Mark Sanford

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Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford, Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an American Republican politician who has been Governor of South Carolina since 2003.

Contents

Early life

Before his senior year of high school, Sanford moved with his family to a 3000 acre Coosaw Plantation near Beaufort, South Carolina from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida where he grew up. Sanford attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. He received a bachelor's degree from Furman University and an MBA from Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. Sanford moved to Sullivan's Island, South Carolina in the early 1990s with his wife Jenny and their four boys, Marshall, Landon, Bolton, and Blake.

Congress

He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, representing the Charleston based 1st Congressional District from 1995 to 2001. While in Congress, he was an advocate for Social Security privatization and restoring U.S. trade ties with Cuba. Sanford often would be one of two members of Congress, along with Rep. Ron Paul, voting against bills every other member voted for.

In 2000, he chose not to run again, in accordance with his pledge, not to serve more than three terms.

Governor of South Carolina

First term

He entered the gubernatorial election of 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% to become the 115th South Carolina Governor In accordance with South Carolina law, Sanford was elected separately from the state's Republican Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer.

Governor Sanford has sometimes had a contentious relationship with the SC General Assembly, even though it has been controlled by his own party since 1995. The Republican-led SC House of Representatives overrode 105 of Sanford's 106 budget vetoes on May 26, 2004.

Sanford rejected the Assembly's entire budget on June 13 2006. Had this veto stood, the state government would have shut down on July 1. The governor explained his veto as being the only way to get the cuts he desired, and that using the line item veto would have been inadequate as well as impossible. However, in a special session the following day, both houses dismissed Sanford's call for reform by overriding his veto -effectively restoring their original budget (which indeed contained many reforms Sanford had previously called for).

Sanford professes to be a firm supporter of limited government, and many pundits have described his views as being libertarian in nature. There were 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 more competition into the school system as a means of fostering improvement. This would also allow more choice for parents who wish for their children to be educated in a religious or independent setting easier access at doing so. The plan, known as "Put Parents In Charge," would provide around $2,500 per child to parents who chose to withdraw their children from the state's public school system and instead send them to religious and other independent 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 University and the University of South Carolina have repeatedly increased tuition yearly, making them the costliest 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 funding 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. The schools did not respond positively to this suggestion, however, causing Sanford to remark that if they do not like the idea of change then the schools could "go private."

Sanford's tenure has not been free of controversy. He was criticized for missing a budget debate and was harshly criticized by a Greenville News article for delays in signing a piece of domestic violence legislation. A Time Magazine article critical of Sanford, cited that some "fear his thrift has brought the state's economy to a standstill."

Sanford's approval rating ranges from 47% to 55% over the past year according to Survey USA.

Reelection and second term

The campaign for South Carolina gubernatorial election, 2006 began by Sanford winning the June 13th Republican Primary over Oscar Lovelace, a family physician from Prosperity, with 65 percent of the vote to Lovelace's 35. His Democratic competition in the November elections was state senator Tommy Moore, who won the Democratic primary. Sanford won re-election, beating Democrat Tommy Moore by 55%-45%.

On election day, Sanford was not allowed to vote in his home precinct because he did not have his voter registration card. The governor was obliged to go to a voter registration office to get a new registration card. "I hope everybody else out there is as determined to vote as I was today," he said. Sanford's driver's license had a Columbia address, but Sanford was trying to vote at his home precinct in Sullivan's Island.

External links

Campaign sites

U.S. Representative (1994-2006)

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