SC Club for Growth Chairman Chad Walldorf writes in The State newspaper:

South Carolina faces great challenges — and those challenges deserve serious discussion. However, Warren Bolton’s attacks on Gov. Mark Sanford diminish the level of debate in our state. His recent column (“Why does Gov. Sanford hate our state?” March 17) was filled with such over-the-top accusations, it was beneath the dignity of The National Enquirer— much less the daily paper of our state capital.

We need serious debate on such issues as the tens of billions of dollars in retirement benefits for government employees that politicians have guaranteed but not funded. This situation became worse last summer when state Treasurer Converse Chellis led the effort to guarantee billions more in benefits, saying they could be funded through increased stock market returns. His rosy predictions were way off, as our retirement system has lost more than a third of its value —nearly $10 billion — since last year.

Sadly, the fiscal situation in Washington is even worse, as politicians there have piled up obligations totaling more than $56 trillion. That equates to about $500,000 owed by the average U.S. family.

President Obama’s solution? Unprecedented new borrowing to finance massive new spending on government programs. His plans are projected to double our national deficit over the next 10 years. Our children and grandchildren will be stuck paying for our current excesses.

One person stands in stark contrast. Gov. Mark Sanford has consistently been a lone voice urging us to pay down our debts and avoid unsustainable increases in government programs. His latest budget even included a proposal to knock $2 billion off the tab we are handing our children. As our state has the third-highest debt payments as a percentage of our tax revenue, Mr. Sanford also tried to use 25 percent of the “stimulus” money to pay down our obligations and save hundreds of millions of dollars in future interest.

After the White House refused this request, the governor suggested we shouldn’t use this two-time cash infusion to fund recurring programs. This suggestion has led to a misleading attack ad from the national Democratic Party in addition to the recent accusations from Mr. Bolton.

The media tend to focus on the conflicts with the Legislature while failing to acknowledge the many successes achieved under the Sanford administration. Space doesn’t allow a full listing, but they include dramatic improvements in government services (often with less funding) at such agencies as the departments of Juvenile Justice, Motor Vehicles and Transportation, increased transparency and accountability, lower taxes, record land conservation and hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending on such core functions as K-12 education and health care.

The State editorial board has opined that our state underwent a “sustainability” crisis because “the Legislature used one-time money to pay for continuing needs.” In August, it called on the Legislature to “use real, recurring money to pay for those things that matter.” Mr. Bolton and his colleagues on the board seem to have forgotten those ideas.

However, other governors around the country also have turned down hundreds of millions of dollars in “stimulus funds” for that same reason. Just last week, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said “taking this money would create an unrealistic expectation that the state will continue these programs when the federal funds are no longer available.”

I can understand why some say that people are hurting and we should take whatever money we can get — regardless of the long-term consequences. Yet I don’t understand the attacks on the governor’s integrity by some who adopt that view.

The pain most of us are feeling in this economic crisis largely stems from a lack of principled leadership, as organizations and individuals ignored financial realities and spent beyond their means. I am proud that our state has a chief executive who remains steadfast fighting against those impulses and exhibits a rare integrity by governing just as he said he would on the campaign trail.

Whether or not one agrees with the governor on this or any issue, I think policy debates should be based on facts rather than over-the-top accusations. The seriousness of the times calls for nothing less.

Mr. Walldorf served for two years as deputy chief of staff and budget director to Gov. Sanford. He is currently chairman of the S.C. Club for Growth.