The Governor – Question 3

Question to be answered by Sarah L, Carsten P, and DeQuawn S. What were the most significant contributions of Governors Riley and Campbell? That is the question, but now let me add a little to this discussion about more current governors. The book was written as Governor Beasley (Republican) was leaving office. He served only one term and was fairly ineffective. He angered gambling interests in opposing video poker and a state lottery, so they poured money into the campaign of Democrat Jim Hodges. Beasley also managed to anger the Confederate Flag crowd by saying that he would not try to remove the flag from the Capitol dome and then changed his mind, saying that God had spoken to him and told him that the flag should come down. When Beasley made no progress toward that goal, he changed his mind once again. (He did not say whether God had also changed the divine view on the flag.) In giving up Beasley angered African-Americans and moderate whites who wanted the flag moved. So Jim Hodges won not so much for anything he stood for, but because he was not David Beasley! Jim Hodges only lasted a single term, but did have a couple of accomplishments. He oversaw the compromise that moved the flag from the dome to the Confederate monument (though you know that is still an ongoing controversy). He also helped establish the “Educational Lottery,” which is also not without controversy. Perhaps we will discuss that later. But without the help of gambling money and angry pro-flag groups, he was beaten in 2002 by Mark Sanford, a much more attractive and well-funded candidate. Sanford is a most interesting Republican, who is really more of a libertarian than a Republican. His major focus has been on limiting state governmental growth and cutting taxes, themes that are popular with voters (if they ignore the small detail of services that are the price for these goals). Sanford has also been a strong advocate of some form of vouchers for private schools, including religious schools, which is not so popular. He was not very effective in accomplishing many of his goals, though he looked heroic to many in his battles with the Republican dominated legislature. He used the power of line item veto to veto over a hundred items in the 2005-6 budget, but nearly all were overridden with practically no discussion by those in his own party. The next year he vetoed the entire 2006-7 budget, and this too was overridden. A major national news magazine named him one of the worst governors in the nation. But despite this record, he massed about $8 million for his re-election campaign in 2006 and used effective tv ads to define his underfunded (only about $3 million) Democratic challenger Tommy Moore in a negative way before Moore even ran any ads. Thus far Sanford has accomplished little in his second term, though he still has a lot of time left.