Sanford goal: Slam lid on pork barrel

CHARLESTON - Gov. Mark Sanford said Tuesday that his administration will continue the fight against pork barrel legislation and said the threat of a lawsuit has value.

"I'm not naive enough to think we'll ever eliminate pork, you won't," Sanford said following a speech to a civic club in Charleston. "But can you have a more narrow range of pork so that at least when some of the legislators take a vote it's on at least a so-called topic."

Sanford threatened to sue the legislature last month after they overrode his veto on a massive economic-development bill. He said the bill ran up against a constitutional requirement that bills deal only with one topic. What started as an economic-development measure ended up with more than a dozen amendments that, among other things, authorized bond money for universities, allowed USC Sumter to offer four-year degrees and created a four-year culinary arts program at Trident Technical College in Charleston.

The lawsuit threat led to the governor calling a closed meeting with the House Republican caucus last week, during which some heated exchanges occurred, lawmakers said.

"My role is to constantly challenge the status quo...." Sanford said Tuesday. "I've had conversations with the House and the Senate leadership. Needless to say, they are going to be more circumspect in bills going forward.

"There's a value to knowing the threat of a lawsuit is still out there or knowing that we'll raise it again in a tighter time to get at the objective we're after, which is more narrowly defined legislative bills."

Sanford, formerly a congressman from Charleston, had little experience in state politics before becoming governor last year. South Carolina's constitution gives the legislature more power than the governor, and he has had an uneasy relationship with the lawmakers from the beginning. Political observers have said Sanford's stands on principle, like the one he took regarding the economic- development bill, have cost him goodwill with the legislature.

Sanford said Tuesday that for now, his administration told legislative leaders "we will walk with you guys to a legislative remedy and see if we can't get something there."

The governor didn't think the controversy had affected his relationship with lawmakers.

"A guy who you see 180 degrees apart one day may be the guy whose vote you need the next day," he said.

"The funnel through which you bring about any of this legislative change is the legislature. And the Catch-22 is there is a real need to shake up the political system and challenge it, to nudge it," Sanford said.

One legislator agreed to tape last week's caucus session for The (Columbia) State. The newspaper agreed not to name the legislator. The taping was legal under state law and parts of a transcript were published.

The taping was "unethical," Sanford said. "There ought to be a code of conduct in the war of ideas, or the battle of ideas."