Standard high, expert contends

Impeachment expert Ross Garber, a Connecticut-based lawyer hired by the S.C. governor's office, contends that the state's constitution sets a strict standard for impeachment.

Impeachment is warranted if a governor has committed "serious crimes or serious misconduct in office," according to the constitution.

Garber said that the constitutional history reveals that misdemeanors, minor crimes, personal transgressions, neglect of duty and temporary absence from the state do not qualify for removal from office.

Despite the foundation for the impeachment resolution before a House Judiciary subcommittee, Garber contends that the constitution automatically transfers power to the lieutenant governor if the governor is absent.

GOP Rep. Greg Delleney, the chief sponsor of the impeachment resolution, argues that the power is transferred only in certain circumstances, such as a governor's death, disability or mental incompetence.

Delleney said he believes that Sanford should be removed for serious misconduct, directly relating to his clandestine trip to see his mistress in June and the fact that he did not tell Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, or his staff, where he was.

Instead, Sanford mislead his staff to believe that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Garber said the standard for impeachment should be set by "clear and convincing" evidence of wrongdoing.

The standard must be high because impeachment nullifies the result of an election, he said.

In addition to the misconduct allegations by Delleney, Sanford is charged with committing 37 ethics violations related to his use of state aircraft, first- and business-class travel on commercial flights instead of in coach seats and campaign reimbursements totaling about $3,000.

The State Ethics Commission used a more than 1,000-page investigation to issue the charges.

Sanford's personal attorney, Butch Bowers of Columbia, has classified the ethics findings as technical questions that do not include allegations of criminal conduct.

Sanford will personally pay for Bowers' representation. Garber, who will make $150 an hour, is being paid by the governor's office to represent the institution, not Sanford specifically.

A crux of Sanford's case with relation to more expensive seats on commercial flights is that the governor was following a "legislatively audited and long-held practice" for overseas trips, according to Bowers.

That is the same practice accepted for the last 30 years by Department of Commerce staff and the agency's secretaries, members of the Legislature and past governors, Bowers said.