By Carroll A. Campbell III

My dad, former Gov. Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. has taught me many lessons, one of which is that the private sector can do many things better and more efficiently than government.

Another thing I learned from watching him transform South Carolina's economy is that one of the state's most powerful job creating tools is our state-operated port system.  As Governor, he used the S. C. State Ports Authority as a resource to attract world-class companies that would have gone to other states without our state-owned and operated ports.

On many occasions, the port came to the negotiating table with prospects and, under his direction, offered them cost-saving incentives if they agreed to move their jobs and investments to South Carolina.  History records that the eight years Carroll Campbell was in office South Carolina enjoyed precedent-setting economic growth, in part due to the Ports Authority.

The board of the S. C. State Ports Authority recently took important steps to protect port assets from forces that could cripple them.

A majority of us voted to maintain state control over a proposed port in Jasper County instead of turning it over to a private marine terminal operating company that would have had all decision-making authority to run the port and set prices.

To explain why we took that action, let's go back to the time when my dad was negotiating with BMW.  He asked the Ports Authority to assist in site acquisition and preparation and to develop an attractive pricing package that would allow the automaker to save money on shipping costs.  These were key strategic advantages.

But what if a private company had been running the port during those negotiations?  The governor and his economic development team would have had no ability to negotiate port services or pricing.  The best they could have done would be to go hat in hand to the company and plead for an attractive incentive package.  Thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment would have been dependent upon a company that could be headquartered halfway around the world with no accountability to the citizens of South Carolina.

State control over our port facilities is so vital that six former governors earlier this year signed a letter that said, "We were always able to count on our port officials to do whatever was necessary to give us a strategic advantage in negotiations...This is a critical advantage that must not be compromised."

This is one reason why I made the motion for the Ports Authority board to reject outside pressures to turn our proposed Jasper port over to a private company.  The other reason I made the motion is that such action would pave the way for further unionization in South Carolina.

Today South Carolina's ports have union and non-union employees working side by side.  That's the way it should be.  This model has made South Carolina ports one of the most efficient in the world.

But marine terminal operators, private companies that manage ports, are contractually obligated to hire union workers.  Relinquishing total control of a state port to such a company (the so-called landlord/tenant model) would force us to abandon our position as the nation's largest operating port in favor of the organized labor model that has been forced on virtually every other U. S. port.

The costs of doing business with a unionized port could skyrocket, hurting every South Carolina-based company that uses our ports.

Moreover, our state has a proud tradition of being a right-to-work state and has the second lowest unionization rate in the country.  Giving the keys of a valuable state resource to a 100 percent union operation would betray that legacy.

The board of the S. C. State Ports Authority has charted a course that gives the taxpayers the best of both worlds.  We will maintain control of our ports, but we also are seeking private sector partnerships as we expand our facilities at the former Charleston Naval Base and build a new port in Jasper County. 

The private sector has much to offer the state, and we want the expertise and investments that business can bring to the table.  We are preparing an open, competitive bid process to make sure the taxpayers get the best deal.

But we will not bow to outside pressure to give away one of South Carolina's most powerful job creating tools to a unionized company.

Carroll A. Campbell III is a Columbia businessman.  He was appointed to the S. C. Ports Authority board by Gov. Mark Sanford in June, 2003 and serves as board treasurer.