Free Republic

37 ethics charges dropped on Sanford By: Andy Barr November 23, 2009 04:01 PM EST Gov. Mark Sanford could face 37 charges that he violated South Carolina ethics law if the state attorney general decides to proceed, according to a report by the state’s Ethics Commission. The report, released Monday, accuses the two-term Republican governor of having used state money to purchase business-class airline tickets to travel in Europe, South America and Asia. Four of the flights include his 2008 trip to Brazil that the governor extended in order to travel in Argentina to see his mistress. Additionally, Sanford is...

The S.C. Ethics Commission has charged Gov. Mark Sanford with 37 counts of breaking state ethics laws. The commission filed its charges last week but only released them Monday. Those charges allege that, in 18 instances, Sanford authorized, approved or allowed the purchase of business-class airfare so that he could travel to and within the continents of Europe, Asia and South America. Four of the flights cited involved a 2008 state Commerce Department trip to Brazil that Sanford extended to Argentina so that the married, two-term Republican governor could see his Argentine lover. State law bars the use of high-priced...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's use of state planes for personal and political trips could open him and the state to federal tax penalties because the flights never were recorded as taxable fringe benefits. Tax experts who reviewed an Associated Press analysis of more than 100 flights since 2003 said numerous trips could have triggered Internal Revenue Service rules that require adding the value of flights to the governor's wages, making them subject to taxes. The analysis shows nine flights since 2008 alone could be worth $19,019 in taxable benefits."The state appears to take the position that...

SNIPPET: “Throughout the day the Prime Minister’s Office, when asked about Netanyahu’s whereabouts, said only that he was on a tour. After hours of speculation, and numerous inquiring phone calls, the PMO finally released the following laconic statement Monday evening: “The Prime Minister’s military attaché reports that the prime minister is visiting a security installation inside Israel.” Netanyahu was accompanied to the installation by National Security Adviser Uzi Arad and the military attaché, Meir Kalifi.”

The increasingly nasty fight between South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer escalated further this week with charges from a legislative ally of Bauer that Sanford and his supporters are spreading malicious rumors that Bauer — a Republican like Sanford — is gay. GOP state Sen. Jake Knotts made the charge in a letter to state legislators Wednesday that was obtained by POLITICO. In an interview in June with The State newspaper, Bauer voluntarily brought up the subject of his sexual orientation. Asked if he was gay, he responded: “One word, two letters. No.” But the rumor...

(CNN) – An outspoken critic of Mark Sanford is accusing the embattled South Carolina governor of orchestrating a smear campaign against Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer. Republican State Sen. Jake Knotts wrote to fellow members of the state legislature on Wednesday accusing Sanford and his allies of spreading rumors that Bauer is gay — a claim that was reported earlier this week by a blogger who seeks to out closeted conservative politicians. "As a former target of a false rumor started by the Sanford Camp I can tell you with absolute certainty this attack was orchestrated on behalf of Mark Sanford,...

From CNN's Political Ticker: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says that the state Ethics Commission probe into his travel expenses reminds him of the flood of ethics complaints filed against Sarah Palin before she resigned the Alaska governorship. "I think I now know what Sarah may have been feeling," Sanford told The Washington Times in an interview published Wednesday.No, Gov. Sanford, you don't have any idea what Sarah Palin may have been feeling, and neither does anyone else. But wait until they photoshop devil's heads on a photo of your youngest child and spread it around the internet, along with...

South Carolina Republican lawmakers are on the verge of calling a special legislative session that could impeach and remove embattled GOP Gov. Mark Sanford by the end of the year, The Washington Times has learned. GOP lawmakers will use a regularly scheduled annual retreat this weekend to discuss the fate of the governor, whose extramarital affair with an Argentine woman sparked an international scandal earlier this summer. Mr. Sanford has rejected calls to step down voluntarily, included one issued Wednesday by his own Republican lieutenant governor. House Republicans in the state will discuss how and when to initiate impeachment proceedings...

Another Difference between Republicans and Democrats: This is Maria, SC Republican Governor Mark Sanford's mistress. This is Golan, NJ Democrat Governor Jim Mc Greevey's mistress.

A defiant South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Wednesday that he will not resign despite Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's plea to do so earlier in the day. "I'm not going to be railroaded out of [office]," Mr. Sanford said at a televised press conference at 3:30 p.m. in the West Wing of the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C.

COLUMBIA — A spokesman for South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer says Bauer will call for embattled Gov. Mark Sanford to step down. Communications director Frank Adams says Bauer at a Wednesday news conference will call on Sanford to leave office. If Sanford does, Adams says Bauer will renew his offer to stay out of the 2010 gubernatorial race. The lieutenant governor would fill the remainder of his fellow Republican's term if Sanford steps down. Bauer is the most prominent Republican to call for Sanford's resignation. He was widely expected to run for governor next year. Sanford has come under...

Only one recently-wronged political wife—Elizabeth Edwards—has written a book discussing her ordeal. But in its segment today on "forgiveness," Good Morning America ignored John Edwards and his wandering ways. When it came to polyamorous politicans, ABC focused exclusively—surprise!—on two Republicans: Mark Sanford and David Vitter. The release of the Libyan Lockerbie murderer, the Manson murders anniversary and the re-entry into the NFL of Michael Vick were the jumping-off points for the segment. But when politics popped up, the only examples bore the GOP label . . . View video here.

First lady Jenny Sanford said she was moving to the family home on Sullivans Island, some 120 miles east, but will continue working on her marriage to Gov. Mark Sanford, who has admitted to a yearlong affair with an Argentine woman he's called his "soul mate." South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's wife and four sons are moving out of the official governor's residence, several weeks after Sanford admitted to having an affair with an Argentine woman he called his "soul mate." Jenny Sanford announced Friday that she and her sons will move to Charleston for the upcoming school year and...

Here is video of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford talking with the press yesterday where he refused to speak further about his affair with a woman from Argentina. Sanford repeatedly told reporters, "It is time to move on," or "I'm moving forward with my life." At one point he even asked a reporter, "Have you made a mistake, large or small, in your life?" . . . . (Watch Video)

At a Tuesday afternoon press conference Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) would not answer a question about not having a wedding ring on his hand.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) apologized to disappointed constituents in a Sunday op-ed, calling himself "humbled" and "broken as never before." The disgraced governor, who revealed last month that he had left South Carolina for a week to be with his mistress in Argentina, said the grace of God can help him repair the pain he has caused his family, his supporters and his state. "It is true that I did wrong and failed at the largest of levels, but equally true is the fact that God can make good of our respective wrongs in life," Sanford wrote in...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford shed his fiscal conservatism on several taxpayer-funded international trips, including a South American jaunt that included time with his mistress, choosing expensive first-class or business-class seats while his aides sat in coach. Sanford, who once criticized other state officials for costly travel, charged the state more than $37,600 for one first-class and four business-class flights overseas since November 2005, expense records show. Other state employees flew in the back of the plane at a fraction of the price, according to the documents.

The communications director for Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina announced on Friday that he is resigning in the wake of a scandal in which the governor admitted an extramarital affair. The communications director, Joel Sawyer, who acted as the governor’s spokesperson throughout the scandal that dominated national media coverage for several days last month, will pursue “other opportunities in the private sector,” according to a statement issued by the governor’s office.

With his admission of an affair with a reporter from Argentina, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford became the latest in a growing list of GOP lawmakers who have confessed to infidelity. His acknowledgment of the long distance relationship cast the Governor in a negative light and not surprisingly there have been increasing calls for his resignation. Not only did Sanford leave his wife and children on Father’s Day weekend, but he also jettisoned his gubernatorial responsibilities for five days and lied to his staff about his whereabouts. These behaviors will not soon be forgotten by South Carolina voters. While he...

Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young offer an opinion piece in the Christian Science Monitor regarding Mark Sanford. They examine past instances of affairs carried out by those on the right, and the subsequent political recoveries. They cite Newt Gingrich. They cite David Vitter. Convolutedly, they also cite Sarah Palin's handling of her daughter's pregnancy. To Hemmer and Young, it all comes down to repentance and faith. Unfortunately for Hemmer and Young, they have completely missed the political reality of the situation (not to mention having completely glossed over the facts).

My dear late father used to say that whenever a person's reaction is disproportionate to the stimulus, something else is at work. Keith Olbermann's "Worsting" of Ann Coulter on last night's Countdown [video] is a good illustration of the principle. Olbermann ostensibly awarded Ann his "Worst Person" for what was, after all, a rather mild swipe at Rachel Maddow, a tongue-in-cheek reference to her "raw sex appeal." So what had really gotten under Olby's skin? What caused him to refer to Ann as "putrid and evil"? Reference to the Coulter column in question reveals this paragraph, that Olbermann pointedly omitted...

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina's top cop says Gov. Mark Sanford did not improperly use state funds for visits with his Argentine mistress. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd said Thursday that Sanford did not break any laws. The governor's spokesman says he does not intend to resign. South Carolina's attorney general asked police to investigate the governor's travel after Sanford revealed to The Associated Press he had spent time with Maria Belen Chapur more often than previously disclosed.

This coming in the last hour after nearly 4 hours of debate from the South Carolina GOP, Sanford survives vote from members and will get a slap on the wrist..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu0-i0OxhME On April 3, 2008, Jenny Sanford spoke at the Robert Dole Institute where the topic of discussion was "First Spouses: Changing Roles & Expectations". In the Q&A section she was asked about the Eliot Spitzer case... here is the audio of that... You can watch the whole video of this by searching for "Sanford" on this page: http://www.doleinstitute.com/video/2008/index.shtml

Is Mark Sanford's behavior contemptible enough to make him King of Heels, or does that (dis)honor belong to John Ensign, Eliot Spitzer or John Edwards? ... Let's compare [them] low-blow by low-blow ...

A review of travel and financial records showed that Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina did not spend public money improperly while conducting an extramarital affair, the chief of the State Law Enforcement Division said Thursday. Since Monday, the governor’s continuing revelations about the affair, including his admission that he had seen his lover more times than he initially acknowledged, have stepped up calls for his resignation and heightened support for an investigation into his travel records. The chief of the State Law Enforcement Division, Reginald Lloyd, said that the review of Mr. Sanford’s records was not a criminal inquiry,...

Meghan Daum of the L.A. Times has had an epiphany. The story of adulterous South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is still in the news, she's decided, because America's men see themselves reflected in him. Yes, Daum apparently feels that all men are adulterers, so they sympathize with him causing the story to keep bumping along. Daum spies some "gasp--empathy" for the governor in various corners of the Old Media and this, she has decided, must mean that there is a "tiny bit of Mark Sanford" in men across the country. One wonders if Daum spied this same lecherous "sympathy" abounding...

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – Former South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson is calling on Gov. Mark Sanford to cut a check from his campaign war chest to help repair the "serious damage" he has done to Republican fundraising efforts in the state. Sanford, a prodigious fundraiser, is sitting on nearly $1.69 million in his gubernatorial election account, and he still has roughly $128,000 in his congressional account, according to his most recent campaign finance reports. New financial reports are due later this month. But now that Sanford's political career has collapsed, his money is in limbo. Under South Carolina...

A review of travel and financial records showed that Gov. Mark Sanford did not spend public money improperly when he visited his mistress, the chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, Reginald Lloyd, said this afternoon... Mr. Lloyd said that between an economic development trip to Brazil and Argentina a year ago, which is when the governor said the affair turned sexual, and the recent visit, Mr. Sanford saw the mistress, Maria Belen Chapur, three times in New York, on trips that had been paid for by either the governor himself or a third party. In one case, Mr....

In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Gov. Mark Sanford called his tryst with a woman from Argentina a "whole lot more than a simple affair." He added it was a "love story" that was not only "forbidden" but "tragic" also.

While many on the left are reveling in the downfall of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford after he disclosed his affair with a woman in Argentina, there's a sympathetic figure being overlooked that might have the necessary background to fill the void left by the governor should he resign. On CNBC's June 30 "The Kudlow Report," Wall Street Journal senior economics writer Steve Moore explained his close relationship with the Sanfords and raised a new political possibility. "This is such a tough thing for me Larry, because as you know Mark Sanford has been a long-time friend of mine," Moore...

During more than three hours of interviews over two days at his Statehouse office, Sanford said he is trying to fall back in love with his wife, Jenny, even as he grapples with his deep feelings for Chapur. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVGOp2bl5_prbLYsoPOvD96f55bgD995A50O0

The Associated Press is reporting that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said he has "crossed lines" with women other than his mistress. During an interview with the news agency, the Republican governor admitted to meeting his Argentine mistress on more occasions than he admitted last week....

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford declared his Argentine mistress his soul mate Tuesday but said he is committed to reconciling with his wife in hopes of saving his family and what is left of his political career. Sanford, who also admitted meeting his lover more times than he had previously claimed, told The Associated Press in emotional interviews that he "crossed lines" with a handful of other women during 20 years of marriage. But he said he never went as far as he did with Maria Belen Chapur, the woman at the center of...

RNC Chairman Michael Steele on Sanford's infidelity: "It is a problem of leadership. It is a failure of individuals to understand why they were elected among some money in their community to lead in this fashion this is the price you pay. My heart goes out to Mrs. Sanford and the boys, but the governor should know better. That is not what leadership is about. It is not your personal agenda, it is your service to the community. That is what people expect. There is a higher standard for people who assume that mantle of public leadership. we have to...

Sex scandals like Governor Sanford’s and John Ensign’s are private matters that don’t affect public policy and shoot down rising political stars. It’s time to end hypocrisy in America.When I first heard about Governor Sanford’s sex scandal, I was flooded with disappointment for many reasons. Particularly since his admission of an extramarital affair came so closely after Nevada Senator Ensign made a similar confession. I don’t know if it’s the fact that I am younger, or that just have a more open-minded view of politicians and sex, but it’s of very little concern to me who elected officials sleep with....

Dear Friends, I write to apologize and ask for your forgiveness. Well beyond the personal consequences within my own family, I know that at so many different levels my actions have upset, offended and disappointed friends and supporters and for this I am most sorry. As I mentioned in last week's press conference, I've always believed God's laws were there to protect us from ourselves, and what has transpired over this last week vividly illustrates the damage that comes personally, and to those you love and respect, in doing otherwise. So in the aftermath of this failure I want to...

I remember all of the reverberations from the Dems during the Lewinsky affair that "it was only sex," and that "it's his private life" and that "it doesn't affect his job performance." Well, if this is true, then why is it only true for Democrats?

In a lousy week, Mark Sanford had one stroke of luck: Michael Jackson chose the day after the governor's news conference to moonwalk into eternity, and thus gave the media's pop therapists a more rewarding subject to feast on — or at any rate one of the few stories whose salient points are weirder than Sanford's. Not that the governor didn't do his best to keep his end up on the pop culture allusions: "I've spent the last five days crying in Argentina," he revealed, in presumably unconscious homage to Evita. The plot owed less to Tim Rice and Andrew...

“No one’s going to save us dude. It’s up to us and us alone.” These are the words of a text message I received from a fellow conservative upon the revelation that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford had disappeared for a few days to spend time with his mistress in Argentina. After the cumulative disaster that were the 2008 GOP primaries, conservatives desperately thought that, for once, we might have an ardent conservative – particularly a fiscal conservative – run and actually capture the White House in 2012. And this was not your garden-variety, self-proclaimed “conservative” Republican who interpreted conservatism...

THERE'S a huge difference between what South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford did, and what ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer did. "I didn't fall in love with any of them," Spitzer was overheard telling LMDC executive director Avi Schick the other day at Solo in the Sony Building on Madi son, where they had the $24 prix-fixe lunch. And Spitzer didn't use any taxpayer money on his trysts, while Sanford is reimbursing the state about $12,000 for travel expenses to Buenos Aires. Schick had Vietnamese beef spring rolls and a grilled chicken salad.

If you're a governor who's in the doghouse for marital infidelity, is it better to have loved and lost or never to have loved at all?

Is the conservative movement rotten to its core? South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's bizarre revelation that he had an extramarital affair with a longtime female friend in Argentina has dealt another blow to an already decrepit Republican Party. After losing control of Congress in 2006 and the White House in last year's election, the Republicans are not only in the minority; they also are adrift and leaderless. Mr. Sanford was highly touted as one who could advance new ideas, as a fresh face for Republican conservatives. He carved out a distinct political identity by fusing a command of policy with...

In a lousy week, Mark Sanford had one stroke of luck: Michael Jackson chose the day after the governor's news conference to moonwalk into eternity, and thus gave the media's pop therapists a more rewarding subject to feast on – or at any rate one of the few stories whose salient points are weirder than Sanford's. Not that the governor didn't do his best to keep his end up on the pop culture allusions: "I've spent the last five days crying in Argentina," he revealed, in presumably unconscious hommage to Evita.

Jackson, Sanford and weirdness Big government more or less guarantees rule by creeps and misfits In a lousy week, Mark Sanford had one stroke of luck: Michael Jackson chose the day after the governor's news conference to moonwalk into eternity, and thus gave the media's pop therapists a more rewarding subject to feast on – or at any rate one of the few stories whose salient points are weirder than Sanford's. Not that the governor didn't do his best to keep his end up on the pop culture allusions: "I've spent the last five days crying in Argentina," he revealed,...

With South Carolina governor Mark Sanford still wondering how to solve a problem called Maria, and GOP biggies falling by the wayside, a Californian may be poised to now take the reins as the leader of the GOP 2012 possible presidential pack. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, now claims the Golden State as his full-time home since he bought a lovely beachfront estate in La Jolla where and wife Ann now reside. [...] Sanford's Maria meltdown has meant that the stash of GOP possible presidential hopefuls and leadeers is shrinking fast -- with some GOPers say Romney now looks...

Gov. Mark Sanford tried to get back to work Friday, apologizing to his Cabinet, comparing himself to the biblical figure David and retreating to the familiar territory of federal stimulus money and declining state revenue estimates. Friday’s anything-but-normal Cabinet meeting was Sanford’s first official business since admitting Wednesday to an affair with a woman from Argentina. Sanford also reaffirmed he had no plans to resign and that he had only been unfaithful to his wife, Jenny, once. Sanford’s denial of other infidelities can after a Web site run by a former Sanford staffer on Friday named two other alleged lovers....

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford said Friday her husband repeatedly asked permission to visit his lover in the months after she discovered his affair. “I said absolutely not. It’s one thing to forgive adultery; it’s another thing to condone it.” Jenny Sanford spoke to The Associated Press during a 20-minute interview in the living room at the coastal home where she sought refuge with their four sons. They were her first extended comments on the affair. She said when her husband, Gov. Mark Sanford, inexplicably disappeared last week, she hoped he was hiking the Appalachian Trail,...

Argentine man said to have sent copies of messages to S.C. newspaper. NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The mystery of who revealed Gov. Mark Sanford’s e-mail messages might finally be solved. A business associate of Sanford’s Argentine mistress said Friday that private messages between the lovers had been sent anonymously to The State newspaper in December by an Argentine man the mistress briefly dated. The associate, who asked not to be identified, is a Buenos Aires television executive involved in hiring the woman, whom he identified as Maria Belen Chapur, a producer at the television network...

S.C. governor's wife: I told him to stop affair ‘I was hoping he was on the Appalachian Trail,’ she says in interview Jenny Sanford, wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, says she told her husband in no uncertain terms to stop seeing his lover. View related photos Alice Keeney / AP NBC Video: Politics GOP, a reality-show based community? June 26: Countdown presents the Republican candidates for 2012 as reality show contestants in 'The Real GOP candidates of 2012.' Sanford all apologies Sanford shows no signs of stepping down Obama calls Iran crackdown 'outrageous' Jackson’s personal politics Slideshow First...