Why No One Is In a Rush to Oust Sanford ..

Why The Major Players Want Sanford Out THAT MUCH ....

For someone who has a political blog, I rarely discuss politics outside of here. But this weekend, I had two phone calls that lasted about an hour each from people I know. Of course, I won't mention them by name, otherwise I'll never get another phone call again. During these calls, I usually do the listening, and just try to learn and decide for myself.

One of them was very interesting, and it had to do with the background workings of the push to oust Governor Mark Sanford. It shed some light on why the move to dump Sanford seems to be lacking real steam - It's because the top people have some serious reservations on what happens if Sanford goes...

We've gone over this a bit before, when it first broke. Both Andre Bauer and Henry McMaster would benefit greatly , but they both could suffer in the end by sanford beign impeached. Neither want it to look like they ate their own, although my thought is still that if Andre Bauer became Governor, he would win the nomination, and ultimately the General Election. My kudos to Andre for not taking the easy way into the Governorship, and doing the right thing, which is rare for a politician....

Now, Mark Sanford could be called into Columbia tomorrow to face impeachment, if the five members of the statewide elected leaders called the House and Senate into emergency session. Since that hasn't happened, it looks like it will be January before they will come back. But even then, there is a very important person in Columbia who is probably not excited over the prospects of a Sanford impeachment - Senator Glenn McConnell.

What does McConnell have to do with all of this? Well, McConnell is Senate Pro Tempore, hich means that he runs the Senate when Andre Bauer is unavailable. Being Governor would make Bauer quite unavaliable, so McConnell would then assume the Lt. Governorship and, more importanly, have to giev up his seat on the Senate and all of his committee chairmanships. All for a 1 year stint in a job that he doesn't want. Not exactly a plum promotion there, and I don't blame McConnell if he felt that way. McConnell could decline the job and leave the Lt. Governor's job vacated, but that hasn't ever happened, so he'd be setting a new precedent. Overall, this is not a situation that I'd want to be stuck in....

Another aspect is the legislative agenda for 2010. In addition to the regular work they have to do, the House and Senate have some additional obstacles to face next year. The budget projections are showing that South Carolina will be another $200 million short, so the politicians will have to make even more cuts above what they did last year. It's workable, but there will always be some lobbyist or special interest group crying to The State or WIS that they're taking something necessary out of somebody's pocket... Also, the State Ports Authority needs revamping, and the longer they wait, the more jobs will be lost.

If they all go into impeachment proceedings, the estimate is that it will take a month to complete the hearings. They will have wasted 25% of their legislative time , while no doubt scorching the political landscape of South Carolina for a long time. Many might think that if Sanford were impeached, the state would move on with a clean slate from Day One. I don't see it that way.

Knowing all of this, it's no wonder that the push for Sanford to resign was so strong, and it might have been a convenient thing for him to do. However, we all know that Mark Sanford does not do things out of convenience, and in this case, it might be good. Major decisions that affect millions should not be made in hours without reflection and thought. For some , Sanford couldn't leave fast enough, but with the potential problems facing so many other state leaders from a Sanford resignation, it's no surprise that they haven't been calling for his head ......

We'll see in January, but four months is a long time in politics. Four months ago, we were all giving Sanford a standing ovation for his stance on the Economic Stimulus at the State Convention. No doubt many of you disagree with me, and vehemently. I respect and understand it. But as soemone who's had knockdown fights at work for the sake of fixing things, only to see the scars never go away, I think we will do more damage than if we just focused on the elections and finding Sanford's successor.....

.