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tDhc Gamecock While giving board extra time, delay has additional benefits _ by Brandon Larrabee ™ The Gamecock While stressing the reservations Of members of the state Budget and Control Board was the motive for delaying action on a proposed 1 percent across-the-board cut to the 2000-2001 budget, Gov. Jim Hodges said the delay also allows more time to sell an exemption for public and higher education to the state legislature. “That extra time gives us a chance to build a little support,” Hodges said, throwing his support behind legislation introduced Tuesday by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, who proposed a bill to exempt education from the cuts. There would be other benefits for the ^ board. Extra time would allow the state Budget and Control Board to see whether the exemption would pass the legislature, Harrell said. While Harrell said the bill likely wouldn’t pass the legislature within two weeks, he said the board would have an idea of the bill’s fate when it holds a special meeting on the possible cuts. Hodges said he would like to call that meeting within two to three weeks. “We’ll have a very clear indication of whether or not we’re going to be able to get it through,” Harrell said. That would allow the board to make the 1.5- to 2-percent cut to cover the education exemption. Under the 2000-2001 appropriations bill, any cuts made by the board would have to be reviewed by the legislature, which would have five in-session days — just short of two weeks — to react. Current law would prohibit the board front sparing education without the legislature’s approval because any cuts “shall be applied as uniformly as may be practicable.” If the cuts had been instituted Tuesday, the General Assembly would have needed to pass the exemption at breakneck speed for it to take effect. “What we’ve done is to not start the clock ticking yet,” Harrell said. Harrell’s bill also increases the amount of time the legislature would have to consider a change, from five days to 15. The city desk can be reached at gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Sanford from page 1 Sanford enters the campaign with* more money than each of the three other Republicans who are running for governor: Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler, Attorney General Charlie Condon and Secretary of State Jim Miles. For now, Sanford’s wife, Jenny, is running his campaign, and she said Sanford has $550,000 in his 1st District congressional campaign account that simply needs to be put into a state campaign account. Condon also has a significant balance in his attorney-general campaign fund —more than $400,000. Peeler has more than $200,000 on hand. Miles expects about $750,000 in pledges by the end of the year, said Kay Maxwell, his chief fund-raiser. She didn’t have information about how much • money is on hand now. None of the Republican contenders are near the $2.5 million Gov. Jim Hot|ges has raised in his re-election campaign. Sanford told supporters he decided to run because he wants to protect economic strlhgth, education and quality of life in South Carolina. Sanford said the state’s education System is a bit like his run-down 1982 Honda Accord. “I could take it to the body shop, and I could get it painted up,” but it would still be a 1982 Honda Accord, he said. “I think we’re putting a nice coat of paint on what is still, from a systemic standpoint, troublesome.” He said he advocates education tax credits that could help parents put children in private schools and smaller schools. “What we’re doing in many ways is cranking out these industrial-era school factories that- have two or three thousand students in them,” while studies show better achievement in smaller schools, he said. Sanford has been seen as somewhat of a black sheep in the S.C. Republican Party. During last year’s presidential primaries, Sanford broke with the party majority and endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain for president. “They call me a maverick; they call me an independent—I don’t really care what people say. I don’t walk with the Crowd,” he said. “If I have to, I’ll break with the rank-and-file.” Gov. Hodges' press officer, Cortney Owings, declined to comment on the up coming governor’s race and Sanford’s announcement. “The governor’s office will not be making any comments on the election — all those matters will be handled by the Democratic Party,” Owings said. The city desk can be reached at gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Get your news five days a week at www.dailygamecock.com. London.$364 Paris.$426 Amsterdam.$467 Tokyo.$855 ^ .<;v i ■* g$M ARKDOWNSg $ KAPPA DELIA’S ] mDCK%^ You are cordially mviYed to join Yhe feSYviYieS on Thursdays March 29 on Oireene SYreeYI Well be YeeYer Yoder \m from 1Dam-^pm wiYh oYher sYuded organizaton^ in frod of Yhe Mussel I house, So come ouY av\d Support us * in our fdnY to proved Child Abuse| ^p^f^ CoM&jom the- f^n.l www.kappadeltausc.org