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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.