THE BUZZ: $34M body camera bill gaining traction (+ video)

When they return to Columbia Tuesday, some lawmakers plan to fast-track a bill requiring all S.C. law enforcement officers to wear body cameras.

Spurring lawmakers on is the shooting death of an unarmed man last weekend by a North Charleston police officer, who now faces murder charges.

Introduced earlier this year, the body camera bill already was gaining momentum.

State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said his committee has held three hearings on the proposal and will hold its fourth this week.

Hutto hopes to balance the logistical issues surrounding the proposal – including training and the cost of storing recordings – with the varying needs of law enforcement agencies.

State Senate budget writers also will have to figure out how to pay for the proposal, which could cost $34 million for the program’s first two years, according to a state budget office projection. Two-thirds of that cost could fall on local governments.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said he will push for the state to help local governments pay for those costs.

“If the state's going to require it, I don't know how we can pass that requirement back on local governments and not fund it,” Martin said. “I don't favor doing that.”

Enacting a statewide body camera law poses challenges that will take time to resolve, he added. “It's a huge hurdle to overcome to set that thing up and pay for it with the stroke of a pen.”

Haley campaign has $371,000 to spend

S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley cannot run for governor in 2018 when she reaches the state’s two-term limit.

But she still has about $371,000 in her 2014 campaign account – of $8.4 million raised – that she can spend on office-related expenses, according to campaign finance records filed Friday with the state.

Those records show Haley raised no money in 2015’s first quarter but spent $169,000. The bulk of that money went to Salt Box Strategies, the company that Haley’s political adviser, Tim Pearson, operates.

If Haley wanted to, she could continue raising money – even though she cannot run for governor in 2018. And if her donors permit, she could transfer that money to another state contest or a federal one, S.C. Ethics Commission executive director Herb Hayden said.

But, again and again, Haley has demurred when asked about her national ambitions.

She also could run for governor again, once she has been out of office for four years.

Consider the example of Haley’s old pal and predecessor, former S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford.

Sanford, R-Mount Pleasant, reclaimed his 1st District congressional seat in 2013. But if he ever decides to run for the Governor’s Mansion again, he’ll have a pretty plump financial cushion to start with.

Sanford has about $1 million left in his gubernatorial campaign account, according to his campaign finance report filed Friday.

PAC-ing up for Rubio

Veteran S.C. political strategist Warren Tompkins and pollster and media consultant Jon Lerner are teaming up to support Marco Rubio’s White House ambitions, which the U.S. senator from Florida is expected to announce Monday in Miami.

Tompkins has worked on seven previous GOP presidential primary campaigns – from Ronald Reagan’s to Mitt Romney’s. Lerner advised Haley and Sanford through four winning races for governor.

Word is Rubio could be planning a trip to South Carolina on April 22 – nine days after he becomes the third major GOP candidate to formally announce a White House run, following U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Graham watch 2016

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham gets to enjoy some golf Monday when the RBC Heritage tees off in Hilton Head. But later in the week, the Seneca Republican will share turf with potential 2016 White House foes.

The senator snagged the honor of being the keynote speaker Thursday night at the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List’s annual Campaign for Life gala and summit in Washington, D.C. Graham is lead sponsor on a bill, which has gone nowhere, to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The 2016 GOP contender most likely to be verbally flogged by Graham? Paul, who also will speak to summit attendees but was assigned to the morning speaker’s spot. Carly Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard chief executive also considering a presidential run, will run the microphone as the gala’s “Mistress of Ceremonies.”

Next Saturday, Graham will join a host of other 2016 White House prospects in Nashua, N.H., for the “First in the Nation Republican Leadership Summit.”

The Republican White House hopeful headlining the two-day conference is Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

No endorsements for Paul in S.C.

Paul got a warm welcome at the USS Yorktown in Mount Pleasant Thursday, continuing his multi-state, I’m-running-for-president tour.

But he did not leave with the kind of endorsements that fit nicely in email blasts and mail pieces.

In a video that he pre-recorded, U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-Indian Land, said his close friend Paul would “make a tremendous president” and encouraged supporters to join the campaign.

Sanford, the Lowcountry congressman who introduced Paul, said he has “long endorsed” Paul’s limited-government ideas and belief in “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Bloomberg News reported.

But Sanford also stopped short of using the “e” word – sought after despite its questionable power.

"It was not a formal endorsement but stay tuned,” Sanford told Bloomberg after the event. “I don't think I will stay neutral over the long run."

This story was originally published April 11, 2015 at 6:14 PM with the headline "THE BUZZ: $34M body camera bill gaining traction (+ video)."