South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford will ignore a new state law forcing him to ask for $700 million in stimulus cash to ease school budget problems, his spokesman said Friday, days before a deadline to take the money.
The repugican's plan to continue balking at the bailout came as pressure mounted on him to take the cash, which critics say is needed to avoid teacher layoffs and college tuition increases. Two students filed a lawsuit Friday with the state Supreme Court intended to force Sanford into action. An hour later, school administrators and principals sued there, too.
But Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor can't be forced to take the cash. Sanford sued in federal court this week after the Legislature overrode his vetoes, effectively giving the governor five days to request the money.
"We view it as an unconstitutional act. We have no intention of enforcing an unconstitutional act," Sawyer said Friday.
Lawmakers said the governor should finally request the money to help shore up the state's newly approved $5.7 billion spending plan, and send $185 million to public schools and $100 million to colleges.
"The natural course of action would be that the governor goes ahead and does what this law instructs him to do and that's to draw down the money," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, r-Florence.
Sanford's lawsuit is against state Attorney General Henry McMaster, who likely will enforce the law.
McMaster has until June 10 to respond. He learned Friday that he'll have to respond by Tuesday to the state challenge. McMaster spokesman Trey Walker said McMaster is not taking sides in the policy dispute.
He is "sworn to protect the Constitution of the state of South Carolina," Walker said. That "does not assign him a position" on the policy.
McMaster will defend the state against the lawsuit filed by Chapin High School senior Casey Edwards and University of South Carolina law school student Justin Williams. They asked the Supreme Court to hear their arguments directly and set a deadline of Tuesday for McMaster to respond.
The lawsuit updates one that Edwards filed last month but that the court said was premature. It asks the justices to decide that the Legislature can request money under the $787 billion stimulus law on its own. If it doesn't do that, the lawsuit asks the court to declare that Sanford must obey the state law requiring him to seek the money.
Edwards did not immediately respond to a message left on her father's cell phone. Columbia lawyer Dick Harpootlian is handling the case, but deferred questions to Columbia lawyer Dwight Drake, who represented Edwards in the first case.
The deadline isn't as much of a factor as July 1, the last day states have to request the money from the U.S. Education Department, Drake said.
Lawyers expected Sanford to ignore the deadline. "And we weren't going to wait around for that five days to pass," Drake said.
Sanford wasn't named as a defendant in the students' lawsuit. But the South Carolina Association of School Administrators named him and Education Superintendent Jim Rex in its lawsuit. It says Rex wants the money, but can't get it without Sanford's agreement to request it.
The court ordered Sanford to file a response by noon Tuesday.
Sawyer said that case is equally without merit.
But Molly Spearman, the association's executive director, said the stakes are high for school districts and children. School districts already have eliminated teaching jobs and refused to renew contracts.
"We feel like we've got to do what we've got to do to represent the children of this state," Spearman said.
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