Think Greenville’s vibrant downtown, think quaint villages in rolling hills, think the energy of its “Autobahn” along Interstate 85, think its emerging cutting edge automotive research programs, think its large and growing, yet not-too concentrated population. That population is what drives the state’s virtual one-party political system.
If you want to be somebody in South Carolina government and politics, you’d better be popular in the Upstate because it provides four of every 10 votes cast in the only elections that seem to count these days, Republican primaries.
So, you think the Upstate has it all? Not quite. What it lacks is serious political clout in Columbia, at the Statehouse. Most recently this was in evidence in the waning days of the 2011 General Assembly session. Despite pleas from Greenville and Spartanburg legislators, Upstate business interests and minority community representatives, the honorables from elsewhere carved up the 4th Congressional District like it was a Saturday pig-pickin’. The result, part of Greenville (the state’s most populous county) went into Jeff Duncan’s 3rd District and part of Spartanburg (the state’s fourth most populous county) was packed off into Mick Mulvaney’s 5th District.
Whether the current remap survives review by the federal courts or the Obama Department of Justice is still pending. Before that, there was the eight-month shutdown of the northbound Interstate 385 gateway to Greenville by the state Department of Transportation, ordered without checking with the Greenville County legislative delegation or the Upstate Caucus. Each would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Imagine that happening, say, when the late Carroll Campbell was governor. Or Dick Riley. Or on former House Speaker David Wilkins’ watch. Charleston and, to a somewhat lesser extent these days, the Midlands, rule the roost.
“Charleston is enjoying what Greenville enjoyed,” Wilkins said. “It goes in cycles.”
While Charleston interests have dominated South Carolina politics on and off (more on than off) since the colonial era, Greenville and the Upstate enjoyed a sort of three-decade golden age from 1970 into the early 2000’s. Greenville’s Rex Carter was Speaker of the House from 1973-80. Then, 1979 ushered in 16 years of Greenville governors, first with Democrat Richard W. Riley, then in 1987 with Republican Carroll Campbell. And serving with Campbell as lieutenant governor – and the state Senate’s presiding officer – was Greenville Democrat Nick Theodore. Terry Haskins was House speaker pro tem. Through much the period, Sen. Verne Smith of Greer was a powerful voice for the region, before resigning due to declining health. Greenville Republican Rep. Wilkins became House speaker in 1994. But Smith, Campbell and Haskins died and Wilkins resigned in 2005 to become U.S. ambassador to Canada.
That’s when the Upstate’s clout started downward. Charleston Republican Mark Sanford was governor. Another Charlestonian, Bobby Harrell, replaced Wilkins in the speaker’s chair. Charleston Sen. Glen McConnell, then as now runs the Senate. The powerful Senate Finance Committee continued to be the realm of Florence’s Hugh Leatherman. The current governor, Republican Nikki Haley is from Lexington by way of Bamberg and Lt. Gov. Ken Ard hails from the Pee Dee.
The region’s loss of influence in Columbia isn’t a Johnny-come-lately matter. In 2009, Carter told The Greenville News that Charleston interests would never have allowed the closing of Interstate 26, a situation parallel to the I-385 shutdown. “We’ve been ignored, to be honest with you,” Carter said at the time. “It wouldn’t have happened outside Charleston.”
To Furman University political science professor Danielle Vinson, “It is evident that the political power center of the state has shifted away from the Upstate.” While rising politicos from other regions have supplanted former Upstate leaders in executive positions, Vinson also notes that legislative retirements and the primary defeats of incumbents have cost the region legislative seniority.
Phillip Bowers, one of the more reflective county GOP chairmen, says he has no doubt that the Upstate lacks the clout of even just a few years ago, but several House committee chairmanships assure the region of influence in Columbia. As for the Campbell-Theodore- Wilkins era, the Pickens County chairman sees it in a different context from that of raw political power, that it was “more about shared vision, political style and mutual trust (and) a knack for working with others and getting things done.” Alas, Bowers feels that not all, but too many of today’s elected officials “frequently choose to work in their own little silos (or just do nothing) because they’re afraid of being misled or betrayed by others for political reasons.”
Another factor working against the Upstate is South Carolina’s current political configuration, especially the State Budget and Control Board, a governmental hybrid that comingles executive and legislative functions. And it’s unique: It is the only such entity in the 50 states. Reformers have tried unsuccessfully for years to get rid of it and another effort will be made in the 2012 Legislature, geared to the creation of a Department of Administration that would report to the governor. The board consists of the governor, comptroller general, state treasurer (all elected statewide) and the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee, each elected from a local district. Currently, Rep. Brian White, R-Anderson, is the House member, is the lone Upstater on the panel.
One mitigating factor for the Upstate comes at the federal level. Both of South Carolina’s U.S. senators, Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, hail from the region, living barely 50 miles apart, DeMint in Greenville and Graham in Seneca. Also, three U.S. House members, Duncan, Mulvaney and Spartanburg’s Trey Gowdy, represent the region. While helpful on one level, it doesn’t offset the void in Columbia where decisions tend to more quickly impact – for good or bad – the average South Carolinian.