GOP challenger: Spratt ‘sold us out'

Indian Land's Mulvaney declares for Congress

By Matt Garfield - mgarfield@heraldonline.com

LANCASTER -- As angry constituents grilled U.S. Rep. John Spratt at a health care town hall, a man sat quietly in the back of the room, scribbling notes on a pad.

Listening to the exchanges between the crowd and congressman, Mick Mulvaney said he was “offended” by responses from Spratt. He became convinced that someone should challenge them.

Two months later, the freshman Republican state senator from Indian Land announced his bid for Congress. Mulvaney, 42, cast himself as an old-fashioned conservative fed up with Spratt's support for health care reform, bailouts and environmental legislation.

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“He had to choose between his fiscally conservative history and his future in a Congress controlled by Nancy Pelosi,” Mulvaney said Monday in Lancaster during an announcement tour across the 5th Congressional District.

“He sold us out. There's no other way to explain it.”

The line of attack is familiar to Spratt supporters, who say the Republican playbook for years has been to link Spratt to everyone from Tip O'Neill and Ted Kennedy, to Pelosi, the current House Speaker.

“It is the standard stuff,” said Jim Watkins, chairman of the York County Democratic Party. “You look at people who are targets and throw stuff at them, hoping it will stick to the person you are after.”

Spratt, 67, said he would make his own announcement soon. The York Democrat chairs the House Budget Committee.

“I have heard that Mick Mulvaney wanted to run for Congress since he ran for the state House three years ago,” Spratt said in a statement. “It has been less than a year since the last election, and there is work to do in Congress, and for that matter, the state Senate.”

In seeking his third different office in four years, Mulvaney aligned himself with the “Tea Party” movement that drew crowds to tax and spending protests.

Mulvaney plans to remain in the state Senate while running for Congress. His term ends in 2012.

Mulvaney said he plans a “simple, straightforward campaign” that keeps the focus on a trio of issues: bailouts, health care reform and a so-called cap-and-trade energy bill that critics say would kill jobs.

“I'm not interested in fighting with Mr. Spratt,” Mulvaney said. “I have too much regard for him personally. But I will challenge him on those issues.”

The plan laid out by Mulvaney fits into a national GOP strategy to portray Democrats as big spenders.

“You've got to have the wind at your back, and it might be next year,” said former state Sen. Greg Gregory, Mulvaney's predecessor and political ally. “Enough people are agitated now that it could put somebody like Mick over the top.”

On health care, Spratt has said he is open to a public option as a backup triggered when the cost of private coverage rises above certain benchmarks. He wants reform that avoids adding to the deficit.

Amid dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats, Spratt could face a repeat of 1994, when he narrowly defeated Larry Bigham in a midterm election, Cook Political Report analyst David Wasserman said.

“It's more likely to be that kind of race than the kind John Spratt had against Ralph Norman (in 2006) because of the larger political environment,” Wasserman said.

The 5th District stretches across 14 counties in northern S.C.

Mick Mulvaney

Age: 42

Job: President, Mulvaney Co.

Family: Wife, Pam; 9-year-olds Caroline, James and Finnegan

Political experience: Elected to S.C. Senate District 16 seat last year; S.C. House, 2006-2008