- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Mark Sanford
Mark Sanford
Former U.S. Representative from & Governor of South Carolina
Spring 2019 Pritzker Fellow
Seminar Series: “25 Years in Politics & 8 Practical Lessons Learned the Hard Way”
Biography
Mark Sanford has twice represented the First District of South Carolina in the US Congress, served as the 115th Governor of South Carolina, worked in real estate, operated their family farm and above all has had the blessing and honor of raising four great sons.
He first learned the themes of hard work, thrift, and more on that family’s farm, and he brought these lessons to Columbia, SC as governor and Washington, DC as a U.S. Representative, where his record as a fiscal reformer and budget cutter was incontestable. He served 12 years in Congress, from 1994 to 2001 and from 2013 to 2019. Among other things during this time he was ranked first in the Congress by a variety of taxpayer organizations for his efforts to limit federal taxes and spending and watch out for the American taxpayer. He served on a variety of committees, ranging from Transportation & Infrastructure to Budget, Oversight and Science.
Over his two terms as the 115th Governor of South Carolina, from 2002 to 2010, he accomplished a long list of firsts - among them the first cut to the marginal income tax rate in South Carolina history, the largest recurring tax cut in state history, the first of its kind tort reform, the first in workers comp reform, and the first in the nation statewide charter school reform.
All these actions were aimed at making the state a more inviting place in which to invest and build a business and cumulatively led to $24 billion in capital investment – more in his governorship than during any other administration in South Carolina history. There were many other accomplishments that ranged from bringing DMV wait times from 66 minutes to 15 minutes, to more land being conserved during his tenure than any other governor in state history - so much so that the Sierra Club actually endorsed his reelection bid. In this vein of the unexpected for a republican, he worked closely with the ACLU on privacy matters and REAL ID, had the first African American chief of Staff in state history and appointed more minorities to his cabinet than any other governor in South Carolina.
He proposed the first operational executive branch budget in South Carolina history, and over his time in office closed a funding hole of nearly a billion dollars that he inherited upon arriving in Columbia. Mark was the first governor in the nation to refuse stimulus funding and fought against the stimulus all the way to the South Carolina Supreme Court. By the end of his second term, the CATO Institute ranked Mark the most fiscally conservative governor in America.
Mark attended Furman University where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Business. He later received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He attained the rank of Captain in the Air Force. Mark has four sons, Marshall, Landon, Bolton and Blake. He currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina.
Seminars
“25 Years in Politics & 8 Practical Lessons Learned the Hard Way”
The political landscape is constantly evolving, and I have been an active participant in federal and state politics over the last quarter of a century. The so-called Republican "revolution" of 1994, the Contract with America, the Clinton impeachment, the fall of Speaker Gingrich, the economic implosion of 2008, the federal stimulus packages, my own implosion, "change" and the rise of Obama, the tumultuous time of Trump and more, have all been part of my experience during my years in office. It is for this reason that I have gained a unique perspective not only on what has occurred, but what may come next. These seminars will reflect on my 25 years in the rough and tumble world of electoral politics and the many lessons learned along the way.
My first race in large measure proved to be a lesson on conviction - which is the invisible hand of politics. It guides both political and policy outcomes and from a humble political start and with no background in politics, I’ve experienced first-hand the transformative power of conviction. This seminar will explore the nuts and bolts of the decision to run for office and why knowing “the why” before you run is vital to both your grounding and your standing in the political world.
In this seminar, we will discuss lessons learned and reinforced in the governorship. Politics is filled with good intentions and there will always be a necessary tension between individual and societal good - as well as freedom versus security. But there is a larger question that remains that too often is not asked in politics: Do the political solutions proposed fit with human nature and financial reality? All too often they do not, and we will explore why I believe Jeffersonian conservatism makes sense and how I came to this conclusion during my time as governor.
Life is more than politics or the public arena. This seminar will dig into the much grander considerations that go with defining a life well lived, the attributes of leadership, and the meaning of “The Life of Work.”
Special Guest: Doug Holladay, Founder & CEO of PathNorth, former Special Ambassador to South Africa & Heinz Christian Prechter Executive in Residence
My gubernatorial administration passed a long list of firsts, ranging from the first cut to the marginal income tax to conserving more land during any other governorship in South Carolina history. Using case studies, this seminar will break apart the mechanics of how coalitions are formed and how change is implemented.
Politics is rough, and you need a thick skin to enter the arena, but there are some real lessons you don’t want to learn the hard way. This session will delve into the private trade-offs that come with public life. There are indeed no free lunches in life, and I will talk about the realities of what is sacrificed at the altar of attempting to do public good.
Special Guest: John Kohan, Partner, Jamestown Associates and Sanford for Congress Campaign Manager
This week, we will talk about politics in the age of Trump, my own observations having stepped away from the GOP's current path, and what this moment means for all of us going forward. I lost in a primary because I was not “Trump enough” in the age of Trump, and my district in turn went democratic for the first time in over 40 years. This seminar will be a detailed discussion of the trends at play here and what that might mean for the next election.
Special Guest: Scott English, former Chief of Staff to Mark Sanford
The size of the United States’ debt brings frightening realities for American civilization. It is the subject that no one seems to be talking about these days in Washington, but our nation's unsustainable path will do more to affect the political landscape, and every student’s future, than anything else facing our country.
We’ll recap my years in the House and the Governorship and key takeaways. This seminar will also explore the different approaches to politics and why this fellow believes the tools of term limits and a finite perspective are important building blocks toward more independence (or more independent politicians?) – an important and lacking quality among today’s political actors.
Special Guest: Tom Campbell, former U.S. Representative (R-CA) & Professor of Law at Chapman University