In a decidedly anti-climatic ending to a tense standoff, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford finally requested his state's share of Recovery Act funding this past Monday, June 8th. The action, prompted by the State Supreme Court, ended a months-long battle that mixed state and national politics, federalism, and presidential intrigue.

We've covered this saga before, but here's a quick recap: the state legislature passed a budget ordering Sanford to request the state's Recovery Act money, which Sanford vetoed (saying he didn't want to accept federal stimulus funds), causing the legislature to overturn the veto, in turn prompting Sanford to sue the State. Sanford argued that the text of the Recovery Act clearly gave him the power to request Recovery Act funds, and that the legislature did not have the power to order him to do so. Unfortunately for the Governor, the State Supreme Court sided with the state legislature, ruling that he had to request the funding, and even went as far as issuing a writ of mandamus, preventing Sanford from stalling any longer.

On Monday, Sanford requested the money, writing a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who is in charge of the Recovery Act funds in question. Sanford managed to get in one last shot with his letter, though, by using it to denounce the entire Recovery Act, calling it a "monumentally terrible idea." Sanford ended his letter with an appeal to Duncan to not distribute the money, but seeing as how the Administration is trying to ramp up Recovery Act spending, not ramp it down, I'm guessing the Governor is out of luck. Judging by what the Secretary has said in the past ($), South Carolina's Recovery Act funds should be approved by the end of next week.

Image by Flickr user Diamondduste. Used under a Creative Commons license.