Former Gov. Mark Sanford's campaign highlighted Tuesday that he was the first S.C. governor to issue executive budgets.
In South Carolina, state budgets have traditionally been left up to lawmakers with the governor's power limited to vetoes and behind-the-scenes work.

Sanford started the practice of issuing his own edition of the state budget, laying out where to spend state money and where to cut it. The practice is continued today by Gov. Nikki Haley.

"There were a number of times in Columbia where we took lonely stands on spending when it was anything but the popular thing to do," said Sanford in a statement. "It's certainly become fashionable to 'talk the talk' on cutting spending, but we've actually gone to bat time and time again to do it."

Sanford's budgets -- and Haley's budgets -- have not met with praise from most lawmakers who still have more spending authority than the governor and can override vetoes.

Tuesday Sanford also touted other budget reforms he pushed: eliminating a competitive grants program that allowed lawmakers to target money for specific projects in their home districts as well as eliminating a the practice of "bobtailing" where money for special projects was attached to unrelated bills.