Sanford, in Washington for a Republican Governors Association meeting, asked Republican senators at a Capitol Hill lunch convened by DeMint to follow the lead of House Republicans who voted against the $819 billion stimulus measure last week.

The bill passed the House by a 244-188 margin without a single Republican vote. It would bring South Carolina $3.2 billion, including a $905 million infusion to eliminate the state budget deficit and $830 million to build and repair roads, bridges, schools, colleges, water-treatment plants and other infrastructure.

Sanford and DeMint said they are joining forces in a bid to spark the kind of national outcry among conservatives that led to the defeat of a major Senate immigration-reform bill in 2007.

The two men oppose using federal deficit spending to jolt the economy, saying increased tax cuts will have a more immediate impact on restoring consumer confidence and spending.

“The current plan spends too much and contains too little stimulus to help the economy.”

— U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on the stimulus package backed by the White House and passed by the U.S. House that is awaiting U.S. Senate approval. Graham joined other Republicans in proposing a plan centered on tax cuts instead of infrastructure spending to bolster the economy.

CAPITOL CONNECTION

• Bill puts employment agency under governor

Cash-strapped South Carolina counties and towns could be required to add a paid Confederate Memorial Day holiday for workers, under a bill passed by a state Senate committee Tuesday.

Sen. Robert Ford, a black Democrat from Charleston with gubernatorial aspirations, introduced the bill, which he hopes will force South Carolinians to reflect on the state’s history.

The bill, which Ford also introduced in 2007, would require local governments that receive state money to adopt the state’s 12 paid holidays, including Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the May 10 recognition of Confederate Memorial Day.

“We need to teach the things that would make South Carolina move into the 21st century,” said Ford, who has announced he is running for governor in 2010. “There’s no love, there’s no togetherness between the races.

“There’s this great love for a fetus. I don’t see that same outpouring once it becomes a child.”

— Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, who plans to vote against a bill that passed the House’s Judiciary Committee Tuesday, requiring women to wait 24 hours after an ultrasound before getting an abortion.

CAPITOL CONNECTION

• Payday lending bill heads to House floor

Drum said late Monday night he got a hand-delivered letter from a district representative last Friday notifying him that Feb. 13 would be his final day at the school and in the district.

"It basically said that since I was retired and still working in the district that I'd no longer be employed in two weeks," Drum said. "It said I'd be terminated in two weeks because the district was releasing retirees to help with budget cuts.

"I can't say how long I was going to stay, but I wanted to leave coaching on my own terms. I had hoped that when that day came, I could stay on at Lewisville as the AD only. After 40 years in the business and the last 22 at Lewisville, this is like leaving my family."

Drum came to Lewisville from Lancaster to work for former football coach and AD Bennie McMurray. When McMurray retired and left to coach in Charlotte, Kim Gray was promoted to head football coach.

Phelps, who set a record with eight gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics, was photographed smoking a marijuana pipe at a November party in Columbia.

The picture was published in the British newspaper News of the World. Phelps apologized Sunday, calling his behavior “inappropriate.”

“This case is no different than any other case,” Lott said Monday. “This one might be a lot easier since we have photographs of someone using drugs and a partial confession. It’s a relatively easy case once we can determine where the crime occurred.”

Possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail or a $570 fine, plus court costs.