Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept-Oct 2018

60 www.VoteBestOfMP.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ClemsonCarolinaTickets.com feature Above: U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford talks with Pauline Blackwell of Lady J Shrimp at the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market. Facing page: Sanford discusses issues with Jeff and Ruth Lloyd. South Carolina coast and on the tariffs established by Trump. That might have been enough to turn the tide against the congressman who represented the people of the 1st District in Congress from 1995 to 2001 and again beginning in 2013. “Calling an ace an ace in the age of Trump is a political liability,” said Sanford, who will leave office in January 2019. “If you don’t tell the truth, that’s a problem in a trust-based political system. The president came out against me, not because of ideas but because I would disagree publicly with certain things he’s said or done.” Sanford said the president’s election-day tweet supporting his primary opponent might have hurt him, but he said an even bigger issue may have cost him the opportunity to face Democrat Joe Cunningham in the general election. “I would be in the district and people would ask me if I was for or against Trump. It’s not about ideas; it’s about Trump. For the majority of the voters, that’s the operative question. It’s never been about allegiance to a person before. It’s always been about ideals, principles and the Constitution.” “The ability to agree to disagree is the American way,” he added. “Our political system is based on back and forth, debate and occasional consent.” On the issue of drilling, Sanford said he sided with his constituents rather than against the Trump administration. Officials of towns all along the coast have voiced their displeasure with the possibility that oil rigs might someday cast a shadow on the state’s pristine shoreline. “It’s all about the people having a voice,” Sanford said. “What am I supposed to do? Tell people they don’t know what they’re talking about and that the Trump administration knows best?” By the same token, Sanford disagreed with the president over free trade, pointing out that Trump’s tariffs will disproportionally hurt business and industry in South Carolina and the Charleston area. “People in industry have told me we’re playing with fire,” Sanford said. “One company executive told me 25 percent of their sales are to Canada and that they’re not going to be able to hire more people because of the tariffs.” Sanford also criticized Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it “bizarre, unprecedented and unusual,” and wondered out loud why Trump won’t make his tax returns public. “Is there something we don’t know? Throw it out there. If there’s no there there, it shuts down the speculation,” Sanford said. As far as his own accomplishments during his last two terms in Congress, Sanford noted that he was instrumental in obtaining funding for the deepening of the port of Photo by Jess Wood.