Gov. Haley using pressure to seek more control

COLUMBIA -- Gov. Nikki Haley said today that she thinks her failed effort to call the Legislature back into session this week will ultimately bring public pressure on lawmakers to take up and approve some of her proposals when they gather for a planned "wrap-up" session next week.

But the state Senate's top officer said Haley's power play might make lawmakers less likely to give her new authority.

The bill that caused the clash between the Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature would alter who controls the day-to-day operations of state government. Haley wants more authority and says her order for lawmakers -- issued last week and ruled unconstitutional Monday by the state's high court -- will nevertheless put them in the spotlight.

"I'm confident everyone will be watching to see what the Senate does next week. I'm confident I'll have a lot to say next week," Haley, who was elected with tea party support last fall, told The Associated Press. "Our goal is to get this passed. They need to go ahead and finish it up."

Whether lawmakers step in line remains to be seen. The state Senate's top officer, a fellow Republican who successfully sued Haley last week over her order, said her heavy-handed tactics might work against her push for more control even though he agrees with the need to revamp the state's budget oversight panel.

"Now there's going to be some reservations on giving a chief executive more authority," said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, who stressed his lawsuit was about the legality of her order, and that he supports the measure. "I hope her conduct here doesn't hurt this bill."

His comments came after the state's high court ruled Monday that Haley's order calling lawmakers back into session this week during their one-week break violated the separation of powers.

As it stands, lawmakers are coming back to work next week. But a law they approved last week limits their wrap-up work primarily to the state budget, drawing new legislative and congressional lines, and agreements on bills both chambers have already approved. However, if two-thirds of each body agrees, Haley's agenda could be added to what legislators take up.

Haley has told legislators she wants them to return to the Statehouse and approve four restructuring measures. While she said they could pass any two, she says she won't settle for anything that doesn't include the one the Senate was debating as the clock ran out on the regular session Thursday.

It would create a new Department of Administration that puts bureaucratic functions such as property and fleet management, parking and computer technology under her control.

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It would take those functions from the state's Budget and Control Board, an agency with about 1,100 people working in more than a dozen separate functions -- from overseeing contract bids, employee health plans and the state retirement fund to making revenue projections that legislators use to write the budget. The agency is overseen by five elected officers: the governor, the treasurer, the comptroller, and the chairs of the House and Senate budget-writing committees.

Haley calls it the "big, green, ugly monster."

It's a system unique to South Carolina. Some states also have budget oversight boards, such as New Hampshire's five-member Executive Council and Ohio's seven-member Controlling Board. Other states also have trustee boards, not made up of elected officials, which oversee most state retirement systems.

But most states put bureaucratic duties under the administration, said Brian Sigritz of the National Association of State Budget Officers.

"We have this five-headed monster that executes the laws. When more than one person's in charge, no one's in charge," said Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, former chief of staff for former Gov. Mark Sanford. "It's not a partisan thing. It is a good government thing. It's an acknowledgement that in a constitutional republic, the executive branch executes the laws."

Sanford sought for years to dismantle the Budget and Control Board, and even vetoed its funding, though that was later deemed unconstitutional. While the governor serves as chairman of the panel, Sanford often came down on the losing side of 3-2 votes.