Mark Sanford
From Freepedia
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford, Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an American politician who has been governor of South Carolina since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party.
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Biography
Sanford was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and moved with his family to Charleston, South Carolina as a teenager. He received a bachelor's degree from Furman University. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, representing the Charleston-based 1st Congressional District, and served from 1995 to 2001. While in Congress, he was an advocate for Social Security privatization and restoring U.S. trade ties with Cuba.
In 2000, he chose not to run again, in accordance with his pledge not to serve more than three terms. He then ran for governor in 2002; he first defeated Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler in the Republican primary and then defeated the Democratic incumbent, Jim Hodges, in the general election, by a margin of 53% to 47%.
In accordance with South Carolina law, Sanford was elected seperately from the state's Republican lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer. From the public's perspective, the two men seem to have a rather distant and icy relationship.
Sanford, though, has had an outright contentious relationship with the South Carolina General Assembly, even though it is dominated by his party (which has controlled the body since 1995). On May 26, 2004, the Republican-led SC House of Representatives overrode 105 of Sanford's 106 budget vetoes. The following day Sanford brought live pigs into the House chamber as a visual protest against "pork projects." The pigs proved not to be housebroken.
Sanford is a firm supporter of limited government, and many pundits have described his views as being libertarian in nature. There are several Internet-based groups trying to convince him to run for president in 2008. Most recently, he has embarked on an ambitious plan to reform methods of funding the state's public education system. This would include measures such as school vouchers, aimed at introducing competition into the school system as a means of spurring improvement. This would also allow for parents who wish for their children to be educated in a private or religious setting easier access at doing so. The plan, known as "Put Parents In Charge," would provide around $2,500 per child to parents who wished to withdraw their children from the State's public school and instead send them to religious and other private schools. Sanford has framed this plan as a necessary market-based reform. Sanford has also sought to reform the state's public college system. Schools such as Clemson and the University of South Carolina have repeatedly increased tuition yearly, making them the costiliest schools on average in the south. They claim these increases are necessary to encourage research projects and development due to the State Legislature not fully funded them. Sanford has criticized these schools as focusing too much on separately creating research institutions and not on educating the young adults of South Carolina. Sanford has suggested that they combine some programs as a means of curbing tuition increases. These schools did not responde positivly to this however, causing Sanford to remark that if they did not like the idea of changing then they could "go private."
Sanford has two declared Democratic challengers in his bid for reelection in 2006. Florence Mayor Frank Willis and State Senator Tommy Moore have both said they will seek the Democratic nomination in 2006. South Carolina is a heavily Republican state though, and for all his battles with some Republicans in the Legislature Sanford still enjoys high levels of support among the public with recent polling suggesting that he would beat Willis and Moore by 52% to 31% and 52 to 30% respectively.
External links
Personal and Campaign Websites
Sanford's public statements during Congressional Hearings
- Reform of the IMF and the World Bank: Hearing before the Joint Economic Committee Congress of the United States, 106th Congress, Second Session, April 12, 2000 Sanford's remarks begin on page 32. 1.1 MB PDF
Sanford speeches before private groups
- The Center For National Policy: Issues in U.S.-Cuba Policy, Washington D.C., November 2000 Sanford speaks in favor of lifting U.S. embargo of Cuba. 314 KB PDF
Campaign finance links
Further reading
Public statements and speeches of Governor Mark Sanford
- Project Vote Smart: Governor Mark Sanford (2003-2005)
Search for Mark Sanford statements in the Congressional Record via Thomas.gov
- 106th Congress (1999-2000)
- 105th Congress (1997-1998)
- 104th Congress (1995-1996)
| Preceded by: James Hovis Hodges | Governor of South Carolina 2003–present | Succeeded by: — |
