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Governor Mark Sanford gives his endorsement of Ed Rumsey to a crowd at South Cove Park on Monday as Rumsey looks on. Rumsey is running against Republican incumbent Bill Sandifer for the 2nd District seat in the state House of Representatives. Photo by Jessica Nelms/Staff
SENECA — Governor Mark Sanford traveled to the Golden Corner of the state Monday, speaking at South Cove Park, to endorse Ed Rumsey’s candidacy for the 2nd District seat in South Carolina’s House of Representatives. Rumsey, the former chairman of Oconee’s Republican Party, said he was honored to receive Sanford’s support.
“To me it’s very important. I’m honored he’d come here to show his support for my campaign,” Rumsey said. “I’m really pleased. The governor and I have known each other for about 12 years, and I consider this a personal honor.”
Rumsey said he differed from Republican incumbent Bill Sandifer in many ways, but detailed a few issues he believes separate the two the most. Rumsey calls himself “pro school choice,” a stance that has drawn great criticism from Sandifer’s campaign that accuses him and his primary benefactor, South Carolinians for Responsible Government, of wanting to abandon public education.
“My opponent feels that I’m out to stop public schools, which is so far from the truth it’s almost pathetic,” Rumsey said. “I’m a supporter of public education, but I want school choice, just from the viewpoint that I want every child in South Carolina to have the opportunity to have a quality education. We have not been very good, we’ve been very remiss down in Colombia in not working towards school choice.”
Rumsey also said Sandifer has voted to override numerous Sanford vetoes, leading to increased government spending. Thirdly, he said he wants to restructure the government in an effort to lessen the power of the state legislature.
Sandifer said accusations of overspending are not an accurate reflection of his body of work in the house, saying he has voted to cut literally billions of dollars in taxes in the last three years, and also said one of his many endorsements came from the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers.
Sanford said endorsing a candidate in a local race is something he is not in the habit of doing, but thought Rumsey’s candidacy warranted his support.
“I’m here to do something I don’t do a whole lot of,” Sanford said. “I can count on both hands the number of times that I’ve endorsed local races. I do so very, very rarely because it is my belief that as much as possible an election ought to be a very personal relationship between the candidate and the voter. And as much as possible I’d like to stay out of the equation. But I think in certain instances you ought to make an exception when the attributes of the candidate in question are so strong.”
The second-term governor said there were many “Republicans in name only” across the state and across the nation, and made an appeal to voters to elect more conservative leadership across South Carolina. Sanford said Sandifer voted to override his vetoes meant to control government growth 95 percent of the time.
“I desperately need more allies in the spending fight in Columbia,” Sanford said. “And Ed has consistently proven himself to be a marked conservative, not just in philosophy, but again with that simple notion of how you spend money.”
Sanford urged the attendees at the gathering to spread the word about Rumsey’s candidacy in order to start a grassroots effort. Rumsey said Sanford’s endorsement bolstered his already good chances to win the primary against Sandifer.
“I plan to go to Columbia and do my very best to do what’s right for the people of Oconee County and the people of South Carolina,” he said. “We need to put a cap on spending, work towards enhancing educational opportunities for our children, and restructure our archaic form of government.”
This is not the first time Sanford has endorsed a candidate over a sitting Republican incumbent. In April Sanford made a political splash when he entered a Lexington County Republican battle, endorsing former county GOP chairwoman Katrina Shealy over incumbent Jake Knotts in the race for State Senate. Prior to that, he endorsed longtime personal friend Tom Davis in his campaign against incumbent Catherine Ceips for the 46th District seat in the Senate.
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May 20, 2008
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So, there's nothing to Sanford's "hit list" huh. Yeah, right.