SC governor rebuke, budget mess are waiting for legislators as session resumes

Rebuke of SC gov, budget mess await legislators

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A rebuke of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is expected to come up in the House Tuesday as legislators return eager to close that chapter and begin work on mending a massive hole in the state budget.

House members expect to quickly deal with a censure of Sanford, who disappeared in June to Argentina and returned to admit having an affair with an Argentine woman. The measure is expected to be sent briefly to the House Judiciary Committee and could be debated Wednesday.

The House resolution castigates Sanford for “dereliction in his duties of office, for official misconduct in office and for abuses of power while in office that has brought ridicule and dishonor to himself, the state of South Carolina, and to its citizens.”

House members don’t want the rebuke to delay efforts to deal with $563 million in budget cuts expected to hit schools, colleges and social service programs the hardest. But the censure resolution is going to stall in the Senate, where a single objection of a senator means the effort can be sidelined.

Sen. Jake Knotts said Monday legislators need to take more time looking at what Sanford has done. Passing a censure resolution may close the door to dealing with possible charges from the State Ethics Commission, as well as details first lady Jenny Sanford reveals in a memoir to be published next month.

“The state of South Carolina don’t need to keep continuing to be embarrassed nationally. The proper thing to do is send it to a committee,” Knotts said.

Meanwhile, Knotts and others said that resolution shouldn’t preoccupy the state while other important issues loom.

“We need to address it and put the matter behind us,” said Senate Rules Committee Chairman Larry Martin, R-Pickens. Martin was one of the first to call for Sanford’s resignation.

“We’ve got so many challenges ahead of us this year. We don’t need to be distracted by Mark Sanford’s problem. We’ve heard quite enough about that,” Martin said.

Legislators are only beginning to hear about the toll another round of budget cuts will take on programs that affect the state’s and youngest and oldest residents. Three years ago, the annual spending bill was $7 billion. Repeated budget cuts, including $439 million since September, have left legislators with only about $5.3 billion as they start writing the fiscal 2011 spending plan.

After covering property tax breaks, repaying money borrowed from reserves and covering debt, state budget estimates show lawmakers will need $563 million more in budget cuts to balance the budget. Pressures on the budget aren’t letting up as soaring unemployment drives demands for Medicaid and other social service programs. Meanwhile, federal help to cure state budget meltdowns looms as a problem with $752 million in aid disappearing in December 2010.

Gov. Mark Sanford has proposed cutting $107 million from health care programs, particularly Medicaid, the federal-state program that pays for most of the state’s births.

“Just cutting is not a smart way to do it,” said John Ruoff of South Carolina Fair Share and committee member of Focus on Kids, a collaboration of 60 groups. “We’ve been cutting back for years. There’s no fat left.”

Focus on Kids released a report Monday that detailed budget cuts to nine state agencies that serve children, including education, social services and juvenile justice, while the recession and job losses have pushed more children into poverty. It found classroom overcrowding, child care centers shuttered and disabled children on growing waiting lists for service.

“Children in need really suffer more than anyone else,” said former Democratic Gov. Dick Riley, a Democrat who also a secretary of education under President Clinton. “Hungry children cannot learn. Sick children cannot excel.”

Meanwhile, police and prison agencies are bracing for more bad news. The state Corrections Department, which finished last year with a deficit and has warned it will run one this year, is briefing legislators on its budget this week.

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd said his agency should be able to survive the cuts proposed for the next budget, even though it’s 110 agents, or a third, short of full staff, mostly because of retirements and departures that he hasn’t been able to fill. He warned most public safety agencies can’t take any more. “We’re at the edge of the cliff when it comes to public safety right now,” Lloyd said. “We have squeezed out every efficiency we can,” Lloyd said.

Associated Press writers Seanna Adcox and Jeffrey Collins contributed to this story.