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The governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, recently admitted to having an affair with a woman in Argentina. (Read all about it here.) *UPDATE: Today he admitted to "crossing the line" with other women as well, that there was "physical contact" but not sex. Read the AP story here.
There's a couple facets to the story:
- 1. He's a Republican, who in the past called on President Clinton to resign after the Monica Lewinsky scandal
- 1a. He's a Republican, the party of "family values," who cheated on his wife.
- 2. He lied about his whereabouts on his most recent trip to Argentina, telling staffers he was hiking on the Appalachian trail
- 2a. He didn't transfer his powers of governor to the lieutenant governor before he left
- 3. He used taxpayer dollars to make trips to Argentina
- 4. Even in his absence, he's still on the taxpayers' payroll
- 5. He has said he is not going to resign from his governorship
Setting aside the actual affair, you have a governor who lied to his staff, S.C. legislators, S.C. residents and even Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer about his whereabouts. For five days. You also have a governor who used taxpayer dollars to take personal trips. A resignation is in order here, affair or not. If this were my governor, I'd be furious. You don't get to steal from and lie to an entire state and remain governor. Unless you're Sanford, apparently.
But this story gets even crazier when you look at the fallout from it, and who is saying what. Logic must have taken a trip to Argentina too, because it certainly isn't present in much of this story.
First of all, let's look at what Sanford himself has said about not resigning:
"I would ultimately be a better person and of more service in whatever doors God opened next in life if I stuck around to learn lessons rather than running and hiding down at the farm."
Um, wouldn't the lesson be that after lying and stealing, you have to resign? By not resigning, you're actually getting away with doing all this. What's the lesson in that? Do first, apologize second. Not a lesson we need to be learning.
Second, here's what one Sanford supporter says as to why he should stay in office:
State Rep. Nikki Haley, another Sanford ally running for governor next year, said last week that the governor should stay in office because otherwise, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer would assume the top office. Haley said that would be a step backward for the conservative reform movement in the state.
But having a governor in office that lied and cheated is not a step backward for the conservative reform movement? The longer he's in office, the longer people talk about this story and all the hypocrisy therein. And it is just me, or does this imply that Nikki Haley is putting the conservative reform movement above the constituents of South Carolina? Note that Haley is running for governor next year, because ...
Two major South Carolina newspapers -- The State, which broke the news of Sanford's Argentina trip, and The Charleston Post and Courier -- on Tuesday called for Sanford to stay in office.
"Reasonable people can disagree over whether it would be better to have Mr. Sanford or Mr. Bauer in the governor's office for the next 18 months. And if Mr. Bauer were not running for governor, this might be a more difficult call. But Mr. Bauer is running for governor, and it simply is not responsible to overlook the tremendous advantage he would have if he were able to use the bully pulpit of that office for the next year," said an op-ed in The State.
Oh, so Bauer is running for governor next year, and having him become governor after Sanford resigns would give him an unfair advantage in the election. What the hell kind of reason is that to defend why Sanford should not resign? Bauer IS the lieutenant governor, and he's next in line should Sanford resign. Those are the facts. Sucks if you don't like Bauer, but that has nothing to do with whether Sanford should resign. This isn't about the next election. This is about Sanford and his actions. (And this doesn't even bring up the
