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Jessica Nelms

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford shares a laugh with Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce President Chris Hardy during the Clemson Rotary Club luncheon held Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 at the Ramada Inn. Sanford said he needs public support to bring about change in restructuring state government.

CLEMSON — The first thing Gov. Mark Sanford did when addressing members of the Clemson Rotary Club at their weekly luncheon on Monday afternoon was apologize for letting them down as a result of the affair to which he confessed in June.

But Sanford said the reason he has chosen to remain in office, rather than resign, is because he thinks “we can do some amazing things in this legislative session.”

Sanford then asked Rotarians packing the Ramada Inn banquet room for their support in what he termed as “specific, measurable and achievable goals” regarding government restructuring, financial sanity, jobs and the economy. The first thing Sanford said he would like to see is a cabinet-level Department of Administration that would, among other things, dissolve the State Budget and Control Board.

The governor said the State Budget and Control Board lacks accountability, adding that most individuals are unaware of the names of those who serve there.

“In actual administration, the buck has to stop somewhere, but the way our administration is set up, it doesn’t,” he said. “The Budget and Control Board has a very unusual structure in that the other 49 states allow the governor to head its administrative agency while ours is controlled by five people, two of whom are legislators.”

Sanford said the Budget and Control Board has resulted in 138 percent spending in South Carolina compared to the rest of the nation.

Another restructuring recommendation Sanford urged public support for was requiring governor and lieutenant governor candidates to be elected from the same political ticket. He named past administrations, including his predecessor — former Gov. Jim Hodges, a Democrat, — whose lieutenant governor, Bob Peeler, was a Republican.

“If the president wants to go in one direction and the vice president wants to go in another, that’s madness — you would say nothing would ever get done,” Sanford said. “Yet, that’s what is taking place here.”

Sanford said he favors legislation allowing the voters to decide whether they want to vote separately for the lieutenant governor, adjutant general, commissioner of agriculture, superintendent of education and the secretary of state or allow those positions to be appointed by the governor.

“What we’re saying is, ‘Could we send this back to the people and let them decide?’” Sanford said. “If you want to keep electing the people, you could do that.”

The governor said the state constitution, drafted in 1895 by populist Ben Tillman, prevents his position from carrying out many executive and administrative functions.

Sanford said he also seeks support for spending limits, calling it a “business person’s way of funding your government.”

“We could go to a more sustainable rate of growth because it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know we are getting way ahead of ourselves with spending,” he said.

While Sanford said he understands that legislators are elected to represent their district and, therefore, work to represent their constituents, he added that the governor must become more active in the budgetary process.

On the issue of jobs and the economy, Sanford said he was pleased with the recent news that Boeing will open a second assembly line in North Charleston for its Dreamliner jets. But Sanford added that the biggest key for an economic rebound in the Palmetto State will come from small businesses.

“Boeing was good, but businesses of that kind are few and far between,” Sanford said. “But the bread and butter of the economy is small businesses.”

Considering that he is a lame duck governor who is entering his final legislative session, Sanford doesn’t expect all, if any, of these reforms to take place when the state House and Senate convene in January. However, Sanford said change could ultimately occur if the people, such as those gathered at the Rotary Club meeting, make their voices heard loud and clear.

“For the first time in my life, success in the realm of politics will be determined by how hard you work and how hard you push — not by me and not by the General Assembly,” Sanford said.

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