South Carolinia Governor Admits to an Affair
Mark Sanford Has an Emotional Press Confrence to Explain His Absence
Jun 24, 2009
The Republican Governor of South Carolina returned to the state capitol today to give a tearful explanation of why he had been missing in action with no word to his office, his staff, or his wife for five days.
His press conference was shown live on several cable stations like Fox News, CNN and It as carried on CNN International a on-line news service. Governor Sanford began by waxing philosophical about Christianity, the heart and sin, then moved into how sorry he was to have hurt his family (his boys and his wife and his father-in-law), his staff, and lastly the people of South Carolina. He also made reference to being sorry about misleading his staff about where he was, telling them that he was hiking on the Applicachian Trail.
Governor Admits to Having an Extra-marital Affair
During his remarks Governor Sanford had to stop several times and dry his eyes and catch himself before he broke out crying. But he eventually got to the point and announced that he was having an extra-martial affair with an Argentinian woman who he had been seeing for the past several months.
He also said his wife and family had been aware of the affair and that he was in the process of trying to reconcile all of them. When asked if he and his wife were separated, the Governor replied, "She is there and I am here."
Questions Remain About Executive Control of the State
Although a Governor of a state may need some alone or quite time, it maybe an altogether different matter to leave the state or the country for five days without telling anyone, or being able to be in touch with officials.
Governors have an enormous amount of responsibility for the day to day operation of the state and presumably know this when they seek the consent of the people to be elected to the position and then agree to accept the role by taking an oath of office. By leaving the state the way he did, and by not being in touch with his office, his staff, or his security detail Governor Sanford may have actually violated South Carolina law and his oath of office.
Untruths Were Told to Hide the Governors True Whereabouts
Another potential problem with this, is that according to Governor Sanford himself at the news conference, he purposefully mislead members of his staff about where he was going. And having no way to reach him that lie was perpetuated by his staff to the media and ultimately to what Governor Sanford referred to as his "South Carolinian family".
When asked if he would resign as Governor, Sanford said, "No," but did say that he would resign his post as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.
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