I'll say one thing for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford he makes a great TV commercial. It almost makes me want to vote for him. But I live in the real world and understand that like they say on his commercials, "He's a different kind of Governor," yeah, a lousy one.

His list of accomplishments over the last four years is brief. He says he shortened the lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The arduous process of upgrading the DMV's computer system was actually undertaken by Sanford's predecessor Democratic Governor Jim Hodges and all he got credit for was how horrible the transition was while Sanford basks in the glory of the new streamlined, customer friendly system.

If you're a staunch anti-tax person then Sanford's your man. Sanford won't back down from his anti-tax position even if it defies the will of the people. While 70% or more of South Carolinians support increasing the state's cigarette tax to fund an expansion of Medicaid, thus providing health care to thousands of the working poor people in our state, Sanford blocked the plan to pander to the anti-tax crowd. The number of uninsured South Carolinians is rising steadily, more than 600,000 state residents had no health care last year, an increase of about 100,000 since 2002. South Carolina is one of 8 states in the nation where the number of uninsured is growing. Sanford doesn't talk about health care for middle income residents or the working poor in South Carolina; his solution is to ignore the problem while it gets worse year by year. According to the SC Democratic Party, not only are more state residents uninsured, more are living in poverty, 19,000 more since 2003. According to the U.S. Census, 579,000 South Carolinians, 13.8% live in poverty, that's higher than the national average of 12.7% Sanford has no plan for providing health care to working people in South Carolina he doesn't even talk about this issue, instead he focuses on tax cuts.

Sanford's penchant for cutting taxes has even taken precedent over the state's credit rating and overall financial health. Even while Moody's was dropping South Carolina's credit rating, Sanford was pushing for more tax cuts, further depleting our state's coffers and weakening state services and infrastructure.

Now that Sanford's opponent, Democrat Tommy Moore has finally come out swinging on TV, sissy boy Sanford has threatened to sue TV stations that air Moore's commercials. Sanford and his campaign not only look like cry babies they also look like idiots because campaign commercials aren't subject to libel laws. In fact broadcasters can't alter or censor political ads in any way and are protected from litigation for running them. In my opinion Tommy Moore didn't hit him hard enough. His answer to Sanford's bitching and moaning ought to be a factual ad about how much money Sanford has taken from out-of state backers of the so-called "School Choice" tax vouchers for private school tuition plan. South Carolinians need to wake up the fact that a lot of powerful and very rich people want to experiment with private school tax vouchers in South Carolina. They aim to siphon off precious funds from public education to provide a tax break to rich folks who can afford to send their kids to private schools.

For those of you who think this sounds like a great plan, trust me it won't work. I paid private school tuition for 8 long years for my son and even a $2,000 tax credit ain't gonna pave the way for poor folks to pay for their kids private school education. The tuition is just the start, then there's uniforms, school trips, special lunches, fees, special classes, tutoring etc. etc. Also no public transportation so if you don't have reliable transportation and your kid is the only student in the neighborhood attending that school, you are on your own. I don't care what Sanford, Karen Floyd or any big time expert says about tax vouchers or School Choice or whatever they want to rename this plan it's a tax give away to rich folks and a sure fire way to weaken if not destroy public education in South Carolina.

For a pro-business candidate Sanford hasn't had much luck attracting jobs to our state. Under his leadership unemployment in South Carolina has risen and job creation has dropped mainly because of his disjointed and ineffectual leadership of the (previous to his tenure) highly functioning and effective Commerce Department. Sanford says he's puzzled by the sluggish economic reports and our 6.5% unemployment rate second only to Mississippi and Michigan. To clear up the confusion, may I suggest a visit to one of the many dozens of textile mills (and surrounding mill towns) that have closed in the last few years or a trip to any of the Job Service offices around the state? Having stood in line at the unemployment office several times in recent years I can tell you the office is jammed with good people who want to work and simply can't find any secure jobs that pay a living wage. Yes, you can find an abundant number of food service and minimum wage blue collar jobs but try feeding your family and paying the rent on $5.15 an hour or less. Maybe the problem is that Sanford has always been rich, doesn't know any working class families and his kids attend private schools and always have. It's hard to understand people that you don't know personally and paid help that you consider "family" doesn't count.

Sanford's constituent service sucks. I've approached him on a number of occasions at various functions and asked for his support and full funding of the guardian ad litem program. I've lobbied his staff and even driven to Columbia to make my case in person. I've never had a follow up phone call or seen him or his minions exhibit a scintilla of interest in supporting our volunteers in advocating for neglected and abused children in our state.

It's not like Sanford's disconnect from real people is a shock. He managed to serve six years in congress without accomplishing anything. Instead of focusing on the particular needs of our state he did his level best to reform (make that dismantle) Social Security without much success and of course there is his famous fixation on pinching pennies. Some of the stories are just plain sad and embarrassing. Sleeping on a futon in his Congressional office rather than paying for housing when you are as rich as he is is just plain eccentric not frugal.

Sanford hasn't been able to accomplish anything of substance in his four years as governor because rather than building a bi-partisan coalition or even rallying support and consensus from his own ruling party, Sanford has instead managed to piss off nearly every member of the state legislature. His hi-jinks in the last couple of years have gotten him notice but it's the kind of attention that you give to a kid pitching a fit on the floor of the grocery store.

State Senator Tommy Moore really is a man of the people. A guy, who grew up in a working class family, attended public schools and has served in the legislature since 1981. I'll be honest, he wasn't my first choice for the Democratic nominee but he's head and shoulders above Sanford in his ability to get things done. Unlike Sanford, Moore seems to have the ability to rally support, he seeks a smoother functioning state government and most importantly supports public education. Even more importantly our state legislature is far more apt to listen to a colleague than Sanford, who's as isolated from state lawmakers as the boy in the bubble.

The stakes are too high in South Carolina to re-elect Governor Do-Nothing or Governor Do-Wrong. We need proven leadership and legislative support for hard working people, not more tax breaks for the rich, stupid stunts and empty promises.