The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 28, 2001, Page 3, Image 3
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
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