Political Woes Dog Republicans Across the South Infighting and Scandals Could Undermine Party In Longtime Stronghold

Political Woes Dog Republicans Across the South Infighting and Scandals Could Undermine Party In Longtime Stronghold

Valerie Bauerlein. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Jul 16, 2007.  pg. A.1

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Republican-led South Carolina legislature was in the final throes of a bitter session last month when word of criminal charges against a high-ranking state official swept through both chambers.

A federal grand jury had just handed up an indictment against Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, scion of one of the state’s leading political families, for allegedly distributing cocaine. Mr. Ravenel, who had recently defeated a Democratic incumbent who held the office for 36 years, was the statewide chairman for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign, in what has historically been a decisive early primary state.

The indictment is just one of the political headaches across the South that are making Republicans look more vulnerable than they have in years to losing ground in the region’s legislatures and statehouses. Though there isn’t any sign of them losing their dominance in the region, the once-formidable “Solid South” coalitions they forged in the 1980s and 1990s to end a century of Democratic dominion have given way to messy schisms and infighting. Today, they look a lot like the bitterly divided Democrats of three decades ago.

Most of those divisions stem from internal rivalries that have developed as the party consolidated power in the region, where they control half of the legislative chambers. Some of the tensions can be ascribed to dueling priorities between legislatures and governors. Others have been caused or exacerbated by personal scandals like the one involving Mr. Ravenel, who has pleaded not guilty to the cocaine charges, but hasn’t made any public statement about them.

Last week, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana admitted what he called a “serious sin” in his past after his name surfaced on the list of callers to a Washington, D.C., madam. Mr. Vitter, the Southern campaign chairman for Mr. Giuliani, couldn’t be reached for comment. Mr. Giuliani called the situation a personal matter and said Mr. Vitter would continue to represent his campaign.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue recently vetoed a property-tax rebate and much of the budget crafted by Republican House and Senate leaders, and killed pet projects in House leaders’ districts. House leaders said the vetoes seemed personally motivated. The Republican governor has said there should be no lasting hard feelings. “You can get from point A to B and disagree on what roads to take, but we all want to get to the same place,” said Bert Brantley, Mr. Perdue’s spokesman.

In Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour has clashed with his fellow Republican lieutenant governor and party legislators over a push to swap an increase in the cigarette tax for a cut in the state’s comparatively high sales tax on food. Gov. Barbour opposed the idea out of concern about changing the tax structure as the state continued to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

There have been indictments and scandals involving Democrats in the South in recent years, too — the former speaker of the North Carolina House was sentenced last week on bribery charges. But the series of missteps involving Republicans has coincided with other signs of trouble for the party after two decades of increasing influence in the region, and could create opportunities for Democrats.

Last year, Democrats picked up a total of 25 seats in Southern legislative races, their first net gain since 1982, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Kentucky, a recent poll of 693 registered voters by InsiderAdvantage, showed half of independent voters and nearly a third of women voters were undecided about the governor’s race, an ominous sign for Republican incumbent Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who got a big boost from independents the first time around.

Mr. Fletcher fended off two Republican challengers in a May primary in which the dominant issue was his indictment in an investigation into whether he improperly rewarded supporters with state jobs. The indictment was dropped last year in a deal with prosecutors. “The governor acknowledged that some mistakes were made in his administration, but it didn’t rise to the level of criminal activity,” said Marty Ryall, Mr. Fletcher’s campaign manager.

Despite their control of nearly every elected statewide position and huge majorities in both houses of the legislature, South Carolina Republicans have been unable to deliver on significant campaign promises, including a program that would give state residents vouchers to help pay for private schools.

In May, a split among Republican blocs allowed a coalition of Democrats and some Republicans to engineer the selection of a Democrat for a rare opening on the state Supreme Court. The party’s once-tight control of state spending has weakened. The state’s current $6 billion budget now includes a $9 million grant fund for pet projects, such as festivals celebrating pork and catfish in various legislative districts. Last month, Senate leaders, angered by what they saw as an attempt to blame them for a budgetary logjam, crashed a news conference held by Gov. Mark Sanford and House leaders in a bid to tell their side of the story.

The squabbling has been made worse by scandals involving alleged personal misconduct. Last month’s indictment in U.S. District Court in Columbia of the 44-year-old Mr. Ravenel, a colorful Charleston developer known as T-Rav by friends on his MySpace page, followed by days a no-contest plea by a Republican state representative to charges of making threats against his estranged wife’s boyfriend.

Last year the state’s Republican former agriculture commissioner was sentenced to federal prison on extortion charges related to a cockfighting ring. The state’s 38-year-old lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer, another rising Republican star who was close to Mr. Ravenel, was pulled over twice for speeding, but wasn’t ticketed even though he was clocked on one occasion last year at 101 miles an hour.

The legislature just appropriated $90,000 a year so Mr. Bauer could have a driver and security detail. Mr. Bauer’s chief of staff said the lieutenant governor regrets the speeding incidents, but that they weren’t related to his getting a driver and security detail.

The day after Mr. Ravenel’s indictment, state Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson issued a public scolding, warning members of his party that personal misconduct and legislative double-dealing were a threat to the party. He reiterated his plea in an op-ed article published July 3 in The (Columbia) State newspaper, saying he was getting constant calls and emails indicating an unprecedented “sustained unhappiness” with Republicans. Unless officeholders straightened up, he said, “grass-roots activists will not just revolt with their votes, they’ll revolt with their apathy — and that would cripple this country.”

South Carolina House Majority Leader James H. Merrill says his Charleston constituents frequently ask why he can’t get Republicans “to act like Republicans.”

“You’re going to end up alienating voters,” Rep. Merrill said. “You saw a little bit of it in Washington. That’s why every 20 years, the pendulum swings the other way.”

Mr. Giuliani, who already faces skepticism from Christian conservatives because he has been married three times and because of his moderate stance on abortion and gay rights, expressed shock at the Ravenel charges and named a new state chairman for his campaign. However, Mr. Ravenel’s father, former U.S. Rep. Arthur Ravenel Jr., remains a regional campaign chairman and one of Mr. Giuliani’s most visible supporters in the state.

Democrats already have seized on the elder Mr. Ravenel’s longstanding support of flying the Confederate flag at the South Carolina state capitol, and on references he made in 2000 to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Mr. Ravenel referred to the NAACP as the “National Association for Retarded People.” Mr. Ravenel said yesterday he wasn’t sorry about his remarks but didn’t mean to give offense to the retarded. He has previously said that he mistakenly transposed the name of the civil- rights organization with an advocacy group for the mentally disabled with which he worked in the past.

The elder Mr. Ravenel has another son with Down syndrome. Elliott Bundy, a spokesman for Mr. Giuliani, declined this week to comment on demands by Democrats that Mr. Giuliani condemn Mr. Ravenel’s previous remarks.

According to his attorney, the younger Mr. Ravenel has embarked on a 30-day treatment program at an Arizona facility. Gov. Sanford has suspended him temporarily; under South Carolina law, he would automatically lose his office if convicted.

The Republican turmoil has raised some Democratic hopes that parts of the South may no longer be as lockstep in support of the Republican Party. But Donald L. Fowler, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and the husband of Carol Khare Fowler, South Carolina’s Democratic Party chairwoman, cautions that Republican fatigue doesn’t yet necessarily portend broad Democratic comebacks, particularly in South Carolina.

He says it would require a major demographic shift, such as an influx of people from other parts of the country, and a major economic change, such as a depression, to change the landscape.

“At least where we are now, Democrats don’t have the wherewithal to take advantage of the split in the Republican Party,” Mr. Fowler said.