College cash escapes Sanford ax

COLUMBIA — The state Legislature restored spending for Charleston-area colleges and universities Thursday as members moved through Gov. Mark Sanford's 243 budget line-item vetoes.

However, there's a long list of vetoes still sitting on lawmakers' desks when they return today.

The House, which sustained about 30 vetoes, adjourned for the day with about 90 vetoes in the $7.4 billion budget left to take up after moving through the list for about six hours. Senators, who spent most the day chatting in the lobby while they waited for the House to act on the vetoes, adjourned at 7 p.m. with 190 vetoes left to consider.

"I think if we would have had fewer vetoes that were more targeted, we could have sustained a lot more," House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said after the House adjourned at 10 p.m. "By him using the shotgun approach to vetoes, it's created alliances all over the floor."

The vetoes sustained by the House total $4.2 million, The Associate Press reported.

In local spending, Sanford vetoed $3.6 million in spending for the College of Charleston programs, but both the House and Senate voted to allow the spending, including $350,000 for the Global Trade and Resource Center and $603,000 for a marine genomic program.

The Citadel also fared well in the House,

which overrode a veto on the $2.5 million South Carolina National Guard Readiness Center at The Citadel in a 98-9 vote.

In his 54-page veto message, Sanford contended that the majority of floor space in the readiness center would benefit The Citadel and its adjacent Johnson Hagood Stadium, including a press box and skyboxes.

The House also nixed a veto on the proposed LightRail broadband network, which will link MUSC and the state's research institutions to share research. The initiative will cost $4.5 million, or $1.5 million per institution.

Frustrated after seeing several vetoes for programs at South Carolina State University sustained, a couple members of the Legislative Black Caucus protested.

"I sit here very much just stunned," said Caucus Chairman Leon Howard, D-Columbia. "I cannot understand how this body can be so insensitive to South Carolina State University. I'll stop short of calling it something else."

Immediately after Howard spoke, the House overrode a veto that cut a $250,000 program at the university designed to recruit minority high school students living along the Interstate 95 corridor into the teaching profession.

Sanford's vetoes total $167 million, including roughly $17.8 million of the $26.3 million earmarked for the Charleston area. Money the state saves by sustaining the governor's vetoes will remain in an account until next year.

Additionally:

--The House sustained a veto in a 38-63 vote, nixing a plan to allow certain retailers to open longer on Sunday. The measure, which members said was slipped into the budget, would have lifted a portion of the state's blue laws for one year, allowing businesses in Berkeley, Colleton and Dorchester counties to operate the same hours as those Charleston County. Charleston and five other counties are exempt from the blue laws.

--It took two tries, but the House agreed to $257,317 on security costs for the H.L. Hunley in a 94-11 vote. An earlier attempt to override the veto failed in a 71-38 vote.

--The House and Senate nixed a veto, allowing $21.3 million to provide children in low-income households with access to health care.

--The House and Senate tossed out a veto and decided to pay for Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's security detail, which will cost about $90,000. The expenditure was tied to $22,173 in office supplies for the lieutenant governor's staff.

"After 9/11, isn't it appropriate to give the lieutenant governor some security?" said Rep. Fletcher Smith, D-Greenville.

"I personally think it's a lot safer if the lieutenant governor had a security detail," said Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Piedmont, getting a quick laugh as he took a jab at Bauer, who has been caught traveling at high speeds.

Reach Yvonne M. Wenger at ywenger@postandcourier.com or 803-799-9051.