Impeachment panel weighs the specifics of questionable flights

COLUMBIA — Legislators had many questions Tuesday about Gov. Mark Sanford’s use of the state aircraft on different occasions to attend a book signing, birthday party and family vacation on the Georgia coast.

The governor’s personal attorney Kevin Hall is asking the legislators to measure the matter against the question of what is reasonable and to put the flights in context.

Whether the matters rise to serious misconduct or “seriously stupid,” as Rep. Garry Smith, said, is up to the special legislative panel.

Tuesday’s meeting was the second hearing by the special House subcommittee looking into Sanford’s possible impeachment. Sanford’s attorneys began by launching a defense that his use of state aircraft was for official business. The hearing, which started at 10:30 a.m. , concluded shortly after 1:15 p.m.

Hall, who is working alongside legal partner Butch Bowers, said the book signing Sanford attended at an Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar in Mount Pleasant and a birthday party he attended in Aiken may have been for campaign contributors — but these people were also significant state employers. The governor used the state plane to make the trips on Nov. 14, 2006.

Rep. James Smith, a Columbia Democrat, said the trips don’t reflect Sanford’s frugality, but added that the question before the panel is whether the trips rise to the level of impeachment.

Panel Chairman Rep. Jim Harrison, a Columbia Republican, was outwardly skeptical.

“I am getting closer to the line when you go to a birthday party,” Harrison said.

Hall said the flights could have been for a variety of events. But the emphasis should be on the fact that the events were involving the state’s economic development interests.

“This is what elected officials so often do, and I would stress appropriately do,” Hall said.

After the panel discussed the flights from Columbia to Mount Pleasant and then Aiken, they moved on to a flight Sanford and his family took from West Virginia on Nov. 17, 2006 for a National Governors Association event to a family vacation in Brunswick, Ga.

Hall said the issue boils down to 20 extra minutes of flight time. Sanford had the option of landing in Columbia and then taking a security detail by car to the Georgia coast, or staying in the air the additional time to land at his vacation destination, according to the attorney.

“The question here is one of reasonableness,” Hall said. “What is the better choice?”

Smith said he is concerned that “the line may have been crossed” on that flight.

The State Ethics Commission questioned nine of 663 flights Sanford took on state aircraft from 2003 to October 2009. The ethics investigation, which is more than 1,000 pages, is serving as a foundation for the impeachment talks by a special House subcommittee.

Sanford is accused of inappropriately using South Carolina-owned aircraft for his own personal financial gain.

Included in the nine flights the subcommittee is examining today are a trip to the Anderson County Republican Party Dinner and a speech the governor gave to a Grand Strand area Rotary Club about challenging in the state budget.

Bowers, Sanford’s attorney, opened by reminding the legislators that the State Ethics Commission questioned only nine flights out of 663 flights.

“Keep that in perspective,” Bowers said.

What’s more, the Columbia lawyer said that all the flights in question were used for official business and that Sanford did not walk away with any personal financial gain. Sanford used the planes in each instance in his capacity as governor, Bowers said.

Bowers said it is “crystal clear” that nothing that will be discussed today rises to level of impeachable offense.

The panel met last week for an hour to organize and discuss an impeachment resolution introduced by Rep. Greg Delleney, a Chester Republican who wants Sanford forced out based on serious misconduct.

Delleney believes that the governor should be impeached based on his five-day clandestine trip to Argentine in June, leaving the state’s chain of command in question.

The Ethics Commission investigation into Sanford’s travel and campaign reimbursements concluded that Sanford committed 37 possible ethics violations.

The governor will face a closed-door administrative hearing on the matter, probably in January.

The civil charges come with a maximum of $74,000 in fines.

Attorney General and 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate Henry McMaster also is reviewing the evidence to determine whether Sanford should be charged with any criminal wrongdoing. McMaster hasn’t said when he will make a decision.

The panel will meet again Thursday to talk about the governor’s questionable campaign reimbursements, totaling less than $3,000, and his use of first- and business-class airplane tickets, despite state laws requiring the cheapest accommodations possible.

More meetings are scheduled for next week. The impeachment resolution is expected to be sent to the full House Judiciary Committee for consideration, although procedural tactics are available to the subcommittee to kill the resolution.

Harrison, Judiciary Committee chairman, wants the full committee to finish its work before Christmas.

The governor is not expected to attend today’s meeting. He was in Moncks Corner this morning to visit a local business and then traveled to Georgetown to meet with a rotary club this afternoon.

Harrison has said the governor is invited to testify before the panel whenever he would like, but Sanford has not been subpoenaed to do so.

Check back with www.postandcourier.com for updates.