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S.C. Statehouse
Report
Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007
VIEW: http://www.statehousereport.com/columns/07.1118.armor.htm
Sanford's
shiny suit of armor gets a little dirty
By
Andy Brack,
Publisher
NOV. 18, 2007 - - After more than 10 years of sanctimony
about wasteful and pork-barrel government spending, Gov. Mark
Sanford's suit of armor doesn't have the same old shine these
days.
Seems that the governor, a critic of a special government
fund for community projects, directed some unspent money from
a pet project paid for by that fund to a political group in
which he's got an interest.
For Sanford, whose name became synonymous with frugality
after reportedly sleeping on a futon in his congressional
office in the 1990s, the rebuff by a senator from his own
party must be particularly tough. For state lawmakers, targets
for years of Sanford's rants and public relations stunts about
spending, the political revenge must taste particularly sweet.
According to various news reports, the issue that has dulled
Sanford's seemingly impenetrable armor of political charm
involves the funding of a 2006 meeting of the National Governor's
Association in Charleston. For that event, state taxpayers
put up $150,000 from a grant fund often used for local water
and sewer projects or to help communities with festivals and
events. Over the last year, Sanford has been a frequent critic
of the fund.
To help pay for the three-day NGA event, Sanford and his
friends also raised an additional $1.2 million from private
sources. When all was said and done, more than $101,000 was
left over. Instead of paying back the state for its investment,
as would make common sense, Sanford in August redirected the
funds to Carolinians for Change, Inc., a political action
committee formed by allies to promote the governor's agenda.
"Grants are supposed to benefit the taxpayer,"
said state Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington. "They certainly
aren't supposed to benefit the entity of a personal political
preference."
Knotts, a former police detective who considered running
as an independent against Sanford after the veto of Lexington
hospital project, uncovered the information about the grant
surplus and spread it to the media.
Sanford, in an apparent attempt to spin out of the controversy,
has asked that the money be redirected back to the state.
But his office is still claiming that the grant money was
used and spent to seed private efforts to raise money to support
the NGA conference. Additionally, his office has the gall
to suggest that all projects funded through the grants program
should be scrutinized for proper spending.
But wait. There's more on the horizon: The government watchdog
group Common Cause is asking State Attorney General Henry
McMaster to investigate the whole thing. Stay tuned.
* * *
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SHIFTING TO MCMASTER, the race to succeed Sanford got an
obvious push this week when McMaster proposed to end parole
for state prisoners. Why? First, he said he believed it would
deter crime more because criminals would serve at least 85
percent of their sentence. Second, the public would regain
confidence in the criminal justice system and know that criminals
were really serving sentences, not getting out on good behavior.
But Jon Ozmint, the head of the state corrections department
who ran against McMaster for attorney general in 2002, said
the plan wouldn't work because it would thrust more people
into an already underfunded corrections system.
McMaster says a similar plan didn't cause Virginia jail populations
to soar when it got rid of parole a few years ago. Ozmint
disagreed.
Whichever side you fall on, you can bet your boots the no-parole
plan is something else - - a political platform on which McMaster
may try to use to run for governor in 2010.
* * *
Some good and bad news:
- Health care. South Carolinians had the highest
overall health improvement in the country, according to
new rankings by the United Health Foundation. The state
ranks 42nd in health care, up from 48th. More: UHF.
- Schools. South Carolina schools didn't get any
better on new annual report cards. In fact, 18 school districts
scored unsatisfactory, up from 11 last year. More: The
State.
- Hunger. Some 15 percent of South Carolinians struggle
with hunger. The state ranks second in the nation in very
low food security, according to a new US
Department of Agriculture report.
Andy Brack, publisher of Statehouse Report,
can be reached at: brack@statehousereport.com.
Recent commentary
Avery Institute
preserves state's African-American heritage
Founded in 1865, the Avery Normal Institute was the first
accredited secondary school for African Americans in Charleston.
Established by the New York based American Missionary Association
(AMA), the school was initially named in honor of New York
abolitionist Lewis Tappan. Renamed Saxton after Union General
Rufus B. Saxton, an assistant commissioner of the Freedmen’s
Bureau, the school was temporarily located in several buildings
confiscated by the federal government. It was staffed with
Northern white missionaries and members of Charleston’s
antebellum free black community, such as the Cardozo brothers,
Thomas and Francis. Thomas W. Cardozo (1865-1866) was the
school’s first principal, Francis the second (1866-1868).
Francis Cardozo campaigned to construct a permanent building.
He persuaded the AMA’s traveling secretary, E. P. Smith,
to seek $10,000 from the estate of the late Reverend Charles
Avery of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With additional aid from
the Freedmen’s Bureau, the new school building, renamed
Avery, was finished in 1868. Cardozo expanded the school’s
mission beyond primary and secondary education to include
teacher training. Prohibited from teaching in all but one
of Charleston’s black public schools, many graduates
taught in one-room school houses all over South Carolina,
especially in the lowcountry. Graduates excelled as educators.
Subsequent principals, such as Morrison A. Holmes, continued
the school’s tradition of excellence.
Principal Benjamin Cox (1915-1936) and his wife, Jeanette
Keeble Cox, revitalized Avery. Cox was the first black principal
since Cardozo. In 1917 Avery became a bulwark for the establishment
of the city’s National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP). Its first president was Edwin Harleston
(Avery, 1900), a noted artist. Principals Frank DeCosta (Avery,
1927) and L. Howard Bennett (Avery, 1931) moved the school
in a more progressive direction.
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WEEKLY
EXCERPTS
SC
Statehouse Report has partnered with USC
Press to provide readers with an interesting weekly
historical excerpt about the state. Each excerpt, which
is used with permission and not for republication, is
taken from The
South Carolina Encyclopedia, a 1,077-page book
published in 2006 with entries by almost 600 contributors
and edited by noted historian Walter Edgar. We hope
you enjoy this new feature.
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Principal John F. Potts presided over Avery’s transition
to a public school 1947. Coinciding with the US Supreme Court’s
decision, Brown v. Board of Education, the county school board
closed Avery in 1954, citing financial reasons. Avery students
and teachers had long been active in the state’s civil
rights movement and continued to be so even after the school
was closed. Avery activists included Septima Clark, J. Andrew
Simmons, John McCray, John H. Wrighten, Jr., Arthur J. Clement,
Jr., and J. Arthur Brown.
Averyites also became leaders in preserving the lowcountry’s
African American heritage. In 1978 the Avery Institute of
Afro-American History and Culture was established to save
and renovate the original Avery school building at 125 Bull
Street as a repository of African American history and culture.
With Lucille S. Whipper (Avery, 1944) as its first president,
the organization joined the College of Charleston to found
the Avery
Research Center for African American History and Culture.
On October 6, 1990 the grand opening of the renovated building
took place.
Watch
out for Grandma
Another great cartoon from Bill McLemore:
11/5: Tax cut article shows more thinking needed
To Statehouse Report:
You hit on a lot of my "tax cut" fear with your
latest
article. All of these tax cuts just solidify my thinking
that the majority of our legislature don't want to (1) do
the work involved to do a truly good job of analyzing the
repercussions of tax cuts (present and future), (2) do the
work involved in cutting state government by getting rid of
the obsolete commissions, the redundant "duties"
by several agencies, or (3) setting a budget based on conservative
revenue projections......but they simply do whatever it will
take to get reelected!
At a recent Government Finance Officers Conference (where
state & local government finance directors, school district
and higher education finance directors, etc. came to find
out how to do their jobs using GAAP standards, doing more
with less, and understanding the "new laws" &
"new budget" demands), we heard from top federal
and state government analysts who gave us their ideas on the
repercussions of the tax cuts, the state budget, etc., and
the LONG-TERM ups and downs in the state's revenue stream.
Its a shame that our state legislatures don't pay more attention
to these experts. Just one of many problems: the reserve fund
is formula driven as a percentage of tax revenue received
- did they reinforce the reserve fund with last years "surplus"?
Oh, no, it was doled out for whatever was out there on the
non-budgeted "wish list" .
Most of these politicians make their decisions based on small,
yet organized, loud minority groups (shame on us - the silent
middle-class majority) and also whatever they can do to get
the projects to their areas of the state , rather than look
at what's best for South Carolina as a whole, now and in the
future.
Things to ponder:
11/15:
Diverting public funds
To Statehouse Report:
Question: What's the difference between Governor Sanford,
[Speaker] Bobby Harrell, and [Sen.] Glenn McConnell?
Answer: Governor Sanford publicly opposes government
financing of "non-profits" while advocating a policy
of fiscal conservatism and limited government, but engages
in backroom deals that divert public funds to the non-profits,
for profits and charities of his friends. Glenn McConnell,
on the other hand, publicly opposes government financing of
"non-profits" while advocating a policy of fiscal
conservatism and limited government, but engages in backroom
deals that divert public funds to the non-profits, for profits
and charities of his friends. And Bobby Harrell publicly espouses
fiscal conservatism while engaging in backroom deals to funnel
as much government money as he can to those who can most help
him become Governor.
Click Sanford
accused of pork barreling and Sanford
under fire over grant to see the Emperor with no Clothes.
-- Dan Norfleet, Summerville, SC
Recent feedback
11/4: Property
tax relief law was overkill for rich, Bob Henderson,
North Charleston, SC
10/31: Brack
makes scary assumptions, Michael Greer, Summerville,
SC
10/30: Not
removed on all grocery taxes, Bob Henderson,
North Charleston, SC
10/28: More
money won't help schools, David Whetsell,
Lexington, SC
10/26: Venture
program will have positive impact, Chad Walldorf,
Mount Pleasant, SC
10/24: Leadership
needed to strengthen state, Roxanne Walker, Greenville,
SC
10/9: Solar
power makes sense, Barbara Measter, Seabrook Island,
SC
9/30: Not
for tax breaks, Bob Logan, Little River, SC
9/18: State
needs affordable medical help, birth control, Roxanne
Walker, Greenville, SC
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