's initial session, "I wouldn't say it was the least productive because you've got to consider two things: You've got to measure in two-year cycles and you've got a brand-new governor who isn't part of the legislative system. You should expect he's going to take a while to get to know the players and the process.

"It's unfair to measure on a sixth-month cycle against people who have been in the legislative arena for years and years before they became governor. I grew up with Hodges and Beasley."

Heading for his car at adjournment, Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Charleston, said, "I'd give him an incomplete."