Sanford hangs onto his post
Favorable SLED review, death of pop star help governor overcome calls for resignation
S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford
COLUMBIA — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has had a lot of indirect help holding on to office in the two weeks since his mysterious disappearance and revelations of a yearlong affair with an Argentine woman.
A state law enforcement division review found no misuse of public money in the affair. The first lady has been willing to reconcile, and the state Republican Party voted to censure him rather than asking him to resign.
Political maneuvering over the 2010 gubernatorial race has played a part, too, with some in the GOP reluctant to give any advantage to Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who would replace Sanford if he stepped down or was forced out. And it didn't hurt that the nation's attention shifted to the death of pop star Michael Jackson.
"He's ridden out the storm," said Robert Oldendick, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina.
Sanford's name is no longer tossed around as a potential 2012 presidential candidate, but he's resolute about finishing the last 18 months of his second term.
"Most people would've expected if he was going to be forced out quickly, it would've happened by now," said Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon.
The father of four disappeared over Father's Day weekend, without his staff or security detail knowing his whereabouts. Upon his return June 24, he confessed he had been in Argentina with his mistress and misled his staff to think he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Later, in interviews with The Associated Press, he called Maria Belen Chapur his "soul mate" and disclosed dalliances, which he said stopped short of sex, with other women.
Sanford also said he was trying to fall back in love with his wife, Jenny, out of a sense of commitment to their 20 years of marriage and young sons.
"She's been key in all of this. If she'd blown up and started threats of a messy public divorce, it might've forced his hand to step down to deal with the issue," Huffmon said.
Sanford spent the Fourth of July weekend with his family in Florida and plans to spend this weekend with them, too, though his press secretary declined to say where.
The governor has spent much of the past two weeks asking for forgiveness, including phone calls to legislators he has antagonized over the years.
"The governor has called many, many people and plans to call many, many more," Sanford press secretary Joel Sawyer said. "He considers it to be lifetime work, and not something that will end in the next few weeks or the next 18 months."
Calls for Sanford to resign ramped up briefly after he revealed to the AP he had spent more time with Chapur than previously disclosed. The state attorney general called for an investigation into his travels, and a majority of GOP senators asked him to step down. But the furor subsided after a closed-door censure vote by the party, with leaders saying the public admonishment would be the end of the issue.
A rally to urge Sanford to step down, hosted by Republican National Committee member Glenn McCall, was canceled and a Democratic activist held a protest with a partisan crowd of 60 people instead.
But Sanford has never been known to bow to pressure.
He raised his political profile by refusing to request $700 million in federal stimulus money set aside for South Carolina's public schools and law enforcement, holding firm despite protests, lawsuits and the rebuke of Republican legislators. Sanford eventually requested the money after a state Supreme Court order.
Since taking office in 2003, Sanford has criticized fellow Republicans who control the Legislature, even working to get some defeated. Even some Democrats say Sanford sticking around won't change his governing abilities during his lame-duck session. The pressure is not entirely off, however.
Sen. Jake Knotts, a longtime Sanford opponent and Bauer friend who brought to light that Sanford was missing, has called for a Senate investigation of Sanford's travels.
South Carolina's top police official, Reggie Lloyd, announced last week that Sanford did not misuse state funds for visits with his Argentine mistress but said the review relied on self-reported information from Sanford.
Sanford repaid $3,300 for part of a June 2008 trip to Argentina where he saw his mistress, and said he spent no other taxpayer money to see her. Knotts said legislators need to look closer.
"We Republicans can either condone it or condemn it. If we condone it, we'll have to answer for it," Knotts said. "I think we're shirking the duty of the party by not trying to get to the bottom of it, looking for the easy way out and hoping it will go away."
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lloyd007 (anonymous) says...
WHY PAY BACK MONEY TO THE STATE IF THERE WAS NO MONIES USED TO SEE MISSTRESS ???...CROOKS TO THE CORE.
July 11, 2009 at 12:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
steve (anonymous) says...
Nice job "good ol' boys" & Mrs. Jenny Evita Macbeth Heiress Sanford.
These are all the same people who held the sanctity of marriage up as a political shield to deny tax paying citizens of our, very un-fair backward state, the right to equal benefits under the law.
AGAIN! I want to know which gay -or- lesbian couple is responsible for the failure of the Sanford's marriage?
AND - for all of you supporters of the right wing hypocrisy running our state take the time to look up the Articles of Impeachment for a Governor of this state. Mark & Jenny need to be booted for their indiscretions!
I'm with Jake Knotts (wholly cow I typed that) Andre needs to take the Governorship for the next 18 months. Then Kick all the bums out for cover their parties butt!
Bunch of Hypocrites!
July 11, 2009 at 1:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AMAZING (anonymous) says...
Sanfraud said:
"There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn't have crossed as a married man, but never crossed the ultimate line"
Sir, how do you do that? I mean, how do you cross the line without crossing the line? uh uh uh, well, it's kinda of like the The Hokey Pokey...
You put your right hand in,
You put your right hand out,
You put your right hand in,
And you shake it all about,
You do the hokey pokey
and you turn yourself around
That what it's all about.
2) left hand
3) right foot
4) left foot
5) head
6) butt
7) whole self
Sir, how is it like the hokey pokey? ...uh uh uh ....well ...wait, let me finish ...you cross the line and then you cross back over and then it's like you never crossed the line at all, see it's simple.
Sir, please tell me again how you never crossed the ultimate line?...uh uh uh well, if you're only over the line for a little while and no one knows about it, then it's like it never happened ....uh uh uh ...are ya fallerin' me so far? It's just like I told ya, the ultimate line was never crossed 'cause I'm over yonder now, see? I'm over cheer! See, I'm not over the line. Now if these fellas start to thinkin' that I'm over the line, well there mistaken because I'm splittin' my time between the Mansion and Sullivans Island so that proves plain and simple that the ultimate line has not been crossed. See ...I'm over cheer ...over cheer ...I'm not over the line, just like I told ya ...just like I told ya.
July 11, 2009 at 5:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AMAZING (anonymous) says...
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford connived to have a team of state employees and U.S. Embassy officials set up trade-related meetings for him in Buenos Aires and then insisted on a "light schedule" while he was there. Sanford admits seeing his mistress during the trip.
Sanford decided to accompany his state's Brazil trade delegation for some dove hunting in Argentina's countryside. He then parlayed that into a trip to Buenos Aires, making sure he would have plenty of free time there. His itinerary for June 27, 2008 stated that he would do "self-guided sightseeing". That turned out to be a euphemism for spending the day with his girlfriend.
Sir, what kind of "self-guided sightseeing" did you plan on doing? ...uh uh uh well, I planned to see her tan lines,I love to see the curves of her hips, the erotic beauty of her holding herself (or two magnificent parts of herself) in the faded glow of night's light.
Sir, that's interesting, what does that have to do with sightseeing? uh uh uh ...but hey, that would be going into the sexual details we spoke of at the steakhouse at dinner - and unlike you I would never do that!
Sir, how in the world did this lightening strike sneak up on you? uh uh uh ...she tantalized me with sexual details over the years! uh uh uh ...wait let me finish... and I hope this will last till death...
Sir, what about the Trade Mission? Why didn't you do the Trade Mission? uh uh uh well my head, my heart cries out for her, her voice, her body, the touch of her lips, the touch of her finger tips and an even deeper connection to her soul ...uh uh uh ...you know, this kinda thing happens when you have two pathetic figures missing each other far too much living a few thousand miles apart!
Sir, this all sounds complicated, let's get back to the trade mission, what about the trade mission? oh oh oh ...she is glorious and I hope you really understand that ....she is special and unique and fabulous in a whole host of ways that are worth a much longer conversation, but I've been having a few email problems as I am getting email through an aircard at the farm, where access to computer world is more than tough, it's tough with that aircard at the farm in Beaufort.
Aircard? Sir ...Sir ...lets focus on the trade mission? uh uh uh ...wait ...let me finish ...As I mentioned in our last visit, while I did not need love fifteen years ago - as the battle scars of life and aging and politics have worn on me this has become a real need of mine.
Sir, you did not need love fifteen years ago? WOW!, how did you do that? uh uh uh well ...I'm really not sure, but this has become a real need of mine now ...I need it now! I really need it now!
July 11, 2009 at 6:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JourneyOn (anonymous) says...
What's up with the GOP? Sarah steps down for the last 18 months because she says she's a lame duck. Mark is a dead duck and still hangs around. What gives?
Calls? He better be calling the citizens of South Carolina! Take a straw poll among all of us and he will hear a strong voice calling for his resignation. He left us high and dry while he ran off in secret. Just what kind of "leadership", what kind of Govenor is that?
July 11, 2009 at 7:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
High_Gravity (anonymous) says...
"We ought to ask questions:rather than circle the wagons for one of our tribe." [Sanford on how the GOP reacts to affairs, New York Post, 12/20/98]
July 11, 2009 at 7:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lillycollette (anonymous) says...
I do NOT even wonder anymore when pseudo-Christians will stop trying to play the "F" (forgiveness) card.
It's a game most foul-where the offender dumps the responsibility for their actions on to the offended.
I do not have any forgiveness for Sanfraud it was all used up by previous sanctimonious hypocrites.
July 11, 2009 at 7:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AMAZING (anonymous) says...
Mark is a dead duck?
Sir, governor, Sir? ...why are choosing to stay in office when everyone knows that you are a dead duck? uh uh uh ...what do mean?
Sir, you are doomed to failure, you are a hopeless case. Why don't you just resign? uh uh uh wait ...let me finish...
Sir, at this point, you are useless and outmoded as a governor, why stay in office? uh uh uh well, I believe in this notion, the whole notion that if I do a shoutout an apology then everyone will just forget anything ever happened or that the citizens in South Carolina are just too stupid to put two and two together.
Sir, aren't you concerned about being a dead duck? ...uh uh uh ...well, everyone is a dead duck eventually, so what's the problem? uh uh uh besides, I'm moving to Argentina in 18 months, so I really don't see what the big deal is about?
Sir, you are governor, remember? What about the people in South Carolina? oh oh oh yeah, oh that governor thing, well, these trade missions that I've been doing, they been bringing lots of import/export business, I've done my part in this deal.
Sir, what about the unemployment rate?
Sir, what about the violent crime rate?
Sir, what about public schools?
Sir, what are you going to do about these serious problems in South Carolina and please answer the question?
uh uh uh ...that stuff is nothing, it's nothing ...you should see what's going on in Argentina. South Carolinians have it so good they don't even need a governor.
Sir, isn't that what we have? uh uh uh what? Sir, we have no governor, you are a dead duck remember? Sir, you are doomed to failure, you are a hopeless case. uh uh uh ...that's no big deal, everyone does that.
July 11, 2009 at 7:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RuleNumberOne (anonymous) says...
And what was the end result of the trade mission? Did Brazil or Argentina enter any trade agreements? Are they bringing any jobs here ?Are they buying our products? I know I'm not buying this whole trade mission idea. It's a junket, pure and simple. A perk of the job.
July 11, 2009 at 7:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lillycollette (anonymous) says...
Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon needs to understand that any threats of a messy public divorce between the Sanfraud's would be played out in the Charleston County family court.
I tend to believe that the Sanfraud's may already be aware that this (cough / choke) court is a hot bed of public corruption and therefore not a real court at all.
July 11, 2009 at 7:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AMAZING (anonymous) says...
nice perks!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Maria-...
July 11, 2009 at 7:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oldglory (anonymous) says...
AMAZING, I sure have been on the same page as you for many days now!
July 11, 2009 at 7:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oldglory (anonymous) says...
"The governor has spent much of the past two weeks asking for forgiveness, including phone calls to legislators he has antagonized over the years.
The governor has called many, many people and plans to call many, many more," Sanford press secretary Joel Sawyer said. "He considers it to be lifetime work, and not something that will end in the next few weeks or the next 18 months."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really resent the governor making all these apologetic telephone calls on government/taxpayers time, when, in fact, he should make those calls on his own time/dime! Where has all logic gone these days? This man is nothing but a shell--no backbone, no integrity of any sort, no moral fortitude, no honor. Governor, why would you think that you could say and do all you said and did and then even have your press secretary makes such statements as quoted above. No, governor, as a taxpayer, etc., I do NOT want you to make apologetic telephone calls on government time in order to straighten out all the messes you have created. I don't want time spent by anyone in our government having to double-check your escapades for improper expenses. If you'd had the virtues you'd touted when you ran . . .
Oh please don't insult everyone with '"lifetime work, and not something that will end in the next few weeks or the next 18 months."' Your denial of what you've done/caused and your umm ego inflated by your picadillos are at about the same level.
(LOL, picadillo is a latin american word, but upon reading it as I wrote it, ummm it -almost- sounds a bit dirty, doesn't it)
July 11, 2009 at 8:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SCexplainer (anonymous) says...
Only the knights of the GOP & their too-stupid to-learn fundamentalist base still want Sanford, Sarah Palin & the growing list of similar frauds to stay on the scene. But, wait, this is South Carolina where political panderers & lost causes is our proudest tradition - forgot where I lived for a second.
July 11, 2009 at 8:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
PollySci (anonymous) says...
"Asking for forgiveness" is not apologizing. It's demanding an action from the people being asked. Sanford has done a whole lot of asking, and very few (if any) simple statements of "I'm sorry." I have my doubts if he's really sorry for anything besides being caught. It must have been thrilling (in a teen-age kind of way) to get all the way to Argentina with no one the wiser. And did he actually break it off with his beloved? He's never said that. Bet some of those calls for forgiveness are going to her.
Pathetic.
July 11, 2009 at 9:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
realamerican (anonymous) says...
Could the P&C please quit putting the photo of Santurds filthy face in the paper? It makes me ill to see this hypocrite.
July 11, 2009 at 9:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CNSYD (anonymous) says...
At least one thing has become crystal clear from this affair. The REAL Governor of SC is Jenny. She pulls the strings. She talked Graham out of calling for Markey's resignation. She wants Markey to stay in the office so she can keep a close eye on him. When will we ever rid ourselves of these carpetbaggers?
July 11, 2009 at 10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pullmyfinger (anonymous) says...
Amazing, do you even live in Charleston,or even South Carolina? You spend your waking days bashing Sanford for what group? I know you have a motive and I feel its more than being a local activist. Who do you work for??? Fess up!!
Why soooo much on Sanford? Why not on anybody else? Cant help being suspicious of all the pages and pages of your Sanford rants. Click on his profile name and read his 43+ on nothing but Mark Sanford.
Amazing.....you got some splaining to do!
July 11, 2009 at 10:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LuckyDay (anonymous) says...
Is pullmyfinger a Sanfraud lackey?
July 11, 2009 at 10:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CNSYD (anonymous) says...
pullmyfinger, I can't speak for amazing but I would imagine that it is because so many people were fooled by Sanfraud for so long.
July 11, 2009 at 10:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
BlackReign (anonymous) says...
Sanford, please step down.
July 11, 2009 at 10:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ChasHighgrad68 (anonymous) says...
Yawn.....
July 11, 2009 at 10:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AMAZING (anonymous) says...
Sanford's Affair Might Have Jeopardized Top-Security Clearance
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's love-struck romp in Buenos Aires with his Argentine "soul mate" wasn't just a threat to his marriage, job, and presidential aspirations. It also jeopardizes his Department of Homeland Security clearance and raises new questions about his candor on the steamy affair. Didn't know the Republican had one?
Well, as a chief of state and head of the South Carolina National Guard, Sanford has a top-secret security status that lets him in on classified information such as possible terrorist threats and emergency tips. But with that need to know come intelligence community rules of conduct, a key one being that relationships with foreigners must be revealed.
The reason: Those in the know can leave themselves open to blackmail from rival intelligence services about a compromising dalliance.
"Agency policy requires our officers to document their relationships with foreign nationals," a CIA official tells Whispers. "The impact those relationships may have on employment very much depends on the specific circumstances and whether the information is reported accurately and in a timely manner." Bart Bechtel, a former CIA clandestine officer, adds, "CIA officers are required to report such relationships. Failure to do so can easily be grounds for termination and loss of clearances. In some cases, even when reported, an officer may lose clearances and be terminated." It happens. Homeland Security canceled former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's after he was arrested on corruption charges.
Sanford's security status, however, remains unclear. A spokesman didn't return calls, and Homeland Security, while confirming that it issues the clearances, would not comment on Sanford, also a captain in the Air Force Reserves.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washingto...
July 11, 2009 at 1:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AMAZING (anonymous) says...
"what's tragically hilarious here is that he lied about the lies he told."
What I'm Laughing At: Mark Sanford's Apology Tour 2009
What a complete and total jackass.
Gov. Mark Sanford continues to whine about how he flirted with other women, but that Maria Belen Chapur was the only woman other than his wife, I assume with whom he had a "a love story" and that love story was a "forbidden one, a tragic one." He added that Chapur is "his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife." (I'm sure that'll get his wife really hot and bothered when she hears that: "Oh? That other gal is your soul mate? I'm just the gal who birthed your children, raised them, and ran your political career? But she's your soul mate? Well, since we've cleared that up, let's get naked!")
Now, what's tragically hilarious here is that he lied about the lies he told.
Sanford also admitted he saw Chapur more times than previously disclosed, including what was to be a farewell meeting in New York chaperoned by a spiritual adviser soon after his wife found out about the affair.
He described five meetings with Chapur over the past year, including two romantic, multi-night stays with her in New York before they met there again intending to break up.
Look, Sanford, not only are you a liar, you're now proving yourself to be a disgusting pig who (1) doesn't respect his wife, (2) doesn't respect wedding vows, (3) probably doesn't respect women a whole lot either. Let's not even get into the example you're setting for your four sons. Just stop this apology tour and resign. It's over.
http://fastidious.wordpress.com/2009/...
July 11, 2009 at 1:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
smp (anonymous) says...
good bye republican party...don't call, don't write, don't email...
don't ask me for money, help, support...
good bye
July 11, 2009 at 3:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
gringolandia (anonymous) says...
Noteworthy is the fact that Obama haters can some how blame him for the current mess that he inherited.
They are very quick to forget about the 8 years of George Bush and Dick Cheney and their toxic leadership and the problems it has created for our current president.
For example, this post will be followed by no less than 2 or 3 responses about how "blaming Busch for everything is the liberal way" and "congress this and that" and the "community reinvestment act caused this mess"
It's a denial and addiction type cycle that i have seen in many others. It's very sad.
July 11, 2009 at 4:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Duchess (anonymous) says...
Shouldnt there be a seperation between religion and state? If so who gives a rip if he had a affair? Thats his business just like what he does with Jenny behing closed doors. But how my tax monies were spent on activites that dont have a darn thing to do with being a Gov. now that ticks me off. Now we sit and watch how them play their games keeping a unfit man in office for political power gratifacation. i'm so bored with it. He probaly should get Clinton to give him some advise about how to hold your head up after such an embarrassment.
July 11, 2009 at 9:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pullmyfinger (anonymous) says...
Amazing..... you are not a local. Maybe a carpetbagger. You are exposed, you are the real fraud.
July 11, 2009 at 10:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
boucka (anonymous) says...
pull my finger: HA HA HA HA... You look so stupid: you just repeat yourself.
Does it matter where a person having comment lives? Facts are facts regardless.
Face it: most of us South Carolinians wish Mark Sanford would RESIGN. I am so tired of him and his foolish, stupid ways.
He thinks he is entitled to "win me back?" No. You can resign, do whatever you think will "win people back," then come to me with your apology. You've lost the privilege of being in elective office, step aside. The nerve, thinking you can spend our state's (limited) resources, fail to address the state's problems, but spend your time asking for forgiveness from legislators and voters. We are sure to get nowhere in 2009-2010 legislative session draggin' your worthless ass around.
Gov -- no, you don't deserve that appellation:
Mr Sanford, I do not forgive you for being AWOL as Gov, for spending our state's resources to get you to South America, for placing all of our citizens in peril for not having a head of state for a week, for lying to all of us, for failing to recognize that you have failures. I do not accept your claims to have learned from this or that "pride" or "ego" is where you failed. You are explaining and thus excusing yourself. I don't buy your excuses, I don't accept your apology.
YOU ARE UNDESERVING OF OUR "UNDERSTANDING." WE NEED REAL GOVERNMENT. WE NEED DEDICATED SERVANTS. WE NEED COMMITTED PUBLIC SERVANTS. WE CANNOT BE CONCERNED RIGHT NOW WITH YOUR WANTING TO GO INTO THE CONFESSIONAL. THAT IS YOUR SORRY BUSINESS, GET OUT OF THE WAY SO WE CAN CONDUCT OUR BUSINESS.
July 13, 2009 at 12:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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