Tuesday, Jun. 30, 2009

Lt. Gov. Bauer: Let's move forward

'We've got to take politics out of it'

When Andre Bauer was a teenager, he would scavenge golf courses with his sister for stray golf balls, only to clean and repackage them in egg cartons to sell in the parking lot.

As a child accompanying his mother to Lexington County Republican Party meetings, Bauer would sell candy bars, and later, Christmas trees.

And in the late ’90s, when constituents complained of potholes while Bauer was running for the S.C. House, he rented an asphalt truck from CR Jackson, grabbed a shovel and filled in the holes himself.

“He’s a true entrepreneur,” said Curtis Loftis, who once worked for Bauer in the state Office on Aging. “He’s at his best when he is thinking on his feet and making decisions in a hurry.”

Bauer had to think fast last week, when the state’s chief executive admitted to ducking his staff and his wife to keep secret a trip to Argentina to visit his lover.

Bauer’s first reaction was to “go dark” — at least to the media. He disappeared so the disappearing governor could explain things for himself.

But now, nearly a week after Gov. Mark Sanford’s awkward State House news conference and the publication of e-mails between the governor and his lover, Bauer is sensing another opportunity.

The 40-year-old lieutenant governor acknowledged Monday he was discussing with state Republican leaders the possibility of not running for governor in 2010 — in exchange for taking over the governor’s mansion now.

Presumably, the deal would take some of the heat off Bauer, who has grown weary of what he says is a coordinated attack on his character and credibility.

“It’s rare that I drive anymore. If I have anybody with me I say, ‘Will you drive?’ because I am paranoid about anything I do,” Bauer said.

“I’m scared to drink a beer in public. Somebody will take a picture and they’ll say, ‘Bauer’s an alcoholic. He’s a drunk.’ People expect elected leaders to be something they are not. They make mistakes. What you want out of a leader is you want them leading.”

Friday, Bauer ended his media blackout. He held what amounted to a press junket at his 20th floor condo on Columbia’s Senate Street, giving interviews to TV and print reporters.

Over the weekend, he appeared on former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee’s show on FOX news. Monday, he did interviews with MSNBC and CNN.

They all ask him the same thing: Why would you agree not to run for governor in 2010?

“Because somebody has to be the adult here,” Bauer told The State newspaper Monday, a phrase he repeated several times on television throughout the day. “People are too concerned about the gubernatorial race, and nobody is worried about the people of South Carolina.

“My thought is that we’ve got to take politics out of it. We have got to move it forward as a state. Somebody’s got to show some leadership. And if that means giving up my own opportunity for governor to get this state moving forward, I am giving that careful consideration.”

Monday, Sanford’s office declined to comment about Bauer or any purported deal he is working on with state lawmakers.

“The governor has admitted to his mistakes, and he says he is not going to resign,” Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said. “He’s committed to building back the trust that South Carolinians have placed in him.”

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Bauer’s camp appeared to have orchestrated pressure for Sanford to resign.

“I need to get this guy (Sanford) out,” national political consultant Chris LaCivita wrote in recent days in an e-mail to another political operative, the paper reported.

LaCivita, hired by Bauer in April to run his campaign, is one of the minds behind the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth campaign. LaCivita is credited with raising enough questions about Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s war record to make President Bush’s 2004 re-election victory easier.

LaCivita said he sent the message outside the context of the lieutenant governor’s official duties.

“They (campaign staffers) have not been directed by me,” Bauer told The State on Monday. “But there are lots of people working for each candidate.”

‘LET’S ... DISPEL THAT’

In each interview, Bauer has not called for Sanford’s resignation, saying it’s not his call. But at times, he has subtly turned up the rhetoric.

During an interview Monday, Bauer, who is a bachelor, voluntarily brought up the subject of his sexual orientation, which he said has been the subject of rumors.

Asked, then, if he’s homosexual, Bauer said: “One word, two letters. ‘No.’ Let’s go ahead and dispel that now.

“Is Andre Bauer gay? That is now the story,” he said. “We’re a long way from where we were a week ago.

“We have diverted what the real topic should be here: Is the governor capable for carrying on the duties for which he was elected?”

But Bauer’s opponents won’t have to look far for ammunition against him. Bauer is beloved by many. But his political career has been plagued by missteps both political and personal.

When Bauer was a state representative, he decided at the last minute to run for an open Senate seat, moving to Chapin and changing his voter registration on the last day of filing.

In 2003, while running late, Bauer ran two red lights in downtown Columbia before stopping for a police officer, who quickly pointed a gun at him. Originally charged with reckless driving, the lieutenant governor pleaded guilty to two lesser charges and paid a $311.25 fine.

In 2006, Bauer was pulled over by a state trooper after he was clocked at 101 mph on an interstate. Bauer used his state-issued radio to tell the officer he was “S.C. 2” — code for lieutenant governor. He was not ticketed. When asked about it later, Bauer at first denied the story.

But Bauer has defended himself at every turn. He says “that officer was wrong,” referring to the Columbia police officer who pulled a gun on him.

And he said he did not try to use his influence to get out of a speeding ticket — and that he did not deny that he was pulled over.

“(The reporter) asked, ‘Did you get a speeding ticket?’ and I said ‘no.’ And that was the truth. Had he asked, ‘Did you get pulled?’ I’d have said ‘yes.’ And there is a vast difference there.”

But some don’t see the difference and wonder if Bauer has the credibility to restore respect to the governor’s office should Sanford resign or be forced out.

“After a scandal, the person who comes in after has to rebuild trust between voters and this highest office,” said Doug Woodard, political science professor at Clemson University. “Now you’ve got a problem. You’ve got a guy who’s got a reputation of doing some reckless things.”

While the lieutenant governor’s office is largely a ceremonial position, Bauer, in his second term, says he has expanded its importance by taking on the state Office on Aging. His work has won him the support of many of the state’s older citizens.

Jane Wiley, state director of AARP, said the lieutenant governor genuinely cares about issues important to the growing population of elderly South Carolinians.

“I don’t think he really did it as a political ploy,” she said. “I think he picked something he thought was important.”

‘SO UNDERESTIMATED’

One area where Bauer has succeeded where Sanford failed is with the state Legislature. Former S.C. Secretary of State Jim Miles, who served as Bauer’s chief of staff for 15 months, said Bauer’s relationship with lawmakers is evident by the fact the Meals on Wheels program was fully funded during a year of budget cuts.

“Show me any other program in state government that’s being fully funded,” said Miles, who along with LaCivita and state Sen. Jake Knotts — who alerted the media last week to Sanford’s absence — advise Bauer. “This guy is just so underestimated by a lot of people. If he becomes the governor of this state, people will just be shocked at how well he does.”

Bauer has been shocking people for years in his political campaigns. In his first two elections, Bauer won nominations over popular Republicans in GOP-controlled districts.

In his first race for lieutenant governor, Bauer lost to state Sen. David Thomas in the primary, but beat him in the runoff.

In 2006, after both speeding incidents and the well-publicized crash of a small plane he was flying, Bauer forced a runoff with Mike Campbell, son of the late legendary Gov. Carroll Campbell, in the Republican primary. Over the next week, Bauer — his leg in a cast from the plane crash — walked across the Arthur Ravenel bridge in Charleston to garner support.

He defeated Campbell in the runoff and Democrat Robert Barber in the general election.

“Of course I’ve made my missteps, but everybody in life does,” Bauer said. “The people of South Carolina are very forgiving.”

Now, Bauer’s future depends on whether South Carolinians will forgive Mark Sanford.

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