Harvey Peeler

By Don Worthington – dworthington@heraldonline.com

State Sens. Greg Gregory and Harvey Peeler, who represents portions of York County, said Friday they plan to be at Tuesday’s scheduled 10 a.m. special legislative session at the Statehouse in Columbia.

“This may be settled by the courts, but the governor has won in the court of public opinion. The people are on her side,” Peeler, the Senate’s majority leader, said Friday.

“I support the governor.”

How long the Senate is back session will depend on how quickly lawmakers put posturing aside, said Gregory, a Lancaster Republican. It could take a day or two to reach that point, he said.

Once the Senate gets down to business, Gregory estimated it should take two to three days to reach a decision on creating the Department of Administration, a cabinet level position.

“I’ve been working on restructuring for 17 years. Another couple of days won’t kill us,” said Gregory, who was recently re-elected to the state Senate in a special election to fill the seat left open when Mick Mulvaney was elected to the U.S. Congress.

Peeler, a Gaffney Republican, said one reason for the expected partisanship is that Democrats don’t want to give any victory to the governor this legislative session.

One amendment to the Department of Administration proposal is eliminating the Budget and Control Board. The board, comprised of the governor, the state treasurer, Curtis Loftis Jr.; the comptroller general, Richard Eckstrom; the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Hugh Leatherman; and the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Brian White. White recently was chosen to replace Rep. Dan Cooper, who resigned from the Legislature. His last day is June 30.

“We need to eliminate the Budget and Control Board, It is a South Carolina anomaly,” Gregory said.

The board contributes to South Carolina having the weakest executive branch of all the states, Gregory said, “and that is holding South Carolina back.”

Gregory and Peeler said the reason the Senate needs to return is because it does not manage its time well.

“Eighty percent of the work is done in the last 20 percent of time,” Gregory said. “The clock ran out on us.”

Read more: http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/06/04/3120906/gregory-peeler-planning-to-attend.html#ixzz1OVABpW5J