Ex-Congressman brings budget expertise to WU politicos

By Jonathan McFadden
mcfaddenj@mytjnow.com

Spratt in the heat of debate during his 2011 congressional campaign. Photo courtesy of Politico.comThe South has changed; John Spratt knows that much for sure. 

But he also knows that an outstanding deficit, a perpetually worsening economy and a painfully long recession were all factors in play when he lost his bid as congressman for South Carolina’s 5th congressional district to Republican U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (S.C.-5) during last November’s elections. 

And, he knows they’ll be the major variables voters consider when deciding who becomes top dog in the nation’s chain of command come November 2012.

For 28 years, Spratt, a Democrat, served as the representative for South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The 5th district comprises the upper third of South Carolina and includes Rock Hill, Sumter and Florence.

During his time in Congress, Spratt chaired the U.S. House Committee on the Budget and was the second ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Armed Services.

Before that, he was a captain in the Army, 

Today, he’s a guest-lecturer on campus, bringing what he calls “real world insights” and “color commentary” to students interested in the happenings of the nation’s capitol. 

Just a month or so shy of South Carolina’s first-in-the-South presidential primary, Spratt said in an interview with The Johnsonian that if the GOP happens to lean too far to the right instead of establishing some sort of middle ground with voters, they might lose “traction.”

“Nobody’s yet breaking out the champagne,” he said.

There may be no champagne to pass around.

Spratt called the current economic crisis the worst America’s seen since the end of World War II and said the nation’s a long way from solving all its debt issues.

Despite the grim news, Spratt said he was confident a compromise could be reached.

That was before Nov. 21, the day the appointed congressional debt super committee announced they could not reach a compromise that would have trimmed up to $1.5 trillion of national debt.

In August, President Barack Obama named 12 members of Congress to a super committee who had up till Nov. 23 to find a way to mandate cuts that would reduce the deficit.

For Spratt, watching from afar wasn’t easy.  

He longed to be involved in the process, he said, but a Congressional House Ethics rule bars him from contacting any member of Congress for a year after his own exit.

The limit “chills efforts to influence” any kind of action, he said, and now the former congressman feels more like the guy watching on the bench. 

Yet, he does foresee the economy turning around one day. 

Whether a Democrat or Republican will man the nation when it happens has yet to be seen, he said. 

Whichever party wins the latest bid for presidency won’t come as much of a surprise to Spratt, who described the political process as “cyclical.” 

“It vacillates from one extreme to the other extreme,” he said.

To prove his point, Spratt reminisced on the 1970s when President Richard Nixon’s defeat of Democratic challenger Barry Goldwater seemed like a “death blow” to the Democrats, he said.

In several year’s time, Jimmy Carter-– a Democrat– became president. Then, the cycle began again. 

Though a pundit of the political process, Spratt has two new positions to add to an already long list of credentials. 

In September, President Barack Obama appointed him as co-chairman of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, a coalition between the United States and Canada that discusses defense strategies for both countries. 

He just returned from a trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia to meet with Canadian officials regarding negotiations about the melting Northwest Passage.

His secondary appointment comes with a mix of garnet and gold.

Color commentator 

A student shows Spratt his research during the then-congressman’s 2008 visit to Dalton Hall (then Life Sciences building). Photo courtesy of Judy Longshaw, University RelationsFor several years, Spratt has had a unique rapport with Winthrop.

York County is his home, he said, and his wife is actually a Winthrop graduate.

After almost 30 years of budget forming in D.C, Spratt decided to bring his expertise into the classroom and give students a real-life perspective on the national budget formation process and contribute to their overall learning, he said.

He didn’t want anything full time, he said, instead choosing to focus on things he hadn’t focused on in nearly 30 years.

Spratt was interested in providing more of a “color commentary” than actually teaching a class, he said.

Thus far, he’s been a hot commodity on campus.

The same day he sat down with his visitor, Spratt said he was visited by history professor Eddie Lee who wants to talk with him about perhaps guest-lecturing in a modern American history course examining the nation beyond the year 1981.

He spoke to an economics professor about maybe contributing to a class about the budget-making process.

Sticking with his part-time duties, Spratt said he may be teaching an economics class discussing public finance, he said. Social work faculty members are also asking Spratt to guest-lecture some of their classes, he said.

Securing Spratt’s spot among political science faculty this semester was no great mystery, said Karen Kedrowski, department chair of political science.

After the 28-year incumbent lost to Mulvaney in November, Kedrwoski said she received an e-mail from university President Anthony DiGiorgio’s office that expressed the president’s desire in solidifying Spratt’s relationship with Winthrop.

After a meeting with a member of DiGiorgio’s staff, Kedrowski drafted a memo offering Spratt a position at Winthrop, she said.

Spratt thought it over, Kedrowski said, and decided he would teach part-time at Winthrop without compensation.

“He turned down a monetary offer,” Kedrowski said.

Gauging Spratt’s interest in the War Powers Act, a federal law which examines the president’s ability to declare war without Congress’ consent, Kedrowski said the department was fortunate to have a national security and policy class “on the books.”

“It was happenstance,” she said. “What he does is a gift.”

With only part-time status, Spratt can set his own terms, Kedrowski said. After 30 years of “80 hour work weeks,” Spratt’s earned a rest, she said.