Sanford Files Lawsuit to Stop Stimulus Money

Gov. Mark Sanford announced details of his federal lawsuit against the state legislature Thursday morning. It names Attorney General Henry McMaster as the defendant, as the chief enforcer of South Carolina laws. The suit says the Republican governor has sole authority to request nearly $700 million in federal bailout money intended to keep the state from cutting education spending.

“The code is very, very clear in giving the governorship the power to apply or not to apply for that 10 percent of the stimulus monies that’s been in question all along,“ Gov. Sanford said. “The question you’ve got to ask yourself is if we allow the legislative branch to come in and usurp power that has been granted through a federal law, where are we in terms of balance of power in this state?“ 

He says the suit won’t cost taxpayers any money because a private lawyer is volunteering his time to represent the governor. He says the lawsuit was filed in federal court because the suit is about federal money and the federal law that directs how it’s to be spent.

But Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, says it’s the governor who’s trying to usurp power since it’s the legislature, not the governor, that decides how to spend money. “Why didn’t he go into the state Supreme Court where we could get an immediate decision as to whether or not the General Assembly acted properly under the South Carolina Constitution? That could’ve been quick and done probably by as early as next week. Instead, he’s gone into the federal courts to get them to interpret the South Carolina Constitution that could take months or years,“ he says.

That delay could be a major problem because the new budget year starts July 1.

Gov. Sanford said one reason he filed a lawsuit so quickly was to preempt an expected refiling of a lawsuit by Chapin High student Casey Edwards with the state Supreme Court. She had filed suit earlier this year in an attempt to force the state to accept the stimulus money, but the Supreme Court refused to hear the case because the legislature hadn’t taken action yet. Lawmakers included about $350 million of the stimulus money in the budget. The governor vetoed that spending and lawmakers overrode his veto.

Dwight Drake, one of the lawyers representing Edwards, says they’ll make a decision in the next two days about whether to refile the lawsuit. “Governors in the past have tried to keep certain children from getting an education, standing in the schoolhouse door. This governor is using the federal courts to block the schoolhouse door to all children. It’s really rather bizarre,“ Drake said.
 
The $350 million dollars in stimulus money is designed to help schools and law enforcement balance their budgets, and is included in the $5.7 million state budget. Sanford wants to use an equal amount of funds to pay down the state’s debt. In overriding Sanford’s veto on the money, the General Assembly is ordering Sanford to use the money as designed, and has given him five days to accept the funds.

The budget is for the fiscal year beginning on July 1st. Legislators claim the state would have to layoff teachers and close prisons if the money is not used to close gaps in the budget, gaps they say have been brought on by the latest economic downturn. Sanford blasted legislators Wednesday evening, saying, “ We’re incredibly disappointed that the House and Senate would choose to run roughshod over today’s and tomorrow’s taxpayers by overriding our budget vetoes tied to the stimulus. While we’re pleased that a handful of other vetoes have been sustained, what they represent pales in comparison to this larger issue of the stimulus.“

You can read the entire lawsuit here.

SC legislators try to end shortened session

    COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina legislators appear to be
heading home without final deals worked out on big issues.
    Thursday’s adjournment will come with no final agreements on
raising the state’s cigarette tax and there’s little expectation
the Senate will be able to move a bill adding new restrictions to
the state’s payday lending industry.
    The Legislature set a 5 p.m. deadline to adjourn. That’s two
weeks earlier than usual and comes after the House and Senate both
took several weeks off without pay to save money.
    That’s left a last-minute scramble to deal with legislation. The
Senate has to deal with 30 budget vetoes.
    Lawmakers will return briefly in June to deal with vetoes.
They’ve also allowed themselves the option of coming back to deal
with budget problems later in the year.
   
    (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)