COLUMBIA, S.C. - Port businesses and legislators said Monday they don't want politics to influence who sits on the State Ports Authority board as a bill moved forward that would strip the governor of his ability to fire the board's leadership at will.
The bill, now headed to the Senate Transportation Committee, comes a year after Republican Gov. Mark Sanford forced Carroll Campbell III, the son of a popular former Republican governor, from the board.
On Monday, Sanford was being criticized for playing politics with people who oversee port policy and operations. And the groups that handle port traffic and dock work blamed inconsistent leadership and skills in the boardroom, along with lack of focus on port customers, for the once-vaunted port operations in Charleston slipping behind competition in Georgia and Virginia. The port was once the East Coast's second-busiest.
"We need to do something and do something very, very quick," said Robert New, president of Charleston Port Services.
The legislation heading to the Senate Transportation Committee set specific professional standards for people wanting to serve on the ports board. And, after the governor appoints board members and the Legislature screens and confirms, governors would have to have cause such as malfeasance or absenteeism to get rid of them before their four-year terms expire.
Sanford hasn't studied the bill, but spokesman Joel Sawyer said the idea of losing the "at will" firing authority doesn't sit well.
"It's hard to call it an accountability measure when you take away the only tool for holding the board accountable," Sawyer said.
But that's not the way the people closest to port operations see it.
"The precedent set by (former) Gov. (Jim) Hodges and followed by Mr. Sanford that a board member can be removed at will is ridiculous, absolutely ludicrous." said New, who called for at least one more board member with direct ties to port operations.
"It certainly would appear over the last few years that the qualifications to serve on the Port Authority board relate more to your fundraising capability for the governor and his race than for your detailed experience in maritime matters," New said.
"What happens is a lot of these people seem to serve under duress or under the fear that if they do not go along with the thought of the governor then they can be removed from the board," said George Adams, chairman of the Maritime Association of South Carolina.
Larry Young, president of the South Carolina Stevedores Association, told senators the board has lost touch with the port's customers.
"We can't make any more mistakes," Young said. He said the ports businesses have "had enough of political hacks."
"Everyone that we've put on there is well qualified," Sawyer said. They were also vetted by the Senate and found "well qualified" to serve, Sawyer noted. But "at the end of the day, how is taking away the governor's 'at will' ability going to fix any of this?" he asked.
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