The spotlight was shined brightly on Governor Mark Sanford recently over his denial in his portion of the stimulus package. With one year left in office, the governor gave an exclusive interview with Charleston affiliate WTMA. Sanford was asked if the legislature made the situation worse for the next governor.

“Numbers are numbers, and so I didn’t look in to a crystal ball over the last couple of years when we sounded like a broken record on you can’t spend what we’re spending and expect good things to happen, that wasn’t looking in to a crystal ball, it’s just math. That you couldn’t grow government at 10 percent a year and have the underlying economy growing at three and four and five percent a year and have good things happen. That those lines just don’t work mathematically,” says Sanford.

According to a revenue report, to date, South Carolina has $328 million in federal stimulus funds that have already been distributed, with the Department of Health and Human Services receiving the most at more than $263 million. The Department of Education has received over $17 million. Sanford guarantees these distributions will add more problems for the state in the future.

“Given what we are doing right now will in fact compound the problem and make it that much worse for our kids and grandkids, and, frankly, we don’t have to wait that long. It will make it much worse for us in the tax bills that we all have to pay whether at the state or federal level,” says Sanford.

The South Carolina Stimulus Task Force, that oversees stimulus spending to reduce mismanagement and fraud, will host its meeting on Thursday, June 25 at 10 a.m.