Bauer on Sanford: “We are all going to suffer”

HEMINGWAY—Lt. Gov. André Bauer warned that impeachment proceedings for Gov. Mark Sanford would prove detrimental to South Carolina’s economic future and reiterated the need for the governor to step down.

“You’ve got a state that is not moving absolutely at all forward, so there is no effectiveness whatsoever,” Bauer said. “Do we think (Sanford) can go back in January and actually make something happen legislatively? Of course not, it’s going to be a fiasco that not only we have to witness, but that the world will witness. It would be better than any reality TV show in America.”

In a phone interview yesterday, the lieutenant governor said that while other states prepare for upcoming legislative sessions, South Carolina continues to project the image that it is not “open for business.” Bauer said the distraction caused by Sanford is only making matters worse for the Palmetto State. 

“It looks like Mark Sanford is going to fight it tooth and nail and we are all going to suffer,” he said. “What we are talking about is exposing South Carolina to absolute jokes and ridicule for the next year and a half and absolutely nothing progressive happening in the legislature.”

Bauer announced at an Aug. 26 press conference that he would not run for governor should Sanford step down before the end of October of this year. However, he said yesterday that announcement might not have explained his intentions as clearly as he would have hoped.

Responding to an editorial that appeared in The Weekly Observer the week following his Aug. announcement, Bauer said he felt the need to clarify just what he plans to do. 

“My thought was that I get out (of the governor’s race) so that… I’m serving as governor,” Bauer said. “I’d have sixteen months where I would not be doing anything but the job. You wouldn’t have to worry about me being out campaigning.”

Through his assuming the role as governor, Bauer said the state would be able to move forward legislatively without the distraction of what he called the Sanford “sideshow.” He went on to say that despite The Weekly Observer’s editorial claim that Bauer would run for governor in 2010 regardless of what Sanford does prior to October, he would do no such thing.

“I will not let somebody do a draft movement, I will not go back and serve again in that next term,” Bauer said. “I’m not going to pull… where you get in there and then change your mind. I’m not going to do that. The whole reason is that we can get started doing the job.”

According to Bauer, whoever takes over for Sanford will face “the toughest job in America” trying to get South Carolina “back on the right track.”

“I’ve been to six unemployment offices in the last thirty days, without any fanfare, without telling any press about it,” he said. “I see what our state is going through. As a practical person, I know how difficult it is going to be to try and turn this economy around. It is going to be unbelievable.”

Bauer reiterated throughout the course of the call that Sanford continues to hurt the state by dragging out his current crisis. He also said that should the governor step down soon he might avoid legal consequences for himself and others involved in the scandal.

However, due to what the lieutenant governor said he has heard from Sanford as of late, it is becoming more and more apparent that impeachment by the legislature might be the only real option left.