Stimulus defeat turns Sanford into lame duck

Gov. Mark Stanford stood his ground and fought federal stimulus funds all the way to the state Supreme Court. He lost, bringing an end to months of bruising political infighting.

South Carolina’s chief executive weakened his office and reduced himself to lame-duck status a year early by refusing to sign for $700 million from the Obama administration without a protracted fight.

The GOP governor, whose term ends after the election in 2010, and General Assembly were unable to play nicely and find a consensus. The legislature passed a budget, forcing him to take the cash. The governor vetoed the spending plan, was overridden and lost in court.

The acrimony damaged the governor’s relationship with individual legislators permanently, much to the detriment of the state. Only diehard conservatives remain in his corner.

Sanford, who wanted to use the money to reduce state debt, reluctantly requested the funds Monday. He’s at least three months late in putting the money in the pipeline and allowing local educators to finalize their budgets for next school year.

In an interview with Charlotte radio station WBT-AM on Monday, Sanford said he realized his arguments against losing the money were exhausted. But he continued to say using the cash will be a mistake.

“At some point, you’ve got to let go of the legal wrangling and move on,” Sanford told talk show host Al Gardner. “We tried every tool in our tool kit before it passed, saying, ‘Hey this stimulus idea is not such as good idea,’ and once it did, saying let’s not spend all the money. Let’s use a portion to pay down debt.”

The governor picked the wrong time to push for the reduction in debt. Sanford should have viewed the federal money as a one-time infusion of cash. It represented, and still represents, a way to rescue education and jobs in his state.

The state’s debt, contrary to Sanford’s belief, didn’t represent a greater emergency than 20 percent unemployment rates in counties across the state. Sanford failed to realize the average South Carolina resident was hurting. The state needed to save jobs and keep education costs low.

“Borrowing and spending money does not necessarily equal economic prosperity or economic rejuvenation,” Sanford said. “The hypothesis is fundamentally flawed.

“Revamping, restructuring governmental programs that don’t work, and allocating that money for programs to do, is a much better use of money,” Sanford said. “That ultimately is what this tug of war was all about. It was not getting money for teachers or the classroom. The question was: Where is the money going to come from?”

Here’s another factor Sanford refused to acknowledge: The money is coming from your federal withholding. Taxpayers are funding the stimulus, so it only made sense to use it, regardless of Sanford’s personal opinion.

“This is going to prove to be a incredibly stupid decision at the state and federal level,” Sanford said. “Going out and spending money you don’t have, to solve a problem created by too much debt, does not stand for common sense.”

Sanford was criticized for putting his personal goals ahead of the state. The decision to stand up to Obama was seen as an attempt by Sanford to build support for a 2012 presidential bid.

“Anyone who looks at my voting record prior to this dust-up over the stimulus would see I already have an exceedingly conservative record. It’s not like I need to go out and earn merit badges,” Sanford said. “No one was saying I was running for president when I turned down money as a congressman.”

The state Education Department said it will take 10 days for S.C. schools to receive the federal funds. Schools cannot spend the money until July 1, but the request enables local officials to finalize their budgets and avoid massive cuts and layoffs.

The healing process in South Carolina might not be complete until Sanford leaves office. Party unity will not be easy. Nor will it be easy for Sanford to explain to GOP voters in 2012 how he dramatically divided the party in his own state.

— Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Editorial board members are Mark Laskowski (regional publisher), James Bennett (regional editor), Sam Bundy (sports editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (news editor), David Johnson (regional circulation director), Charles Tomlinson (Lake City News & Post editor) and Jackie Torok (metro editor).