Sanford’s DHEC Disaster Continues

GOVERNOR’S SECOND PICK TO LEAD ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY HEADED FOR SAME TRAINWRECK AS THE FIRST

FITSNews – January 25, 2007 – First it was former congressional candidate Ralph Norman getting torpedoed by the environmental lobby. Now acting DHEC Chairman Edwin Cooper is on the verge of being sunk by the business lobby.

Left holding the bag in the middle is S.C. Governor Mark Sanford, who is about to face the unenviable task of having to select a third Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) nominee to replace former Chairwoman Elizabeth Hagood.

“There are seven positions on the DHEC board and none of them are represented by manufacturing,” South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance President Lewis Gossett told FITSNews. “We think the chairman’s position is the appropriate place to strike an equitable balance between environmental protection and encouraging economic development.”

It’s probably a good thing the governor doesn’t understand baseball analogies, because he’s about to be down to his last strike.

“There’s a perception that Mr. Cooper opposed every environmental permit issued by DHEC in the Lowcountry,” State Sen. Larry Martin told FITSNews. “I don’t know if that’s true or not and we’re going to give him every opportunity to address those characterizations, but that seems to be what’s generating the concern about him.”

Sen. Martin says Cooper deserves and will receive a “fair hearing,” but another source close to the Senate confirmation process referred to Cooper’s nomination as “toast.”

“You’ve got the manufacturers, the realtors, the truckers, BIPEC and the Chamber all lining up against this guy,” the source told FITSNews. “You just don’t overcome that kind of institutional opposition.”

Environmentalists say they are surprised by the backlash against Cooper’s confirmation.

“I can’t recall an anti-business vote he has taken,” a source within the environmental lobby told FITSNews. “Edwin Cooper is a pro-business candidate with ties to development. What, exactly, is their problem with that?”

Gov. Sanford himself has praised Cooper as someone who “understands from a business perspective the importance of certainty and time in the permitting process.”

But the business community isn’t the only force under the State House dome that’s gunning for Cooper, sources tell FITSNews.

“A dossier has been prepared on Mr. Cooper that is devastating to his confirmation prospects,” a source close to the DHEC confirmation process told FITSNews late Thursday. “If he thinks what he’s dealing with from the Manufacturers Alliance is rough, he has no idea. The long knives are about to come out.”

Even before the current dust-up over Cooper, the aborted Ralph Norman nomination was a body blow to the Sanford administration. It seriously damaged the governor’s credibility within the environmental community, which went all out to support him in his 2006 reelection.

Norman, who publicly referred to global warming as the product of “pointy-headed bureaucrats who just want a grant,” also repeatedly criticized Rep. John Spratt for his opposition to offshore drilling, a position that made him persona non gratis with environmentalists.

Norman ultimately withdrew his name from consideration, something sources tell FITSNews Cooper is presently considering.

Count on us to keep you up to speed on the latest related to this developing news story.