André Bauer

André Bauer
87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
In office January 15, 2003 – January 12, 2011
Governor	Mark Sanford
Preceded by	Bob Peeler
Succeeded by	Ken Ard
Member of the South Carolina Senate from the 18th district
In office January 3, 2001 – January 15, 2003
Preceded by	Jim Lander
Succeeded by	Ronnie Cromer
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from the 85th district
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	David Wright
Succeeded by	Chip Huggins
Personal details
Born	Rudolph Andreas Bauer (1969-03-20) March 20, 1969 Charleston, South Carolina
Political party	Republican
Profession	Business, real estate, and public official

Rudolph Andreas "André" Bauer (born March 20, 1969) was the 87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Bauer was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives (1996–1999) and a member of the South Carolina State Senate (1999–2003).

Early life, education, and business career

Bauer was born in Charleston, on March 20, 1969. He is the son of William R. Bauer and Saundrea Jill Bauer. He graduated from Irmo High School and the University of South Carolina.

Bauer was self-employed, selling sports merchandise to national franchise stores. Bauer is also a lieutenant colonel in the Civil Air Patrol's South Carolina Wing.

Bauer has also been a Junior Achievement teacher and is a current member of the following boards: the Lake Murray Tourism and Recreation Association, the American Diabetes Association, the Columbia Visitors' Bureau, the S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce, and the Sons of the American Revolution.

In 2001, Bauer was recognized as Alumnus of the Year for the University of South Carolina College of Applied Professional Science. Bauer is a member of Union United Methodist Church.

South Carolina General Assembly

Elections

Bauer served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1996 to 1999. In 1999, Bauer was elected to the South Carolina State Senate in a special election. He was then re-elected in the 2000 general election and served in the State Senate until his inauguration as Lieutenant Governor on January 15, 2003.

Committee assignments

He served on the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee.

Lieutenant Governor

Elections

2002

He came in second in the Republican primary to fellow State Senator David L. Thomas of Greenville, but defeated Thomas in the runoff for the nomination. He then defeated fellow State Senator Phil P. Leventis, a Democrat from Sumter, in the 2002 general election for Lt. Governor, with more than 52 percent of the vote.^[1]

2006

Bauer faced two primary challenges for re-election, and a general election in 2006. The first challenge was launched by Mike Campbell, son of former Governor Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. (R). Bauer also faced Dr. Henry Jordan, founder of the South Carolina branch of the Christian Coalition. During the primaries, Bauer portrayed himself as the underdog in this three-way race, despite being an incumbent. His opponents outspent him 3 to 1 in the campaigns. In the course of the campaign, Campbell received the endorsements of former President George H.W. Bush, a friend of his father, and First Lady Jenny Sanford, the wife of Governor Mark Sanford.

The primary of June 13, 2006, ended with Mike Campbell receiving 47 percent of the vote, Andre Bauer 37%, and Henry Jordan 18%. As Campbell did not win a majority, he faced Bauer in a runoff election on June 27 for the Republican nomination. Bauer won the runoff with slightly over 51 percent of vote. He then narrowly defeated Democrat Robert A. Barber, Jr., a former state representative, attorney and lobbyist in the General Election. Bauer received 543,414 votes (50.08%), while Barber received 540,306 votes (49.79%).^[2]

Tenure

As Lieutenant Governor, Bauer served as the President of the Senate and oversaw the Office on Aging, and would have assumed the position of Governor if for any reason the Governor were unable to perform the duties of that office.

As Lieutenant Governor, Bauer served in both the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch of state government. After serving his first two years as President of the State Senate, Bauer touted his ruling of nearly $2 billion in tax increases as out of order.

In 2008, Bauer supported legislation for a new state license plate containing the words "I Believe" and a "cross superimposed on a stained glass window.”^[3][4] The legislation was approved by the South Carolina General Assembly; however, a temporary order by a judge in U.S. District Court blocked production of the plates.^[5] On November 10, 2009, in a subsequent opinion and order on motions for summary judgment, Judge Cameron McGowan Currie declared the "I Believe" Act "in violation of the Constitution of the United States of America" and permanently enjoined the state from issuing the "I Believe" state license plates.^[6] The judge also noted:^[6]

The “I Believe” Act had its genesis in Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer’s desire to do here what had been unsuccessful in the state of Florida–to gain legislative approval of a specialty plate promoting the majority religion: Christianity. Whether motivated by sincerely held Christian beliefs or an effort to purchase political capital with religious coin, the result is the same. The statute is clearly unconstitutional and defense of its implementation has embroiled the state in unnecessary (and expensive) litigation.

Transparency issue

There have been questions about Bauer's commitment to transparency. In 2009, the South Carolina Policy Council, investigated and reported on the Senior Center Permanent Improvement Program, which was operated by Bauer's office.

At the time, Bauer’s office declined to turn over information about the program, which had paid out nearly $10 million since 2000, despite repeated requests for a detailed accounting of projects, collections and expenditures.^[7]

After the story ran, a spokesman for Bauer's office said his agency was “still chasing down the numbers” for the Permanent Improvement Program “because we want to be absolutely certain we are right.” More than half a year later, the office has yet to turn over any additional information on the program.

Also, in February 2009 Bauer unveiled the “lieutenant governor’s transparency initiative,” which he said would give taxpayers an unprecedented view of his office’s finances. Initially, his office posted accountability reports for January, February and March 2009, but it wasn’t updated after that. Since then, though, the lieutenant governor’s office has simply linked to the comptroller general’s spending transparency Web site.^[8]

Last summer, the Policy Council sent a S.C. Freedom of Information Act request to Bauer's office seeking all state-related communication sent or received via private e-mail accounts on state-owned or leased property or equipment between Jan. 1, 2009, and July 1, 2009. Bauer’s office was among 10 state agencies the Policy Council sent such an open-records request to, in an attempt to ascertain how widespread is the practice of conducting public business on private accounts. The other agencies turned over the information requested free of charge, but Bauer’s office sought to charge the Policy Council $61 an hour to compile the e-mails, plus 3 cents for each page copied.^[8]

In October, the Policy Council sent an electronic mail request to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office asking for a copy of the agency’s e-mail retention policy. Because South Carolina has no comprehensive plan regarding retention of e-mail and, therefore, retention plans are left up to individual agencies, the Policy Council queried several agencies on the subject. Helen Ann Thrower, Bauer’s chief of staff, responded by attaching a four-page document titled “Computer Usage: Internet and Network Services Policy.” Also included was a bill.

“The cost for providing this information is $15.25, based on the time it took to gather the information and put it in the attached document to send to you,” Thrower wrote.

However, the matter of e-mail retention was not addressed in the information sent by the Lieutenant Governor’s Office.^[8]

In November 2008, Bauer’s Office paid $5,000 to Gilded Age Films of Beaufort, S.C., for work that was not put out for bid, according to a March 18, 2010 report by The Nerve.^[9]

This despite the fact that the Lieutenant Governor’s Office falls under the state procurement code, which requires S.C. state agencies bound by it to seek competitive proposals for their work when outsourcing it to the private sector in order to get the best deal possible for taxpayers.

2008 presidential endorsement

On Thursday, January 17, 2008, Bauer announced his support for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, with the following statement: "I, like many voters, have been previously undecided, but this election is too important to sit on the sidelines. This week, I have decided to vote for Mike Huckabee, and I urge all South Carolinians to join me in voting for Mike Huckabee this Saturday. Simply put, I believe Mike Huckabee is the best of several fine candidates to lead America. As America faces tough times, Mike Huckabee has the character, integrity, and proven leadership to ensure our greatest days are yet to come."^[10]

Sanford sex scandal

In the summer of 2009, Governor Mark Sanford disappeared for several days, leading to the exposure of an adulterous affair and allegations that he had committed numerous misdemeanors. This led to an investigation by the state commission on ethics and a threat of impeachment by the legislature. Had Sanford been impeached, Bauer would have become acting governor during the trial. However, in December 2009, legislative moves to impeach Sanford collapsed as the House Judiciary Committee voted instead merely to censure him.

Controversial comments on the poor

In January 2010, Bauer came under fire for comparing public school children who receive free lunches to stray animals who should not be fed.^[11] "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals," Bauer said during a town hall meeting. "You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't... think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better." Bauer made the comment as part of an argument that people should lose government benefits if they fail drug tests or don't attend parent-teacher conferences or Parent-Teacher Association meetings.^[12] The Associated Press reported that Bauer was a child of divorce who benefited from free lunches himself.^[13]

2010 gubernatorial election

Andre Bauer officially announced his plans to run for governor with a statewide tour on March 22, 2010.^[14] In December 2009, former Arkansas Governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee endorsed Bauer for Governor. Bauer was defeated in the Republican primary in June 2010.

2012 congressional election

In 2012 Bauer unsuccessfully ran for the new South Carolina's 7th congressional district, however after initially winning the primary against Tom Rice on June 12 by 32% to 27%,^[15] he was defeated in the run-off against Rice by 56%-44%.^[16]

Personal life

According to his driving record with the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, Bauer has had at least two accidents, four tickets, and one suspended license for failure to pay a ticket. On May 6, 2003, Bauer was stopped on Assembly Street in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, for running two red lights and speeding up to 60 mph in a 35-mph zone. The officer drew his gun after Bauer got out of the car and began heading toward the officer's car in an "aggressive manner." He was issued a ticket for reckless driving.^[17] On December 26, 2005, Bauer got a warning for speeding (77 mph in a 65 mph zone) in Laurens County, South Carolina. On February 25, 2006, Bauer was pulled over for speeding over 100 mph in Chester County, South Carolina in a state-issued car, but he was allowed to proceed without a ticket or warning.^[18]

On May 23, 2006, Bauer was injured in a single-engine airplane crash shortly after taking off from a small airfield in Blacksburg, South Carolina. Bauer, who was the pilot of the Mooney M20E single-prop airplane, and his passenger escaped the wreckage before the plane caught fire. Bauer's passenger had only minor injuries. Bauer, however, was more seriously injured. He underwent surgery for a shattered left heel.^[19] The incident was voted "Best Political Stunt in 2006" by readers of the Free Times alternative weekly tabloid.^[20] While the factual report ^[21] indicated that "best practice" procedures would have revealed that the airfield was too short to safely take off from, the findings ^[22] only addressed Bauer's "failure to abort the takeoff after the airplane failed to achieve adequate airspeed on the takeoff roll for undetermined reasons." According to FAA regulations, "[t]he pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for . . . the operation of that aircraft" including determining if the aircraft is in airworthy condition and properly making the decision to abort takeoff in time to avoid a crash.^[23] Though in no way relieving Bauer of his being responsible for the crash,^[24] a June 11, 2009 court ruling points to a possible reason the airplane might not have achieved sufficient takeoff speed. Administrative Judge Richard C. Goodwin concluded “By overhauling the engine and returning it to service with incorrect bolts installed, respondent created an unnecessary risk in engine performance.”

References

Specific references:

General references:

External links

• Andrebauer.com
• Lt. Governor's Office Website
• Office on Aging Website
• Profile at Project Vote Smart