Maybe Gov. Mark Sanford is shutting it down early, but he’s decided not to oppose $127 million in federal spending that’s slated for state health care programs. Specifically, programs dealing with the poor and disabled. Mind you, this is a guy who camped out on cable television during the second stimulus debate and went to court against the General Assembly to stop federal stimulus money from reaching the Palmetto State.

Sanford’s spokesman said that he just didn’t want the fight, and that he didn’t (?) oppose the health care stimulus bucks. That’s all well and good, but when the Department of Health and Human Services spokesman says the agency is still $200 million in the red, that’s a problem. What it signals is that next year’s budgeting is going to be another round of 20-hour sessions and every group that gets state money tubthumping to keep their funding.

What’s likely, and won’t be fun for many, is there will be another ton of cuts and many people will be trying to do more with less. And a lot of people who depend on the state for services would be well-served to figure out another method to get done what’s needed.

In light of what Sen. Hugh Leatherman wants to do with capping tuition increases, it’s funny to think about the sort of world that would happen if the S.C. Policy Council would get its way. After all, the SCPC has seen little of any government – public sector – spending that it likes. And it seems to have a hard-on for defunding all public education in South Carolina, whether it’s K-12 or higher ed.

Now, we’re pretty sure of our audience. We’re pretty sure y’all trade in argumentative fallacies, logical fallacies, the sort of ways about speaking of one’s position that are easily broken apart by level-headed thinking and basic common sense. But those arguments are the bread-and-butter of politics. They’re what you’ll see in handouts, mail pieces, advertisements, stump speeches and stand-up comedy routines.

So let’s have some fun with the Policy Council.

One big player this year, and probably in the GOP presidential primary race, is former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Newt’s a big fan of alternate history, along with writing partner and author William R. Forstchen. Let’s do a bit of alternate future, aye?

Beginning, the SCPC gets what it wants. Government in South Carolina, as we knew it, is gone. No statewide law enforcement, regulation, everything. The Palmetto State falls into “failed state” status as much as we all learned in early-level political science classes. The federal government, fed up with our antics and devoid of S.C. federal officials who will cooperate with the federal government, gives up on us. We devolve into a weird combination of post-1992 Somalia, 18th century Russia and plutocratic rule and a theocracy.

South Carolina does have a government, at its basic form, but it’s really strange. Ceding to people who have been involved, we have multiple capitals. Amalgamated Industry & Agriculture, the corporate group that handles everything dealing with money and commerce, buys the State House complex and handles disputes in Columbia. The rest of the United States and the world consider this the “Commerce Capital.”

A strong band of armed social conservatives claim part of the power vacuum for itself, establishing a ruling order in the Upstate to handle every vice and everything you do with your naughty, naughty genitals. Originally located in Greenville, a breakaway, fundamentalist group establishes a new religious government in Spartanburg. So now you have two groups of statewide religious police checking up on you. Be careful, brother.

The Grand Strand is ceded to North Carolina, and Hilton Head is ceded to Georgia. Too many people were having trouble figuring how to work Yankee-heavy areas into our new combination of free markets and religious fundamentalism. Yankees who feel like they belong apply, and are given permanent resident status, as long as they absolve all fealty to the Big Ten, the NBA and anything regarding to sports north of Baltimore or west of Austin. Being a hockey fan is considered a capital crime.

Congress, working slowly but worked into a frenzy because of the developments, sends Georgia and North Carolina national guard units to run border patrol. Initially, powered by Twitter and Facebook, many moderates, liberals, intellectuals, artists and other sorts took off for Charlotte and Savannah before the borders close. Rural residents and sportsmen who know the border regions and are friendly to criminals who become known as “RINOs,” “Democrats,” “educators,” “reporters,” “musicians,” “good-time Johnnys” and “those who are too big for their britches” are under special scrutiny from the Upstate moralist squads.

As the situation unfolds from the mountains to the river, Charleston figures out what’s up, organizes a government unto itself and rejoins the United States, a historical irony by itself. A city-state of a fashion, the Commonwealth of Charleston maintains its connection to America, but with an independence that befits the Holy City and its denizens. CC takes within its bounds all of Charleston County, and parts of neighboring cities and counties. The Jasper County port situation, to put it mildly, becomes a little more complicated. And by complicated, we mean issues with all-powerful corporations, multiple governmental entities and firearms. Wait – nevermind. That’s exactly how it is now.

Oh, the more things change….

The picture, a fog-bound Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina. It’s a good showing of higher education in South Carolina, at least for the last couple decades. Before we graduated from high school, we heard from more than one Carolina student — and this was prior to June 1999 — that USC was way, way more expensive for in-staters than North Carolina or Virginia. Granted, we’re not going to bust our asses to see what the average tuition was for USC, UNC and UVa were for fall 1999, but we’ve got this. So, let’s bring on the AP.

An education group says South Carolina’s public colleges charge the highest tuition among 16 Southern states.

The Post & Courier of Charleston reported Sunday that median tuition at South Carolina four-year public schools was $8,400 for the 2008-09 school year. That compares with $4,174 in North Carolina and $4,032 in Georgia.

The figures were reported by the Southern Regional Education Board. The board says part of the reason for the high tuition is because state lawmakers do not fund South Carolina public colleges at the same level as North Carolina and Georgia.

State funding at South Carolina colleges was about $4,800 a student in 2008-09. That compared with more than $11,500 per student in North Carolina and about $7,800 per student in Georgia.

Oh, really? South Carolina lawmakers are not spending on public education to the same level of other Southern states? Jesus, man, you’re blowing our minds right here. Goddamn — we guess that we missed that entire situation while spending 2.5 years in K-12 and three years in higher ed in the Palmetto State. That whole issue missed us entirely.

It doesn’t take a graduate from a college way the hell off the Interstate to tell you that South Carolina doesn’t do dick for its higher education students of a lower income (among other things) compared to North Carolina, Georgia, or especially Virginia, where we transferred from. No kidding — if UVa had as good of a public relations program as Carolina did in 2001-2002, we would be the bastards making Va. Atty. Gen. Ken Cuccinelli‘s life a living hell. But, unfortunately for Mussolini, er, Cuccinelli, we’re here, trying to help people out.

The fact is, though the rotten core would like to dispute it, Sen. Hugh Leatherman‘s idea of capping state college tuition hikes at 7.3 percent is the least anyone can do, but it’s taking one of the most powerful members of the General Assembly to do just that. Even The Post & Courier, whose editorial board must get Christmas cards from both Mark and Jenny Sanford, says that Leatherman is making a needed move.

Many students at our colleges graduate deeply in debt. And that was before the state’s institutions of higher learning upped tuition by as much as 14.8 percent.

There is no question that colleges, like every state agency and almost every business and family, are in a financial pinch. And there is no question that South Carolina would suffer if its colleges were unable to attract and educate people to take on challenging careers in a state actively courting new industry and business.

State colleges have seen state allocations decline over the years as a percentage of their budgets, and that’s occurred more precipitately with the current drop in state revenue. As a result, colleges are more likely to increase tuition to counter the shortfall. College officials should resist the urge, recognizing that students are dealing with the tough economy, too.

Even if students are able to manage higher costs through government loans, it only delays the pain.

This year, the College of Charleston has approved a whopping 14.8 percent hike; The Citadel, a hefty 13 percent jump; and Clemson, 7.5 percent.

Perhaps Sen. Leatherman has overstepped his authority by threatening to deal with state’s colleges and universities in the next budget go-round. But who else has been willing to take up the cause of struggling students and their families?

Just like the P&C, to take a shot at Leatherman to please the Sanford moneymen (and moneywomen). Here’s an idea — help people without a shit-ton of money, but good grades, get into college. You know, merit. Don’t give people who have the benefit of name and money initial admission. South Carolina is good on academic scholarships, so we should try getting need-based grants and loans in line with other Southern states. Because, and this is just a minor idea, South Carolina could lose its best and brightest to other states, while keeping its rich and asinine in-state.

Our illustrious governor has stepped out once again. Where is he, where did he go? He’s supposed to be back in town today, ostensibly to vote for his hand-picked successor, Rep. Nikki Haley in the Republican gubernatorial runoff. Where he’s been, though, is unknown except to a small few. Is this the sort of thing we might expect with a Gov. Haley? Only time will tell.

The funniest part is — guess what? — Lt. Gov. André Bauer had no idea. Nobody told him. Again. And nobody else is talking, like Sanford is off on some sort of special operations mission or something. Operación: Vaquero del Amor.

Nearly one year to the day that Gov. Mark Sanford embarked on a secret trip to Argentina and turned S.C. politics on its ear, Sanford’s whereabouts are unknown to the press and the public.

Monday, Sanford’s spokesman Ben Fox told The State Sanford is on “personal time” but declined to say where the governor is.

[...]

State Law Enforcement Division Director Reggie Lloyd said Sanford has security with him but would not elaborate.

“We’ve left it up to the governor’s office to disclose where (Sanford) is,” Lloyd said.

In deference to the two-term failure, his spokesman said that Sanford spent most of the weekend with his sons, but how much can we trust anything coming out of the Governor’s Office? Over the past several years, the Governor and his minions have done a damn good job at destroying any trustworthiness that once existed there.

Finally, the hardworking staffers of the Senate got the journals up for the end of the week, so we were able to check out the exact numbers of who voted for what on the vetoes. Of course, extensive filibustering by Senate Democrats over the voter ID/early voting bill threw a bit of a wrench in the works, so a number of vetoes overridden by the House will be taken up by the Senate on June 29.

As could be expected, a lot of the votes were close to the same numbers. In the senate, it seemed even more so, with three senators — Lee Bright, Kevin Bryant and Shane Martin — basically voting with Gov. Mark Sanford every time. For many other votes, the hardcore consisted of the first three, plus Sens. Chip Campsen, Tom Davis, Larry Grooms, Mick Mulvaney, Mike Rose and Phil Shoopman. Every once in a while, Sen. Shane Massey or Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell would join the group.

Below are the vetoes we thought needed to be overridden, and what happened. There were some wins and some losses. You’ve got to take the bad with the good, as per usual.

Veto 2
Commission on Higher Education
SCAMP, $187,410
Sustained (House), 52-65

Veto 3
Commission on Higher Education
Greenville Higher Education Center, $67,967
Sustained (House), 52-64

Veto 5
Commission on Higher Education
Access and Equity, $416,336
Sustained (House), 50-64

Veto 8
S.C. State University
Teacher Training and Development, $478,786
Sustained (House), 53-62

Veto 9
University of South Carolina
African-American Professors Program, $178,805
Sustained (House), 52-62

Veto 11
University of South Carolina
Nanotechnology Research, $558,573
Sustained (House), 63-54

Veto 12
University of South Carolina
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Research, $558,573
Sustained (House), 53-61

Veto 13
University of South Carolina
Technology Incubator, $111,714
Sustained (House), 47-69

Veto 17
Area Health Education Consortium
Rural Physicians Program, $422,244
Sustained (House), 57-61

Veto 18
Area Health Education Consortium
Infrastructure Development, $393,974
Sustained (House), 51-65

Veto 19, Veto 20, Veto 21
Technical and Comprehensive Education Board
All General Funds, $3,012,760; $624,717
Other Operating Expenses, $367,724
19: Overridden (House), 116-1; Overridden (Senate), 41-3
20: Overridden (House), 113-1; Overridden (Senate), 41-3
21: Overridden (House), 109-2; Overridden (Senate), 41-3

Veto 22, Veto 23, Veto 24
S.C. Educational Television
All General Funds, $1,180,134; $3,353,032; $710,000
22: Overridden (House), 92-22; Overridden (Senate), 34-10
23: Overridden (House), 95-20; Overridden (Senate), 35-9
24: Overridden (House), 81-33; Overridden (Senate), 35-9

Veto 26
Department of Health and Human Services
Other Personal Services, $384,184
Sustained (House), 45-69

Veto 28
Department of Health and Environmental Control
Infectious Diseases: Other Operating Expenses, $3,213,439
Overridden (House), 89-23; Overridden (Senate), 35-9

Veto 29
Department of Archives and History
Other Operating Expenses, $635,445
Overridden (House), 79-35; Overridden (Senate), 32-12

Veto 30
Department of Archives and History
Old Exchange Building, $145,500
Sustained (House), 57-55

Veto 31
State Library
Aid to County Libraries, $4,653,933
Overridden (House), 110-5; Overridden (Senate), 41-3

Veto 32
S.C. Arts Commission
General Funds, $1,212,733
Overridden (House), 89-19; Overridden (Senate), 35-8

Veto 33
State Museum
Other Operating Expenses, $1,643,893
Overridden (House), 78-27; Overridden (Senate), 34-10

Veto 54, Veto 55, Veto 56, Veto 57, Veto 58
Department of Health and Human Services
Rural Hospital Grants, Community Health Plan Grants, &c.
54: Sustained (House), 60-51
55: Sustained (House), 44-67
56: Overridden (House), 101-12; Overridden (Senate), 31-11
57: Overridden (House), 93-13; Overridden (Senate), 31-11
58: Overridden (House), 84-23; Overridden (Senate), 31-11

The following will be addressed by the Senate when it returns.

Veto 92, Veto 104, Veto 105, Veto 106
State Budget, Part III, Section 2
State Library, $1,172,758
Overridden (House), 77-33
Department of Archives and History, $200,000
Sustained (House), 60-48
S.C. Arts Commission, $250,000
Overridden (House), 88-20
State Museum, $50,000
Sustained (House), 62-45

Veto 107
State Budget, Part IV
Federal Medical Assistance Percentages, $214 million
Sustained (House), 46-62

Gov. Mark Sanford‘s War on Education 2010™ gets its last chance to be stopped today and tomorrow, as well. What’s really got a lot of people riled up is his full-on broadside against S.C. Educational Television, which also runs the public radio side under the ETV banner. This shit is just baffling. Did an episode of “Nova” rub him the wrong way? Maybe it’s ETV’s dedication to providing open forums during elections. Perhaps Sanford took the wrong advice from Tom and Ray and threw the rods in his car. Then there’s always the chance he really, really hates jazz. Or tote bags and coffee mugs.

Whatever it is, people like Sanford have been punching public broadcasting in the kidneys and knifing it in the back for so long that Ira Glass is asking us for money on the podcasts. When we lived in North Carolina, it seems our mom gave so much cash to WFDD that we might have been able to use that money for college. Like say, Wake Forest. Really, there are those of us out there, especially before the advent of iPods and podcasts that wake up with “Morning Edition,” go home with “All Things Considered,” and do the “Car Talk,” “Whad’Ya Know,” “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me” circuit on Saturday, saving “A Prairie Home Companion” for the Sunday morning replay.

Jesus, we listen to a lot of NPR. Regardless, that’s not counting, as we’ve said before, the valuable services ETV provides with handling election coverage and helping educate students in newsgathering and multimedia. So, hands off, gaucho.

As for the rest, it just fits with the pattern. Sanford’s trying to blow up the technical college system — something that North Carolina rode to economic success decades ago — and continuing to assault funding that lets our research universities do actual research. You know, things that help move our state forward, attracting new, innovative businesses and the educated, well-paid workers that come with them.

This cut at any cost, screw the impact on actual people, consider only the numbers thinking isn’t a Sanford creation, of course — that would force him to be creative. No, the International Monetary Fund got pretty good at it. And we’ll end up the same way as those third-world backwaters, with no support, no nothing for actual people, sliced down to the bone with no benefit. Them that’s got shall have, them that’s not shall lose.

Oh, yeah — and he’s really against trying to anything for minorities in education, unless it’s to set up local black preachers to expand their personal fiefdoms for political support in the manner of “school choice.” This is — you know, you have hopes for a guy, and then he sends out a 29-page document detailing the opposite and strongarms the Legislature into buying most of it.

Veto 2
Commission on Higher Education
SCAMP, $187,410
This is a statewide alliance among colleges and universities to work to increase the numbers of black undergraduates who decide to go after doctorates in the sciences.

Veto 3
Commission on Higher Education
Greenville Higher Education Center, $67,967
This is an agreement among colleges and universities to offer higher education services to the Upstate.

Veto 5
Commission on Higher Education
Access and Equity, $416,336
This program attempts to “recruit and retain minority students.”

Veto 8
S.C. State University
Teacher Training and Development, $478,786
Because our state apparently has a surplus of great teacher training. If there’s anything that should be saved from the axe, it should be anything devoted to helping our teachers reach their potential, and in turn helping their students reach their potential.

Veto 9
University of South Carolina
African-American Professors Program, $178,805
The point behind this program is to recruit more black professors to important areas at state colleges and universities.

Veto 11
University of South Carolina
Nanotechnology Research, $558,573
Good God almighty. While we were at Carolina, the nanotech program was hailed alongside the international business program as one of the jewels in the crown. It’s one of the very positive things that makes Carolina unique. Of course Sanford would try to kill half a million in funding to it.

Veto 12
University of South Carolina
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Research, $558,573
Again, the clown currently residing in the Governor’s Mansion is missing the point. He’d rather strip down the government to nothing than have a state university break new ground in alternative energy. If you believe the spending outweighs the benefits, we feel sorry for you.

Veto 13
University of South Carolina
Technology Incubator, $111,714
Because helping develop businesses that attract skilled workers with good incomes is obviously a bad idea. Join the Governor for the race to the bottom, South Carolina!

Veto 19, Veto 20, Veto 21
Technical and Comprehensive Education Board
All General Funds, $3,012,760; $624,717
Other Operating Expenses, $367,724
Perhaps one of the most egregious run of vetoes in the entire message to the General Assembly. Beyond the rhetoric, it contains a significant amount of, “Fuck you, tech schools.”

Veto 22, Veto 24
S.C. Educational Television
All General Funds, $1,180,134; $3,353,032; $710,000
Ugh. Self-explanatory.

It sure must be nice to be Gov. Mark Sanford. You’ve got all that money. You can have an affair on the state dime with a woman on another continent who is used to the finer parts of living. You can raid Mallory Factor’s ice cream stash. And you have health care. Think that’s not a big deal? Try making less than $25,000 and affording a basic plan.

Even better, try living in a rural area, affording a basic plan with a very limited income and then try to get good access to the general practitioners and specialists you need. An absolute ton of money — most of it going to rural areas and Medicaid — is getting cut unless our legislators do something this week to stop it. This state has a lot of people in rural areas who are poor and underserved.

Veto 17
Area Health Education Consortium
Rural Physicians Program, $422,244
It’s long been a scandal that in rural areas, especially the rural South, we don’t have enough adequately-trained doctors to handle the population.

Veto 18
Area Health Education Consortium
Infrastructure Development, $393,974
According to Sanford’s own report, it “provides salary support and fringe benefits for four regional coordinators, student housing and travel expenses for student activities. While this program’s purpose – to encourage clinical experiences in rural and underserved community settings – is laudable….” Translation: “You’re poor and live in the country. Suck it.”

Veto 26
Department of Health and Human Services
Other Personal Services, $384,184
Basically cutting funding for Medicaid, because South Carolina obviously doesn’t have a need for health care funding for the poor.

Veto 28
Department of Health and Environmental Control
Infectious Diseases: Other Operating Expenses, $3,213,439
Facepalm.

Veto 54, Veto 55, Veto 56, Veto 57, Veto 58
Department of Health and Human Services
Rural Hospital Grants, Community Health Plan Grants, &c.
More cutting of funding for Medicaid.

And the big one.

Veto 107
State Budget, Part IV
Federal Medical Assistance Percentages, $214 million
This is straight-up money allocated to the state by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for Medicaid.

It really is true. Gov. Mark Sanford really is a (and saying this in an English accent) right bastard. His absurdist views when it comes to the role of government and where his priorities are is totally fucked. People have been rightly pointing, in the days after the vetoes came out, that our state’s entire system of the arts and humanities is under a full-scale attack.

The State Museum, the State Library, county libraries, the S.C. Arts Commission, the Department of Archives and History and all sorts of related entities are getting hit, and hit hard. There’s already talk that the Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum, housed at the State Museum, will have to close.

This appears to be yet another attack on the average South Carolinian. We can’t explain how important a place that good museums and local libraries played in our life. For parents and kids, especially on a budget, these places are invaluable resources to augment or surpass what happens in the classroom. We need to make it easier for parents to help in their children’s education, not making it harder.

And then there’s the state archives, which actually requires funding to hire people to preserve our state’s history promote it and educate about it. This whole mess is horrible. It’s rank. It’s an insult to the working people of South Carolina.

And yet how were we not surprised. The humanities — remember, the things that make us human — have been getting devalued for generations in our country. The Cold War, tech booms and a misplaced jingoism as it came to international competition created the misplaced notion that math and science matters more than English and history. If you don’t see it as a zero-sum game, then you are one optimistic person.

You see it in high school down here. Sure, kids that we went to school with had their trig classes, but they were dumbing down our AP English and history classes. Having an AP class where the kids didn’t have the same vocabulary skills we were expected to have in middle school in North Carolina — well, that was irritating. If there was a chance to take an English 201 class or a 300-level history class as an upperclassman, we would have stayed our senior year instead of leaving early for college. But those subjects don’t seem to matter, especially to the highest elected official in state government.

Look on [his] works, ye mighty, and despair.

Veto 29
Department of Archives and History
Other Operating Expenses, $635,445

Veto 30
Department of Archives and History
Old Exchange Building, $145,500

Veto 31
State Library
Aid to County Libraries, $4,653,933

Veto 32
S.C. Arts Commission
General Funds, $1,212,733

Veto 33
State Museum
Other Operating Expenses, $1,643,893

Veto 92, Veto 104, Veto 105, Veto 106
State Budget, Part III, Section 2
State Library, $1,172,758
Department of Archives and History, $200,000
S.C. Arts Commission, $250,000
State Museum, $50,000

As Professor Farnsworth would say, “Good news, everyone!” It was looking bad for a while for the state budget. The Senate raised fees to pay for the courts and public safety, even involving a rare rebuke of Lt. Gov. André Bauer on the rules. Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed it, and the House, not having the votes to override, carved $50.2 million of state health care funding. The Senate wasn’t having any of that, and the House, in turn, rebuffed the Senate (isn’t legislating fun?).

But it all worked out in the end. Four Republicans and two Democrats put their heads together and crafted a compromise that looks like it’ll fly, meaning that the chances are looking better that the General Assembly won’t have to return for extra time. It’s ends up with the House getting one bit and losing one bit. A proposal to ban funding for abortions in cases of rape or incest found its way to the cutting room floor, but the funding cuts remained in. Considering that it looks like the fee increases were Sanford’s main reason for sending the budget back to the legislature, this could very well be done.

Unless, of course, some wags in either chamber decide to throw a spanner in the works. Please, ladies and gentlemen, just send the budget through and let’s move on.

We waited to see if anyone was going to run with this story, but considering that the South Carolina blogosphere is either 1) in hock to the Sanford cabal or so ignorant as to believe its bullshit, or 2) liberal and too far removed from the state conservative echo chamber, nothing came up. OK, it could have just been that the immature baldy and his randy escapades have caused people to pay attention to little else.

See, one of Gov. Mark Sanford‘s shell organizations, Reform SC, was forced by a court order to stop running ads that were all but explicit campaign ads for Rep. Nikki Haley‘s gubernatorial campaign. Then the story came out on Wednesday that the group will shut down the effort altogether, unless in the unlikely eventuality that Haley is the nominee.

In a letter sent to Hayes and filed with the Clerk of Court’s Office, ReformSC said it has made all “necessary and reasonable” attempts to make sure the ad does not air in South Carolina. The group, launched three years ago by Gov. Mark Sanford and his allies to promote their political agenda, stated it will not air the ad in question or similar ads.

The letter, filed by Spartanburg attorney Jason Imhoff, is not an admission of liability, wrongdoing or impropriety. It agrees not to air the ads until June 23, one day after the primary runoff election will be held if no candidate wins the necessary votes on June 8.

If South Carolina is lucky, this is another death-blow to the Sanford machine, and for the next four years the most we’ll have to deal with is the few fellow travelers in the General Assembly who blindly support that agenda.