Charleston, SC – January 29, 2013 –Former Governor Mark Sanford today highlighted his record as a proven fiscal conservative, and as a leader who has stood up to the big spenders, regardless of party, throughout his career. He is currently seeking the Republican nomination to fill the seat vacated by Senator Tim Scott in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District.
“I am running for Congress because our country’s future, the liberty it was founded on and our way of life is at stake if we don’t get our hands around runaway government spending in Washington,” said Sanford.
“As Governor, our administration fought from Day One to advance freedom, limit government, institute market-based principles and make government more efficient and accountable to the people it serves,” Sanford said. “Our stands against spending – regardless of the Party responsible – ruffled some feathers along the way. But given our nation’s long-term financial problems, no stand is more vital.
Governor Sanford’s achievements in office range from the elimination of almost $1 billion in deficit and debt inherited from the previous administration, to passing the first cut to the marginal income tax rate and the largest recurring tax cut in South Carolina history. In 2010 alone, Governor Sanford’s vetoes saved taxpayers $260 million by cutting unrestrained spending.
Sanford was also the first Governor in America to formally reject the federal stimulus funds, a battle he took all the way to the state Supreme Court.
In 2010, the CATO Institute called Sanford ‘a staunch supporter of spending restraint and pro-growth tax reforms’ when they ranked him the most fiscally conservative Governor in the country.