SC-GOV: PIGS Fly in South Carolina
Two years on, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) still cannot escape the pigs. With less then a week till the primary, his Republican opponent Oscar Lovelace is campaining with PIGS today to highlight Sanford’s less then stellar relationship with the state’s General Assembly. Passion, Integrity, Goodwill and Servant Leadership, Lee Bandy reports for The State, will be flying across the state with Lovelace.
The stunt is a ploy on a now infamous episode in South Carolina political history.
In 2004, after the Assembly overrode 106 of Sanford’s line item budget vetoes, the governor brought two pigs to the State House to highlight pork barrel spending. One pig defecated in the lobby; legislators were not amused. "The governor needs to take his medication," the chairman of the Judiciary Committee said. “Insulting” and “childish,” said House Speaker David Wilkins.
At his one man televised debate earlier this week—Sanford declined to show up—Lovelace once again brought up the episode and criticized SC’s governor for taking an "un-diapered barn animal" into the House.
UPDATE: And in case you have yet to catch on--earlier, TPM certaintly did not--Lovelace's PIGS exist solely on the metaphysical level. Campaign coordinator Blake Wilbanks says that the acronym represents a “message and leadership that has been lacking in our State House under our current governor.”
Lexington County senator to decide today if he will submit petitions for gubernatorial bid
By AARON GOULD SHEININ
Sen. Jake Knotts said Sunday he has the numbers, but he is not yet sure he would have the votes.
Knotts, R-Lexington, has until noon today to decide whether he’ll submit stacks of petitions to the S.C. Election Commission in an attempt to place his name on the November ballot for governor as an independent.
“I really want to run and I really want to be governor,” Knotts said. “But I’ve got to look into the woods and not just at the tree line.”
Knotts’ adviser, Rod Shealy Jr., said early Sunday afternoon that he did not have an accurate count but was sure they had more than 10,000 signatures — the number required to get on the ballot.
Signed petitions “are still coming in from all over the state,” Shealy said. “We’re sitting down now to make sure that he’s going to pass muster with the election commission. The enthusiasm is out there, boy.”
Passing muster with the commission is a major concern and it could take several days for Knotts’ petition to be accepted or rejected. The signatures must be verified as having come from registered voters.
Petition experts in South Carolina have said it is wise to turn in 14,000 to 15,000 signatures to be sure that 10,000 meet the state’s standards.
But even if he has enough signatures, Knotts said he has yet to decide if he’ll pull the trigger and run.
“I’ve got to make sure I’ve got enough support, statewide in other counties,” he said.
June 9, 2007 11:13 PM | Reply | Permalink