S.C. governor spurns stimulus

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford on Wednesday became the first governor to reject some of his state's share of President Obama's economic-stimulus money, spurning $700 million that Sanford said would harm his state's residents in the long run.

Sanford, a Republican who served in Congress in the 1990s, made his announcement at three sites across South Carolina in a daylong flight tour that fed speculation that he's considering a 2012 presidential run.

Sanford turned down the federal money despite new data showing that his state's unemployment rate had risen to 10.4 percent, the second-highest in the country.

"We don't think it's a good idea to spend money that you don't have," Sanford said in Columbia.

Claiming the stimulus money would destabilize South Carolina's economy, Sanford said, "We need to look longer term and much more holistically at the notion of economic stimulus."

He said the $700 million he's turning down would harm his state's residents by increasing the federal budget deficit and building expectations for government programs that can't be sustained.

Asked how he could reject federal money when his state's unemployment rate was cresting 10 percent, he responded: "There will be no immediate answer. ... Reforming state government: That can lead to job growth in the state."

Sanford's rejection of stimulus money is largely symbolic.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., crafted a clause in the $787 billion stimulus bill that enables state legislatures to bypass governors who reject the money. South Carolina's Republican-controlled General Assembly, which has clashed with Sanford for years over his radical anti-spending stances, overwhelmingly voted Monday to include $350 million in stimulus money in the 2009-10 state budget.

Clyburn criticized Sanford's rejection of the money.

"As South Carolina's unemployment rate is rising to double digits, parents are losing their jobs and families are losing their homes," Clyburn said. "Governor Sanford will sleep well at night because he has improved his 'conservative record' and raised his national profile."

In the past three months, Sanford's criticism of the stimulus plan has transformed him from a conservative Republican governor little known outside South Carolina to a powerhouse with a growing profile among party stalwarts nationwide.

His tough stimulus stance has garnered him national TV interviews, opinion columns in The Wall Street Journal and articles about him in other prominent publications.

Charlie Black, a prominent Republican consultant who was a senior adviser to Sen. John McCain's losing White House campaign last year, said Sanford's TV appearances and chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association have heightened his visibility.

"His brand of conservatism emphasizing fiscal conservatism is very popular with our grass roots," Black said.

Information in this article, originally published March 12, 2009, was corrected March 13, 2009. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that all all three Republicans in Washington state's U.S. House delegation voted against a bill that would have set aside more than 2 million acres as protected wilderness. Dave Reichert voted for the measure.