Governor tells BBQ lovers state must cut out pork

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, at right, takes a few minutes to chat with employees at Daddy Joe's Beach House BBQ during his stop in Gaffney on Thursday. Daddy Joe's was one of 10 stops in 10 cities Sanford was making Wednesday and Thursday to push for changes in Columbia. It wasn't meant to be ironic, but in some ways Gov. Mark Sanford's visit to Daddy Joe's Beach House BBQ could be seen that way.

The governor made the Gaffney restaurant one of 10 stops in 10 cities he was making across the state Wednesday and Thursday to highlight the changes he thinks need to be made to state government.

And high on that list, he told patrons of the local restaurant famous for its pork barbecue, was a definite need to cut the pork out of a bloated state budget.

The state is facing a $400 million budget shortfall in its next fiscal year because government spending in South Carolina has been outpacing its actual economic growth, the governor charged.

"You can't grow government by 40 percent (in four years) and expect anything less to happen," he told the lunch crowd.

In a 4-point plan he's pitching across the state, the governor asked for voter help in lobbying state senators and representatives to support spending limits, mandatory on-the-record voting by the General Assembly, new ethics laws on the disclosure of campaign contributions and a restructuring of state government to give the Governor's Office more administrative power.

On the latter objective, which he claims would simply put the South Carolina Governor's Office on equal footing with the governors of all other states, Sanford noted: "It (the power) isn't going to affect me. I'm gone in two years."

Sanford was accompanied on the cross-state trip by Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom and several legislators.

State Sen. Harvey Peeler joined Sanford for the stop in Gaffney.

Eckstrom argued the state needs greater transparency so everyone can see where tax dollars are being spent. There are ongoing efforts to make all government-related budget information available online, but Eckstrom said new legislation is needed to make sure that all local and county governments, as well as taxfunded higher education institutions, make their financial data as available to his office as well.

State Rep. Nathan Ballentine, from the Midlands, said on-the-record voting by the General Assembly is needed so people can easily see how legislators vote on issues. "We (the supporters of on-therecord voting) want to hold ourselves accountable," he said. "For whatever reason, some status quo politicians feel they don't need to be on the record."

Sanford is hoping legislators will give the governor's office more authority by creating a Department of Administration under the governor which would perform many of the administrative tasks handled by the state Budget and Control Board.

"We are decades beyond time that we ought to give the governor the normal power of a chief executive," Eckstrom said.

Creation of such a Department of Administration would essentially put the functions of the General Services Division, the Chief Information Officer, Human Resources, Procurement, and the state Energy Office under the governor's control, according to a bill that was making its way though Columbia before stalling.

Sanford spent close to an hour at Daddy Joe's shaking hands with employees and customers.

His schedule had him in York County, for the 10th of the 10 stops, by 2:15 p.m. Thursday.

And in another possible case of irony, Sanford spent so much time pitching his plans at Daddy Joe's that he never got the opportunity to have a sit-down meal.