Criticism of bridge draws Clyburn's ire

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Clyburn, who served in Congress with Sanford, charged that Sanford had a poor environmental voting record then and doesn't really care about the area where the bridge will be built or its people.

Will Folks, a spokesman for Sanford, said, "We weren't aware that the 2006 election was already under way, but it looks like it is because the anti-Gov. Sanford talking points have made their way up to Washington, D.C."

Clyburn told The Greenville News, "Mark Sanford is as far out of touch with reality in South Carolina as anybody I've ever experienced in my life. This isn't about Democrats and Republicans. Sanford is out of touch. And I don't think he wants to get in touch."

Clyburn's remarks came in response to Sanford's invitation to Clyburn and members of the state Department of Transportation Commission to kayak with him Sunday through Sparkleberry Swamp above Lake Marion, an area that Sanford said will be destroyed by the bridge project.

"If we build this bridge, a pristine natural area of our state will be gone forever," Sanford said in a statement inviting the officials. "It seems odd to me to spend more than $100 million on a new bridge when 10 miles up the river the 601 bridge is in critical need of repair."

The bridge project, called the Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Connector, would link the rural communities of Rimini in Clarendon County with Lone Star in Calhoun County using a three-mile-long bridge over the Santee River.

Sanford's objection to the project isn't new. But Clyburn, the state's sole black member of Congress, said Sanford's comments this week are part of an effort that is widening the state's socio-economic gap.

He said the governor's actions remind him of the days he worked for Gov. John West and saw memos from economic development advisers suggesting the state steer development away from predominantly black counties.

Clyburn argues that the project will open up the area to economic development and thereby improve the local school system. He said three separate studies during the past four decades have supported building the nine-mile road and bridge.

Opponents charge the road has dubious value and will spoil the wetlands in the upper area of Lake Marion.

Sanford said this week that the project would save three minutes in drive time between that region's two major cities, Orangeburg and Sumter.

"It therefore seems sensible to me to use that money for not only other bridges in need of maintenance, but other critical infrastructure needs in that part of South Carolina," Sanford said this week.

"As a state, we need to do a better job of setting priorities and our first priority should be taking care of what we already have. The Department of Transportation has not paved a secondary road in four years."

Clyburn said Sanford should know that the earmarked federal funds that will pay for the project could not be spent for other projects in South Carolina.

"Either this money is going to be spent on this bridge in South Carolina or it's going to be spent on a similar bridge someplace else," he said.

Folks disagreed, saying the money could be spent on any infrastructure project in Clyburn's district.

Clyburn said the area's schools are in desperate need of funds as a result of a poor tax base. He said building the road will open the area up to economic development and improve the tax base.

"What's the governor's plan for getting them a tax base?" Clyburn asked. "He doesn't have a plan. He doesn't care about these people. They don't live on his plantation and he wouldn't care if they did live on his plantation."

Clyburn said he has rejected Sanford's kayak invitation and talked to him extensively about the project.

"I'm not going to participate in the governor's stunts," he said of the kayak tour. "I've got better things to do. There is nothing real about what the governor is doing. It's no more real than carrying pigs on the floor of the Statehouse or bringing a horse-drawn carriage to the Capitol. These stunts don't solve people's problems. They don't feed people. They're just stunts. That's not the way you govern."

Clyburn also alleged that Sanford's talk about environmental damage masks his own intentions for the area. He said the swamp area Sanford will tour Sunday is owned by Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility that Clyburn says Sanford wants to sell.

"Who will protect the environment if that goes to private ownership?" Clyburn asked. " There will be logging in there. They will destroy that area if Sanford has his way. This is camouflage."

Folks said Sanford has never proposed selling Santee Cooper, only agreeing to "explore its value to determine if it is providing a fair yield back to the taxpayers."

"We've got some of the deadliest secondary roads in the nation," he said. "Spending the money to maintain and repair those roads before we build a $100 million bridge with marginal-to-zero economic value is something that most folks out there see as making good common sense."

Members of the Department of Transportation board last week voted to accept $2.5 million in federal funding for the project but said they wanted the money to get a better idea of how much it would cost.