NOV. 20, 2009 -- Fears are mounting that the 2010 legislative session, which will commence in less than two months, may become especially unproductive for three very distracting reasons:
One, Gov. Mark Sanford’s potential impeachment; two, continued low tax revenues; and three, a looming election.
For the past several legislative sessions, the S.C. General Assembly has left more on the table, such as passing a cigarette tax increase, than a room full of supermodels do around a Thanksgiving buffet.
This year, 2009, the big ticket item the legislature passed was a budget, which it is required to do anyway by the state constitution. In 2008, the big issue was illegal immigration reform legislation, which, arguably, was (and still is) a federal issue.
Critics have complained that the legislature has done little to address the pressing economic, employment, health, education and environmental problems facing the state. Instead, they say lawmakers have worried more about “politicking,” thereby expanding the “leadership vacuum” beyond that from the governor’s mansion.
For years, many members of the state legislature have blamed Gov. Mark Sanford for the lack of success in moving the state forward. Critics there have pointed to Sanford’s vetoes, his stubbornness to work with the legislature and his pig poop-laced media stunts.
At the same time, the legislature has moved swiftly at times to override huge numbers of Sanford’s vetoes, acting, as the governor has alleged, above its place by taking on some executive roles.
Grumbling is increasing
Huge budget cuts have hamstrung the legislature, to be sure, for the last few years. But now comes increasing grumbling that legislators and leaders in the state House and Senate are using these issues as a smokescreen, allowing members to divert the public’s attention from the “doughnut” of pressing issues and onto its “hole” of blather.
“Basically, we are facing the prospect of legislative success being even more meager in 2010 than it was this year,” said Dana Beach, one of the state’s leading environmentalists and the founder of the influential S.C. Coastal Conservation League.
“Last year, [the legislature] had both the budget deficit and Sanford; this coming year, they’re going to have them and an election,” said Beach, a common sight in the lobby of the Statehouse, working legislators for votes on environmentally-friendly bills.
Beach said if recent history was any predictor, “then we don’t have a lot of reason to be too optimistic of anything transformative coming out of the General Assembly this year.”
So where does the blame lay? Is it 100 percent the governor’s, as many in the legislature intimate? Or 100 percent within the legislature, as the governor has alleged?
“I’d say it’s about 65 percent the governor’s fault,” said Sue Berkowitz, who, as director of the S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center, has seen the vulnerable poor impacted the most directly by the state’s ongoing woes.
Berkowitz said with a different governor in office for the past seven legislative sessions, she believed a lot more could have been done. But, at the same time, she said the legislature has several times dropped the ball -- like on payday lending reform debate this year -- without any help from the governor.
“I’ve seen up close how money and special interests can affect debate,” lamented Berkowitz.
She said Sanford’s reign has made it easier for the legislature to, at times, take a pass on critical issues and tough decisions.
One health care lobbyist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was concerned how readily the General Assembly had become during the Sanford years to put off making tough decisions.
The lobbyist was concerned that a study committee convened a year ago to look into the how the state funds and runs its behavioral health services has failed to meet to this date, even though it has a report due in February.
Gubernatorial candidate Jim Rex, already the state Superintendent of Education, splits the blame equally between the Statehouse and the governor’s mansion.
Rex said he has seen both sides lead and lag since taking office.
Because of an expected shorter session calendar, rife with planned money-saving furloughs, Rex said that whatever will happen in the upcoming session will happen early and quickly. That way, he said, the legislators will be able to spend more time in their home districts politicking to keep their seats.
Rex said the increased pace at the beginning of the session, versus the usual mad dash to finish could likely mean the legislature will either get it very right, or very wrong. “There won’t be a lot of middle ground,” he said.
Crystal ball: Something’s got to change, or the cries for “throw all the bums out” will spread past gatherings of cranks wearing tinfoil hats or passing cups of tea at parties. Early bellwethers may be how the House deals with impeachment. If that’s shelved in committee, the legislature can get down to business. If it dominates the floor early on, it will snarl the process and 2010 will look a lot like 2009. Only leaner and meaner.
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