Oh Brother, Larry Art Thou?

You’d think S.C. Sen. Larry Martin would’ve had room somewhere in that massive noggin of his to remember who his Majority Leader was.

Or what party he was in.

Or what his Majority Leader and his party would have wanted him to do at a critical moment during last week’s legislative negotiations on the floor of the S.C. Senate.

You’d think this would’ve been particularly true after several of Martin’s Republican colleagues specifically informed him that he should first seek Majority Leader Harvey Peeler’s counsel before effectively dooming two important pieces of GOP legislation to death by “delay of game.”

Peeler was out of the chamber with an illness last week, you see, leaving Martin – the Rules Committee Chairman – to handle negotiations with Democrats.

In fact, word is that Peeler had given Martin his “leadership proxy,” although he no doubt expected to be consulted when it came to making the day’s biggest decision – in fact, one of the biggest decisions of the entire legislative session.

He wasn’t, though.

Apparently other thoughts were swimming through Martin’s big ol’ head, and as a result pro-life and partisan Republican voters all across South Carolina got shafted so that a deal could be cut with Democrats – on a piece of special interest legislation, no less.

It all went down last Thursday, as D-Hour approached for legislation to make it onto the Senate calendar in time to be debated prior the end of the session.

With multiple bills jockeying for position, the top contenders were a cigarette tax increase favored by the health care lobby, a 24-hour ultrasound bill favored by pro-lifers, a voting reform bill being pushed by the GOP, and a right-to-work bill backed by pro-business interests.

Having successfully brokered a compromise to move a controversial payday lending bill off the calendar, a spot was now available for one of those bills to move up and be debated – but only one bill.

And Sen. Martin, ever the busy bee, had long ago ditched his caucus to confer with the Democrats. Meaning he knew which bill it would be.

Surely Democrats wanted to move up the cigarette tax hike, right?

Wrong.

Apparently Sen. Vincent Sheheen wants to use that issue – along with payday lending – in his upcoming campaign for governor.

One down. Three to go.

“We should check with Peeler and see what he wants to move up,” State Sen. Danny Verdin reportedly told Martin on the floor.

“No,” Martin replied, returning from a conference with Democratic leaders. “We’re killing ultrasound and doing point of sale.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the insider lingo of the General Assembly this session, “point of sale” is a reference to an industry bill supported by the Realtors Association that would prevent homes from being immediately reassessed when they are sold.

Instead, property values will revert to 2006 levels on most homes for reassessment purposes.

We’ll leave it up to you to decide if that’s good or not, but we can say one thing about this bill – it wasn’t on anybody’s radar prior to this surprising end-of-session twist.

In fact, Republican Senators had already told lobbyists for the Realtors association that their signature bill was dead – only to have a Democrat come out after conferring with Martin and tell them it wasn’t dead, and to “hold on for a surprise.”

Of course, before the “point of sale” bill could make its Lazarus-style appearance on the Senate calendar, procedural lip service had to be paid to the pro-lifers – since they’re such a vocal segment of the GOP base in so many districts.

And so by a vote of 25-16 (i.e. just enough), a Republican-led “effort” to move the 24-hour ultrasound bill into the coveted slot on the calendar failed to gain the required two-thirds majority to advance onto the calendar.

Joining fourteen Democrats in making sure that it failed to move forward were two Republicans – McConnell and Lexington Sen. Jake Knotts.

Surely, though, Martin wasn’t really serious about making a deal with the Democrats to move forward the “point of sale” bill, was he?

After all, his Majority Leader had already gone on the record arguing for the advancement of the voting reform bill, which would not only require a photo ID to be used at the polls (ruh-roh, Democrats), but would cut in half the time currently allotted for “early voting” (double ruh-roh). For obvious reasons, this legislation is being pushed hard by Republican activists, who view it as critical to helping them blunt the impact of the Obama grassroots machine in 2010.

Surely then, after the ultrasound bill’s “failure,” this would be the bill that Martin advanced next, right?

Wrong again.

With Democrats in the chamber grinning from ear-to-ear, Martin personally made the motion to put the “point of sale” bill onto the calendar – where it easily received a two-thirds majority.

How easily? Well, it got the vote of nearly all the Democrats (who were eager to keep scoring political points on two contentious issues) and it got the vote of nearly all the Republicans (who weren’t about to alienate one of their core special interests).

“That’s how we do it,” one Democratic Senator told FITS following the votes. “We peel ‘em off, then we make ‘em eat it. You gonna vote against realtors? (laughs) I don’t think so.”

Here is the official record of both votes from the current version of the Senate Journal …

H. 3245 (Word version) — Reps. Delleney, Nanney, Simrill, G.R. Smith, G.M. Smith, Lucas, Cooper, Stringer, Parker, Allison, Pinson, Hamilton, Erickson, J.R. Smith, Clemmons, Bedingfield, E.H. Pitts, Owens, Rice, Hiott, Littlejohn, Stewart, Viers, Willis, Loftis, Toole, Wylie, Vick, Millwood, Haley, Duncan, Ballentine, Frye and Barfield: A BILL TO AMEND SECTION 44-41-330, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING, AMONG OTHER THINGS, TO PREREQUISITES TO PERFORMING AN ABORTION, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT IF AN ULTRASOUND IS PERFORMED, AN ABORTION MUST NOT BE PERFORMED SOONER THAN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, RATHER THAN SIXTY MINUTES, FOLLOWING THE COMPLETION OF THE ULTRASOUND, TO REQUIRE THE WOMAN TO BE INFORMED OF THE PROCEDURE TO BE INVOLVED AND THE PROBABLE GESTATIONAL AGE OF THE EMBRYO OR FETUS, AND TO PROVIDE THAT AN ABORTION MAY NOT BE PERFORMED SOONER THAN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, RATHER THAN ONE HOUR, AFTER THE WOMAN RECEIVES CERTAIN WRITTEN MATERIALS.

Senator L. MARTIN moved that the Bill be made a Special Order.

The “ayes” and “nays” were demanded and taken, resulting as follows:

Ayes 25; Nays 16

AYES

Alexander Bright Bryant
Campbell Campsen Cleary
Courson Davis Fair
Grooms Hayes Jackson
Martin, L. Martin, S. Massey
McGill Mulvaney O’Dell
Rose Ryberg Setzler
Shoopman Thomas Verdin
Williams

Total–25

NAYS

Anderson Coleman Elliott
Ford Hutto Knotts
Land Leventis Lourie
Malloy Matthews McConnell
Nicholson Pinckney Reese
Scott

Total–16

Having failed to receive the necessary vote, the motion to make the Bill a Special Order failed.

MADE SPECIAL ORDER

H. 3272 (Word version) — Reps. Cooper, Merrill, Erickson, Herbkersman, Chalk, Duncan, Long, Sottile, Daning, Lowe, Bowen, Harrison, Horne, A.D. Young, Limehouse, R.L. Brown, Clemmons, Edge and Wylie: A BILL TO AMEND SECTION 12-37-3140, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO DETERMINING THE FAIR MARKET VALUE OF REAL PROPERTY FOR PURPOSES OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA REAL PROPERTY VALUATION REFORM ACT, SO AS TO POSTPONE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRANSFER VALUE OF A PARCEL OF REAL PROPERTY UNIMPROVED SINCE THE LAST COUNTYWIDE REASSESSMENT PROGRAM UNTIL THE TIME OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEXT COUNTYWIDE REASSESSMENT PROGRAM AND TO REQUIRE THE FIFTEEN PERCENT LIMIT ON INCREASES IN VALUE TO BE CALCULATED SEPARATELY ON LAND AND IMPROVEMENTS; TO AMEND SECTION 12-37-3150, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE TIME AN ASSESSABLE TRANSFER OF INTEREST OCCURS, SO AS TO REVISE THE PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO PROVIDE NOTICE OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE ACCURATE NOTICE TO THE ASSESSING AUTHORITY OF BUSINESS ENTITY TRANSFERS; TO AMEND SECTION 12-43-220, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CLASSIFICATION AND VALUATION OF PROPERTY FOR PURPOSES OF THE PROPERTY TAX, SO AS TO PROVIDE RESIDENTIAL REAL PROPERTY HELD IN TRUST DOES NOT QUALIFY AS A LEGAL RESIDENCE UNLESS A NAMED INDIVIDUAL BENEFICIARY UNDER THE TRUST OCCUPIES THE RESIDENCE AS THAT NAMED BENEFICIARY’S LEGAL RESIDENCE AND THAT INDIVIDUAL BENEFICIARY’S NAME APPEARS ON THE DEED TO THE RESIDENCE AND REQUIRE SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS OF APPLICANTS FOR THE LEGAL RESIDENCE ASSESSMENT RATIO; AND TO AMEND SECTION 40-60-35, RELATING TO CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR ASSESSORS, SO AS TO REVISE THE REQUIREMENT.

Senator L. MARTIN moved that the Bill be made a Special Order.

The “ayes” and “nays” were demanded and taken, resulting as follows:

Ayes 34; Nays 7

AYES

Alexander Anderson Campbell
Campsen Cleary Coleman
Courson Davis Elliott
Fair Ford Grooms
Hayes Hutto Knotts
Land Lourie Martin, L.
Martin, S. Massey Matthews
McConnell Mulvaney Nicholson
O’Dell Pinckney Reese
Rose Ryberg Scott
Setzler Shoopman Thomas
Verdin

Total–34

NAYS

Bright Bryant Jackson
Leventis Malloy McGill
Williams

Total–7

The Bill was made a Special Order.

And just like that – in two key votes – the Democrats were able to keep payday lending and the cigarette tax hike as “clubs in their bag.” Clubs to beat up on Republicans, of course.

And just like that – in the same two votes – Republicans surrendered on two of their core issues (one social, one purely partisan).

In the process, the religious right and hardcore Republican partisans got shafted – all because one of their “own” intentionally ignored the wishes of his leader.

Sound like a “Majority Party” to you?

Oh, to be a fly on the wall of the next GOP caucus meeting …

Comments