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THE STATE, POST AND COURIER ENCOURAGE SANFORD TO REMAIN IN OFFICE
South Carolina’s two largest newspapers are encouraging Gov. Mark Sanford to stay in office and not resign over controversy surrounding his extramarital affair with an Argentina woman.
Both The State newspaper and the Charleston Post and Courier published editorials Tuesday all-but begging the governor not to resign — not out of any particular admiration for Sanford, but out of fear for the alternative.
“The people calling for [Sanford’s] resignation — from The New York Times to state Sen. Jake Knotts — either want to ensure that Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer wins the 2010 gubernatorial election or else haven’t thought through the effect this could have on the outcome of that crucial race,” wrote The State. “It’s hard to remember a time when our state has been in more desperate need of strong, focused leadership, to set us to building a stronger economy and a better-educated citizenry.
“Although this could change in the coming year, to this point Mr. Bauer simply has not demonstrated that he has the vision to lead our state.”
The Post and Courier echoed that sentiment, writing, “the governor’s intention of approaching the Legislature with hat in hand next session offers an opportunity to advance needed reforms that will benefit his successor, and the state.”
But The State was much more harsh on Bauer than the Post and Courier, taking the lieutenant governor to task for a pattern of reckless behavior.
Mr. Bauer’s fits of irresponsibility and self-dealing have been a hallmark of his tenure: He intimidated the Transportation Department into paying him more than double its original offer for a sliver of land to widen a highway, and then “forgot” to report that sale as required by law. He barreled down Columbia’s Assembly Street at speeds up to 60 mph, running two red lights and so startling a police officer that he felt the need to pull a gun on Mr. Bauer. He used a police radio to try to call off troopers when he was driving 101 mph on his way home from a political event in a state car and, when that failed, escaped without even a warning by making the trooper think he was a high-ranking law enforcement officer. Even before he was elected, he sent out campaign flyers designed to make it look like all the GOP gubernatorial candidates had endorsed him (they had not), and then bragged about his trickery.
Not every paper is backing Sanford, though.
Two of the state’s smaller newspapers, the Orangeburg Times and Democrat and the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, called on Sanford to resign last week.
Photo: Getty Images
LIAR! LIAR! PANTS ON FIRE!
FRAUD ALERT! FRAUD ALERT! SANFRAUD ALERT!
Mark Sanford admitted Tuesday that he saw his Argentine mistress more times than previously disclosed, including what was to be a farewell meeting in New York chaperoned by a spiritual adviser soon after his wife found out about the affair.
…the governor described five meetings with Maria Belen Chapur over the past year, including two romantic, multi-night stays with her in New York before they met there again intending to break up.
He said he met her two other times — their first meeting in 2001 at an open-air dance spot in Uruguay and a coffee date in New York in 2004 during the Republican National Convention. He said neither time was romantic.
It was the first disclosure of any liaisons with Chapur in the United States and contradicted a public confession last week during which Sanford admitted to a total of five encounters over their eight-year relationship.
He previously announced he would reimburse the state for money spent during a government trip to Brazil and Argentina in June 2008 when he saw Chapur. He insists no public money was used for any other meetings with her.
He saw Chapur again in mid-June of this year, visiting Argentina without telling his staff he was going to be out of the country. He instead led them to believe he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
The governor said he met Chapur in Punta Del Este, Uruguay, in 2001 after his final term in Congress and before his first term as governor. He said the two struck up an e-mail correspondence after meeting on a dance floor — a chance encounter during which he counseled her into the night about her failing marriage.
The two met in New York two more times in 2008: two nights in Manhattan in September and three nights in the Hamptons in November. Each time, Sanford claims he flew coach, paid for it himself, paid for the hotels in cash and told his staff he was reachable via cell phone.
But the governor claims he wanted to end the affair in person and, with his wife’s permission, went to New York with a “trusted spiritual adviser” serving as chaperone. The three went to church and dinner together and parted ways the same night.
But he visited Chapur again in Argentina on June 18, one final trip that brought the whole affair to light.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_on_re_us/us_sc_governor
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Sanford contradicts himself on meetings with mistress
After returning last week from a secret trip to Argentina that his staff and wife didn’t know about, Sanford admitted to an extramarital affair and said he had seen his mistress three times in the past year.
But he told The Associated Press he had met with Maria Belen Chapur seven times, including five visits in the past 12 months.
Two of their meetings in the past year included multiple-night stays in New York, Sanford told the AP.
Sanford told the AP he met with Chapur a third time in New York on what was intended to be a goodbye visit. Sanford was accompanied by his spiritual adviser, the AP reported.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/30/sanford/
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The State implies that Sanfraud will give SC “strong, focused leadership”. Oh really? Focused on what? South America?
[...] of South Carolina’s largest newspapers encouraged Mark Sanford to stay on as [...]
We don’t care what newspapers say. LEAVE MARK