UPSTATE LEGISLATORS ROLL UP SLEEVES TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR SANFORD STIMULUS STANCE

In an extremely rare moment of unity, five prominent members of the South Carolina General Assembly held a press conference Monday to show their support for Gov. Mark Sanford’s decision to reject $700 million in federal stimulus money.

Sure, they are folks who often ally themselves with Sanford, but unity is unity. And, in this case, they believe Sanford is right to insist the money be used only to pay down debt and not to appropriate extra funding in the state budget.

Sens. Lee Bright, Shane Martin, David Thomas, Kevin Bryant and Rep. Joey Millwood, standing in front of the statue of Revolutionary War Gen. Daniel Morgan in downtown Spartanburg, expressed several concerns about the stimulus, and – literally rolling up their sleeves at Thomas’ request – pledged to fight against letting that money cause South Carolina further budget problems in the future.

Bryant, R-Anderson, said he would oppose a Senate resolution today that would allow the state Legislature to bypass the governor and accept federal stimulus dollars. That resolution is sponsored by Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence. The same measure has been introduced in the House by Rep. Harold Mitchell, D-Spartanburg.

Out of 46 senators, Bryant predicted 15 to 20 would follow the governor’s lead.

“Should the Legislature give him the commitment to lower state spending and direct it toward the debt, then he could go ahead and put in a request for the money,” Bryant said. “If we don’t make that commitment, he’s going to reject it altogether.” [Spartanburg Herald Journal]

I agree with Sanford and these fellahs that President Obama’s spending package was an absolutely terrible idea. I wish it had never been passed.

But it was passed. And if South Carolina passes on it’s share, the money will be sent somewhere else.

In principle, yes, we’re fighting a bad idea. But in practice, we’re passing up on money we’re going to have to pay for anyway.

Worse yet, if legislators do end up taking out the $350 million allocated in the 2009-10 budget — which has already passed the State House but has yet to pass the Senate — then the likely victims will be teachers.

Rep. Dan Cooper, who chairs the Ways and Means committee, said he will be forced to cut 4,700 teaching positions across the state.

Now, I’m sure we could probably find other places to cut funds if we had someone more willing to do so than Cooper — and Sanford said his proposed budget allowed for that — but I think we need to really figure out the consequences before we move on a hair-trigger.