When a flip-flop leads to the circling of wagons

A couple of weeks back, House Republican leaders were all for borrowing $500 million for state infrastructure projects, blathering on about how it was a good time to borrow money to do big things that have waited a long time.

“The capacity is there to be able to do something like this, interest rates are low,” House Ways and Means Chairman Brian White said in late February. Rep. Chip Limehouse of Charleston said the borrowing was a “smart budgeting tool to meet needs without raising taxes,” according to one printed report. Rep. Kenny Bingham of Lexington added that borrowing wouldn’t increase what the state was paying in interest because it was paying off some old borrowing and its new interest rate would be the same.

Overall the notion, they said, was to pay for some big infrastructure projects now that are needed, such as $60 million for water and sewer projects for economic development, $50 million for schools, $50 million for the MUSC Children’s Hospital and $20 million in deferred maintenance.

Then came Gov. Nikki Haley and Facebook. She made it clear this week she was opposed to big-time borrowing, just like her predecessor, Mark Sanford.

On March 10, she posted: “We will see $400 mill plus in additional revenues this year. Not only is there a push to spend that money but today there will be a move to BORROW an additional $500 mill for random things like university bldg maint, a monument, and other special projects that have not been thought out. We have worked hard to reduce the debt in this state. We dont need to run up the credit card. Contact your house members and tell them NO to more Debt. Please SHARE. I will be posting the vote.”

So GOP leaders cut the borrowing package to $275 million to try to get it passed. But Haley continued to press her case, arguing through a spokesman that new debt was wrong. She angered lots of House members who didn’t appreciate the meddling. Among them, House Minority Todd Rutherford, who called her a “selfish, vindictive narcissist” who had approved borrowing in the past for Boeing.

So listen to Republican leaders on Thursday after the budget passed — without the borrowing, which was helped, in part, by the expected influx of $165 million in unexpected revenue. These quotes come from the same House Republican Caucus news release:

• House Speaker Jay Lucas (R-Darlington) said, “South Carolina families balance their own budgets and our state government is appropriately required to do the same. Chairman Brian White and the dedicated members of the House Ways and Means Committee worked hard to prepare a laudable fiscal blueprint that meets our state’s needs and I am proud that the House has coalesced around this plan.”
• House Majority Leader Bruce Bannister (R-Greenville) said, “In today’s economy families and businesses have adjusted their budgets to do more with less money. Tonight the House Republican majority, working with Chairman White and the House Ways and Means members, sent a clear message that government should be held to that same standard exemplifying their connection to and respect for all hard-working South Carolinians.”
• Speaker Pro Tem Tommy Pope (R-York) said, “I believe the members felt empowered because leadership worked with them to resolve budgetary concerns and moved the process forward.”
• Rep. Rick Quinn (R-Lexington) said, “Chairman Brian White showed leadership through this entire budget process. He was able to pass a budget funding the core needs of our state without increasing debt.”